Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1892-11-03
Published 10y Request Of the Audience
The Life and Character Of Columbus.

.ILhll-hed 10y Request oil the NudlenCe.
The Life and Character Of Columbus.
Address delivered by J. NJ. Hutchin. nj,
Penobscot, oct. II, 1889.
To-day the eyes of all nations are turned
upon the one man who forms the connect
ing link between the old world and the
new, who, by the Inspiration of his match
less faith, and the irresistible power of
his mighty will, was the first European to
kiss the virgin soil of the new continent,
and to consecrate it for all time 10 the God
he adored. And to-day we are willing to
match the four centuries Of grand trumphs
Of christian civilization in the new world,
with four thousand years Of slow progress
in the old.
Up 10 the age in which Columbus lived,
only the continents Of Europe aud Asia
had been the theaters in which art,
science, and religion had wrought out
their msrvels in the various forms of civ
ilized life For two thousand and five
hundred Years the progress of discovery
had been gong on in the earth, and yet
less than one fourth part of the entire
globe had been navigated or traversed by
the enlightened nations of the old world,
OF the size. form and divisions of the
earth a. now known, of the proportions
Of lsnd and water, they entertained but
vague and mistaken notions Whether the
earth was a hundred thousand miles in cir
conference, or but few thousand, seemed
a matter largely within the range of spec
widely on this question
Geology, in its limited sense a. we un-
derstand it, which treats of the solid crust
Of the earth. had scarcely dawned upon
The minds Of men, and aroused their pas
sion for interior explorations, for histories
written IN rocks. In fossils, and in an
tique implements which had some dsy been
welded by the hands of men, and then
hC-.~d beneath tAo Accommodations Of thous
suds of years.
II was not until the 10th century that
the best scientific investigators in the
world began to have intelligent ideas. and
formulate theories concerning compost
ton AMI history of the crust of the earth.
The mysterious and universal law OF
gravitation, by which all matter is drawn
towards the center OF the earth had not
yet dawned upon the master mind Of
Newton and no doubt many who were ig,
norant of the diurnal motion of the earth,
thought If you sailed down the western
side of the world it would be impossible
to get back and if you were fortunate, or
Of the earth you would Immediately fiy of
into boundless space. Astronomy, too,
one Of the Oldest sciences, had been in
existence for several thousands Of years.
and yet the significance of our little plan
ct had been vastly oyer-estimated, and its
true relations to the vast system of the
universe had been misunderstood. The
sncIents conceived the earth to be fiat
disc, encircled by water. and little larger
than the countries they inhabited, and the
stars that filled the heavens but gems in
the diadem which decorated the brow of
the God Of Night.
But these simple notions were displaced
by later advances in cosmogrsphic and as
Economical sciences and Ptolemy, cele-
brated astronomer of Egypt, who flour
ished one hundred and fifty years B. c.
formulated the best astronomical know
ledge of the day into what has been known
as the Ptolemaic system, which represent
ed the earth to be the center of the uni
verse, and the heavenly bodies revolving
around it in circles at a uniform rate
For seventeen hundred years or until the
sixteenth century this theory was accept
ed and believed by the ablest students
and expounders of astronomy. In 1912,
Copernicus, a learned astronomer OF Po-
land, published a new system, which later
evidences have proved to be substantially
the true system, which utterly punctured
the fallacy of the Ptolemaic system, and
sent 1t flying into the abyss of scientific
error, whereon truth is gradually building
her castle to the skies. This system rep
resents the sun to be at rest IN the center
OF the universe, and the earth and planets
to move around it in ellipses.
So much for the prevailing notions con.
corning our earth in Columbus day, which
now in the immensely of the known and
unknown. seems but mere speck floating
on the face Of creation, scarcely visible to
the far-seeng eye of Jehovah. But to US
it is OF the greatest consequence, and a
knowledge of its history, its laws, its ele-
ments, its phenomena. its extent, is
among the first things that an intelligent
inhabitant of our planet aspires to know
And to day we turn from our statesmen,
our philosophers, oCr poets, our artists to
pay our homage to the simple mariner.
the fearless navigator who, by one bold
stroke of adventure, and the universal i'm
petus it gave to the progress of discovery
the world over, with tie Almighty Pilot,
as 1t seems, guiding his little ship in safe
ty over an untraversed ocean, added more
to the map of our earth. and the wealth
and glory of the ages, than any other man
living or dead. Let his life pass before
US as living drama, and his grand and
infexible character fill rs with profound
admiration.
About the date of the birth of Columbus
there hangs cloud Of uncertainty. For
the most part authorities agree that he
was born in the year 1856; some say
as late as 1446-which seems improbable
in Genoa, Italy. He was the eldest son
of Dominica Columbo, who as every
school-boy has been told was wnolcomb
er of some small means, and was living
some two years after the discovery of the
West Indies by Columbus. The boy, in
whom the father took great pride, was
sent to the University of Payia, where he
pursued, with intense ardor, the study of
mathematical and nautical sciences, and
where he probably received lessons in