Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1892-11-03

Tue heW-Iounu ianuS, the gold, the cotton,
the parrots. the curious arms, the mys-
terious plants. the unknown birds and
beasts, and the nine Indians he had brought
with him for baptism.
All his honors and privileges were con-
trmed to him, and he was served and
saluted as one of the grandees of Spain.
Time forbids US to follow in detail the re-
msinder of his career as mariner, founder
of colonies, and governor Of men He
made four voyages in all across the
Atlantic, discovered about twenty islands
in all, some of them of great commercial
Importance. and portion of the main
land Of South America. He did not touch
the main land Of the western continent
until l49S. He founded several colonies,
but he proved to be a sad failure in ha
efforts to colonize the great lands he had
so successfully explored. From one Of
these colonies he had founded he was sus-
pended As governor in disgrace and re-
turned in chains to Spain by order of the
very king whose reign he had made illus
trious. 1t was said that the queen was
moved to tears on hearing the pitiable
story of Columbus wrongs, and he finally
had his honors and privileges restored to
him, and was promised satisfaction for his
wrongs. Columbus died May 20, l5OG.
He was buried at Valadolid, but his re-
mains were soon after transferred to the
Carthusian monastery at Seville, where
the bones of his eldest son were also laid
Exhumed in 1886, the bodies of both
father and son were taken over sea to San
Domingo, and buried in the cathedral. In
1886, ou the secession of that island to
the French, the distinguished relics were
re-exhumed, and were transferred with
state and solemnity to the cathedral of
Havana, where they yet remain. 1t was
said that Columbus was tall and shapelv,
long faced and squiline white-eyed and
auburn haired, and beautifully complex
ioned
cannot close this sketch of Columbus
without pauslug for a moment to reflect
upon and admire the grand character that
shines out so strkingly IN his eyentful ca
reer. First | am impressed with the fact
that he was emphaticslly man OF one oc-
cupauon, and finally Of one idea growing
out OF, and suggeste by, that occupation.
great philosopher Of the past, whose in
tellect had grasped the entire circle of the
sciences, whose taste for and power of,
In 10 l,l l.
OF the unknown, declared near the close
OF life, IL fee A. though had spent my
life picking up pebbles along the shore
while the vast ocean OF truth lay unex-
plored before me-" The wider grows ones
scope Of knowledge, the more one advan-
ces along the corridors searches the ar
chives, penetrates the alcoye- and hidden
recesses OF that vast store house Of the
learning Of the ages, the more intense be-
comes the conviction that if he would con
tribute anything new or valuable to science,
literature, art, discovery or political or
physical economy, he must conhne his zeal
and talents TO one line Of investigation,
and not dissipate his forces and waste
himself upon thousand different objects
Columbus was a fitting example of this
type of intellectual concentrated and
strength At the age of fifteen he had
chosen his lfe work, At an age when
most boys begin to grow giddy with the
first flush Of young manhood, and put on
an air Of scf-importance, as though they
ha ~
fathers lived, with yet scarcely thought
Of special preparation for their life work
We ind Columbus, by dint of taste and
close study, well-htted and with that
~ and ambition, ready to begin his
marvellous career on the ocean. He had
studied the best masters of nautical science,
penetrated and surveyed the heavens with
Ptolemy and Marinus. With the fire of
adventure burning in his soul he had fol-
lowed Marco Polo and Vaudeville, in
their thrilling and interesting travels and
familiarized himself with the-geography
of AlIaco, and as result before he had
scarcely reached the prime of life, he had
traversed the entire known waters, and
was longing to win fresh laurels on the
great deep.
1t was said OF Alexander the Great that
after having laid the rich and powerful ma
tion> Of the earth at his feet, ''He wept
for worlds to conquer" So can well
imagine that our hero, Columbus, as he
stood upon the deck OF his little ship at the
fartheSt limits of the known seas, and
cast his eyes out upon the vast and path
less ocean that had lain shrouded in the
darkness and mist of thousands of years,
said TO himself, there's prize over there,
worth a lifetime TO reach The idea
grew upon him until it filled his mind aud
thrilled his soul, moved upon the great
deep Of his will until it solidided into
determination firm a. the granite, as i'm
pregnable as Gibraltar, and it became firm
ly inwrought in the very fbers of his be
ing, part of his indestructible self The
idea followed him wherever he went. 1t
clouded his eye by day end illumined his
dreams by night. 1t was a burning flame
in his soul an ever present voice upon his
lips. He talked it in private he argued 1t
10 public; he presented it in royal palaces
before dukes and kings, before courts Of
investigation and juries of ecclesiastics
he flung it in the eyes of astonished ignor-
ance and forced it on the attention of big
oted learning. Little wonder that he was
called visionary speculatOr, fghty
Italian, a madman. He was but receiving
the natural doom of every man in the past
who had advanced ahead of the age in
which he lived, and flung a new thought
or theory back, only to be crushed beneath
the heel of stupid conservatism. All. they
are these one idea men who have made his
tory, and given flesh and blood and bones
to civilization. Que idea is enough for
one man to entertain, if that idea be big
enough and grand enough to compass his
intellect, absorb his soul and circle his
lifetime.
Mozart commenced to study music at
four years of age, was an expert player at
six, composer at seven, and studied the
laws of melody with unabated ardor dur
ing the rest of his life, astonishing the
musical world with his performances, and
stamping his name on history as one of
the greatest musicians that ever lived
Kepler spent lifetime in the study of the
heavens and only discovered few facts
about those shining orbs of matter that
u1istpp n no inf3nttuda of OF apd ppt