Durango semi-weekly herald., 1906-02-15
such a bold statement.

such bold statement.
The ordinary text book is usually
so written that the Pilgrims appear
to reasoning person as either
party of foolhardy adventurers or in
the g,iise of saints, with much pray
ing and halos about their heads. Jus,
read any text book by itself and with
out any other knowledge on the sub
Iect, and determine If what say is
not true. Or recall your first impress
Ioions upon your introduction to the
Mayflower.
| recall one instance of an eighth
grade boy remarking to n companion
| that they looked like bunch of idiots
to him If they led such strenuous
| life. why didn't they go back to Ell
| 'ope II they really endured all the
tardships reported. why did they
| stay where their scalps were not safe
and where they were in daily fear OF
starving? So far as the religious part
| If the thing was concerned. he rather
guessed that was all rot, even If the
| look and the teacher did say so. No
| one but mother and the preacher ever
| othered him. and even at that he
thought he preferred to stay at home
endure Sunday school and retain his
| scalp lock, than to be free from the
| usual Sunday torture and ornament
some enterprising braves belt with
| his scalp. Yes. sir. he thought the
Judgment of these Puritan fellers'
was a little OFF color. He preferred
the tight Sunday shoes and the
preacher. with mothers good dinner
lfterward, every time.
And as usual the boy was right
lie saw according to his light and the
-eason of the thing. Religious perse
ntion to him did not signify the loss
VI an ear. Imprisonment or the stake
md faggot. II he passed his next ex
animation, which we hope he did, he
imply wrote what ne could remem
9er of the text and added another
loubt as to the uncertain mental con
ition of the Pilgrims.
Clearly. the problem presented Is
% set the boy mentally at ease, to
convince him by his own method oi
easoning that the Puritan was Meth
II n fool nor lunatic, but rationa
| living and breathing creature; not
;aint to be mentioned in a whisper
nd surveyed through telescope, bni
imply a man. A man the equal o.
vhom remained not in Europe; man
o whom you and owe debt of graf
uude that can best he paid by cloth
ng him in his true character and lay
> ng the corner stone of a true and
lseful citizenship upon the rock!
shores where first the Mayilowei
o0ched the Land of Hope.
II is surely a far cry from the Ren
,issance to the Declaration OF lnde
endence, and | doubt not many Of
Jou will protest when | say that you
must begin SO far back in history to
lear away the mental fog OF the stu.
lent. Perhaps You may disagree
when | say to you that the seeds oi
he American republic were planted
md germinated in the stormy times
If the Reformation that followed close
pon the heels of the Renaissance
But when do you first find expressed
he Idea that government is not di
ynely appointed institution if not in
the days OF Petrarch and Moore? Who
ever heard of Utopia being written
until people began to consider If they
should not share in this so-called
'divinely appointed" arrangement fof
government? What disrupted the
church and left it shorn OF half its
power ii not the assertion of individ
nal right 10 participate in govern
mental affairs and to say, in some de
gree, how aEl why man should live
and enjoy his Godgiven powers.
Follow the stormy times of the Re.
formation in its career in Germany,
France and Spain. Note its more pa
life invasion into and regeneration Ui
England, and If you fail to see the
spirit and the force that drove the
Mayiiower through the stormy wave
If the Atlantic, then, | think, you do
not read correctly. Thus only by a
study of the conditions and affairs OF
Europe can you fully appreciate or
nave your student appreciate the
meaning of religious persecution or
the desire for personal liberty, the
Two forces, stringent and purging as
they may have been. brought out and
developed the free institutions which
haye finally been spelled out in the
I word America. Thus only can you
make your student see and feel That
the burning question of the times was.
What is your faith?"
And now, if you would make the
beginning of your country seem the
natural product that'it is, of religious
anatiSsm and the decaying medieav-
al Europe. you must have a substan-
tial and comprehensive view of the
preceding 500 years of European his
tory. If You would make your own
country appear as the flower and fruit
age of the plant that was reared in
the atmosphere of new land, un.
trammeled by the tradition of dead
and ghostly past, and rooted and
drawing its sustenance from a his
| tOrical DaSt that is enriched Inv tho