The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-05-15
A DESCRIPTIVE LECTURE.


spirit of an enthusiast.
A DESCRIPTIVE LECTURE.
He has in the guise Of newspaper
correspondent personally visited the
scenes of his description and it is
matter of approval that in his lecture
Colonel Mccain refrained from any
tiresome dissertation or Venezuelan
politics or the foreign policy of nations
He simply entertained with an in
structive description of the country
land as beautiful as any on the face
of the earth. The delivery of the lee
ture was accompanied by stereopticon
scenes of the points under treatment.
These pictures, reproductions in many
instances, of photographs, were very
expressive and artistically varied. Col
onel Mccain was introduced by Rev.
Joseph X. Dixon, pastor of the church.
His first words were beautiful desig-
nation of the setting of Venezuela, q
land 1900 miles as the sea gull flys,
over the black-face of Cuba, at the
corner of Hayti-a land where it is al
ways summer, a land of palm trees and
flowers.
He in poetic language, told of the
dependency which blazed a path to
liberty in the light of the Southern
Cross; where the mountains kiss the
clouds, and age-old cities crouch in
the eternal hills. Columbus discovered
1t and Spain almost destroyed it. It's
history forms an almost endless chain
OF slavery. Spera, the blood-thirsty
Spaniard, left no good impress on the
people he subdued, and he remains to
this day the curse of the natives. In
this land was enacted the most tragic
episode in history, where an island
| once a paradise was in a single night
swept by flame and massacre to etern-
al desOlation, where no song of bird
thrills through the saddened ruins,
and after 300 years the desnoled city
remains unstirred by any living thing.
This Is the most terrible stain on the
pages of Spanish history.
THE WORK OF BOLIVER.
The lecturer told how in the twi-
light of Spains' day July "a, 1888,
Simon BoliVer was born. Floria, in
France, told him of the blessings of
liberty, and he laid his life on it's
| altar. Through his untiring heroism
on a June day in 1921 the hosts Of
Spain disappeared and the star of Ven
ezuela took its place in the constella-
tion of liberty. Colonel Mccain, af-
ter giving this part of Venezuelan
history, told of the romance and ira
dition of the land: of the remnants of
"a civilization which was old when
Columbus appeared, and the Eldorado,
which is mapped only IN fancy-a land
of brave men of Andalusian pride and
| the bravery of CASTLE. His only ref
erence to the boundary question, which
received Colonel McCain's personal in
vestigatiOn at the time of the agita-
tiOn was that as far as the line of
gold mining extends so far does Great
Britain want her territory to extend
Venezuela is the land of yesterday"
he said, 1T. is fifty years behind the
age, but what can be expected when
its cities have been destroyed time
and time again by the earthquake and
its people subjected to years of slav-
cry, and a war of determination. No
wonder ii marks time with the drum
beat of another age"
After this eloquent Introductory the
trip proper was begun, Colonel McLain
leading his audience from New York
city, aboard skiff, the first glimpse of
land and then scenes Of interest in the
southern republic, all Of which were
Vivdly illustrated by the stereopticon.
His reference to the cathedral which
remained secure from the earthquake
though its bell was cracked and ST.
fenced forever, was very beautiful He
showed also a picture of a wayside
grave in Venezuela where each passing
traveller had placed his tribute in the
shape of stone upon the grave of the
unknown and above the curious pie
was the silent symbol of Christ. the
cross, shielded from the sun by a sheet
iron cover
SCENE OF KINSLEY'S STORY.
He pointed out the scene of the
tragical story of Kinsley's Westward
Ho!" and also of two types of Venezue-
Ian feminine beauty one the pure
Spanish lady, the other the octoroon
and curiously the octoroon may be Just
as much the belle of the city as the
proud Spanish lady. There is no
color line in Venezuela" said Colonel
McLain.
Compulsory education has been In
effect in Venezuela since 1870. The lee
turer told of the schools and systems
Of our own George Washington in Car
racus, the capital city. His trip up the
Orinoco was vlvidly described and the
lecture concluded in an easy natural
way at the journeys end.