Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1892-10-15
SNOW HILL MARYLAND SATURDAY MORNING. OCTOBER 1892

Z
You may judge what the ocean was
then by what it is now. 1t has never
changed its habits. 1t can smile like
the morning. but often il is the archangel
of wrath. and its most rollicking fun is a
/ shipwrrck. The mu,inouS crew would
! have killed Columbus had it not been
/ for the general opinion ON shipboard
/ that lie was the only one that could take
/ them back home i'll safety. The promise
of Il silk waisicoat and forty dollars in
/ money To- the man who should first dis
cover land arpeased them somewhat, but
the Indignation and blasphemy and
4 threats of assassination must have been
awful. Yet God sustained the great
4 sailor commanding the Santa Maria.
! Every evci.ing ON Shiphoarl they had
\ prayers and sung u yesper hymn. But
after al the patience of those on board
the ships had been exhausted. and the
great captain or admiral had been
cursed by every anathema that human
lips could frame. one night Il sailor saw
a light moving along the shore, and then
moving up and down. and then disap-
pearirg On Friday morning at two
o'clock. just long enough after Thurs
day TO make it sure that it was Friday
and so give another blow Mt the worlds
idea of unluckv days-on Friday morn
ing. Oct. II. 1892, Il gun from the Pinta
signalcd "lai.l ahead"
Then the ships lay to. and the boats
We're lowered. and Captain Christopher
Columbus first stepped upon the shore.
amid the song of birds and the air u
surge Of re9olence. and took possession
in the name of the Father. and the Son
and the Holy Ghost. So the voyage
that began with the sacrament endel
with "tiioria in ExcelSis Deo" From
that day onward you say there can he
nothing for Columbus but honors. re-
wards. rhalsodics. palaces and world
wide applause. No, no. On his way
back To Spain the ship was So wrenched
by the tempest and So threatened with
1 destruction that he VT, - Il brief ac-
count of his discovery and put it in a
cask and threw il overheard that the
world might rut lose the advantage of
his adventure.
IIonors awaited ! i'm on the beach, but
t'NtN I StNtfiAtA Wy W II II
il came all maligning and persecution
and denurciaiion and poverty. lie was
called Il land grahber. Il liar. cheat. a
fraud. Il dccciVer If nations. Specu-
lators robbed him Of his good name,
cour,ierS deprecated his discoveries. and
there came 10 him ri..aed health and inn
/ prisonnclt and Chains. uf which he said
while he ratified ihc;n GA his wrists, Il
w.ll wear Them as IL II emcn;o of the
gratitude Of princes. Amid keen ap-
preciatiun If Tie worlds ahuSe and
cruelty and with body wriihiny i'll the
turturoS Of ;sOut lie gruancd ct, his last
words. ''in ma;;;is tUas Domino com
monLo ,lirilur mcum"-"ii,io thy
HANDS O Lord. ! Cor n.,Id MY spirit ="
OF course lie had regal oh>cquicS.
That is the way the world tries TO atone
for its mean treatment of great benefac-
tors Many man has had Il fine ride
TO his grave who during this life had to
walk I'll ,l.e way. y lig funeral. and
instead Of bread they give him stone
that Is Il tombstone. But death. that
brings quiet To the body Of others, did not
bring quiet To his. First buried in the
church of Santa Maria. Seven wear ,
afterwarl removed to Seville. Twenty
three wears atterward removed to San
Domingo Finally removed TO Cuba
Four postmoriem journeys from sepul-
cher 10 sepulcher.
wish his honc~ Inight he moved Just
once more. AMI now that they hav. come
So near io America as Cuba they might
during the great Columbian year he
transported To our own shores. where
they belong. and that in the fifth cen
tury after his dcccasa the American con
tincnt might build mausoleum worthy
of him who picked this Jewel of hemi
sphere out Of the sea and set it in the
crown of the worlds geography.
But the bright noonday sun Of that
old sailors prosperity went down in
thic, - night. and though here and
there monument has been lifted i'll his
memory and here and there city called
after him. the continent that he was the
means of founding was named after an
other name. and no fitting commemora-
iion of his work has been proposed until
nearly four hundred years after his body
turned To dust. May the imposing dem
unstration now being made in his honor
nn the Atlantic coast and to he made
next year in his honor midcontinent, be
brilliant enough and far resounding
enough and Christian enough and mag
aiiiceni enough 10 atone for the neglect
Of centuries. May tn" good Lord allow
that most illustriouS siilor of all time To
long enough 10 see some uf the gariantis
wrcathrl around his name and hear
something OF the homiSpheric shout that
shall greet his memory.
What most impr,'sscs me in all that
wondrous life. which for the next twelve
months we will bc concentrating hy
sermon a;id song and military parade
and Vi, f.s fair and congress of na-
lions. !, ,onicihing | have never heard.
stated, and that is that the discovery of
America WAS religious discovery aud
in tie name Of God. Columbus. by the
study of the prophecies and by what
Zechariah and Micah and David and
Isaiah had said about the lends of Ia.
earth. was p .rSuaded to go ont and find
the '.endS ot the earth, and he felt hiin-
self called by God To- carry Christianity
To- the ENDS Of the earth" Then ih'
administration Of the last supper bcfor,
they left the Gulf of Ca,liz. and tn,
evening prayers during the voyage. and
the devout ascription rs soon as they saw
the New World. and the doxologies with
which they landed confirm me i'll saying
that the discovery of America was a re-
ligious discovery.
Atheism has 10 right here; iniidclitI
has no right here; vagabondism has no
right here. And as God is not apt I,
fail in any of his undertakings (at any
rate have never heard of his having
anything To do with failure). Americ;
is going to be Gospelized. and from IN,
Golden Gate of California TO the Mar
rows of New York harhor. and from In,
top of North America to the foot OF