The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1902-07-29

and were Hospitality received.
Nature remains unaltcrcd. As on that
July day. OF the long ago. earth. air and
sky and sea remain the same. The same
blue arch bends above IS The same rest
less ocean rolls. The same sun shines
brightly down. The same balmy breezes
breathe soft AID low. The same head
lands tut out to meet the waves. The
same hays lie open TO shelter the COM
ing vessels. The trees. the foliage. the
landmarks. would all bc recognized by
the sea-worn wanderers Or that memoir
able day. But As to what Is due 10 mar.
how altered.
To the westward. where the indian
padded his light canoe. on great rivers.
innumerable vessels. moved By the ener-
gies OF steam. plov the waters. freightcd
With the product or every industry and
the produce OF every cline. Where the
smoke OF the lonely wigwam rose. nov
he roar OF great cities fills the ear and
the blaze OF electric lights rcddens the
sky. Where then amid vast solitudes the
var whoop resounded boding death and
tOrture, now rise a thousand. thousand
s~teeples and anthems 10 the Prince OF
Peace float upon the air. Where the
plumed and painted warrior stealthily
= ~ NAA1 AANN- y @ E1N IL
gines rush. Where a few thousand naked
Savages miserably starved and fought and
persisted. near one hundred millions of
the foremost people OF all the world live
and prosper. Three short centuries have
seen this done.
Looking eastward the ocean rolls un-
changed. but not as then 10 be crossed
only after two or three months OF voy-
age. Already a week ~sufices for its pas
sage and across its waves even now mes
sages flash without the medium OF wires.
Beyond its shores, is also a new world.
When the first expedition landed here.
the Turk was threatening Vienna, and
the Spaniard was asserting his right TO
burn and pillage in Holland. The fires
Of the InQuisition burned in Spain and
Belgium. France sunk to a SecOnd-class
power, grovelled beneath the rule of one
of the most worthless Of its many worth
less kings, the third Henry-while Eng
land, the England of Drake and Raleigh,
Of Shakespeare and Bacon, and Of Eliza
beth. already lay beneath the growing
shadow of the Armada, whose success
threatened the extinction of English
liberty and of the Protestant religion.
Russia was then a small collection Of
barbarous tribes and Germany and Italy.
not yet nations, were mere geographical
expressions. Contrast that with the
Europe of today. The change is barely
less startling there than that on this
side of the water.
h change has been greatly the reflex
action from this side. Civilization has
been and is the steady increase in the
betterment OF the masses. The leaders
of thought, Shakespeare, Bacon, Michael
N oa1o nanta patraroh tho paipt0-c
the sculptors, the statesmen were as
great then as since. The difference is
in the masses. Then degraded, disre-
garded, beaten with many stripes, dying
like animals after living like brutes;
today they haye a voice in every govern
ment and are beginning more fully to
perceive that they have unlimited power
which they can use for their own ad-
yancemcnt and the betterment Of their
material surroundings.
The change started here when a new
race began, without feudal burdens and
mid the breadth and freedom of un-
tIammclcd nature. With new paths to
tread. new roads to make, new rivers to
travel, new cities to build. men began
to think new thoughts and to add to the
freedom Of nature the liberty of speech
and of action.
Well do we come here to visit the spot
where the shackles of ages were broken,
precedents forgotten and where man
first bgan to stand upright in the like
in which God had made him.
Naught tells more forcibIy the depres-
sion in which the minds of the men OF
that day were held than the fact that
the hardy English mariners, the descend
ants of the vikings of old, delayed nearly
a century after Columbus had discover
cd the New World before the foot of an
Anglo-Saxon had trod the shores OF
North America. From his discovery in
1892 to the first landing here in 1854
and the first permanent but feeble set
at jamestown in 1907 was q
time. Could another new continent
such as this be discovered in 5000 miles
Of London today, not as many hours
would elapse as our ancestors of three
centuries ago permitted years to pass,
the English race would land on
its shores. N 1920 Cortcz led the Span
iards to the Plateau of Mexico and sub
yerted an empire. Yet sixty-five years
more passed before Amadas and Bar
led the first English expedition to
and on this continent.
Not only we're mems minds enthralled
~ SOftl IlillNlIto Will 1Alobtd cOiNiS "
he benefit of the few, and at the OK
Densc of the many, but the condition OF
the upper classes was only in degree
better thar that of the poorer. Coffee.
sugar, tobacco, potatoes and other arti-
lies of common use by the poorest to-
day were unknown. Queen Elizabeth
herself lived on beer and beef, and forks
unknown that naughty lady ate
With her fingers as did Shakespeare,
Raleigh and Bacon. Articles of the CON-
honest use and necessity in the dwellings
If the poorest now, were then not to be
obtained in the palaces Of kings. Carpets
we're absent in the proudest palaces and
N the fresh strown rushcs beneath their
ableS princes and kings throw the bones
and broken meats from their fcaSts.
Religion was to most a gross Supersti-
ion, law was a iargon and barbarous
md medicine the vilcst quackery. Just
n proportion as the masses have been
.ducated, as freedom has been won by
hem, as their rights have been con-