The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1898-01-14
SPAN OF A SINGLE LIFE.
Wonderful Progress az the WOsIA u
FOurscore Years.

!" ESbS 0N tuf ~ OHA0
Fourscore Years.
In the hustle and hustle Of the &C.
tivities Of life, we too seldom reflect
upon the stupendous progress that has
been made during the past threescore
years. II Is easy enough to figure
them ont, and even the most salient OF
them are startling. but we seldom do ii
When, however. a man reaches the age
Of 80, who has led 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. like ex-Presdent Bartlett, OF
Dartmouth college, retrospect OF the
changes noted seem more Ike boyish
dream than a reality. DR.. Bartlett ex,
presses the opinion tina: no boy of the
present time will see the same degree OF
advancement thai ii has been his privi-
leRe to witness. He relates that he was
teacher in country grammar school
in Vermont When Queen Victoria was
stili under the charge Of her mother.
and 50 all the events celebrated at her
recent jubilee have fallen within his
lifetime. Further, that all that was
remarkable at the great Columbian ex-
position has been evolved within that
period. ~5
A paragraph or wo from his remarks
viii serve rs an impetus for little in
divtdual reflection upon the marvellous
advancement made in GO years that will
be at least pleasant diversion.
"'rhe changes in the translation from
my earliest days until now are almost
Ike the passage to another planet;
changes in the art Of war and the arts
Of pema, ard in the whole comfort. con.
venieure and heaithfulness Of living
and working, n. sanitary precautions
and in the relief g. he sick aud suffer
ing. My memory goes badk to the flint
lock gun and the -boreannon,
to the sickle and the scythe. to the tnen
fireplace, the universal wood fire ana
the Undertook; for | saw the light a
dozen years before the first friction
nntch emitted light, | heard the hun,
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 Der OF
its states from 20 TO t5, multiplied its
population eight OF nnefold, pushed its
area from the Atlantic 1000 miles to the
Pacific, and thrust out the horns of
Alaska, 5000 miles beyond,
Human power has been multiplied
my mechanism until one mans work
releases ten, or It may be 100 others, and
the helmsman of the great ocean steam.
er holds the reins of nearly 10000
horses, And so all business has taken
gigantic leaps. The importer can order
daily from London or Paris, and the
country trader repIenish his stock every
week instead of twice year The
world has come within speaking dis.
lance, Sixty years ago II took a letter
two days from Boston to Hanover; 20
years ago sent message from ,Jernsa.
lem to Chicago In the same forenoon.
and the money lately paid in Boston
for Armenian relief on cue 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 rendered at
least into 300 or 400 tongues. in which il
has been printed, and probably one-halt
OF these have been first reduced to writ.
ing for the purpose. In the heavens an
eighth planet has been added to the
known seven; the four asteroids mu,-
tiplied by 400, and the object glass en-
pauded from four inches or thercabouts
to 40, to tell us, it is said, of the 100 .00C
suns all bound together in common
bonds by the mighty hand of God"
SO much is carelessly said of the
good old times" Of the high patriotism
of our ancestors early in the century,
their orthodox integrity, puritanical
rectitude, that it is interesting to know
the conclusions of a man Of the en-
perence. capacity for gaining real
knowledge, aud the opportunity for OBJ.
of the standing which DR..
Bartlett has properly earned. He gives
I in this way and it merits the careful
of all who have a pessi. |
nistic tendency:
I'm looking over the changes in SO |
years, what shall be said of the retro.
'pectP immensely of progress; first
secondarily intellectual, and |
may add, moral. Life is longer, life is
'asier. life Is more powerful. One would |
not willingly go back to the environ.
neuts of that earlier time, although we
lid not mind it then. They were tough,
md so were we.
bat is life happier now? Taking the
world as a whole. and the civilized
world on the average, yes, While no
nen are happier than some men then,
ar more are comparatively happy. and
ar more of acute misery is relieved.
science and art. aided by wealth and
opportunity, have done il. Wealth has
'een largely and honorably subsidized,
Though often the greatest wealth has
lone the least" Manchester IN. H.
Inion.
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.. SWEAV.ShCPS,