Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1898-01-13
SPAN OF A SINGLE LEE.
Wonderful Progress OF the World Im
FOurscOre YenrH,

JlVllleS OF lie, we 100 seldom refeCb
upon the stupendous 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 it.
When, however a man reaches the age
OF so, 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-President Bartlett, Of
Dartmouth college, retrospect Of the
changes noted seem more like boyish
dream than a reality. DR.. Bartlett eX-
presses the opinion that no boy of the
present time will see the same degree Of
advancement that it has been his privi-
lege to witness. He relates that he was
a teacher in 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. Further, that all that was
remarkable at the great Columbian eX-
position has been evolved within that
period.
A paragraph or two from his remarks
will serve as an impetus for a little i'm
dividual reflection upon the marvellous
advancement made in 60 years that will
be at least a pleasant diversion.
"The changes in the translation from
my earliest days until now are almost
like the passage to another planet;
changes in the art of war and the arts
of peace, and in the whole comfort, con-
venience and healthfulness of living
and working, in sanitary precautions
and in the relief Of the sick and suffer-
ing, My memory goes back to the flint
lock gun and the smooth-bore cannon,
to the sickle and the scythe, to the open
fireplace, the universal wood fire and
the Undertook; for 1 saw the light a
dozen years before the first friction
match emitted light. l 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
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population eight or ninefold, pushed it's
area from the Atlantic 5000 miles to the
Pacific, and thrust out the horns Of
Alaska, 1900 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
err 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 replensh his stock every
week instead of twice a year. The
world has come within speaking dis
lance Sixty years ago it took a letter
two days from Boston to Hanover; 20
years ago l sent message from Jerusa-
EN- to Chicago in the same forenoon,
and the money lately paid in Boston
for Armenian relief on enc day was
ready for Constantinople the next.
st has been the main era of the great
work of foreign missions. During my
lifetime the Bible has been rendered at
|
has been printed, and probably one-haf
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 null
tiplcd by 400, and the object glass eX-
banded from four inches or thereabouts
to 40. to tel US, it is said, of the 100000
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 man of the eX-
perience, capacity for gaining real
knowledge, and the opportunity for OBJ
servation, of the standing which Dr.
Bartlett has properly earned. lie gives
it in this way and it merits the careful
consideration of all who have a pessi-
mistic tendency:
"In looking over the changes in so
years, what shall be said of the retro
spect? immensely of progress; first
material, secondarily intellectual, andI
= may add, moral. Life is longer, life is
easier, life is more powerful. One would
not willingly go back to the environ
ments of that earlier time, although 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 on the average, yes. While no
men are happier than some men them
far more are comparatively happy, and
FAR more of acute misery is relieved.
Science and art, aided by wealth and
opportunity, have done it. Wealth has
been largely and honorably subsidized,
although often the greatest wealth has
done the least."-Mancheste On. H.
Union.
, Was IL Marshal of France.
I Somewhere in the south there is said
: to be an ancient porcelain mug upon