Semi-weekly independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1895-1897, 1895-12-14
WE HAVE AGE ENOUGH.
No American Need Long for Objects
Of Ncncratiou at Home.


Of Ncncratiou at Home.
We are accustomed TO speak Of every
thing in America as brand-ncW. IL
smells 10 Us of varnish more than any
thing else, and when we go abroad wo
say of buildings and OF institutions.
Alas, we have nothing 1T ali OF this
sort in America" There is truth IN
this, and yo. perhaps we 60 Dot sulii-
GENTLY realize how long our American
civilization has been growing. and
how much of the worlds historr Las
been made in the last 80 years II Is
interesting 10 find Il suggestion o. this
nature clManatinS from 50 thoroughly
English source rs The Lon.lon Specific
toT, the attention CT which has bcr1:
drawn to the age Of our American col
legos by 4 book CT illustrations 81 or
university buildings.
Let Us follow out this suggestion,
and, taking harvard Univers.tr IS =
measure of age. - where Tie world
was standing 81 the time Of tho foun-
datica of that institution. This VAS in
1G;}S- Charles I. WAS ca IT,. tltrs,.,. o.
England. Cromwell WAS young mar,
''guiltlesS cf his counjry's bt'ca." and
had just been turned back r-eui his
plan Of coming Ia America The farc of
Germany Was then deSoMlel VIII lie
Thirty Years var. Richeli.u l.l.i it.~t
formed the French academy a.l WIS
in the zenith Of lis power. TN span
ish inqUiSition WAS pursuing u.s. -clt.il.-
less work and Calico WIS Ne. busy
with his literary labors. u was sixty
years before Peter the Groat applied IN
London for his naval apprenticeship.
and nearly 100 years before Frederick
the Great came into his iuhrri;nHce.
We are apt to think Of English li,era-
ture as antcdating our American civ
lliZation; yet at he time the New World
had taken on the educational and NOR
nj strength which gave Us Harvard Coli
lege, English literature was practically
| unWritten. if We except ChaucCr. Spcn-
ser ana Sha kspcare. paradise l.a>t''
was only dream al Milton, who WAS
90 years old in 1898. and then began his
| continental! Journeys. Dryden WAS 6
years Old: Bunyan was 10. with 10
thought of serving under Cromwell or
being jailed for his views Pope. Swift,
Addison, Bolingbrobc, Bishop Berke-
ley, We're Yet unborn.
These reflections show us how large
n part of human history belongs 70 the
period since the foundation of our old
est university. Into the life OF this
young and growing republic all these
things entered the growing hatred of
absolutsm. the spread Of religious iol-
Grafton. the literary Inspiration o. Mil
tons day. tie artistic spirit that breath
eel from 81. Peters dome Tie Ameri-
can of today need not lack for objects
Of veneratiOn in his own country. II is
old enough. Its founders and those
who have preserved it with suiferings
aud death, and sometimes harder ser
vice of living effort and denial. have
eft bright spots in the dark anu devious
strugglings of the human race To
emulate rather than to disparage their
character and service is the duty and
privilege of the intelligent patriot rf to-
day. Moreover. to consider he matter
from another point of view. l.ln para
doX is true that. if we are 10 look TO
antiquity, the present age is the old
pSt