The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-12-20
SPAN OF A SINGLE MAN.
Wonderful Progress of the World In
Fourscore Years.

EOulSCOTS y ears.
| Manchester IN. H.) Union: In the
hustle and hustle of the activities of
life we too seldom reflect upon the stu
pendous progress that has been made
during the past threescore years. 1t
! is easy enough to figure them out, and
! even the most salient of them are
startling, but we seldom do 1T. When,
| however, a man reaches the age of 80,
| who has led a most active life has
! kept fully abreast of the advance
thought of the greater portion of the
! period, and is of clear memory and
keen intellect STILL like eX-President
Bartlett of Dartmouth college, a retro
spect or "reminiscences of which he in
dulged Thanksgiving evening, are both
| pleasant and important, although the
! changes noted seem more like boyiSh
| dreams than reality. Dr.. Bartlett
| expresses the opinion that no boy of
| the present time will see the same de-
! gree of advancement that it has been
| his privilege to witness. He relates
that he was a teacher in a country
grammar school in Vermont when
! Queen Victoria was still under the
! charge of her mother, and so all the
! events celebrated at her recent jubilee
: have fallen within his lifetime. Fur
/ ther that all that was remarkable at
! the great Columbian exposition has
been evolved within that period.
! A paragraph or two from his remarks
will serve as an impetus for a little
| individual reflection upon the marvel
| Gus advancement made in go years that
will be at least a pleasant diversion.
! The changes in the transition from
| my earliest days until now are almost
! like the passage to another planet;
! changes in the art of war and the acts
of peace, and in the whole comfort,
convenience and healthfulness of living
and working, in sanitary precautions
! and in the relief of the sick and the
suffering. My memory goes back to
the fiint-lock gun and the smooth-b bore
! cannon, to the sickle and the scythe,
! to the open fireplace, the universal
wood fire and the Undertook; for 1
saw the light dozen years before the
/ first friction match emitted light
heard the hum of the spinning wheel
/ and have seen the shuttle fly back and
/ forth in the hand loom. The land in
which we live has meanwhile enlarged
the number of it's states from 20 to A.
multiplied its population eight or nine
fold, pushed it's area from the Atlantic
1900 miles to the Pacific and thrust
out the horns of Alaska 5000 miles be-
You'd.
Human power has been multiplied
by mechanism until one mans work
releases ten, or it may be 100, Others
and the helmsman of a great ocean
steamer holds the reinS of nearly 10000
1 horses. And so all business has taken
gigantic leaps. The importer can order
daily from London or Paris, and the
country trader replenish his stock
every week instead of twice a year.
The whole world has come within
speaking distance. Sixty years ago it
took a letter two days from Boston to
! Hanover; 20 years ago sent a message
from Jerusalem to Chicago in the same
forenoon, and the money lately paid
in Boston for Armenian relief on one
day was ready for Constantinople the
next.
1T has been the main era of the
great work of foreign missions. During
my lifetime the Bible has been rem
dered at least into 800 or 400 tongues,
in which it has been printed, and prob
ably one-half of these have been first
reduced to writing for the purpose. In
the heavens an eighth planet has been
added to the known seven; the four
asteroids multiplied by AGO. and the
object glass expanded from four inches
or thereabouts to 40, to tell us, it is
said, of the 100000 suns all bound to-
gether in common bonds by the mighty
hand of God"
SO much is carelessly said of the
good old times, of the high patriot
lolll VI Jul cuCSSIOiS carly III the cen
fury, their orthodox integrity, puri-
tanical rectitude, that it is interesting
to know the conclusions of man of
the experience, capacity for gaining
real knowledge, and the opportunity
for observation of the standing which
DR.. Bartlett has properly earned. He
gives it in this way, and it merits the
careful consideration of all who have
a pesSimiStic tendency:
In looking over the chances in q
years, what shall be said of the retro
spect? immensely of progress; first
material, secondarily intellectual, and
[ may add, moral. Life is longer, life
is easier, life is more powerful. One
would not willingly go back to the en-
vironmentS of that earlier time al
though we did not mind it then They
were tough, and so were We
But is life happier now? Taking the
world as a whole, and the civilized
world n 'he a-eraq YES. While nc
men are happier than some men then
far more are comparatively happy, anC
far more of acute misery is relieved
Science and art, aided by wealth and
opportunity, have done it. Wealth
has been largely and honorably subsi-
died, although often the greatest
wealth has done the least
DR.. Bartlett could have easily eIab.
GRATED his "reminiscences, of which we
have given but a brief sample, and his
conclusions, and they would have beer
of high interest throughout