The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1902-01-28


them injured by drought or insects or
freshets were not as bountiful as usual.
others far in excess of what have ever he
fore been gathered. while higher prices
will help make up for any decreased sun
ply. Sure sign of agricultural prosperity
we have IN the fact that cattle and horses
and sheep and swine and all farm animals
have during the last two years increased
In value. Twenty million swine slaught-
left. 1s'
If the ancients in their festivals present-
ed their rejoicings before Ceres, the god;
dess OF corn and tillage, shall we neglect
TO rejoice in the presence of the great
God now? From Atlantic TO Pacific let
the American nation celebrate the victories
of the plow.
come next to speak of the conauests
OF the American hammer It's iron arm
has fought its way down from the begin
ming to the present. Under its swing the
city OF Enoch rose, and the foundry of
Tubal Cain resounded. and the ark hoated
on the deluge At it's clang ancient tenn.
pies spread their magnifcence and char
lots rushed out fit for the battle Its iron
list smote the marble of Paros and il rose
IN sculptured Minervas and struck the
fentelcan mines until from them a Par
thenon was reared winter than a palace
OF ice and pure as an angels dream
Damascus and Jerusalem and Rome and
Venice and Paris and London and Phila-
delphia and New York and Washington
are but the long protracted echoes of the
hammer. Under the hammer everywhere
dwellings have gone up. ornate and luxu-
rious. School houses. lvceums. hospitals
and asylums have added additional glory
to the enterprise as well as the bene-
hcence OF the American people.
Vast public works have been construct
ed, bridges have been built over rivers
and tunnels dug under mountains and
churches OF match,css beauty have gone
MP for Him who had not where TO Law
His head, and the old theory is exploded
that because Christ was born in manger
we must always worship Him in n barn
Edward Eggleston and Will Carleton
snd Mark Twain and John Kendricl1
Bangs and Marion Harland and Margaret
Sangster and Stockton and Churchill and
Hopklnson Smith and Irving Bachelor and
Sula Ward Howe and Amelia Barr and
Brander Matthews and Thomas Nelson
Rage and Elizabeth Stuart Phelps and
William Dean Howells and a score of 9TH
ers, some of them fixed stars and some
meteors.
AS the pen has advanced our colleges
and universities and observatories have
followed the. waving OF it's plume. Our lit
erature is of two kinds-that on foot and
that on the wing. BY the former | mean
the hrm and substantial works which will
go down through the centuries. When, on
the other hand, I speak of literature on
the wing I mean the newspapers of the
land. They fly swiftly and vanish but
leave permanent results upon the public
mind. They fall noiselessy as a snow
make, but with the strength of an Alpine
glacier.
This unparalleled multiplication of intel
lgence VIII -ither make or break us.
Every morning and evening our telegraph
offices, with huge wire rakes, gather up
the news OF the nation and of the whole
world, and men write to some purpose
ma 10 80 Z
bolt
1t needs great energy and decision and
perseverance for man to be ignorant in
this country to-day. 1t seems to me that
It REQUIRES more effort for him to keep out
knowledge than to let IL in. The mail
bags at the smallest postoffices disgorge
large packages of intelligence for the peo-
pie. Academies with maps, globes and
philosophic apparatus have been taking
the places of those institutions where thir-
~ or forty years, ago you were put to the
torture. Men selected for their qualiica-
tions are intrusted with the education of
our youth instead of those teachers who
formerly with a drover's shout and goad
compelled the young generations up the
NIL OF science. Happy childhood! What
with broken tops and torn kites and the
trial of losing the best marble and stump
ing. your foot against stone and some
body sticking pin into you to see wheth-
er you Will jump and examination day,
with four or five wise men looking over
their spectacles to see If YOU can parse the
first page in Young's might Thoughts"
until verbs and conjunctions and partici-
pies and propositions get into grand riot
How things have marvelously changed
We used to cry because we had to go to
school, Now. children cry if they cannot
go. Many OF them can intelligently dis
cuss political topics long before they have
seen ballot box or, leased by some poetic
muse, can compose articles for the news
papers Philosophy and astronomy and
chemistry have been so improved that he
must be a genius at dizziness who knows
nothing about them.
On one shelf of poor mans library is
more practical knowledge than in the 400.
BOO volumes of ancient Alexandria, and
education is possible for the most INDECENT
and no legislature or congress for the Inst
bad 1T in rail spitters and farmers and
hrovers or men who have been accustomed
to toiling with the hand and the foot
Lift up your eyes, O nation of Gods
right hand, at the glorious prospects,
Build larger your barns for the harvests;
dig deeper the watts for the spoil of the
vineyards; enlarge the warehouses for the
merchandise; multiply galleries of art for
the pictures and statues. Advance. O ma
ton of Gods right hand. but remember
that national wealth, if unsanctihed is
sumptuous waste, IS moral ruin, is magnifi.
cent woe. is splendid rottenness. is gilded
DEATH Woe to us for the wine watts If
drunkenness wallows in them Woe to us
for the harvests If greed sicl,les them
Woe to us for the merchandise il avarice
swallows it, Woe to us for the cities If
mlsrule walks them! Woe TO che land if
Tod defying crime debauches it, Our only
safety is in more Bibles, more churches.
more free schools, more good men and
more good women, more cOnsecrated print
ing presses, more of the glorious gospel OF
the Son of God. which will vet extirpato
all wrongs and introduce all blessedness
But the preachers on Thanksgiving
morning viii not detain with long ser.
mons their hearers from the home group
The housekeepers viii be angry If the
guests do not arrive until the viands are
cold. Set the chairs to the table-thc easy
chairs for grandfather and grandmother.
II they be still alive the high chair for
the youngest, hut not the least Then put
out your hand TO take the full cup of
Lift il and bring it toward
your lips your hands trembling with emo
tion, and II the chalice shall overflow and
trickle n few drops on the white cloth that
covers the table do not be disturbed. but
let it suggest to YOU the words of the
psolmist and lead YOU thankfully to say.
. My cup runneth overi'
Copyright, 1871, L. Kopsch.I