Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1900-12-28
1.-THE TIDE GOING OUT-THE TIDE
COMING IN"

around the brow of the Nineteenth Century
and the fond Old Year, like death shades
creeping DER an old mans soul. In few
brief hours these two monarchs which have
held sway DER the earth will have been laid
away in the sepulchre Of revolving years.
Crowded into each are the ghosts Of things
past-shadows which appear Tor the last
time, and shadows that, haply, ct such q
season, again may come knocking at the
hearts door. The long train floats by To
the quick measure of the pendulum, and In
vain the soul crys "stay." 10 few brief
hours "the tide will be coming in"-over It's
polished surface:
Like painted ship on q painted ocean,"
will dawn the Twentieth Century and the
glad New Year.
We realize, with regret, that the limited
space, usually found in a weekly journal,
will not allow US, even in general way, to
write Of the mighty and startling events
throughout the civilized world during the
Nineteenth Century, and must, therefore,
very briefly refer to our own country, with
any reflections that may appear as we pro.
coed.
10 our national industries Gods hand has
been seen in mercy. No famine has afflicted
us-nor dread disease has blackened our
land, the horn Of plenty has hung high in
our States. From the granite hills Of the
North to the sunny Savsnnas Of the gulf
the agricultural prosperity has prevailed
Along the slopes Of the Atlantic-over the
broad prairies thanking the Mississippi and
across the plains OF the Pacific the husband.
man sowed in abundance, genial sunshine
smiled on the new turned earth-reireshing
showers baptized the swelling grain. Corn,
wheat and other cereals have tossed their
bearded tops in the breeze and the barus of
the nation groan to-day with grain. Our
manufactures have been fairly engaged.
Water wheel and spindle-sewing machine
and printing press have sung TO audiences
that Gilmore never Appropriated, and their
song has been sweeter TO myriads of de-
pendent families than the ballads of Hewitt.
Commercially we owe debt Of gratitude
we cannot cancel. Our merchant ships
have spread their snowy wings OF canvass
over every ocean and carried our super
abundant home commodities TO the ends OF
the earth. Back have they been waited by
prosperous winds laden with contributions
Tor citizens sent from foreign shores. No
privateer has tracked their paths on the
deep, or with flaming torch wrapped in
mantle of fire their freight of wealth.
The closing year greets US as the angry
pillows Of party contention are falling into
profound camness. Men of every political
faith are looking on our national future
hopefully Our revenues are steadily re
ducing the great national debt. Our mag
nifcent new states and Territories are be-
ing rapidly developed. We have universal
education-from the great accommodations
of wealth come vast endowments for public
Observation-Disclosures, colleges, academies,
schools and printing presses are multiply
ing all over the land Literature, science
and art have scattered with lavish hand
their priceless treasures broadcast so that the
rich and poor alike can partake. The boat
man, with his silent oar, has called for many
of our eminent public men, pbianthropists
and scholars. The badge of mourning has
been fastened at the doors of the palaces of
the rich and the humble cottages of the
poor--a cloud of sorrow, but recently, rested
over every ,mestead OF this fair country
a. II heard of the sad and overwhelming
calamity which befel the polished and
fiourishlng city of Galveston, Texas. With
all, we have great reason to be proud and
greater reason to be thankful for the bless
ings bestowed upon us as nation and as a
people.
A writer of evident cultivation Of mind
has written, 1T is great thing TO have a
glorious past" We are inclined TO agree
with bim-Greece is a land endeared TO our
sympathies and sensibIitles from the mo
ment they are first developed. The most
ancient temple OF the arts, the nursery OF
poetry and philosophy, and the earliest home
of freedom, II is associated with every sen
timent that can charm the eye, animate the
heart, or engage the understanding The
mind still responds to the thrilling cadences
of Homer fires at the eloquence OF Demos
themes, and fingers a wondering pupil at the
charmed feet of Aristotle II is possible
that even barbarism can have trodden down
the hallowed groves Of the Academy, where,
under the shadow of the classic portico, the
immortal Plato fought, and crowds listened
to the almost inspired lips Of Socrates The
circus, the theatre, and the temple, the Are
opagus and the Agors, have equally paid
the debt Of time, but mighty vestiges attest
their ancient grandeur, and Greece is still
holy ground to the poet, the antquary, the
sculptor, and the patriot.
All that is heroic and glorious is con
tanned in the venerable annals of Rome,
commanding alike the admiration, the in
teresi, and the sympathy of mankind, and
10 contemplating the sad spectacle OF her
decrepitude and decline, or reading the dis
graceful story OF her fall, we are consoed
by "reminiscences OF her infancy, youth
vigorous prime and splendid meridian The
Eternal City, equally OF the past and the
future, is the proud appellatiou yet assumed
by town on the banks Of the Tiber, the
corpse OF what was once Rome. and so hal
lowed is the spot by associations and ruins
that the whole world has accepted and
adopted the title,
England, grand 10 the renown of her Ell.
gin, her Erskine, and her Mansfield, points
through the veil of her murky grandeur to
Westminster Abbey, where rest her lettered
dead.
France reveres the name of Charlemagne
and lifts her Place Vendome to perpe,ua,e
the memories of her great Napoleon. The
Spanisrd looks back through centuries OF
romance to the last stand OF Roderick
against the Moors, whilst the Italian claims
for his own, the achievements OF Venice.
Genoa and Florence.
Let others look back-we can look a head