Omaha daily bee., 1892-05-07

] 'A'' NN'ANNA ttlNt lllNN uAATAttlul Np-
! livion, For one Galvani. one Franklin.
! one Daguerre, one Edison who has
! spread his renown among all classes
and stamped an invention forever with
! has name, what vast number Of unre-
! memhercd or unknown glories
! The peoples Of the future will not Ne
! SO unCrgteiul. The first years of this
! century will grow in universal rcmem.
hrance, not hy reason Of those Napole.
! ono victories whose godlike reuown
! thousand poems sing, but rather be-
cause OF another and better title 10
! g!ory-the voltaic pile. imprisouinC the
! all-dltiused electric fluid. and by lis
! chemicals and metals engendoring cur
! rents and forces rs though it were
| microcosmic universe, an epitome Of the
alchemy whereby the great powers OF
! nature produce and maintain life
ii is historical TACT that the fifth, the
| tenth, the fifteenth and the nineteenth
! centuries are the four Creut periods OF
! transition. Who can doubt that the
! hiieenth century was one OF those pre-
! destined 10 bring about radical and pro-
| found changes; PaEauizing influences
were stealing over the pontifcate 10 such
| degree even that the popcs seemed TO
| be high priests OF jupiter and religion
| itseli au art, plastic art. Poets, pain
| tiers, sculptors. true ministering spirits
| OF this new heaven, rcawakened the
| olden Cods amid the scenes OF nature,
| and revived the ancient idolatry be-
! meath the arches Of the churches. The
| empire became Il mere empty show: the
| German kaisers seemed to be little
more than bespangled and unreal play
ers, feudal society tell, overihrown
! by the successful power of labor. The
ancient Lombard leagues, the old mill
"a Frpt NJ
! worn feudal states were succeeded by the
| dominion OF the mercantile cities, whose
| !leets were such rs empires never owned,
| and who rewarded their artists as en-
! peror never aid. These cities made use
! OF their Tarnered wealth 10 convert
the palaces Of their guilds and corpora
tions into museums, and, resting from
| their worldwide barter. devoted their
whole existence to continual artistic
| Journeys, Olympic games and poetic
| contests. IN which the days of ancient
! Greece seemed to be revived and the
| Muses., who perished al the feet OF
| Hellenic altars, to be once more restored
| 10 our world.
This fifteenth century is the spring
| time Of modern history. Industrial art
| brings forth the printing press, which
! helps TO lmmortalize the thoughts OF
uen: old ruins crowned with the wild
| thyme ana rue give up, like the tomb,
| their treasure Of life, the perfect statue
THAT affords Il type for the perfection Of
| newborn art: the dry shell of scholastic
! philosophy produces, like some bright
! insect, the pure Fioreutine PlaJonism,
and finally the ocean, in order that AL
| may be marvel rs, that ali may be re-
| generation and progress, brings far-otf
! America 10 light, rCnovaling nature it,
! self, as 5y another ana greater miracle,
! with her virgin forests and her fullness
OF life.
The gorgeous churches Of Genoa made
| OF Columbus a crusader, its schools
| geogra pher. its palaces filed with paint
| lngs and statues an artist, its shores q
| mariner, Its Industries and commerce u
| shrewd calculator and thorOughgOing
man Of business. The genius OF glory
| will give an eternal place on her roll of
fame to that Catalan chart of the world,
called in every scieutific treatise the
Great Map, and drawn in the seventy
| fifth year OF the fourteenth century, for
| which reason that year is to be counted
| among the most brilliant in the path
ways OF time and among the most sacred
| memories preserved in the annals of the
world. BY thousand different roads
learning had reached its apogee. Then
| il was that Columbus, deemIng the Med
iterrauean too narrow field for his
! genius, TOOK his way. we know not now
| whether in obedience TO deeply reasoned
motives or TO some swift inspiration, TO
the extremity Of the lberian peninsula
TO that Portugal which was then eX-
ploring Africa and bringing oriental
Asia anew within the range OF life and
| history-to fulfill his design OF rounding
and perfecting all this by the discovery
| OF America.
The harmony between the individual
vocations OF men and their destipies can
not be ignored. Columbus would not
| have ranked among the foremost of navi.
| gators but for the influence OF Lisbon,
| that city whence voyages first were un-
| dertaken upon the high seas, which as
! far eXcelled in effort and extent the
! petty Mediterranean cruises as the lat
| ter exceeded the ancient navigators of
| the rivers. Columbus the Genoese went
! TO Lisbon. for there was the fame OF
| science, and all roads then led to the
mouth of the Tagus From the Nor
| mans TO the Mallorcans, all sought at
! Lisbon opportunities OF commerce and
! nautical instruction. And this decision
! of his, reached by deliberate and con-
5cious reflection, was inspired by the in
ward voice, Ccaseless!y heard, OF earnest
! thought moving MIN and guiding him
|
! as those historians hold who see him
cast upon the Portuguese coasts by de-
stroying tempesls and fatal shipweck.
The ruling passion, the idea that eX-
| cited the mind Of Columbus and tyran-
nically possessed him, WAS dltfused
throughout his time Without those
mirage-iike and fanciiul imaginings,
and without the delusions born of fable,
never would the other hemisphere have
| been discovered from our own, and
never would the old world have been
| completed by the new. Besides all this,
| Portuguese navigation was attaining
| such Il degree Of perfection through the
| application OF the astrolabe TO seaman
! shl p, and the improvement Of the com
| pass, that cOasting-si,tls we're becoming
sea-going vessels and were venturing
| out upon the boundless deep.
When Coum bus reached Portugal he
al once found himself in the midst Of ex-
| cited scenes of daring voyages and in
Vulnerable discoveries. To grasp al
| Africa, and after Africa all Asia. was
| the one idea that throbbed in Dom
Henry's soul. For this he stood ready
to sacrifice all earthly things. Hand
some. powerfully buit and refined, he
,.l 4 &