St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-10-22


Gen. Childs' address to the His
torical Society = laundering
GOrdons Poem.
One of the special events of the day
was the observance had by the state
historical society in its rooms at the
capitol. This occurred at IL. o'clock,
and the rooms were filled at the time of
beginning. Gov. Ramsey. as president
of the society, conducted the ceremo-
MES. On the platform with him were
the speakers and President Northrop,
of the state university. I'll. l.. Gordon,
of Minneapolis, read his epic poem,
Columbus" upon being introduced by
Mr.. Ramsey:
Behold the magic of four hundred years!
Earth wheeled her million circuits round her
sun
While Nature labored to evolve man.
Earth wheeled her million circuits round her
While man from bestial dens and savage
dom
Slowly uprose and. cropping into light,
Stood face to face with facts; uprose and
fell
The sh uffling feet of generations passed,
BY brutal Ignorance and coward Fear
TWln-born led OH, ere man again arose.
Deep reader of the sagas of the past
And wise beyond the wisdom of his time,
Through myth and mystery Columbus saw
Glimmering the islands of an ancient world;
For when the time is ripe God sends the
man.
Lo at his touch the doors of mystery
Flew open, and the sea gave up its dead.
Behold Atlantis risen from the sea!
Behold the Iong-lost island of the godsl
All nature lay miracle; the isles
Lifted their fronded cocoas to the sun:
Lay in prlmeval wilderness world
Men clad in natures nakedness in awe
Peered from the palms upon the white
winged ships,
And saw the promised coming of the gods.
the breath of God blew in Columbus sails.
Behold the magic of four hundred years;
The shackles broken from the limbs of man:
The shackles broken from the minds of
men;
A mi,ghtier race than Rome or Carthage
knew x
Uprisen in the West; the miracles
OF science and the wonder-works of art.
Behold all nature bending to mans will;
The winds, the tides the thunderbolts of
heaven,
Turning his mills and harnessed to his cars
Would that thou could'st from out thy tomb
arise,
Columbus, on yon Queen of Indian isles,
And see the New World miracles. and hear.
From isle to isle and swarming land to land,
The great heart of the world throb to thy
name.
III. w. Childs followed i'll formal adj
dress. He gave the old historical sketch,
but it was clothed in new habiliments,
and it held the large gathering of
savants and antlQuarians of the state
who form the society, with an interest
that could scarcely have been more had
the familiar story been entirely new.
Mr. ChildS reviewed the barbaric days
of Europe, when warlike tribes trav-
ersed the continent and even entered
the British isles to find new fields to
capture. The Norman. the Norseman,
the Gaui. the Teuton-all were reviewed.
Gen. Childs did not credit Christopher
Columbus with being the first white
man to set foot upon American soil.
He believed the story narrated of Lief
Ericcson's voyage to the mouth of the.
st. Lawrence river long before the Col.
umbus voyage.
The speaker gave graphic descrip-
ton of Genoa, the Genoa of ColumbuS1
day. 1t was prosperous, buStling
mart. Her sails swept every sea known
to European commerce, and her sailors
did not fear to venture on discovery.
There Columbus was born in 1896, and
Gen. ChildS then gave a recital of the
career of the great navigator to the end,
and this was eloquently supplemented
by brief narration of American history.