The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-05-11

E'nlnininr- I>cStilencc and War.

inuld. inula came 10 our upDTS we
felt that there was really Il country Of
that name across the waters that it
was not merely a map picture in our
Biographies. The famine Of India
made our world bigger. In other
words, We were broadcncd, and TO
broaden the perspective is not only Al
intellectual good, but it can scarcely
escape being Il moral good.
And, Individually, it touched and
cnnoblcd every single heart 10 every
land that listened to that pitiful cry
coming mp from the stricken plains Of
the Gauges whether they listened to
it and gave, or whether they listened
and only sighed. That cry turned the
eyes Of sympathy for a moment from
the selfish concerns Of our individual
household, or our city. or our nation.
We looked beyond ourselves, we felt
the touch Of nnturc that makes tn"
whole world kin. And from the mo
mcnt one ducS that the world becomes
contracted for him no part Of it is
any longer barbarian we all become
brothers. We feel and know from
that good timo forth that there are
others in the world as well as our
selves. and those others have Il claim
on us. believe America, individu-
ally, is little broader, little noblcr,
il little ncarcr brothcrly love than she
was before any Of the famincs she has
responded to from time to time.
Every great ship she has sent out
; loaded with food to the frozen Sibcr-
ian, the prosecuted Armenian. or the
starving Indian, has brought back on
its return double and triple loads of
the invisible coin Of nobility which
lies increasing in the deep vault Of
national character.
Ravages have likewise been ordain-
ed to bring good in their wake. A
golden harvest lies inoipient in every
plowing The Black Death may be
called one Of the seven wonders of
calamity. 1t was s%tupcndous. 1t was
to all other diseases their Napoleon ;
it had neither fear nor 10 Once
its course began, like Napoleon. only
the humiliation of a people stopped
it. 1t had no more to feed on, as Ma
poleon no longer had an army. Be-
hind it was a clean path it ate its
way on to the edge Of England and
stopped only at the North Sea. Lon
don was the AustcriitG Of the D!ack
Death there, as 10 where else, it
raincd it's torrents Of invisible skulls
that bent down the people like wheat
under u hailstorm. 1t ragged through
the streets, it swept through the by
ways, whole blocks aud almost whole
streets were left unowned. 1t increas-
ed so rapidly and grew 80 deadly that
at last the people did not 80 much as
put out its sign ordered by the Mayor,
q red cross on the door with the legend,
Lord Dc mcToifui 10 our s%ouiss" Il
became too common to neccssitate q
sign. When thousands Of the cursed
inhabitants fed into the country and
surrounding towns for refuge the
Black Death. with a ~tenacity and
inexorableness that characterizes only
Destiny, followed them, found them
out, aud in spite of every subterfuge,
%precaution or defiance gave the sting
it camo to give. Not only to these,
possibly bringing the poison with them
from the city, but also to all those
who had harborcd the miserable
wretches. But the eloquent historian
of those dark days describes them as
they have never since been described.
Turn to Daniel DcFoc for the Story Of
London in the time of the plague.
The greatest good result of this
sacrifice, a result that increases in
good 10 England always, was the i'm
provcment IF the condition of the
NV uiNuJ lhOuStuuJ QlCu vi
the plague (f | have not forgotten, as
many as q thousand died in g deg
when the disease was at its worst)
there were practically but a few left to
till the land and to do the other man
ual work of the country. The mortal
ity among the lower classes was greater
than among the upper, because of
their habits of life and their inability
to get away. Consequently after the
plague labor became dear, and as their
necessity to employers became more
and more evident to the laborers they
made demands for certain honest
rights that had heretofore been de.
MED. The circumstances compelled
concessions to these demands. Exor-
bitant taxation was removed, and the
right to have the land at O reasonable