Virginia gazette. [volume] (Williamsburg, Va.) 1893-192?, 1901-11-30

largcd mechanical enterprise. We all
have stock In every house that il
boiided and in every public convey
aaee that is constructed and in every
ship that Is sailed. When we see
the hardworking men OF the land liv-
ing in comfortable abodes. with lux
urses upon their tables that once
even kings could not afford. having
the advantage Of thorough education.
Of accomplishment and art. we are
all ready at this season 10 unite with
them in praise 60 God for His good
ness.
Now. I come 20 speak Of the con
quests OF the pen. This il the SYM
boil Of al intellectually. The paint
er's pencil and the sculptor's chisel
and the philosophers laboratory are
All brothers 70 the pen. and there
fore this may be used as n symbol
OF intellectual advancement. There
are those disposed 20 decry every
thing American. Having seen Mel
rose and glastonbury by moonlight.
they never behold among rs an inn
presSiVe structure; OF. having strolled
through the picture galleries OF the
Louvre and the Luxembourg. they
are disguised With our academies OF
art. II makes me sick 10 hear these
people who have been TO Europe come
home talking with foreign accent
and aping foreign customs ard talk
ing OF moonlight on castles BY the
sea 1 think the biggest fool IN the
country II the travelled fool
But, considering the youth OF our
nation aud the fact that compare
lively few persons devote themselves
entirely TO literature. think we
have Vrea; reason 20 thank God for
the progress OF our American litera-
ture. rs historians have we not had
IN the past such men as Bancroft
and Prescott. as essayists Irving and
Emerson. as iurists Story and Ma.
shall and Kent, as theologians Ed
wards and Hodge. as poets Pierre
pont and Sprague and LonCfello7w
and Bryant. as Sculptors Powers and
such men as West and Cole and In
man and hensett2 And among the
liking Americans what ralaxies OF in
telcctual splendor and power, I'd
ward Egrieston and VIII Carleton
and Mark Twain and John Kendrick
Bangs and Marion Harland and Mar
gsret San-ster and Stockton and
Churchill and Hopkinson smith and
Irving Bachelor and Julia Ward
Howe and Amelia Barr and Brander
Matthews and Thomas Nelson Pare
and Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and VIII
liam Dean Howclls and a score of
others. some OF them fixed stars and
some meteors.
How things have marvelousiv
changed, We used 90 cry because we
had 20 90 10 school. Now children cry
N they cannot 60. Many OF them can
intelleeut.y discuss political topics
long before they have seen q ballot box
or. teased by some poetic muse. can
compose articles for the ncvs pa pers
Philosophy and astronomy and chem
istry have been so improved that he
must De genius at dullness who
knows nothing about them. On one
shelf Of poor mans library is more
practical knowledge than in the 4OO.-
600 volumes Of ancient Alexandria. and
education is possible for the most in
cigent, aud no legislature or congress
FOR the last so years has assembled
which has not had in 30 rail splitters
and farmers and drovers or men who
have been accustomed TO toiling with
the hand and he foot
The grainhelds have passed their
harvestS above the veto Of drought and
deiuge. The freight cars are not large
enough 10 bring down the grain 90 the
sesbosrd. The canalboat- are crowd
ed with breadstufs Hark 10 the rush
ing OF the whea; through the great
F. Chicago corn elevatorsi Hark TO the
rolling Of the hogsheads 81 the Cincin-
natl pork packers. Enough 20 eat and
az low prices. Enough 20 wear and %
, home manufacture. II some have and
some have not. then may God help
those who have 20 hand over 20 those
who hNve mott Clear the track for the
rail trains that rush on. bringing the
wheat and the cotton and the rice and
the barley and the oats and tie hops
aud the lumber and the leather and
everything for man and everything
for hast.
Lift up your eyes. O nation a Gods
right hand. at the glorious prospects!
Build larger your barns for the har-
vests. Dig deeper the watts for the
spoil Of the Vineyards Enlarge the
warehouses for the merchandise Nal
tiply galleries Of art for the pictures
and statues. Advance, o nation OF
Gods right hand, but remember that
national wealth, II unsanctifed IL
sumptuous waste, Is moral ruin. is
magnificent woe. is splendid rotten
ness. is gilced death. Woe 10 US for the
wine watts n drunkenness wallows Ga
them. Woe 20 Us for the harvest IL
cy~4eT sfrlfan fheuf We % "a To- ~.