Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1900-12-07
"Three Milr-Stones in Century's
Progress"

The speaker introduced his theme
with remimisccucr Of western travel
Once in crossing the Great Plains he
had been particularly impressed with a
series OF milc-poals hy tua roadside
which bore no very significant numbers,
but yet 10y their riplt succession. and
the very fact that the lumh.t> tn, bo..
were in themselves lucoa>pcuau>. co.,-
yeved the sense Of dIstaur. poNertaiy.
SO he proposed to introduce aa murtiug
the advance of civilization, lao Nrly uut-
standing or epochal events. but three
which vet suggested the reality and the
distance of our progress during the last
hundred years.
The first of these was the remarkable
funeral accorded the Seventh Earl of
| Shaftesbury in 1885. Lord Shattesbuy's
/ life covering as it did the period from
/ 1901 to 1850 was briefly sketched
| the circumstances that led him to de-
vote himself to the service of the poor
/ and oppressed We're noted; and it was
/ pointed out that in special degree he
stood for the influence of conscience in
the cantury's life. Considerable infor-
nation was given with reference TO the
conditions surrounding the employment
of children in English factories, the
treatment OF the insane, and the general
/ Indifference of the better situated to
those who were in distress, with which
Lord Saftesbury had to deal in the be-
ginning of his career. The distinction
between the merely awakened conscience
and the enlightened conscience in So
cial matters was pointed out, and it was
shown that upon many matters that
needed reform the century had seen
advance made through the agitation of
the merely aroused conscience to the
benefcent results flowing from the APP
pication of the enlightened conscience
to social life
In further illustration of this, the
lecturer proceeded to sketch the second
incident of his lecture. This proved to
be the condemnation to death and ulti-
mate execution of Nathaniel Gordon, a
slave trader, in the winter of lSGl-2
The speaker sketched briefly the history
of the agitation for the abolition of the
slave trade in Europe and America, and
went on to show how it had necessita.
ted the ultimate abolition of slavery
: itself. He used this to illustrate the adj
vance which the century had made IN
its appreciation of the fright of Man
to Himself The same principle was
further illustrated from the progress OF
; popular education and the extension OF
the suffrage. The century has been
toiling at definition of man which
should take in, us Professor Nash saws
the downmOst man
| The third incident to which the lee
: tuer called attention was the wreck OIL
! the Schooner A. b. Goodman. off Hat
teras, i'll 1881, and the remarkable res
cue of her crew by the surf-men of tn,
United States Life Saving Service
This was used to illustrate the progress
of hundred years in respect OF tn,
q worth of human life. Reference wat
made to ancient customs with regard t,
the treatment of the shpwrecked, anc
the change of comparatively recen
:, times was noted.
y Mr.. Chapman then went on to spea1
f of the condition of criminal law at tn,
beginning of the century when there
e were more than two hundred capita
+ offences noted in English statutes. IL
o referred also to the extremely burden
d some laws regarding debtors whicI
4 made it possible for man to condemn
himself to perpetual confinement eve
70 in America by one unwiSe contract, earl
s. in the century The miserable cond
s. ton Of the Insane and the great rt
forms brought about i'll their treatmeu