The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1904-06-23
ut by showing what they have

done.
1t is trite, l know, to read the
chronicle of this nations wonderful |
progress in material devices during |
the lifetime of those who hear these |
words, but there is probably nothing |
more profitable to the youth of
every generation than such a re-
hearsal. speak now not merely of
the evolution of mechanics and pro-
gress in mere material things, but OF
such great achievements as those of
the discoveries of anRsthetics, the
triumphs of Sir Joseph Listor and
Dr. Lorenz, and the varied inventions
which make the ills of life easier to
bear. By the steam engine, remote
communities and even continents
have been made neighbors. By the
telegraph and telephone the ends OF
the earth have been given instan-
taneous communications; by the
phonograph the living voice has been
transmitted from generation to gen
Grafton; by the biograph the very
gestures and attitudes and move
ments of the human race have been
made immortal; by the wireless tele-
graph the air itself has been made
vocal and the news of battle has
been snatched from the enemy's
secret archives; by machinery which
one may almost say is intellectual,
the printed pages annually produced
by the world have been trebled in a
single decade.
In physics especially that branch
of it which we call electricity, there
has been greater progress than in
any other line of human activity. In
the series of experiments now being
carried On, a tremendous advance
has been made towards a solution
of the nature and very constitution
of matter, which seems to sustain
the monistic theory OF the universe.
Biology takes a back seat for the
time being, while the research goes
forward through chemistry toward
establishing the oneness of all ele
ments. The X-rays discovered by
Prof Roentgen, of Germany, have
ceased to be the entirely unknown
quantity which their name implies,
and real use is being made of that
radio activity which was like light in
that it produced an effect on the
Photographic plate but was unlike
light in being wholly invisible and
also that it passed easily through
opaque substances like wood, leather
and human flesh. Subsequent expert
ment has revealed the fact that the
mineral uranium spontaneously
emits rays which penetrate opaque
objects just as the X-rays do. Another
element has since become one OF the
wonders OF the world, discoverd by a
Madame Curie, who has named it
radium. Experiments with uranium,
helium and radium, tend to greatly
modify if not destroy the atomic
, theory of the universe.
What of the future? Will the next
, generation be as prolific of extraor-
binary achievements as the last has
y been? Why not? The realm of the
. unknown is almost infinite, ard the
little that man has been able to find
+ out, as Shakespeare has told us,
t The weary sun hath made a golden set
And by the bright track of his fiery car,
, Gives token OF a goodly day tomorrow"
J. AS there is no sound in the universe
+ except in the presence of an ear con
v structed to receive it's impressions, sc
Y all the secrets of nature exist only II
q the mind of man. The youths OF thf
; coming generation will be the heirs
e of all the ages and theyoungest born
of time. They will accept the chad
lenge OF Nature with the audacity o
8 their ancestors and wrench her secrets
s from her one by one.
e Il heard surly cync say the eagles all ar
" dying:
n The kings that rule the mountain throne
g are vanishing away.
>, But from a thousand cloudy nests tn
u answer fell, replying,
V The eagles Of tomorrow are the hedgelng
q of today"
8 When we think we are looking a
le the future we see only the past; tn
J. Golden Age is ahead of us, not be
is hind us; not in immaturity. but i
,e evolution; not in chance seeds inad
re vertently scattered, but in the cor
is summate flower of existence. Bulwe
Y, Lytton SAYS "The veil which cover
n the face of Futurity is woven by tn
er hand of Mercy" and Seneca long b.
" fore him declared "The state OF tina
De mans mind who feels too intense a
O. interest as to future events, must b
" most deplorable." But the veins {
81 the man of to-day are filled with til
ut ichor a divine curiosity, and careles
re of the weaver, his irreverent han
n is ever busy in tearing away the syn
IS Dol and shield of mystery. Ii this
er the physical view of Isis, Tennyso
re "ives us the moral picture:
y, "Well, We're it not pleasant thing
l0 To fall asleep with all ones friends,
ill To pass with all our social ties
IN. To silence from the paths of men.
ia, And every hundred years to rise
OF And learn the world, and sleep again;
to To sleep through terms of mighty wal
70 And wake on science grown to more,
On secrets of the brain, the stars,
Go As wild as aught Of fairy lore;
ltS And all that else the years will show
ms The poet forms of stronger hours,
The vast republics that may grow,
The federations and the powers
at If Archimedes, Pliny, Coperniou
he Sir Isaac Newton, Lord Bacon al
Let BENJAMIN Franklin could visit t
Int st. Louis Exposition this week, al
!. a walk from one end to the other u
les der the escort OF Thomas A. Ediso
be would it not be sight for gods a.
ht- men to witness their emotion?
mt We may well guess that OF the
ith visitors. to earth Archimedes wor
hit. he most astonished for he wor
rst seem to be in q new planet inhablt
, it by a new race of beings. But, il
veil not mistaken, Franklin and Lo
b :" Bacon would experience and expr'
We. the most gratifeation-Franklin
ces cause he would see before him