The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1895-04-27
Ancient and Modern Times.

Rev. Cory Thomas addressed the Ma
sons the evening of Easter Sunday, in
which he compared the present age
with that of the past in the following
manner:
Members of this ancient order of
craftsmen, turn back for Il moment and
look into the early history of America
Suppose we 90 back in thought along
these hundred years of our organized
national lie Picture to ourselves the
America in 1875, and contrast it to the
America Of today.
Nay. Go back only fifty years-go
back to that period in the history of the
world when Britaln's girlish queen was
summoned TO the discharge of her high
and responsible office; when sunny
France had not ycntured to break loose
from the chains of monarchy; when the
resource Of our own country were unde-
veloped; when our railroad system was
still in its infancy; when it seemed i'm
possible for vessels moved by steam to
cross the Atlantic; when our postal sys-
tenn was cumhrous, dilatory and expen-
sive; and our Geographic system, brain
of man could not have conceived.
Today our railroads have spread their
vast net work over all the land. Today
our mails are swift and cheap and our
letters are counted by millions instead
of by hundreds. Today our telegraphs
flash the instantaneous message to all
parts of the globe, neither seas nor
mountains opposing a barrier to the
transmission today.
So far as wealth is concerned, so far
as maternal progress is concerned, such
! records fill us with astonishment But
alas, there is another side to history.
| Besides the successes and achievements
there arc events that remind us of the
, insigniicencc Of human endeavor.
] study the Pentateuch, the Gospel
and Joaephus, and | am bewiIdercd
with the government OF Il hand unseen.
| come across names almost unprO-
nouHceabie; read OF countless genoa
loe!es, and learn Of events Victories,
losses, national rejoicines and calamities
and deeds empiratical, all OF which tell
truly the power Of Divinity and the
weakness of nam. Some one has truly
said that THE ocean warns new hearts
where once populous cities stood. The
rising and the alling of the sea rings
bells in tower and steeple beneath the
water, whose eiiEery notes once called
the people together III civic conciaye,
or religious conyocation."
1t was Farror who said that Rome was
always depressing. The Eternal City is
such a monument to the transitiveness
OF human endeavor, and the same one
cries out, And is this the Forum? Is
this the meeting place of the nation?
Hence did the courier's swift feet run
to the Niles fertile banks, to Palestine.
TO Gaul and Britain? Do these walls OF
black earth and these crumbled mar
bles present the majestic pomp, the
martial supremacy, the unconquered
might of Rome"
We leave our dear American shores,
and travel to Eastern lands, linger now
where the prophets wept and PRAYED
and ask when the steamboat leaves and
when the train comes in, and we are
the men who want to drag down the
heavens and make trade with the stars.
When you visit the Cathedral of Rip
on, England, you may grope your way
through long, dark passage cut out
in the rock, underneath that venerable
minister, and there find the little Saxon
Chapel of st. WiIfrid built in the sew
enth century: that diminutiye shrine
was the gem seed of the great cathedral
that towers above it, The little stone
altar was the prophecy Of the nob,er
altar above.
May we not take courage then, and
comfort, too, as here in this new world
We build our little chapels and rear our
modest affairs, and lay amid toll and
tears, with cramped meansi amidst such
autagouism, the foundation of Il glor-
ious superstructure, which will be built
upon this continent to the glory of God
an" tie 9dINdtIoA Vi the nllillONs that
people it.
One more word and l have finished.
No nation of God has such a right to
look Into the mystic future. as our ma
ton. And why? Because in the future
record of our being, l see that our best
is yet to be done"
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