The record-union., 1893-12-01

the nations of the world. So flexible are
we that We can change our popular vote
in the night, chameleon like, while oul
political leaders are hopping from one
party limb to another and absorbing the
new political complexion, and not lose
our balance withal nor surrender oul
personal liberty. We can do even more
than this; we can build in mid-ocean q
western addition to our enterprising Re-
public in a day, in the morning shoot out
over it the stars and stripes, and in the
evening take down the American nag
and surrender all our property tenure
with the grace of Chesterfield.
We lay our electric cables from shore TO
shore, from continent TO continent, and
! hourly exchange news with our remoteSt
neigh bors.
Ours is an era of profound and rapid
thought, OF a deep, earnest inquiry.
/ 1t is an age of intense feeling, OF broad,
! liberal VieWs-one when Tor pugnaciouS
/ blood flows the streams OF the milk OF
human kindness; when for war we spon-
| taneously offer the olive branch of blood
less arbitration. Oh, the setting sun OF
! this golden century! What rich national
! splendors it draws after it as the daily
sun rising from the sea draws after it the
whtest spray and most delicate color
/ ings.
! What a luminous sky hangs over our
/ world! What a noble, inspiring inherit
ance is ours! In what finely adjusted
! proXimites we live!
| IOu touch every man; every man
! touches you. Into all life you empty
yourseli; all life is given back to you.
The individual contributes much to So
clety; society returns much to the indi-
vidual.
The pusations of human life are quick,
warm, tender, lovingly reciprocal, and
substantially sympathetic.
Moreover, we who live between the
/ placid shores of the Pacific Ocean and the
snoW-crOWned mountains OF the Sierra
Nevadas, will be pardoned if we with
some degree of enthusiasm express our
| gratetulness for where we are locally.
] 1t behoOYes us to be thankful for our
geographical position. especially when we
| recall the seventies of the stormy win
ters and the oppression of the thrice
| heated summers OF the Eastern States,
and then compare them with the CORE
spending seasons OF our glorious Califor-
mia; wien we remember the fact that east
of the Rocky Mountains it is one con-
tinUOus struggle for existence" while
here it is one uninterrupted dream of
bliss"
Think of it, In a land where almost
any midwinter day you may see on the
green sward among the fresh flowers the
gorgeous butterfly and the little brown
| bee contending for the honey in the same
! blossom!
| Ours is e paradislcal country, garden
of palms and flowers, an atmosphere
! tropical and genial as Eden itself, coun-
try where dOuble-taced Janus, with flow
| cry chapletS-bOund smiles complacent,
with hoary winter driven from sea to
mountain; where you are famed by an
eternal balmy breeze from an ocean
] ,1oI,1
| of health and vigOr, a disintectant' for
contracted disease, an antiseptic for NAL
eVolent tendencies-a climate that turns
the dreams OF Ponce de Leon into ver-
! liable fountain of life, spot that is little
| less than fairy land and nothing short
OF an earthly paradise.
Still further, | am sincerely thankful
! for residence in this enterpriSing, sub
stantial city. Sacramento, whose CONNER
cial and literary advantages are surpassed
! by none of its rank in the State; the palm
of whose right hand spreads out over
! fruitful valleys as rich and fertile as the
alluVial banks OF the famous Nile, while
! her strong thumb rests on the well-ap-
pointed, finely located Capital of our
State, and the tip of her index finger
dips in the tides of the Pacific.
Thankful for this classical city, so cult
ured in literature that it requires for itself
three-fold language when she desires to
express her displeasure at the intrusiOns
OF nature and man and incorporates for
herself an ''An Anti-Gebris Association"
-Greek, French and Anglo-Saxon.
! And yet L was advised by presumable
friends not to come to this city to live,
where | would find the voraciouS mos
quitoes and the muddy potions of the
Sacramento River as great a burden as
| the Iocusts and bloody waters were to the
Egyptians. l have come, l have seen, L
| have not been conquered. l have found,
however, the mosquito story to be a
myth, while | shall take as much aristo-
cratic pleasure in washing down my
| Thanksgiving turkey to-day with the
! slickens in the water from the Sacra-
mentO River as the eXtravagant queenly
| Cleopatra is tabled to have taken in
moistening her epicurean feast with
pearls dissolved in Wine-as much pleas
ure, l say-being cOgnizant of the fact
! that | drink nothing more Objectionable
/ than gold and silver and precious stones.
| III. Finally, / am thankful for why [
am. The earlier philosophers used to
/ divide the whole world into two classes
of inquirers: those who ask for the what
of things and those seek the why. We
of this Christian Nation should file in the
ranks of the latter.
In the future eras of this world the un-
| wholesome doctrine Of agnostic eyolu-
ton, of both physical and social life, may
! lead off a following of thoughtless, God
! less beings to the belief that there is no
! end or purpose of man but to evolve into
! existence, revolve in existence and de-
| vOlVe out of it like a beast or as a litelesS,
perishable star, or as a planet passes
| from the Sidereal realm of its lingering
companions.
But until that hour strikes let us hold
fast the better doctrine which we have
been taught by all the noblest of the
earth, above all by Hin who was the
teacher of teachers; let us hold fast,
say, the truth that the why of our exist
ence the why of our citizenship, takes
paramount precedence over the lesser
question of the what, the where and the
how of our being.
1t is only men of this sort that have
been able to impress the worth of their
character upon this Nation, and to mold
the plastic mind and flexible life into
dies struck with the image of noble
patriotism, helpful philanthropy and
world-uplifting Christianity.
To-day we are surrounded by civil and
religious institutions, by benevolent So
cieties and by Christian churches. / de-
sire, therefore, to move the previous
question and ask you seriously if these
things are an end or are they simply and
only the means? Are we created for
these, or are they for us? Does the indi-
vidual exist for society, or society for the
individual? Upon the answer to this
question depend the philosophy of the
world and the destiny Of mankind. The
purposes OF our existence here are as
broad and vast as the earthly realms of
the human soul.
If the institutions, public and private.
are the means to and not the end them
selves. then man alone can boast of the
two-fold capacity Of being both the means
and the end.
If we fully grasp this eternal truth-all
truth is eternal-there will be planted
within us at least one great law, namely.
the survival ofsthe tittest; in other words,