Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-07-26
A VISION OF A NIGHT.
WHAT COLUMBUS MIGHT HAVE SEEN
HAD HE DIVINE SIGHT.

The Cargo of Master Christopher-A
Vision of Four Centuries-A Develop.
ment Little Dreamed of by the EN-
plorer Who Discovered These Shores.
* Ferens" he signs himself in ancient
documents; TX Ferens," "Christopher'
Chrlstbearer." The name is typical OF
the man. Daring mariner he was, and a
lover of adventure and versed in geograph-
ic and scientific lore These things all
moved him much. But over and above
them all he was a religious enthusiast.
his luminous eyes, the whole countenance,
bespoke the fervent spirituality within.
He was made of the stuff of which mar
tyrs were made, or perchance those who
for conscience's sake made martyrs of
others. He had much in common with
both Savonarola and Loyola. And so,
while he wished for adventure and TO ex-
tend human knowledge of the world and
to enlarge the dominions of the sovereigns
of Leon and CASTLE, his chief desire was to
bear the cross to the uttermost ends of the
earth and to bring hitherto unknown re-
gions and peoples under the sway and into
the fold of the one true church.
He signed himself TX Ferens"
1t was prodigious boast of the Roman
conqueror to the timorous boatman, ''Quid
times? CRSarem vehis.'' What do YOU
fear? You carry Cipsar,' But this stern
admiral of the unchartered seas quelled
every doubt and every rising fear and
every gathering mutiny with the far
prouder boast. What do you fear? You
carry Christi But besides its message of
Christianity that little vessel bore such
freight as never before or since was slowed
away in hold or cabin. Argo Navis with
its Golden Fleece sinks into insiGnificance,
and the ship that bore the pious but recre-
ant Eneas to the mouth of the Iiber and
the Lavinian shores was but a feeble pro
totype.
Jean Paul Richter, in his inimitable
Nv eddinS Discourse of Adam" portrayS
the father of the human race as looking
with Amusement through the centuries
upon his own multitudinous descendants
and upon himself, therefore, as a sort of
condensed embodiment of all the genera
tions that should people the earth. Thus
Columbus might well have looked upon
his little craft as bearing above it's CULVER
ing keel 1.-The promise and potency" as
Herbert Spencer would say, of all the
future of our half the world. Thus, as he
paced the deck in the weary night watches,
to his prophetic vision the banner of the
masthead changed from the crimson and
gold of Spain to the meteor" flag of
England, then to the Pine Tree" banner
then to the stars and stripes The rattle
of the rudder chains spoke first of the
clankling of slave letters, and then of the
clash of steel that sundered them forever.
The weather worn ropes of the rigging,
stretched athwart his visionary prospect,
seemed a promise of the network of electric
wires and cables that have become Puck's
girdle around the world.
The very ships themselves. the three
cockleshell galleons or caravelS, or what
ever they We're called, We're such no longer.
But this was the Bon Homme Richard off
Marlborough head; this was Old Iron
sides yardarm to yarlarm with the Guer-
riere, and this the Hartford in the harbor
of Mobile! The parchment scroll in the
strong box in his little cabin was no more
a patent from their majesties of Leon and
CASTLE. 1t began, when in the course of
human events" and the first among its
many signatures was the big, bold writing
of John Hancock. Nay, it bore later
date; it said, 'All men are freel' and its
signature was that of Abraham Lincoln.
And the crew, too, who We're they, as he
looked upon their sleeping forms that
September night? And what did he see in
them? Here n stern faced Puritan, here Il
dashing Cavalier, here plethoric Dutch
man. Here black skinned captive.
Here were two martial forms-the one in
blue, the other in gray Here lay one
whose hand seemed already grasping and
Harvesting the thunderbOlt. Here lay
another whose hand seemed pointing to
caught the sound of n great, rushing wheel
that laughed both wind and tide to scorn.
Here lay one upon whose placid brow the
sunlight seemed to trace in golden char
acters, First in war, first in peace first IN
the hearts of his countrymen," and by his
side one ON whose patient, suffering face
was written, with malice toward none
with charity for ALL and still another
upon whose firm fixed face was written,
Give me liberty or give me death"
Nor were these all. In darker corners of
the cabin he could see the narrow brow,
the cunning glance, the itching palm.
There Were the betrayers of a nations
honor, the plunderers of n peoples birth
right. There were those who would prove
false to trust, who would sacrifice public
good to private gain. Falsehood and
treachery and theft and uncleanness lurked
in the shadows. And the admiral faltered
and asked of himself, do l indeed bear
the Christi"
Such was the cargo which the little YES
sci bore, the most momentous to human
ity since that earlier voyage was ended at
Mount Ararat. And not only did 1T bear
such freightage to theNew World, but it
bore great treasure from the Old, and
robbed it of them forever 1t bore away
from Spain her valor and chivalry and left
the proudest and strongest European pow
er to sink into insignificance. 1t bore from
every other land the best and brightest
young hearts and brains and strongest
arms whose labors would now be lost to
the fatherland and would build up a new
fatherland beyond the deep. That wan
dering track across the sea marked path
way by which the chosen people should
make new exodus and leave the land of
bondage desolate.
As he looked back along the foaming
wake he might see a strange squadron
Ao11@ ri nd net Ia
Mayfower there the Halfmoon. There