The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-10-22

mour of glory, no envious dagger can
penetrate or destroy.
Looking down with history upon the
life of Columbus, 1 would invite you to
call up the great contrasts of his career.
To the young and eager, he was great,
to be admired and applauded when he
first trod the deck of the Santa Maria,
his standard displayed from the mast,
his commission of admiral of the great
sea, viceroy of the land to be discover
ed, hidalgo or grandee of Spain, in his
possession, and the little fleet entirely
subject to his orders.
Others would call him great, truly
great and admirable as he first trod the
sands of San Salvador having achieved
the most wonderful voyage ever under
taken by man. Beyond a doubt, it was
sublime moment in his life. History
can hardly find its parallel. Again,
others will find him greatest at his en-
trance as triumphant conqueror into
Barcelona; applauded by the people; adj
coined by the respect and gratitude of
Queen Isabella, the noblest of women
and by her astute consort Ferdinand of
Arragon.
This was, perhaps,
The Supreme Moment
of satisfaction, of honor, of happiness,
for Columbus. But to the eyes of the
observant witness for ages, the man who,
rising from an obscure family in a petty
republic, had mastered by study and
travel all the science of navigation as
then existing, who had set his mind, his
heart, his life upon the solution of the
great problem of ages, was as truly
great when he was making charts in a
garnet of Portugal to buy bread as when
he was penning dispatches to Queen Isa-
bella; as great when he asked meal for
himself and his little boy, from the ever
memorable monastery of La Rabida, as
when he entered Barcelona in triumph;
as great when he was traversing the
ocean as prisoner in chains as when he
crossed it as an admiral; as great, surely
as great, when on his humble bed of
poverty he regulates all worldly matters
with royal calmness, dignity and scrupu-
lous exactness, and there, like an hum
BILE Christian, recognizing. the littleness
and sinfulness of mortal man, seeks
from the Almighty God ''grace, mercy
and peace for his last moments.
Fellow citizens, [ venture to say that
these few circumstances have the stamp
of true greatness. Pardon a recollec-
ton. Twenty-Five years ago I was in
Spain, in Seville. There / saw the tower
from which American gold, not always a
blessing to Spain, was habitually lauded.
I held in my hands a church chalice
made from the first gold which Column
bus brought back from America. l saw
his letters, but best of all l saw the por-
trait said to be a most faithful reproduce
ton of his face and features. My com
panion and myself both exclaimed,
'sHow much there is in that face that re-
calls the majesty of our Washington"
And I venture to ask, whether in your
Judgment our great captain was less
great in the darkest hours Of our strug-
Gle than in the brightest, and whether
YOU do not admire and reverence and
love him more as Washington-whod de-
MES his greatness? and yet the foreign
reader of our history would ask where
were his feats of arms, where were his
victories until the help of France and
Spain made possible the capture of Corn
wallis at Yorktown? And we would de-
nrtir,uoI or Giyth