The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-10-24
ARP STAYED AT HOME.
WHY HE DID NOT SEE THE GREAT
COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION,
Much to Take Himself and Wife-Colum-
bus Was No Great Shake, Anyway.

| earth, L reckon l wanted to go and see it,
but ddcnt go. | tried to get in on the
ground floor for myself and my wife, but
l couldent, and as ! dident have money
enough for two l concluded to stay at
home. That's loyalty-conjugal loyalty.
| There was another reason. l heard u man
talking about another man and he said:
Yes, dogon him, he can go to Chicago and
take his wife, but he can't pay me that
grocery bill he's been owing me for six
months" / owe Il few of these darn little
just debts myself, and / didcnt want to be
talked about, so it's all right. It's an awful
time to be sending the money out OF the
country anyhow and getting nothing back
but pleasure. It's well enough to celebrate
Columbus and make Il great display, but
the times are unfortunate and the great
United States senate won't do anything but
draw their pay. and everything is democrat
| lied. l wish now We had let Mr.. Columbus
| alone. Lead us not into temptation" is
Il good prayer If there had been no fair
nobody would have wanted to go and our
money would have been kept ut home. Co
lumbus wasent such wonderful man no
! how. He dident mean to discover America,
! and he ddent know he had discovered Il
new continent when he landed. He was on
the make. He stole Indians and carried
them away and sold them. History does
not make him great man nor Il good man,
but he was an enterprsing navigator and
was 4 success, that's all. [ would rather
| have been Calico than Columbus. He dis
| covered a far bigger thing and did it on
purpose. 1t was not an accident. He dis
| covered the universe, the solar system and
declared it to mankind. My admi-
ration for him is profound and |
wish the schooboys and girls to read
AZ hon h,,,1- hon
just 300 years ago this month that he con
WINGED himself that the sun did not go
around the earth, but the earth went
around the sun. What n stupendous asser-
| ton for any man to make. Just think OF
it! For thousands of years everybody had
seen the sun to rise and set and rise again
every twenty-four hours, and nobody
doubted or suspected but what it went
stationary. 1t does look that way. doesent
| it? No wonder everybody believed it.
Joshua believed it when he commanded the
sun to stand still on Gideon. Solomon be
lieved it, and so did all the astronomers OF
Egypt and of Greece and Rome. So did
| Shakespeare and Bacon and the wise men
of England. How could any man dare to
| say that the earth went around the sun,
| making q circuit of 2OO,0O0,O0O miles in a
| year and get back to the same Identical
| spot from whence it started? Columbus
dident do anything or know anything to be
| compared to it. Calico upset and de
stroyed the theory of ages and he challenged
the astronomers and the mathematlclanS of
the world to listen to him and to come and
examine his proofs. That was only 300
years ago. Just think how long the world
had slept in utter Ignorance of the srandest
thing the human mind can contemplate
the solar system. We ought to have cPle-
hrated Calico in some way this very year
Columbus discovered a continent, but dident
know it. Calico discovered universe ana
did know it. COpernicus had in a tiInld
v-ov Inc11 rod thp solar system some
Dftv years before. but he died without con-
verts, and his theory died with him. Even
Galileo kept it secret for seven years.
lie was afraid of the pope and after he did
Z announce It he was put in prison and kept
in n dungeon until his health broke down
ana his wife did like Jobs wife. she
| begged him to rccant and say he mad ned
and he did it. 1t was Il memorable SIGHT,
! the scene of that recantation. The great
| nhiInsonher down on his knees before the
| pope and in the presence OF cardinals ana
! priests and learned men. swearing win up,
| lifted hands that the earth did not @ around
| the SIM but the sun went around the earth
| every dav. But as he rose up and retired
from the popes presence he whispered TO a
friend, 81 have recanted and abJured only
to save my life. The earth does rs ,y on on
it's axis and around the sun ihen lo[
| seven Years he had to go before the prleSl
shrca times a week and recite the seven
nnnitential psalms as an atonement Tor ms
heresy. The pope and the prest4toou d he
| -clared his new :. 'iioo l;o+od tho
F Rible Calico had made hin
| a telescope, the first one ever hi'ue. 1
| made the tube out of an old organ pipe anu
| got Il spectacle maker TO grlho LII " , Son
| cave glass for one end and convex siasS
for the other. and then to his surprise ana
| dnlirht he saw stars, more stars, new stars;
! 10 irnnroyed the telescope until it magnlfled
thirty times and he saw the moons VI 1u-
nirer When he announced his discover
| los tho wise men said he was crank, 4
fanatic a fool They said that any star
or planet that could not be seen with the
naked eve was not intended to be seen ana
If was sacrilige to pry into the mysteries
Of God. They said there couldn't be but
| seven planets for there were but seven days
in the week and seven metals ana steven
| holes in a mans head. They kept tnat
| Moor man under watch and prosecuted MN
| 70 such an extent that he lost his sight and
I when John Milton came to visit him there
were two blind men together cohVerSlhS
earnestly and secretly about the universe,
the solar system and the wonderful works
| of tbe creator There was scene for
nainter-NIilton and Galileo-each soaring
| in realms of thought far above the concep-
ton of mankind and comforting each other
! in their Affections. But in his last days
Calico triumphed over all his enemies and
established his wonderful discoveries. lie
lived to reap some rewards and although
blind and deaf, be was visited by the most
noted men of the civilized world: just
| 1llnk NItb lDdllS luOhl INC Iuth iin' "
suffer before it is established. And the
king said unto his servants what honor
| and dignity hath been done unto Mordecai
for this?" And they said nothing has
! been done"
That is the way of the world still. The
| benefactors of mankind are soon forgotten.
| Morse and Cyrus Field and MauTy and
| Crawford Long and Elias Howe are pass
ing out of mind and mention. The great
heroes of war, the men OF
| blood get fame and a name,
but those men who have done most for
mankind in the arts of peace get but Il
| small record in the annals of history. Let
our boys and girls read more biography of
the great and good men who have passed
away. 1t is as interesting rs a romance
| 1t beats baseball and bicycles. l asked
young lady not Gong age who composed that
beautiful music she was playing and she
said Beethoven ''Who was he,' said
/. What nationality?' I was sorry that
! | asked the question, for she didn't know.
The children should be encouraged to read
| about somebody every day or night. Fill
| the mind with useful knowledge and it
will be comfort when Old age comes.
BILL ARP.