The silver lance., 1898-07-01


Is there sound in the world so sweet,
on dark and dreary morn,
When the gloom without meets the gloom
within, till wish we'd not been born
AS the sound of little barefoot boy
gayly whistlIng in the rain.
While he drives the COWS to pasture green
down the path in the muddy lane?
The joy of boy is funny thing, not
dampened by autumn rain;
His clothes and his hands and his sturdy
feet are not spoiled by CRIME or stain
The world to him is wonderful place
that he means some day to explore;
II there's time to play and plenty to eat
who cares if the heavens pour?
Oh, that CHEEKY trill of heart as fresh
as the drops that clear the air,
Brings a smile to our lips, and clears the
soul of the gloom that brooded there
And we bless the boy as he spats along
through rivers of rain and mud,
For the hope and cheer in that whistled
note would rainbow the sky in
~
Had the Union army been pronounced
victors in the first battle of Bull Run,
the chances are that the war would have
closed there. 1t was not to be. Fate
was directing events. The stage had
been in preparation for years. 1t was all
set on that day, and that battle was real
ly but the calling of the first act in the
tremendous tragedy. When the declara-
tion OF war was promulgated two months
ago, we believe that little oldtime
Grant and Sheridan energy would have
practically finished the war in a month.
But it was not to be. And when men
now seek to peer through the battle
clouds and tell us what the final adjust
ment must be, we think, instinctively of
that other war, and how dimly could the
wisest see the outcome, how far astray
the wisest were in estimating what would
be done when the time for righting the
ship of State, that it might thenceforth
run on an even keel, should come. Our
Government, when founded, was an ex-
pertinent, but as it has progressed thro
the watches of century it has taken on
majesty which never attached to any
other nation. We do not realiqe its mag
nificence and power. We do not know
how the poor and oppressed Of the earth
have turned toward its light; we do not
know what prayers have been offered for
its perpetuity. Neither can we yet dis
Germ the purposes which have been put
in operation by this war. Maybe it is
intended to give to us among the nations
the power necessary to command the
peace Of the world. Thanked by the
worlds two greatest oceans, with a food
capacity to feed mankind, with mines
pouring out ceaseless stream Of treas
ure: with half the railroads of the world; /;
with an area broad enough to carry on
half the worlds work; with free schools
everywhere, with 75,OOO,OO0 people ell
speaking one tongue and all politically
and personally free, with an earning
capacity equal TO any other four nations
with balance of trade in our favor an
nually equal to one -thirtieth part of the
entire wealth Of an old Empire like Aus
tria; with absolute free speech end a free
press, who can estimate our place or our
power? Who knows but that the pur
pose is for OR country to put in opera
alton the forces, which shall not only
prove to mankind that states can be say
ed without the sword, but that when en-
lightenment shall come, the sword must
be put aside, and that nations must
thenceforth submit their differences to
decision under a code from which there
can be no appeal? If this Is to sanguine
a possibility, there is still left clear the
picture that with the war closed, pro
gress will not be stopped, and that
progress will have to be followed wherev
er it may lead, even if old precedents
have to be changed and old theories
modified. 1t looks to US as though ours
as a Nation was entering a new era, and
that Americans must be ready for a
forward marchr'-sSdH Lake Tribune.