The Red Cloud chief., 1896-05-29

'Ns
we realize that for thousands OF year
people have loved the same natur,
that VIC love so well, that they hav,
regarded the grand march Of the sea
sons with the same admiration with
which we regard it; that they have
been dominated by the same passions
which dominate US; that they express
ed their emotions in the same way in
which We express ours; then it is We
feel ourselves bound to all creation by
a. unrslesssble tie. When We con.
slider that there is nothing new in the
world; that every idea We conceive,
every thought we express, is bat a
reiteration; that all nations at all
times have been Influenced by like
motives; that our present age Of en-.
lightenment is to be surpassed by an.
other as far in advance of US as VIC
are in advance Of our f~orefathers;
when we consider tho vastAsss of time
and the myriads Of people that have
lived and are o living we can but
partially conceive how difficult it is
for al individual to climb to the pin.
nacle Of fame and remain boldly sill.
houetted against the background Of
the ages.
But love is q mighty power which
preserves the records of our heroes.
A nations greatness is but the ref &c.
ton Of tho great mems deeds. Noble
characters, whether they be men Of
action or of letters, inspire US with q
feeling akin to that experienced by
their W age. We feel their gran d.
eur of the soul, the sublimity of the
mind, the greatness Of the motiv es.
the vastness Of conception that made
them the chosen of the age, the mill.
stones Of generations.
Go with me back to the childhood
Of nations. When the first beautiful |
morning light broke on Europe, when
oil yet lay in fresh young radiance, as
Of a great sunrise, then our Europe
was beginning to think, to be. Won.
der, hope, and Infinite, immeasurable
radiance burst upon the minds of men
strong SON of nature. Here was
Odin an unframed captain and fighter,
discerning with his wild flashing eyes
what to do, with his wild lion heart
daring a.d doing; he was a poet too,
a prophet, a grea, dsvout thinker, and
an inventor too, as the truly great
man ever is. Thus the shadowy form
Of Odin comes to US. He was a god;
the chief god Of his people, whose de-.
votion to him was Unlimited. Their
love expanded until 1t transcribed all
bonds, till it filled and overlooked the
whole field Of their thought. He was
as a great light kindIed in tho dark
vortex of the Morse mind.
He was a typical Norseman; the
finest Teuton whom that race had ever
produced. To this very time, every
true, deep thinker is a kind of Odin,
a teacher OF msn, who moulds a por.
ton OF the worlds history after his
own likeness. The man Pericles has
fashioned for himself n statute
lore enduring than marble. The
glory Of the Augustan at Rome, or Of
tho E~liaabetean age in England, is di III
when compared with the half century
following the battle OF Salamus, the
age OF Periclos, when Athens was the
center Of the world. Who
can name a greater sculptor than
Phidias, or a bettor architect than the
designer of the Porthenon; who more
faithful and thoughtful historians
have We than Hsrodolus and Thucy y.
dides; who, but Shakespeare, can
vie as tragic poet with Aeschylus,
s%ophocles and Euripides? What
mortal has shown a keen.
er and truer philosophic mind, and a
noSler heart than Socrates? Yet all
these men lived for the glory of Ath-
ems, and their admiration Of the world.
What Pericles was to Athens, Caesar
to Rome. He was the most com.
plets man OF history for his genius
was t~rsHscspdent in three directions