The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1895-06-08

gods OF the people about him, but in a
God WHOM he believes To be supreme. He
has heard Il voice out OF that which to
Others has been "A deep silence; out OF the
arkness in which Others are Immersed
has come Ia him n light, and the voi,e
tells him to go. and the light points the
direction. y, dreamer, what does II all
meant
believing In his dream he starts out aud
finally reaches Il land he recognized rs
that which he has Set out to seek. Years
after We see him again. lie is an old mar
lie is standing by the blue Mediterranean,
gazing upon its waters and listening to its
moving waves. lie is dreaming still, now
of "A posterity so great that it shall he AZ
the very sand upon the shore of this sea.
lie lifts his face to the sky, and the form
of the dream changes, and he thinks of a
posteriiy as numerous as the stars. He
owns no foot of the land he has come TO
possess. He is an old man, married to an
old woman, and na children a ever
been born to him. Was there ever "a more
visionary being than this old Chaldean?
Yet he dreams on, hopes against hope,
aud dies without ever having seen more
than a fragment of the iGlflin,ant OF his
cream.
Who can estimate the value of this
dreamer to the world Following the
light he alone saw, listening to a voice he
alone heard, he Went far from home, ulti-
mately won for himself the enviable title
Of The Friend" throughout the East,
end through his posterity, which Is
greater than in his widest dream he ever
thought Ut its being, he brings to man
kind blessings vaster by lar in their reach
than ever we can properly appreciate.
lake Abram, the visionary, the dreamer
out of human history and there is q gap
impossible to fill!
All men who seek a new land are his
successors. What was more visionary than
the scheme proposed by Columbus. The
idea OF sailing directly 70 the West in the
hope OF finding IA continent hitherto I'M
discovered. To us the idea is n very
natural one, and a very practical thing,
but to the people OF his day the plans pro-
posed by Columbus were those of a very
wild visionary. lie lived il an age OF
naval revival. Men We're making voyages
to an extent lar greater than ever before.
Travellers tales We're brought back by
every vessel of the wonderful things to
be seen in distant lands, but no one told
of a continent in the West. The ships for
the most part Rugged the shore, and those
who ventured far enough away from IL to
discover some island in the sea fastened
back 10 the nan land a. soon As possible.
Columbus, in his dream, went further
b a any had gone in ships, and told men
that his dream was truth. Tried to get
them To fit out vessels for him, as he was
| willing to show his faith in his vision by
embarking upon the perilOus enterprise.
Everything was against him. The past
was against him. No mar had eyer done
such II thing therefore such u thing could
not be done. so FAR as there being any
country beyond the sea the very idea was
preposterous. The world a sphere! Did
not even the Bible itself declare that the
sky was a curtain stretched over it, and
the plain Interpretation of that statement
was that the world was fiat, and that it
was sheer blasphemy for any one to deny
IT. Common sense. also WAS ultpppt her
against tho ile, of peppir whose heads
must be handing down, occupying an
exactly opposite position To that occupied
by all the known world. Who was this
Goeuese sailor who had such wild dreams?
Who was he who dared To 90 against the
learning of the time and claim To be wise
beyond that which was wrltteu1
Columbus Gai aeen u world in IA vision,
and believed that IL was real. lie asked
men to help him, but IL was not easy to
tiud one VINO would risk both has money
and his reputation for sanity by fitting
out IA tieet for such II seemingly hopeless
undertaking. What would have brought
despair 10 au ordinary man dad not dault
tins dreamer. Hts vIsiun was eyer before
him. The more he thought al 10 the more
real it ali appeared, and thoagh he was
COMP led 40 beg his way from court to
court To offer tC princes the discovery OF II
world" and though he met with rebuff,
aud with the uit releaici taunt hat he
was only IA Visionary, yet lac perserrrcd
until he was gwen the fleet, and found a
lard STRETCHING. b'yond tie limits al lis
| .rsrst visIoh.
Who will furnish the tables Tor thu cal
culation ol.thc debt the world owes Ia
this dreamer! Who hut y dreamer couii
ever have dane what ho did, The practi
cal man would never have had the vision,
nor would he have dared To undertake the
voyage. The dreamrrs are The founders