River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1901-07-04

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THE LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS.
better appreciation of the education
which he has earned by hard knocks.
The men of renown who
"Pluck bright glory from the pale-faced
moon,
Or dive into the bottom Of the deep
Where fathom-lire could never Touch the
ground
And drag Up drowned honor by the
locks"
are not the scions of noble blood;
not the sons of the rich who were
handled in the lap of luxury. No, all
experience, all history shows that
the Tltans of every age and of all
conditions were progeny of the yeo-
many whose fathers and mothers
held in their loins the bone and It's
sue of contention for existence;
physical strength which they trans
mitted to the poor boys who were to
become Napoleon, Grant, Disraeli,
Lincoln.
Archbishop Keane, of Dubuque,
when he was rector of the Catholic
university here, in the founding of
which he was a potential factor, de-
livercd a lecture on THE Light Of
the Dark Ages" in which he gave
noble tribute to education ty saying:
throughout the darkness and hope
lessness of those dreadful years
there comes down 10 US a simmer
of light which shines through all of
the awful gloom. 1t is the light of
the tallow dip in the cell of the
clustered monk. Whatever else he
did of good or bad, by keeping alight
the students lamp, the monk gave a
light to shine through the dark ages,
so that we to-day have transmitted
to us the learning of the ancients,
all of it of inestimable value to stu
dents"
That is a tribute to the value and
power of all education, and not bit
of praise of the priesthood; for John
j. heane is no bigot. Biblical schol-
are alone are indebted to those
monks for the Masoretic pointings
of the Hebrew, Chaldaic and Syriac
versions of the Scriptures; and also
for the Hellenistic Greek of the Cos
pels and epistles. Catholic and Prot
estant alike draw from those foun-
tains of learning, and also from the
Sinaitic manuscripts for their acute
and comprehensive knowledge of the
Word, in which all denominations
'think they have eternal life" The
students of the world of science are
indebted to those monks for the won
derful Ptolemaic theory of the uni-
verse, the details of which are mar
velous and of great value. To those
monks also historians are indebted
for all of the knowledge which has
been given concerning the great
past; and also for the information
which has guided modern explorers
to the excavations of ancient cities
wherein human knowledge has been
almost miraculously developed.
When he was a professor of eXegeti-
cal theology, President Dwight. Of
Yale. said to the writer: The college
is truly democratic. no matter wheth-
er it be located in a republic, in a
kingdom or an empire. The sons of
rich men and of noblemen stand on a
level with the sons of poor men, In
college a young man is esteemed for
what he is and for what he does; and
the worthy poor man may stand far in
advance of the unworthy rich"
Every man who has had experience
in educational matters realizes the
forcefulness Of that statement In
seeking the Utopia Of true democracy
one must look to the college or uni
versity. This fact is particularly not
able in the national capital, where
hundreds of young men of all condi-
tons in life are struggling together
for that educational development
which viii fit them for all of the yicis-
STUDIES of the battle of life; the bat
tie of which it has been said: mo
time for lettering here In this bat
tie il is only fer God and the angels
to be lookers-on." Our national uni
versity is slowly developing. The
religious denominations are building
universities all around the city upon
healthful eminences. Men of wealth
of the various denominations are en-
downing professorships, and others are
endowing scholarships for the success
full poor young men who need aid and
encouragement. Thus the national
capital is becoming permanently our
national center of education
SMITH .. FRY.