The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-10-06

women who came here. under an i'm
pulse as strong as that which filled the
sails of the Mayfiower, and then you
will see that heroism is infinitely per-
vasive. and that it is, in Shakespeare
exquisite phrase, "as broad and gen.
eral as the casing air. Some poet will
! in good time, relate the story, which
however dumb the tongue may be thai
tells 1T now, is a true poem. And poetry
| is the highest expression of truth. The
| epic asks for something heroic, and
the lyric for something sweet. All!
what both really ask for, is something
true-and then they sing, under di-
vine promptings, while the world list
ems and loves, and renews the conse-
crations of all the years.
What Thayer Saw.
Eli Thayer started his New England
Emigrant Aid company before the
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS bill became a law.
As Emerson says: He saw-which
means that he fore-saw. When.
May 80, 1854, the bill was fastened
upon the country bad, wicked,
false, enactment-the New England
Emigrant Aid company was already
legal entity, with chartered rights
and powers-and with something in
the treasury to defray necessary ex-
penses. 1 have read. and you have
read how the Pilgrim Fathers organ
lied their westward sailing; how Car
yer and Bradford and the others pre-
vised what might happen, and-per-
haps against the literal word of the
gospel-took thought of the morrow.
In enterprises of great pith and mo-
ment, wisdom means action, instant
immediate action, and so it was that
Eli Thayer and his company were
ready. for the bill, and for all that it
meant.
May 80, 1854, it came. The prairies
were afiame; and the hearts of men
were hot with the controversy. Could
any one think for moment that
Kansas would be given up? And yet,
why not? Why should men struggle
for a mere idea? for ethical abstrac-
lions which they could very well live
without? If the slave drivers want
the prairies why should they not have
them? What difference does it make
to US? Do we feel the shackles that
bind the ankles of slave? After all,
what is there in this talk about right
and wrong? All! there you have ask
ed the ultimate question; you have
touched the last spring of human mo-
tive. Down at the bottom. it was
question of right and wrong-and
such questions cannot be compro-
missed. 1t would be tedious recital
to tell how Missouri poured over the
border, how territorial governors came
and went, vainly trying to do right,
without being able to do exactly right.
From the first the case was hopeless,
for it was too large for politics. 1t
was not only SO great a moral question
see now, and as wise men saw then,
it could neither be evaded or put
down. The sun and all the stars were
shining upon Kansas, but they gave
fought for slavery, and for those who
fought against it. 1t is romantic
story; but history when rightly told, is
always romantic.
What eye it was that first saw the
great possibility of Lawrence, and the
beauty Of it's situation, 1 know not
But it is plain enough to those who see
it now, that nature smiled upon the p1-
oneers, and here gave them her sweet
est welcome.
The Early Settlers.
All that 1 have said, all that can be
said about the conflict for freedom in
Kansas, leads up to the part played Dy
Lawrence in that immortal struggle.
Here was the shrine; here Freedom
poured out her tears, and here she kept
her constant vigil undaunted by disas-
ter and undismayed by fear. Instinc-
lively they who came to Kansas, pear
against this child of the Mayf1oweE.
they garnered up their wrath. Out
from the camps and settlements came
wireless messages of good and eVS I'M
port from enemies and from friends
alike, bit in the cabins which cluster
ed around Mount Dread, the heart of
the cause was bravely beating: ON
yonder hillside, and down by the banks
times despondent-the little homes
gave back to friend and foe alike, the
one reply: I'VE are here-we are mere
TO stay" 1t was something more than
Beauty is Truth, truth Beauty" The
home jewellers here, p1nched ana
crowded, had beauty in their kitchens, |
md truth in their hearts-yea in their
is not forget, that, then as now, the
soul of the home. is the wife or mother
who reigns under it's roof
Back of most great movements
when they become visible to the world
is a sentimental question. 1t may be
/ Stamp Act; it may be tea in Boston
larbor but it is seldom a question of
money. After all, what is there in this
world, worth fighting for, which is not
BASED on some deep consideration, that
will, when crowded to its uttermoSt,
become profoundly spiritual? And
uch was the situation in 1854. You
choke a genuine aspiration by
my appeal to consequences. When the
Kansas Nebraska act became a law,
verybody-philosophe and fools alike
understood that it meant fight to
he finish. When the gauntlet was
brown down, they said in New Eng
and and out on the prairies, I'VE will
ZEE about it, And they did.
Meanwhile, Lawrence was, in the
language of science, being evolved.
his day tranquil and content, she
yard to triumphs yet to come. But
What a history it has been! When Eli
7hayer organized his company, how
title he dreamed of all that. should
appen! How little did he foresee this
oyous occasion and all that it means
O young and old But such has ever
cen the way of the world. They who
O great things-the things that make
istory radiant-can never presurmise
THAT will happen. The future is i'm
enetrable 1t is doubtless better so;
ut think how beautiful it would be
:, upon the eyes of those who have I
one. great deeds, there had come
limpses of the futurei Columbus died,
OF knowing he had discovered con-
Inent but believing only that he had
ound a new pathway to Cathay. !
Iagellan never knew the tremendous {
of that marvellous voy- 1