The Saint Paul globe., 1897-09-26
WON LASTING FAME
TRAJAN's COLUMN ONE OF THE IN
TERESTING MONUMENTS OF
MILITARY GLORY.
ITS HISTORY is REVIEWED.
MRS. CLINTON j. BACKUs' PAPER
AT THE MONUMENT COMMIT
TEE MEETING.
FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS.
Citizens Will Be Asked to Aid in
the Work to Honor the G. A.
r.. Memory.

The ladies' committee of the soldiers
monument fund are about to make a
systematic canvass of the city for sub
scriptions for their laudable object
the erection Of a handsome monument
as an enduring tribute to those brave
boys who gave their lives that the
Union might be saved. There is now
1926 in the treasury, and the work of
raising a suitable sum will be prose-
cuted vigorously.
About fifty ladies were present at the
regular monthly meeting of this COM
mittee, held at the capitol yesterday
afternoon. The president, Mrs. r. M.
Newport, reported that a contribution
of $S5 had been received from the
Daughters of Erin, as the result of an
entertainment; also $43 the receipts of
the base ball game between the city
and county officials. A vote of thanks
was extended for both os these gen
erous contributions.
Following this came a pleasant So
cial and literary session, a. which Capt.
j. ]. McCardy related his Impressions
and observations while at the Grand
Army encampment at Buffalo recently
Mrs. Milham also spoke of the en-
campment, telling how it looked
through woman's eyes.
Mrs. H A Castle, who leaves short
ly for Washington, SPOKE encouraging
ly to her sister workers in the inter
ests of the monument fund.- and urged
them to renewed efforts
dramatic and original poem, THE
Boys in Blue was recited 18th ex-
preston and feeling by Mrs. Clifford.
The event of the meeting, however,
was the reading of al Interesting and
thoughtful paper On ''Trajan's Col
umn,' by Mrs. Clinton j. Backus," in
part as follows:
The motive which causes man to rear mon
uments in memory of great deeds is doubt
less mixed one, but its basis is surely
dread of forgetfulness. Perhaps among all
the monuments of military glory none Is
chosen for your study today-Trajan's column.
Let US briefly recall what learned years
ago from Roman history of him in whose
! honor this wonderful work of art was raised
| by the senate and grateful people.
Born, not in Rome, not even in Italy but
in ltalica, in the province of Spain; a
province, however, Romanized that even
the common people spoke the Latin tongue.
| so vital with the best blood of Rome that
! 1t not only gave to the mother city Seneca
| to utter words of wisdom, Lucan to sing
wan
/ grams, and a Quintilian to crystallize the
| floating mists Of rhetoric but also provided
her with one of the best of her emperors.
When Nerva, feeling the burden of the
| great Roman world too heavy for his feeble
shoulders looked around for colleague and
successor he departed from the path of his
| question coming from Roman ruler, What
! is best for Rome? What do 1 know
who can rule this vast empire with prudence,
| energy and wisdom? Whose hand is strong
| enough to hold in check the unruly Praetor-
| ian guards?' Licinius assured Nerva that
| he would find the desired answer to all these
| questions in the persons of his lifelong friend
Trajan. So we behold, the feeble old man
| Of 66 years making solemn offerings in the
capitol and taking gods and men to witness
! that he adopted Trajan as his, son.
man with so little desire for the pomI
and glory of the imperial court that he re-
mained for year after the news of Nerva's
far-of Germany, Strengthening the bonds
which already united them and providing
against future insurrections so simple in his
tastes that the rude fare of camp life suited
him, so unostentatious that he and the EN-
press Plotina made their first entry into theil
capital on foot with no greater. mark of dis
! tinction than the humblest citizen; so JUS
that when demonstrated with or
the lack of court etiquette he
replied 'I shall be towards others
as 1 would have wished when 1 was a mere
private citizen, that emperors should be to-
wards me- so filled with love for his sol
diers that in the thick Of the conflict he
| pauSeS TO DlnQ up Ine WOUNDS Oh a IalleI
! soldier; so democratic in his rule that Martial
in his epigram, voices the thought of the
people when he says, speaking of Trajar
| after his return from the Dacian war: 1--WE
no longer hold a master here, but the mos
| just of senator's. >.
| A man of uncommon energy the numer.
| Gus works scattered over the provinces clear
| ly testify. Who can the wonderful bridge
| after all these centuries still spanning the
| Tagus at Alcantara, 1877 feet in height anG
not say this was the work of man Of
mighty will power; who can tread the mar,
| vellous road cut in the solid mountain where
| enlaged Danube dashes and foams through
: the Iron Gate; who can tread this stone roac
| and not feel awed by the res:stless WILL which
| said Here road shall be made for the
march of Romes legions?" But when We
| on throwing across the broad Danube bridge
which modern engineering has not dared tc
| reconstruct we say 1.-The man was sublime
| And vet this Trajan as modest and un-
| assuming as our own Grant as plain ant
| homely in his ways as our own Lincoln.
| No emperor was more worthy a hiStor
| ian than Trajan. yet by no bosrapher has
which 'still stands intact, majestic in the
midst of ruins" speaks more eloquently OF his
! war-like deeds and prowess than many vol
| umes.
| The column was erected by the senate and
people in 113 A. D., during Trajans absence.
! Thus having defed the storms of nearly l,So0
winters, it stands today monument of the
military fame of Rome, more durable than
the empire model for all triumphal col
| Apollodorus, its Greek architect to be viewed
| as we view it today, in all its entirety, for
he placed it, not in the open space Of the