The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1900-12-21

Russia WheUher CheSe expensive eSIdD D.
lishments should be kept up, do you
doubt what the vote would be? Now,
is it not better that we be overtaXed
and the surplus be distributed all over
the land than to have it built up and
piled up inside of palaces?
Continuing this international cond-
parison, I have to say to you that
we have a better climate than is to
be found in any other nation. We
do not suffer from anything like the
Scotch mists or the English fogs or
the Russian ice blasts or the typhus
of southern Europe or the Asiatic
cholera. Epidemics in America are
exceptional, very exceptional. Plen-
ty of wood and coal to make roar
ing fire midwinter, easy access to sea
beach or mountain top when the ar
dors of summer come down, Michigan
wheat for the bread, Long Island corn
for the meal, Carolina rice for the
queen of puddings, Louisiana sugar
to sweeten our beverages, Georgia
cotton to keep us warm. In our land
all products and all climates. Are
y
your throat delicate? Go south. Do
you feel crowded and want more
room? Go west. I declare it: This
is the best country in all the world
to live in. How do I know it? I
have 65O,0O0 new reasons for saying
it. Six hundred and fifty thousand
people in one year came from the
other side of the Atlantic to live in
America, and they came because it
is the very best country to live in.
While making this international
comparison let us look forward to the
time which will surely come when
all nations will have as great advan-
tages as our own. AS surely as the
Bible is true the whole earth is to be
gardenized and set free.
Many years ago in this city I gazed
upon scene which for calamity and
grandeur one seldom sees equaled. l
mean the burning of the Smithsonian
institution. 1t was the pride of our
country. In it art had gathered rarest
specimens from all lands and countries.
1t was one of those buildings which
seize you with enchantment as you en-
ter, and all the rest of your life holds
you with charm. I happened to see
the first glow of the fires which on
that cold day looked out from the win
dows of the costly pile. I saw the angry
elements rear and rave. The shout of
affrighted workmen and the assault of
fire engines only seemed to madden the
rage of the monsters that rose up to
devour all that came within reach of
their chain. Up along the walls and
through the doors were pushed hands
that snatched down all they could
reach and hurled it into the abyss of
flame beneath. The windows of the
tower would light up for minute with
a wild glare and then darken, as
though fends with streaming locks of
fire had come to gaze on in laughing
mockery at all human attempts and
then sunk again into their native dark
ness. With crackIe and roar and crash
he floors tumbled. The roofs began
lere and there to blossom in wreaths
and vines of flame. Up and down the
pillars ran serpents of fire. Out from
the windows great arms and fingers of
iame were extended. as though de-
stroyed spirits were begging for deliv
france. The tower put on a cOronet of
fame and staggered and fell, sparks
1ying, the firemen escaping, the terror
Books, maps, rare cor
autographs of kings,
costly diagrams burned to cinder or
sea attered for many a rood upon the
h. ID1-& ho
,ited multitude. Oh, it seemed like
some great funeral pile in which the
wealth and glory of our land had leaped
to burn with its consuming treasures.
The heavens were blackened with
of smoke, through which
shot the long red shafts of calamity.
Destruction waved it's fiery banner
rom the remaining towers, and in the
hunder of falling beams and in the
'oaring surge of billowing fire heard
he spirits of ruin and desolation and
woe clapping their hands and shout
ng: "Aha! aha!"
l turned and looked upon the white
lome of yonder capitol, which rose
through the frosty air as imposing as
,arth had come to resurrection and
stood before us, reminding one of the
great white throne OF Heaven. There it
tood, unmoved by the, terrors which
hat day had been kindled before it.
20 tremor in its majestic columns, no
rown on its magnificent sculpture, no
lush of excitement in its veins of mar
,le Column and capital and dome,
,uilt to endure until the world itself
hatters in convulsions of the last
arthquake. Oh, what a contrast be-
ween the smoking ruin on tt one
and and that gorgeous dream of ar
hitecture on the other! Well, the day
peeds on when the grandest achieve
nent of man will be consumed and the
world will blaze. Down will go gal
cries of art and thrones of royalty, |
nd the hurricane of Gods power will |
cater even the ashes of consumed |
reatness and glory. Not one tower
eft, not one city unconsumed, not one
Gene of grandeur to relieve the desola-
ion. Forests dismasted, seas licked |
Lp, continents sunk, hemispheres an
Inflated. Oh, the roar and thunder |
ng crash of that last confagra ton! !
,ut from that ruin of a blazing earth |
We shall look up to see the temple of |
iberty and justice rising through the |
ges, white and pure and grand, un-
CARED and unshaken. Founded on the |
ternal rock and swelling into domes |
infnitude and glory, in which the |
of Heaven have their re- |
erberation. No fame of human hate |
hall blacken it's walls. No thunder of |
lfernal wrath shall rock its founda- |
ions. BY the upheld torches of burn |
1g worlds we shall read it on column |
nd architrave and throne of eternal |
ominion: Heaven and earth shall |
ass AWAY but truth and liberty and |