The St. Johns herald., 1897-09-18

tent an influence upon the human race as that voy age and it's eliminating discovery A new world d thereby opened to the Caucasian race, and as the result of the discovery then made, a vast continen has within these four hundred years been transformed from the abode of sav- ages and barbarians to the home of the might jest civilization ot all time.
 Discovery has been followed by colonization colonization has been succeeded by independ- ence and independence has brought new and vast areas of territory, until now the American republic spans the continent from ocean to ocean, and stretches from the snow-capped mountains of Alaska to the orange groves of Florida
 As we glance back over these four centuries. what a field of achievements, what records of adv nture, exploration, pioneering progress, improvement and invention are disclosed to view What stories of brave, aggressive men, courageous he oc and devoted women, are un- folded as we look down the long vista of these bygone years-stories of those who have swam and forded raging torrents, passed over the solitudes of lonely desert and prairie. sealed the mountain ra! ges, hewed trails through trackless forests camped where the orgies oi wild beasts made night hideous and lived in constant fear of the tomahawk and scalping knife-every where blazing the way for coming civil ilization to follow Upon the pathway of the pioneer has come the locomotive whose screams now daily resounds over prairie and desert and reverber- ates among mountain crags and canyons, mak- Ing no pause until the waters that lave the shores of the vast Pacific command a halt; and now along the avenues of the iron rail surges in ceaseless tide a restless md ever advancing people, as numerous as Black Hawk said the white people were sixty years ago-"as numer- ous as the leavesin the forest"
 Scattered all over this broad land the spires and homes. of thousands of cities and villages glisten under the light of the monday sun. and everywhere m forest and on prairie by lake and
 by river, myr0ds upon myriads of rural homes, are nestling to-day ami the mos picturesque scenery thu. flag anywhere protects. The s.est is>ss, tl SC massive water gems which nature hos St, i. the heart Of the continent the
 rivers that " in majesty" the h.any estua- ries that indent the continent the 5riuy waters Of either ocean, all to ia.- re l-aline --o-
 their bnsoms the merchant marine of an ever increasing commerce of great and powerful nation
 Invention has touched with magic hand the mysteries t1 DdluTet anu SASHt "N"NN-N --'>'O sprung forth. Many of the mysteries or that subtle and potent though terrible eleman cleo tricitv. have been unve Id. It now conveys our messages. not only from city to city, across the continent but moving with the speed of the lightning's flash, down ill thc dephths Ot the ocean. it carries dispatches from nation to na- tion. and by the aid of that other potent engine of civilization, the printing press brings each morning to our doors tidingS of the remotest re-
 pions of the globe Invention has also supplied electri,ity with an echoins rgue, and friends, though mil ,. apart, eak together. each readily racoonizing the voice Of th- other It has been barnessed 10 do the bidding of man, and now drives achinery and propels transportation and it is not improbable that it will eventually supercede the use of steam as motive power. Nor is this invention has purloined from cleo tricity, it as purIoined that wonderful and beautiful gift of nature, light, and everywhere throughout Chrlstendom the shades of evening bring the gIeam of the electric light that con- verts night into day and dissipates gloom. And what strides have we made i'll the science of navigation. compare the aWkward-l oking caraveIs oi Col mbus with the great steel rail- way ships of to-day, which. carrying clouds of canvass. plough the oceans of the globe Place the craft of Robert Fulton, which made the first
 steamboat trip, only ninety years ago, down the