Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1891-02-12
The Crank . Boon.

The crank in spite Of his very recent
christening, is an ancient institution. He
was born into the world when the frst
human animal with a brain appeared.
He astonished his fellows by being dis
sati SIZED. In fact, he invented discon-
tent, and out of its birth was evolved
progress.
Civilization produces cranks. but the
crank first produced civilization. He is
mastodon among molecules, and is fur
nished with originality, a muscular jaw
and we'll developed vertebr@ His orig
iualiiy individualizes him. He thinks.
This is what distinguishes him from the
imitation crank, whose head is merely
swelled by the constantly expanding vac
uum within and who Is therefore bore.
There are people so obtuse that they can
not see the great difference between this
tiresome talk-you-to death and the man
of ideas and these people call all cranks
bore.
The genuine crank is a boon to any
community. New England, being the
native home of American intellect, Is the
nursery where the species is reared most
successfully. Let the thoughtless scof
fers of society laugh, the crank can afford
neither to notice nor to mind. He at
least. is in earnest, and has something
besides vain words to bring forth when
he talks. He may be like one of those
disagreeable ruts in the road that shake
you up so painfully. or like the nettle
that stings your hesitatine fingers, but he
never resembles the indistnct grain of
dust blown hither and thither along the
way, or the trembling blade of grass that
grows up only to be cut down by the
scythe.
Tie may stick pins in your inflated van
lty, he may look at your diminishing
proportions through the small end OF
pocket telescope; he may prod you and
punch you without regard for your weak
nes>es or well.veiled deformities. but he
Is Your bencfactor for all that. He
makes you ASHAMED first. and th,n brings
you out, forces you to grow. You up
root aud cast aside the weeds that sap
the nourlshment from the foil of your
wit, which, If il be = healthy plant, is to
that extent benefited by the existence of
the crank.
Cranks are sometimes like the sharp
pieces of glass that stand up vicously on
an orchard wall TO keep the greedy boys
out, or like the cyclone that sweeps over
The plain and anuihilates a handful of
humanity here and there; but, after all,
the one saves the boys stomachs untold
gripings, the other drives the germs of
disease before it, and carries purity into
life. The great reformers were such
CrankS
History is but a biographical memoir
of Ii series of distinguished cranks. from
Ewes time to the present day. Eve was a
crank OF supreme eminence. Adam was
mistake. Though he is mentioned in
hi - Il. -,
belongs to a class of bores without YER
tebr4.
II was the scientific crank that discover
Ell this.
The scientific crank. by the way, Is meek
in books. but, in the search for a new
specimen or hidden truth, willingly dsrcs
the terrors of cannibaiism among the
sasages where cranks are unknown, or
calmly picks his way among the icebergs
OF northern ATTITUDES. He Is learned in all
the ologies from the ages before embryo
man became an unadorned polywog to the
present era of unblu>hng full dress. You
viii easily distinguish this crank from one
Of his own fossils. He is unabeled
linen there Is the patriotic crank, in
whom the love OF liberty struggles sub
timely till it triumphs over every human
ambition or selfish passion. His aspira-
tions. his pleadng., hi, sufferngs enlist
the sympathies Of even this apathetic age
He is the impersonaton Of liberty fighting
oppression, and weakening the ancient
props of thrones by dashing his energies
against them, until the icy hand of death
chills tie fire in his speech and blood and
he is offered as sacrifice pro patria
When you hear the echo Of this craDk's
war-cry, look to the mounta tops half
hidden in cloud mists. and there you will
see victory beckoning him onward But
as the crank like the brook goes on for
ever, 1t would be impossible 70 follow him.
neither it shouts at you from the ros-
trum or shriekl at you from under an old
fashioned bonnet, you recognize the voice
of the crank as that of a distinct speci-
men.
IL was to the courage and perseverance,
of crank that we owe the discovery of
this great hemisphere. 1t was crank
that gave us the printing press, the cotton
loom. the locomotive, the telegraph. All
the great inventors, from Archimedes To
Edison, have been cranks; all the great
philosophers, from Plato to Herbert Spen-
Ger; all the reformers, from Lycurgus to
Lady Habberton; all the great preachers,
from Peter the Hermit to Henry Ward
Beecher; all the heroes who left their
plows standing in the furrow while they
went to fight for liberty under Washing
ton.
Let US cherish the crank. Let US cultl-
vate and corner him here in this land
where blessings are plentiful and curses
few. He is being that never lies still
and never crawls. He may be a kicker.
bucking broncho, wasp or ali eagle, but
he Is never a parasite or a snail Whether
he play the part of the pestiferous gnat or
the trumpeting elephant no man can &C
cuse him of being sneak nor an enemy in
ambush.
He may be right, or he may be wrong
he may be necessity or nuisance, but
he is always frank, fearless and u fighter,
striving earnestly to enlighten and i'm
prove the world.
Reader If you are crank, am glad to
have met you. Permit me to thank you
for existing. Therese ". Randall, in Kate
Fields Washington.