Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1900-01-05
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BY 0rosvenor."

) BY "0rosvenor." ? {
Washington's Farewell Message:
Washington left the
presidential chair, by very careful
elaboration with his cabinet and
others and by revising and re-
writing the article several times he
enunciated his farewell message.
To read it is to feel thrilled with
the devotion of the man. It is
touching to note his solicitude in
relation to the varied periilss that
he forsaw; and because there is SO
much human feeling, SO much of
heart, I might say, in every word
of the rounded sentences, it will
ever be a favorite document. But
if we are willing to concede that
Washington was a man with finite
powers and not a demigod, we
shall have to own that his previ-
sion must have had some limita-
tons.
He and those who labored with
him certainly had no idea that the
fringe of thirteen colonies would
stretch and extend until they were
forty-five magnificent states, cov-
ering an unbroken territory more
than three thousand miles wide.
Neither could they have foreseen
that methods Of transportation
would make San Francisco more
accessible to New York than was
Boston in earlier days; nor that
the telegraph would bring the
most widely separated portions Of
the country as near one another as
early neighboring States, nor that
the telephone would exert it's
mysterious influence SO that a
thousand miles should seem less
of a division than a wall. Neither
could they have foreseen that with
the extending territory OF the
United States there would come
instead Of purely agricultural pur-
suits tremendous manufacturing
developments that together with
mining have caused this country
to be practically the richest in it's
reserve possessions Of any country
in the world. Neither could they
know of the disappearance Of the
war vessels that sailed in favor Of
those that we're propelled, leading
to coaling stations and diplomatic
establishments. Neither could
they have foreseen the decaying
power of Spain and the brutality
of Spain as a consequence of that
decay, and finally the interference
of the United States in the purely
affairs of Spain because
love gentleness rather than
cruelty, and righteousness rather
than rapine. !.
The fringe of 1776 spread by
natural expansion over Louisiana,
over Spanish America, over Texas
and the West, and the genius of
the English-speaking races has
caused it now to spread over cer-
tain distant islands of the sea,
making us take our stand with
England in stretching progressive
influences around the world. The
country that lives, grows; with
growth comes change; with change
must necessarily come re-adjust-
ment or calamity. Therefore,, if
the voice of Washington could
now be heard, I think that he
would be the last to maintain the
literal construction of his own
message in view of unforeseen de-
The past has its les
sons for him; the past has it's les
sons for us. Yet in meeting the
circumstances of his career, he was
not a blind follower of the past,
but adjusted himself magnifcehtly
to the present as he met it, and he
would contend for our liberty in
the same direction. A glorious
past belongs to America, an equally
glorious present is hers; only
divine wisdom can foresee how
great and glorious her future will
be; but if she goes forward to
meet that future solely in the light
of the past, she will cast the dark
ness of her own shadow upon the
pathway before her-she will be
doing the very thing that Wash
ington, the far-seeing man of his
day, would not have done.
Attend College This Year.