The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-01-02

ern men have married Soutnern WIVES
and your children are half Mississlppian
and half New. Englander. and to make an
other division between the North and the
South possible you would have to do with
YOUR child as Solomon proposed with the
child brought before him for judgment
divide it with the sword. giving half to
the North and half to the South. No;
there is nothing so hard to split as era
die. In other lands there is compulsory
marriage of royal families, some bright
princess. compelled to marry some dlsa-
qreeable foreign dignitary in order to keep
the balance Of political power in Europe,
the Unmatched pair fighting out on
small scale that which would have been
an international contest, sometimes the
husband having the balance of power and
sometimes the wife.
Besides this we have in our country
plenty of room. while the transatlantic ma.
tions are crowded crowded cities, crowded
Governments crowded learned institutions;
The population crowded, packed in be.
tween the Pyrenees and the Alps, packed
in between the English Channel and the
Adriatic. Yes; on our continent plenty OF
room. Eight million square miles in
North America, and all but one-seventh
capable of rich cultivation. implying what
fertility and commerce. Four basins pour
ing their waters into the Atlantic, Pa.
cifc, Arctic and Gulf of Mexico.
An Englishman asked me in an English
rail train this question: "How do you peo'
pie stand it in America with revolution
every four years? Would it not be better,
like US, to have queen for lifetime ana
everything settled?" But England changes
government as certainly as we do. At
ofa IN 10
one party. and in comes another.
The majority Of the people of the Uni
ted States are on their way to fortunes.
| They will either be ~ch themselves or
their children will be rich. If I sholld
put to scme men the question, Would
you have fortune and let your children
struggle all through their lives in the same
kind of struggle that you have had to
make?" scores of men would say: Il am
willing to fight this battle all the way
through, but give my children chance.
T do not care so much about myself. 1t is
only for ten or twenty years, anyhow.
Give my children chance"
If there is anything that stirs my. ad-
miration it is man without any educa'
ton himself sending his sons to college,
and without any opportunity for luxury
himself resolved that though he shall have
it hard all the days of his life his children
shall have good start.
And I tell you that though some of our
people may have great commercial strug-
giles there is going to be great opening
for bneir sons and daughters as they come
on to take their places in the world.
Continuing this international comparison
I have to say to you that we have bet
ter climate than is to be found in any
other nation. We do not suffer from any
thing like the Scotch mists or the English
fogs or the Russian ice blasts or the ty.
phus of Southern Europe or the Asiatic
cholera. Epidemics in America are ex.
ceptional, very exceptional. Plenty OF
wood and coal to make roaring fire mid
winter. Easy access to seabeach or mount
ain top when the ardors 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 rs warm, in our hand all
weak? Go north. Is your throat delicate!
Go south. Do you feel crowded and want
more room! Go west.
1 declare it, this is the best country in
all the world to live in. How do know
it? ] have $50, 900 new reasons for saying
it; $50 900 people in one year came from
the other side of the Atlantic to live in
America, and they came because 1t 10 the
very best country to live in.
While making this international com.
parison let us look forward to the time
which will surely come when all nations
will have as great advantages as our own.
As surely as the Bible is true the whols,
earth is to be gardenized and set free.
Even the climates will change and tte
heats be cooled and the frigidity warmed
Many years ago in this city gazed upon
a scene which for calamity and grandeur
one seldom sees equalled. l mean t.
burning of the Smithsonian Institution.
It was the pride of our country. In it art
had gathered rarest specimens from ali
lands and countries.
1t was one of those buildings which
seize you with enchantment as you enter
and all the rest of y,ur life holds you
with charm. I happened to see the hrst
glow of the fires which on that cold day
looked out frcm the windows OF the costly
pile. I saw the angry elements roar and
rave. The shout Of affrighted workman
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 win
dows of the tower would light up for
minute with wild glare and then darken,
as though fends with streaming locks OF
fire had come out to gaze on in laughing
mockery of all human attempts and then
sunk again into their native darkness.
With crackle and roar and crash the
floors tumbled.
The roofs began here and there to bios.
som in wreaths and vines of flame. Up
and down the pillars ran serpents of fire:
Out from the windows great arms and
fingers of flames were extended, as though
destroyed spirits were begging for deliver.
ance The tower put on coronet Of flame
and staggered and fell, the sparks flying,
the fremen escaping, the terror accumulat
ing.
Books, maps, rare correspondence, auto
graphs of kings, costly diagrams burned to
cinder or scattered for many a rood upon
the wild wind to be picked up by the ex
cited 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 whirlwinds of smoke,
through which shot the long red shafts Of
calamity.
Destruction waved it's fiery banner from
the remaining towers, and in the. thunder
of falling beams and in the roaring surge
of billowing fire heard the spirits of ruin
and desolation and woe clapping their
hands and shouting, "Aha! aha!"
I turned and looked upon the white
dome of yonder capitol, which rose
through the frosty air as imposing as
though all the white marble of the earth
had come to resurrection and stood be-
fore us, reminding one of the great white
throne of heaven. There it stood, un.
moved by the terrors which that day had