Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-10-20


presses me with the idea that when one
qualifications. To the moment Of his death
Columbus never knew that he had discov-
cred America, but thought that Cuba was
part Of Asia He thought the island
Hispaniola was the Ophir Of Solomon. He
thought he had only opened a new way to
old Asia. Had he known what North and
South America were and are, and that he
bad found a country three Thousand miles
wide, ten thousand miles long, Of seventeen
million square miles and four times as
large as Europe, the happiness would have
been too much for mortal man to endure.
He had no idea that the time would
come when a nation Of sixty million people
on this side Of the sea would be Joined by
all the intelligent nations on the other side
the sea for the most part Of a year reciting
his wonderful deeds. It took centuries to
reveal the result Of that one transatlantic
voyage. So it has always been. Could
Paul on that June day when he was de-
capitated have had any idea OF what effect
his letters and the account of his life
would have on Christendomf Could Mar
tin Luther have had any idea of the echoes
that would ring through the ages from the
bang of his hammer mailing the Latin
theses against a church door at Witten-
bergf
Could Eli Whitney have realized the
continents of wealth that would be added
to the south by the invention of his cotton
ginf Could John Gutenberg, toiling year
after year making type and laboriously
setting them side by side, and with presses
changed now this way and now that, and
sued by John Faust for money loaned, and
many of the people trying to cheat Guten-
berg out of his invention, he toiling on
until he produced what is known as the
Mazarin Bible, have any idea that, as a re-
suit of his invention, there would be IL
braries that placed side by side would again
and again engirdle the earth, or the showers
of newspapers that snow the world under!
When Manhattan island was sold to the
Dutch for twenty-four dollars neither they
who sold or bought could have foreseen
New York, the commercial metropolis of
America that now stands on it. Can O
man who breaches a sermon, or woman
who distributes tracts, or a teacher who
instructs class, or a passerby who utters
encouraging words realize the infinitudes
of useful result? The teacher at Harrow
school who toiled with William Jones, the
most stupid boy in school and at the foot
of his class, did not know that he was fit
ting for his work the greatest oriental
scholar of modern times, his statue now in
st. PauPs cathedral, London.
Every move you make for God, how
ever Insignificant in your own eyes or in
the eyes of others, touches worlds larger
than the one Columbus discovered Why
talk about unimportant things? There
are no unimportant things. Infnity is
made up Of infnitesmals. On clear night
the smallest dewdrop holds star Each
one of you Is at the center Of universe,
and all you say and do somehow vibrates
to the extreme of that universe in all di-
rections. Ipromise everlasting renown to
those who will go forth with Christian
and sympathetic words.
After the battle of Copenhagen, Nelson,
the admiral, went into hospital and halt
ed at the bed of a wounded sailor who had
lost his arm and said, "Well, Jack, what
is the matter with your" and the sailor
replied, Lost my right arm, your honor,''
and Nelson looked down at his own empty
sleeve and said: "Well, Jack, then you
and are both spoiled for fishermen. Cheer
up, my brave fellowv' and that sympathet-
ic word cheered the entire hospital. Be
fore you die you can, out Of your own mis-
fortunes, cheer hundred souls and start
unending echoes. You can no more appre
ciate the farreaching results of your life
than Columbus could see this continent
from arctic to antartic. say this not te
make you proud and arrogant, but to make
you trembie with your responsibilities anC
put you on your guard as to what you d.
and what you say.
THE REWARD OF DILIGENCE.
While studying the life of this Italian
navigator, am also reminded of the fact
that while we are diligently looking fol
one thing we find another. Columbus
started to find India, but found America
Go on and do your duty diligently and
prayerfully, and if you do not find what
you looked for you will find something
better. Saul was hunting for the strayet
animals of his fathers barnyard, but met
Samuel, the prophet, who gave him 6
crown of dominion. Nearly all the great
inventions and discoveries were made by
men who at the time were looking fol
something else. Professor Morse, gone tt
Europe to perfect himself in chemistry, OF
returning happens to take the packet shiI
Sully from Havre and while in converse
tion with passenger learns of some exper
iments in France which suggest to hin
the magnetic telegraphy.
He went to Europe to learn the wisdom
of others and discovered the telegraph
Hargreaves, by the upsetting of a machine
and the motion of its wheels while upset
discovered the spinning jenny. So, my
friend, go on faithfully and promptly with
your work, and if you do not get the sue
cess you seek, and your plans upset, you
will get something just as good and per
haps better. Sail ahead on the voyage o.
life, keep correct logbook, brave the
tempest, make the best use of the east
wind, keep sharp lookout, and warrant
you in the name of the God of Columbus
that if you do not find just what you want
Of an earthly nature you will find heaven
and that will be better.
What was wornout India, crouchinl
under tropical sun, compared with salu
brious and radiant and almost illimitable
America, and what is all that this little
world in which we live can afford you
compared with that supernal realm whose
foliage, and whose fruits, and whose
riches, and whose population, and whose
grandeurs, and whose worship, and whose
Christ make up an atIluence that the mos
rapturous vocabulary fails to utter.
THE WORLDS 1NGRATITUDE.
Another look at that career of the admira
Of the Santa Maria persuades me that 1t i
not to be expected that this world will d,
its hard workers full justice If any maj
ought to have been treated well from frs
to last 1t was Columbus. He had hi
faults. Let others depict them. But ,
greater soul the centuries have not pro
duced. This continent ought to have beel
called Columbia, after the hero who dis
covered it, or Isabelliana, after the queer
who furnished the means for the expedi
tion. No. The world did not do him jus
tice while he was alive, and why should
be expected to do him justice after he wa