The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1903-06-04

shuts the Dutchman between the hungry
hs shS.s Nor' n. sea snd ns sstsers
between the Atlantic and the great for
ests and the savage beasts and still more
savage. men. But AT last our fathers de-
their movement.
TO A NEW NATION
In 1853 the barriers went down, and our
liberty, and their sons became the evan.
eelists TO new nation. One day Man
asseh Cutler assembled his people in a
Congregational, church at Ipswich. The
morning was Monday. A strange pro.
cess;on was formed IN the streets Men
guns. woodsmen with axes. pack horses.
heavily laden-alI these made UP
church.
"A, A third time a preacher began a ser,
from thy country and thy kindred, into a
land that | will show thee. And | will
bless thee. and I'm thee shall all the fami-
lies of the earth be blessed"
fathers founded the Western reserve I'm
Ohio. and gave us the great ordinance
OF 1883 that Daniel Webster thought was
Yale college band went into Iowa and md
founded Iowa college and Tabor and two
academies.
New groups OF theological students
banded themselves together. They deter
mined TO take the great West for the
higher education. They were scholars
graduates OF our noblest institutions
They were men OF means.--among the
richest men In New England. They were
statesmen, witness the fight that they
and their sons made for liberty. They
were out upon no quest OF the Golden
Fleece. but they were out for the spread
,f A aartr nd
a promise given to emigrants more glo-
riously fulfilled
The Christian home. the Christian
church, the free school. the Christian
college. were instruments fitted for the
development OF manhood. What towns
they founded What colleges they built
up.
He who goes through these new West
ern communities, exclaims what vine
yards! what orchards what bridging of
mighty riv-rsi what tunneling of noun
tains What cities springing up as it
were In a night How does the land hum
with industry. and tremble with the
stroke of the locomotive and the trip
hammer
A THRILLING STORY
The story OF the influence OF the Chris
tian educators and missionaries In the
great West Is the most thrilling story In
the history Of civilization.
Our Pilgrim Fathers. having puritan
ized New England. through their sons
went forth and New Englanized the Mid
die states. then through the home. the
church and the school and the library.
New Englandized the great West, and
that even In the shock Of the Civil war,
II was the Puritan spirit that shotted the
guns against slavery. and the watch
words OF the Pilgrim Fathers finally bat
tered down the defenses OF slavery.
Take II all in all. whavspage In history
Is so fascinating as the story OF these
Christian teachers and preachers and ed
lcators who Americanized the now peo-
pies OF the great West.
A new epoch and a New Strain upon
BUR Fathers Institutions.
OF late the institutions for American
zing and Christianizing our population
nave been strained TO the uttermost. BE
he reasons what they may. the popula.
lion has ceased TO be homogeneous. and
we have not digested the new peoples
AS rapidly as they have come Certain |
great crises in the history of the country I
explain this fact in part
In retrospect We perceive that the crises
we're four. The first one came in ls46.
In grew out Of the annexation of Texas.
Dur people became greedy Of territory.
We Identified national bigness with ma
.ional greatness. Many Of our great
eaders were opposed TO national avarice
md theft.
TO HOSPITABLE GRAVES
In the conflict Senator Corwin said that I
{ he was Mexican or a Texan he /
would welcome the American soldiers
With bloody hands TO hospitable graves.
Every evil can be overruled for good. and
his event has apparently been over
uled for the republics good. But the
ew territory with the new raw peoples
epresented an enormous task. And the
american church and the American school
nd the American home did not assimi-
,te the people as rapidly as they poured
Then came the great crises on the
'acifc slope in ls47 One day man
iscovered n little yellow metal i'm a pile
Z sand and the lustre and CLINT made
Is heart beat wildly. In a few months
hips crowded with adenturers sailed from
liverpool around the Cape Of Good Hope
nd ships from France and Portugal and
,oston and New Orleans followed after.
Tong column Of gold seekers crept
lowly across the American desert new
alton was born in a day beyond the
ockies.
Crime was rampant. Drunkenness and
obbery were all but universal The era
lawlessness was followed by the era OF
he vigilance committed There was no
unday. no Bible, and IL looked as II
cd had never crossed the Missouri river.
Try as the church could. Christian
reachers and Christian educators found
impossible 10 begin their work until
10 community and institutions had be-
un 10 harden. Whoever has spent
unday IN California understands that
10 four institutions for con.pletely as
mil l.ating and Christianizlng our new
opulations have not yet caught mp with
leir task.
What IL the fascination that belongs
the pages OF Bret Harte7 II Is the
,arp contrast between the New England
eas and the wild lawless hfe OF the
a regime In California.
NEW PEOPLES
And the third great crisis came with
e nffux Of the foreigners from the old
orld. Fascinated by the story OF the
dustrial wealth OF the great interior.
ley poured in by blocks OF half mil
III per year. This year alone the I'm
igrants WI probably number lo0oO.ooo.
q have already some 2o.ooo.Ooo foreign