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

the celebration of the Lords Supper;
He leads his little feet in vessel named
for the Blessed Virgin Mary. He kneels
upon the ground of the newly discovered
land and Drays. He consecrates tnat
land to God, and calls it San Salvador
in honor of Christ, our Saviour. In early
days America was known as the Land OF
the Holy Cross. Through ill his lie,
faulty though it may havelbeen in many
ways, you find this same strong and SIM
pie faith. 1t may be said of Columbus,
as was said of Abraham: HE endured
as seeing Him who is invisible" Inc
religious element in Columbus marks
him as
The Chosen Agent of Divine Providence
and we cannot but believe that his SIM
pie faith was honored by that God who
has charge Of the affairs of this and all
worlds. The world honors Columbus to-
day, because he honored God and God
in turn honored him in discovering
America.
The achievement of Columbus should
be studied in it's proper relation to the
general history of our country. The
concentration of public thought upon
any one event, such as that which now
engages our attention. has tendency to
magnify it beyond due proportion, and
we are likely to attribute to it results
which cannot in historical justice be
placed to it's credit. In bestowing hon
ors upon one of our benefactors there is
no need that we pluck the laurels from
others with which to deck the brow OF
the hero of the hour. In showing our
gratitude to one we need exhibit no IN
gratitude to others. Our history is rich
in illustrations, names ana deeds. 20
lumbus was the discoverer OF America,
but he was not the discoverer OF the
America of today. Columbus found the
continent of America-but America OF
today is something more than CONT
nent. The name now stands for ideas,
government and institutions. Columbus
did not discover our populous cities, our
splendid industries, our Christian civili-
ton, our political freedom. our religious
liberty, our. republican institutions. Co.
lumbus marked the beginning-others
led the progress. Columbus discovered
the arena-others carried on, the con-
f1icts. So while we as Americans honor
Columbus as discoverer and give MN
an honored place in the galaxy OF illus
trious names in our history, he stands in
the company of other noble benefactors;,
such as Washington, the father OF his
country, the signers OF the
Declaration of independence, the
lovers of their country, the soldiers of
our wars, the heroes and martyrs of
their country, and Lincoln, the. liberia
tor of his country. These and each OF
these we honor, each for his own partic-
| ular work in our history.
am glad the Roman Catholic church
has pride in Columbus It's her son. as
shown by the eloquent remarks OF Bishop
| Healy. Protestant churches join in hon
oring him without pang of jealousy for
they possess illustrious sons as well.
| While our friends point to Columbus the
discoverer of America. we look back
with loving eyes to Washington, the
father of his country. While they claim
Columbus, we claim Lincoln, the eman-
cipator of his country. While they hon
| or Columbus, we honor Grant, the war
| rior of his country, and in all these we
have a common pride.
Tonight, because of all that has been
accomplished by our ancestors we stand
| face to face with grave responsibilities.
| The work of Columbus is done and well
| done as history and this anniversary
| proclaim. The work of our Revolu-
tionary fathers was done and we'll done
as our government of the people, for the
people and by the people testifies.
It remains for us to walk in the shining
paths they pioneered, to maintain that
which they have given us, aud to be
true to every demand increasing oppor-
tunities may make of u.s.
The celebration closed by grand
musical tinale,-th singing Of America
by the audience, accompanied by the
band and Haydn Quartette.