The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1896-12-17
MOVING ONWARD.
THE VICTORIES OF HALF
CENTURY.
What Of the NewCentury?

Charlotte OOSerUer.
Ammo Domoni 1897 In one fast:
tieeting month Father Time, his scythe
hung across his bent shoulders, as he
treads his way across the stepping stones
of the years, will have crossed from 96
to '97. And then he will be only three
years distant from the summit OF a
century. We are already past the gray
dawn of the new century. The first
rays of its sunrise are leaping up above
the hilltop Of 1900.
We have seen skilled athletes, some
climbing upon the strong shoulders OF
others, until they reach three, four,
perhaps five rows up in the air. So
| with men to-day. We haye climbed
upon the shoulders of the generations
of the past until we have reached
point of eminent progress. 10 .wnat
greater heights the coming generations
may climb upon our dead selves, eye
hath not seen nor ear heard ne'th-
er hath it entered into the heart OF
man to conceive. But men VIII con-
tlnue to reach out and up, to progress,
to attain. until the ideal OF the millen-
MUM is come.
Is the world any the better? May
we note aught in passing events and
present conditions to allow us to en-
throne optimism and exile pessimlsm
The two great English speaking ma
tions of the world haye agreed to arbi-
trate difficulty which threatened an
appalling war; and not only SO, but
have practically agreed to decide all
future disagreements by arbltationss
This understanding not only insures
Justice to country whose territory was
in danger of being curtalled, but the
moral effect of it upon the earth, and
the precedent it established for all tu
ture time. in the uplift Of the olive
branch and the leashing OF the dogs o1
war, ,nust be of incalculable good.
In our own country we have seen {
great issue that distracted mon to The
point OF infuriation settled peacefully
by the ballot. \ President OF & Christ
ian nation for the first time in its hts
tory has dared to speak in q State pa
per Of the Authoy and Finisher o' It
Christian faith.
g We have seen justice prevail aGa'ns
2 might in the treaty OF peace whlcl
s drives the armies of Italy from TIE tel
!, ritory OF Abyssinia.
n We have seen the most potent ma
n of influence from barbarous nation
: jnconcelvable extent and populatlo
It studying civilization in the West ths
h he might furnish his fertile mind wit
ideas for the betterment of his own PEI
e pie.
We have seen the discovery OF
10 search light which pierces the huma
70 flesh and proves a marvellous aid to su
d gerry and science.
, We have seen modern eXploraht
n make most superb leap through ba
rlers of Arctic ice toward the NOR
* Pole, which must be discovered ere II
e. divine thirst in Man to know can
Ii slaked.
It is true the picture has It's cha
ows. Cuba, the little island that shou
tn blossom and bloom in the eternal sll
" shine of the tropics. is trioped and az
ed olatc in the throes of bloody war WI
:. Spain. Armenia is still IN peril at t.
40 hands of the unspeakable Turk, but t
ls' oppressor has at least been checked
lis IN his rule of ruin and rapine.
sh This retrospect covers pefioo
,a hardly half of the passing deca'
What. then, might not be sad OF
Gil strides of art and science and clvlli
re- ton and Christianity during the p
* century? Can we believe the world
he going backward?