The record-union., 1899-07-03

upon us and are demanding our atten-
ton. AS civilization progresses every
thing changes. We are not satisfied to-
day with what c0ntented US yesterday,
because we do. nat stand to-day where
we stood the day before = There is al
ways an upward tilt insthe path which
is pursuedsby civilized nations and the
demands aapon the individual are al
ways increasing. II it were not SO,
grow .monotonous, for what is national
life but the aggregate of Individual
life?
Perhaps in no one respect has the
world grown more noticeably wiser
than in it's recognition of the needs
of childhood. "As the twig is bent, the
tree is inclined" is no longer regarded
an idle adage, but one fraught with
the most intense and important mean
ing, and which emphasizes the truth
of that other saying, 1.-The boy is the
father of the man; and intelligent
philanthropy concerns itself not so
much to-day with attempted reforms in
the adult life Of the nation as with
| the proper training of the child. An
ounce of prevention is worth pound
of cure" says our wise nineteenth cen-
fury philosophy, and it accordingly
proceeds to act upon this principle,
recognizing the incipient manhood Of
the child, and the Importance of its
being properly trained for usefulness
in the realm of citizenship. How diff
ferent are our schools to-day from
what they were fifty years ago; how
muck> broader their teachings, and how
much more comprehensive the whole
educational plan He who wisely
trains the child draws from all the re-
sources open to him. Nature and the
events which are daily transpiring be-
fore him in the life of the nation are
great object-lessons from which valu-
able instruction is continually being.
drawn. The influence which country
life has upon the development of char
acter is being more and more fully APP
preciated as powerful factor to that
end. There were those who lived years
ago, minds which were in advance Of
their time, who were impressed with
the fact. Emerson said that "all nat
ural leaders come from the country,
and their children must go back to
power; while Victor Hugo made the
statement that woods and fields
make the education of all great men,,
and Humboldt asserted that 'the spe-
cific work of civilization is to get the
individual out of the mass and to exalt
personality
LOOSEN UP AND BE MERRY.
Marysville Appeal: Taken altogether
the prospect of good crops have evil
IDENTIFY raised the spirits of the farm
ing and mercantile classes down in the
vicinity of the Bear River and they
very sensibly have concluded that as
''All work and no play makes Jack a
dull boy" that they will take a day
or so off now and then and mingle to-
gether in an endeavor to add little
leaven to the ordinary plodding duties
of life. It's just as WE'LL too, for We'll
all be here but a short time and will
be long time dead, and the Appeal
opines that a trifle more good fellow
ship and good joke we'll cracked now
and then will entitle a man to fonder
remembrances at the hands of posterity
than a hundred living lines of obituary
ornamenting forgotten tombstone.
DEVELOPMENT OF PORTO. RICO.
Portland Oregonian: Extensive road
building by the Government, work for
all applicants, and the eight-hour rule
as applied to days labor, should
make our insular province of Porto
Rico veritable laborer's paradise just
now. Between $4,000 and 10000 men
are now employed under the direction
of the military authorities in the con-
struction of good roads in the island.
1t is almost incredible that this island
should have been occupied for CEN
turtles by an alleged civilized people
and still be the. roadless labyrinth of
forest and norass between it's culti-
waited areas and the coast that the
Americans found it. The purpose of
the road builders has been, first, to
open or make pasSab1e the main chan
| nels of communication between the
coast and the interior, in order that
agriculture may be brought into rela-
lively easy touch with commerce This
ACCOMPLISHMENTS the vast army of
men employed should work wonders in
road-building in a few months-new
thoroughfares will be constructed as
feeders to the main roads. The magni-
tude of the work accomplishes a two
fold purpose, in that it will give the
island that for which its industries have
languished for generations and furnish
large number of willing, able bodied
men-practically all who want to work
with present means of subsistence.
TAKEN AT HIS WORTH.
Fresno Democrat: Poultney Bigelow
in an address before the United Service
Institute in London a few days ago
| highly eulogized the American regular,
and the manly bravery of the volun-
teers. but was severe in his criticism
of the politics, which, he declared
everywhere controlled all appointments
and contracts. He said that to his own
personal knowledge, by reason of a
lack of organization and supplies, be-
fore the first transport left Tampa for
Cuba, the American army presented
every feature incidental to disastrous
campaign. He said that the food which
was provided for the soldiers was not
good; the equipment was broken down
and the officers with their stats were
as helpless in their new uniform as
clergyman would be in a coming
tower. But when he demonstrated with
the officials, it was a matter of indeci-
sion whether he be hanged to a sour
apple tree or simply ignored as harm.
less lunatic. AS Bigelow is alive, the
conclusion is irresistible that he came
| under the second category and was
taken as harmless lunatic, and prop
erly SO for interfering and presuming
10 dictate in matter in which he had
no voice. The province of a io,1rna1ist