The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1892-03-25
WASHINGT0N'S TIRTHDAY.
EXTRACT FROM f. J. DOwMAN'S ELo.
QUENr ADDRESS ON NIGHT a2ND OF
FEBRUARY, REQUESTED TO BE
PUBLISHED,


PUBLISHED,
We participate with pleasure in oc-
casions of this sort We can speak
with pride and pleasure at the career
of our Country; another such country
as the world does not possess. There
is no room for another such Country
The discovery by Christopher Colum
bus was the last final climax Of all dis.
coveries. 1t was held in reservation
by the God of nations through all the
night of the Centuries when America
was to unfold the grandest possibilities
known to our race. Other nations
have rlsen and sunk like bubbles on
the ocean wave, aud their missions
were not the character Of ours They
have come and gone like phan,ons
that fit across our pathway. Many
have been of no use to the worlds ad
vancement. Many have been such
that it would be better if they had new
er been born. They lived and died in
the night of despotism. Their careers
have been marked by bloodshed,
slaughter, oppression. There were in
dividual characters among them that
bore no affinity to them, because they
loved the freedom and redemption Of
the race. We can look back through
:he night of the centuries and find
them stringing their Tyres and singing
of liberty; but liberty did not come.
1t was but an idle dream to them, a
mere hallucination; something thought
Of but never realized One nation is
conspicuous in history for its love Of
liberty, Greece.
Another nation, Rome, sets us
warning example. She was Republic
for several centuries; her people lost
their grip, and Rome became bloody
despotism.
Alexander, Caesar, Pompey, Pyrrhus,
Hannibal, Napoleon were powerful and
ambitious, but they never fought for
the amelloration of mankind. They
left the human family no better than
they found it. We must turn to our
country to find name that will re
main, illustrlous bright and undecaying
when these others have mouldered in
to dust. 1t is hardly worth while to
mention it. 1t Is on the lips of every
school boy. He it was who stood up
on the mountain tops Of the centuries
and saw the light Of liberty dawning
upon the world. tell you the name
OF Washington is as endurable as the
SUBMITS of our mountains and the
rocks that lie in their ravines and line
their base. Washington's name would
have lived no longer than ancient war.
ors, had ambition and the lust for
power been his actuating and ruling
motives. There was some.hi ,g hght r
and nobler in his make up. His sword
was drawn in freedoms cause and the
rights of man When brass and mar
bic crumble that name will live as
bright as the armament of stars that
shine in the dark blue canopy of God !!
live in the hearts of unborn genera
tons every human heart in the long
ages Of the future will feel an inspira-
ton at the mention of his name. He
is the great central figure of our hui
manity. The 22nd Of February will
never die as long as our language is
spoken and while liberty endures.
We cannot in this connection fail to
allude to the great struggle for the per-
petuity of liberty and the Union. There
are dark spots on the sun and bright
spots on our earth --Antietam, Freder-
icksburg, Lookout Mountain, Gettys-
burg and host of other battlehelds.
Through four battle burdened years
arose and fell like the waves of the
sea, the stars and stripes, till at last
they hung in brightness and glory over
fallen and dismantled Richmond and
at Apr omattox Court House. 1t there
looked as if it had been dipped in the
fountains of the morning and the hand
of God had placed it there.
If there is anything that will live
undimmed upon the ocean of time
it will not be some mound Of crumb-
ling brick work, some monument of
mausoleum dedicated to the memory
of the aspiring and ambitious soldier
merely, but it will be monument
consecrated to the memory of Wash
ington.
What tongue can tell the grand pos
sibilites that is out in front Of us if
we are only faithful and posterity is
true to her own interests.
No eloquence can portray, no imag-
ination conceive, no conjecture APP
proach, no supposition surmise, the
glorious destiny that awaits the Amer
lean people and the American nation.
May the rainbow OF promise never
fade from our political horizon and the
stars Of hope never grow dim.
"a God-send is Ely's Cream Balm.
| had catarrh for three years. Two
~. tl,raa t;n,ec a week INV poca woul1