The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-12-22

jackson for, his defence, OF the city in
1915, erected that monument but in
scTibed nothing on the base. When the
war for the Union was in progress q
New England general, who was bare
foot boy when Jackson was candi-
date for the presidency, went to New
Orleans to drive disunion into the gulf
Riding past the Jackson statue one day
1t struck him that the people should be
given an object lesson in loyalty and
he engaged the services of a stone cut
ter to cut the inscription have quoted
into the stone. So -''
Whoever looks upon the monument
TO jackson will not forget that General
Butler, than whom no better, truer SOL
dler drew sword for liberty emphasized
the sentiment of fidelity to the union
and the constitution in letters of gran
lite where its lesson was most required.
A barefoot boy stood on the deck of |
a ferry boat on the Ohio river and |
earned his first dollar by carrying two |
passengers from the Kentucky to the |
Indiana shore. Speaking of 1t after |
ward he said: Sometimes it was diff |
cult to propel tina boat up stream, but |
having no shoes on my feet could get |
a better grip on the deck" He fol- |
lowed the stream later on until it |
took him to where he saw slaves sold |
from the block In New Orleans. and as |
his blood surged fast and hot through |
his six foot of manhood he said "If |
ever get a chance to hit that institu-
tion meaning slavery I'll hit it hard"
'l The Opportunity Came
In the Providence of God it was or
dained that the opportunity should be
given him, and 1t came when he signed
the proclamation which liberated four
millions of black men and women. The
name of Lincoln will always shed light
on the dark and dreary pathway of
| the boys who struggle through vcis-
| situde and trouble. E.-'
Our national history Isl studded from
| the beginning TO the present with the
names of those who as barefooted boys
STROBE from youth to manhood, from
obscurity to fame, and from unknown
depths to the proudest places in the gift
of the people. But here were and there
are others, just as good, whose names
are never told, whose deeds are never
inscribed on brass or marble, and of
whose praises no poet ever sings. Dur
| ing the forest fires of last summer, in
Michigan, relief train was dispatched
to the rescue of number of villagers
i VIM Ntit hCllllHtu Ill NY IL wall Vi IIdUlb.
1t was necessary for that train to run
through the blazing forests, but before
the return could be made the fire had
swept across the tracks for miles and
escape appeared impossible. The engi-
neer closed the windows of his cabin,
| saturated cotton waste with water,
placed 1t before his face and with his
hand on the heated lever he stood at his
post Behind him, In the tank stood the
fireman shoyelling coal into the furnace
and occasionally dashing water over
the engineer and himself to quench the
flames that had seized upon their cloth
ing. The frightened passengers threw
themselves on the bottoms of the cars
and during the long minutes, that
seemed like ages, they scarcely
breathed. Through the long lines of
flame, out of the sitting smoke and into
4 the pure air they came but the engineer
and fireman We're almost wrecks of
) what they had been. Burned and
blinded they guided that freight of
human souls to safety regardless of
! their own. A few days ago we all read
of the colliery engineer, who. on learn
ing that the engine house and shaft
was on fire, remembered that number
Of miners were down in the earth. He
, sounded the ALARM called the men to
the carriage, and with the flames lick
, ing up his clothing, burning his hand to
blister, he clung to the heated lever
until his fellow-men were safely landed
at the top Of the shaft. Where shall
: we look, in the days to come, for the
, name of Root, the engineer of that
Michigan locomotive; of O'Donnell, his
, fireman. or OF Lloyd, heensineer of the
| colliery?. No monument, no stone, nc
record even of their heroic bravery-but
, they are specimens of as sterling man
| hood as ever evolved from bare feet
= to mans proudest estate.
We Forget the Soldier.
: We remember the general but forget
the soldier who made 1t possible for the
general to succeed. We idolize Wash
ington, and well we may, but have
. given no thought to the barefoot boys
! whose blood consecrated the soil OF
. Pennsylvania at Valley Forge that We
= mght be rid of the kings evil in thi!
c land.
We shout the praises OF the genera
: whose chief claim to recognition lies il
!, the fact that he killed men to save hi!
country and we ride, silently over tn,
: Brooklyn bridge, or through that which
spans the Father Of Waters at st
. Louis, and are oblivious to the fact tha
the greatest monuments that can b.
erected to the memory of man are be
= meath, around and before us. We cal
: tell who designed these wonders, bu
y never question who they were VIII
!, erected thm. Look around you tomor
row and everything your eye will res
u upon will speak to you of the handi
II craft of your fellowman. The raw ma
s terial placed at our hand by the AL
u mighty Is made sublime and still NOR
wonderful by the hand of man. w
i recognize In the Commonwealth build
y ing, at the corner of Washington AM
e Spruce, the thought of Hand, Ham
e to whom we all turn with respect an
IS pride, for it Is Justice Hands common
n wealth. We are watching the erection
a of the Jermyn hotel, at Wyoming an
q Spruce; we wonder as the iron girder
q and braces fit into each other day afte
IS day and our admiration is challenge
lie as the building climbs heavenwart
r After Hand and Jermyn have passe
-e on to that empire of silence these mon
Ell uments will tell the future resident @
If Scranton the story Of their work anon
n us. Whose tongue will tell the name
ii of those whose labor made 1t possibl
* for the names of Hand and Jermyn
ID be remembered as builders anon
A. men?
lie While dreaming over what the bare
e. foot boy Of the long ago could do W
1t close our eyes to the fact that he is fas
'e vanishing from among US as the littl
Ig hero of Whittier's poetic fancy w
to dream of the barefoot boy of fictio
lie and pass the living breathing boy
* his rags and bare feet every day on tn
II, street without giving him a though
lie We like to read of what the America
s. youth can do, but do we realize tha
rs the achievements of the past are II
he longer to be reckoned among the poss
blities of the future?
Different from Our Fathers.
We are not such creatures as OF
C. fathers were, our environments are NJ
the same and our end in life seems I
be different. We grasp for riches, IL
es power and position, forgetful of the IA,
We that he who gains power over Other
re loses control Of himself and that ono
NJ the longed-for position or eminence
nv gained he becomes servant for othel
IA and must be guided in his acts by wh5
no Others think and what custom pr