Connecticut western news., 1894-08-09
tFor the CONNECTICUT WESTERN NEWS )
WE EMI-CBNTENARIANS
 AND OUR TIMES.
By Rev. J. G. Oakley, Ph. D., D. D.,
Pastor of Centenary Methodist Episco-
 pal Church, New York City.


 We who have finished the first half century of our immortal life. and are still travelling up toward the hilltops, ought to be permitted to sit down and rest little, while we look back and down over the path~by which we have thus far ascended. What the people who may be living in the middle of the twentieth century will say, we cannot tell; but we feel sure that all the gen. erations that have ever lived before or since Noah came out of the Ark, will pardon us if we put in the claim that the past fifty years have covered or in cluded the most active, energetic, and progressive age that the world has seen since Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden.
 If you short haired, beardless boys and frizzed, curled, and banged headed girls of to-day, who have not lived very long, and don't know very much, will just hush and listen to us we will tell you how some things were in this old will tell you little of what we have done in our time to put you on vantage ground.
 The kings and queens who occupied the thrones and palaces of the world when we were born, have ali descended to the silent tomb, except one. Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Empress of India, one of the greatest ornaments of noble, Christian womanhood that the world has ever seen, still lives and reigns. We all feel like saying, Long live the Queenl She was very young woman fifty years ago; she is great grandmother nowi
 Let us in imagination resurrect and reseat on their thrones some of those who ruled the nations when we first saw the light. On account of the death of President William Henry Harrison, Vice. President John Tyler had become president of the United States. Daniel Webster had resigned as Secretary of State, his successor, Abel Parker Upshur, had been killed by the explosion of a cannon on board the steamer Princeton, and John c. Calhoun had been appointed Secretary of State; Fredrick William ". was king of Prussia; Louis Philippe was king of France; Leopold l., brother of the mother of Queen Victoria, was king of Belgium; Isabella II, was queen of Spain; Abdul Mejid was sultan of Tur- key ;Mehemet Ali was viceroy of Egypt; Charles Albert I, was king of Sardinia; Ferdinand II, was king of the Two Sicilies; Tan Kuang was emperor of China; Sir Henry Hardinge was govern or-gen eral of India; and Gregory XVI, was Pope at Rome.
 There was great excitement throughout the civilized world at about the time of our birth, but our birth did not cause it. It was caused by Prof. Morse who had just invented the telegraph. That wonderful aid to man. kind was invented at just about the right time to telegraph the fact of our birth to our distant relatives and the world at large, but for some reason 1t was not done. If we had started out then on an excursion over every rail- road in the United States, we could have travelled but little over 4,300 miles. They were just beginning to navigate the oceans by steam power. Chicago was no larger than good sig ed village and had never dreamed of having Worlds Fair. We had only 370,0 900 people in New York city, so ' of the greater part of that great city. When we were large enough to begin to go out to see the world, we were taken to see the first great industrial exhibition that was ever held in the United States. It was held in New York at the Crystal Palace which was away up north of the city proper, but it was on the corner of Sixth Avenue and 42d street! We have seen the pop. ulation of this country grow from twen- ty millions to over sixty millions When we Semi -Centenarians were dis covered, gold had not yet been discov- cred in California. The famous 'forty- miners" had not been heard of at all. In. fact, fifty years ago California was not part of the United States. An drew Jackson was still living when we were little hopefuls. We were lively | fellows when James K. Polk was pres ident and had James Buchanan for his secretary of state. We helped to cele brate the victory when Gen. Winfield Scott took the city of Mexico. We knew Henry Clay who said he ''would rather be right than be president" but we could not see why he might not bt both, If he belonged to the right party We listened to some of the great speeche. of Daniel Webster, ''who," Hallan says, twas senator worthy of Rom, or Venice, rather than of our noisy ant wrangling generation" When we be gan life Abraham Lincoln had jus been married and elected to Congress Ulysses s. Grant had but recently grad uated at West Point. In 1S45, wheI we were but one year old, Jefferson Davis was elected to. Congress. w, have always boasted that we did no vote for him. He was the man whom the soldiers of 186l-65 in their song. so often hung on sour apple tree How we shouted when Texas was an nexed to the Union! The next grea excitement we boys had was over the discovery of the planet Neptune il l846. We wanted to go and see it a. soon as we heard about it. Our excite ment subsided somewhat when they told us that the recently discovered world was little over two thousand six hundred millions of miles from us and that if we travelled five hundred miles day, it would take us fifteen thousand years to get there. We didn't start, haven't started yeti In fact, we have given up going. We can't afford the time. The next year, 1S47. the ia, nous famine occurred in Ireland, and as Ireland was so much nearer than Neptune, we paid special attention tc the needs of that evergreen island which is like an emerald in the ring of the sea It was not the potato bug, but the DO tato rot. that caused the famine Thousands of people starved to death The British Parliament made number of grants, aggregating in all more than S45. .000, 900. We sent large amount of provision to the sufferers. Ireland has not forgotten it, or ceased to he