The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1892-10-28

uPoi' aS ''le lactS IN the case, this is at
any rate, for our purpose, columbus
Day. and we make this our basis for
our observance and celebration of the
great event.
But who was Columbus ? There is
as much difficulty about that as there
is about the question "Who discovered
America" 1t is said that he was
boin IN Genoa, and it is as strenuously
denied, ard some twenty different
places claim the honor of being the
birthplace of the admiral of the
Seas He himself claimed to be
Genocse, and he ought to have known.
but whether he did or not, it is i'm
possible to tell. 1t is said he was
born In I446 or I447, and it is also
cenled and contradictcd, and it is
asserted that he was born at least ten
years earlier. The only fact about
his personal history that seems to be
settled, is that he died in sickness,
destltution and neglect, at valladolid,
May 20, 1896. He was buried there,
but in 1873 his remains were removed
to Seville, and thence to the Cathed-
raj at Santo Domingo in the Island of
ttaytl. Some authorities say there
was further removal to Havana;
this is denied, and it is alleged that
Mgr. Rocco -Cocchia, bishop Of Orope
and Vicar of San Domingo, in making
some repairs 10 the cathedral, found
on the 10th day OF September 1877, a
leaden chest containing the bones of
Pietro Colombo, and to the right of it,
in the hidden tomb, one containing
the remains of the great admiral him
self. A portion Of the ashes contained
therein was sent to Genoa, where he
is supposed to have been born, and
another portion to the University of
Pavia, where he is though, TO have
been educated. Rocked upon the
seas from his fourteenth year, neither
in his life nor in his death has he found
any rest-surely, however, at this time,
lit would be in order to say, "Peace to
his Ashes"
We may pass over, as thrice told
tale, the many weary years of waiting
and importuping of one sovereign, then
another. for consent and equipment to
make this long considered and con-
templated voyage. Think of it-eigh-
teen years patient soliciting, but they
were not idle in one sense. He was
not hanging about the kings ante
chamber-he was sailing the seas-he
was making and studying maps. he was
fighting the Moors He was acquiring,
perhaps, the patience and self-disci-
pline which enabled him, when the
hour came, to manage, to subdue and
control the mob of vagabonds who
manned his ships: And indeed, con-
slider for moment what these igno.
rant men thought and believed they
were about to encounter and be sub.
jected to: Hardened as they were,
Jail birds, insolvent debtors, the very
refuse OF sea coast cities, careless of life
in broil or battle when the blood was
hot and the plunder in sight, they had no
stomach for that day by day waiting
in expectation of the horrible and
awful which they believed was in store
for them, and an hourly possibility. They
believed that the world was fiat, and
that at any moment they might sail
over some dreadful declivity to GER
tain and awful destruction, or if not
that, that the declivity would be so
steep that once sailing down it there
could be no return. There were rum
ors of "Happy Islands" it is true, but
nobody had ever seen them or landed
upon them; and there were much
more positive stories and tales of
islands where the inhabitants were
not Only giants, but cannibals; islands
where the very dogs were man eaters,
upon some one of which they were
sure to happen. Hence mutiny and
murder were ever in the minds of
commanders and crews, and if the day
was awful the uncertainty of darkness
was HORRIBLE hence the curses and the
groans which were constantly in his
ears, until the great Admiral himself
was almost in despair.
With such crew of ninety men in
three small vessels, Columbus set
sail from Palos on Friday, August 3,
1892 for Japan. He did not start to
discover new continent, to add AM
erica to the habltable regions of the
Earth but for commercial purposes,
to find out new way to India, The
Mediterranean Sea was blocked up by
the unspeakable Turk, there was no
longer trade with India by the route
which had been followed for all pre-
vious generations. The Jewels and
gold, the spicery and myrrh, the silks and
puppies and fine linen, all that made
life gorgeous and pleasant and desir-
able were beyond their reach, and a
new way to India must be found.
Hence, Columbus sailed for Japan
L