Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-06-13

American congress did not despair
Of the republic; but passed the bills
to unite the Pacific coast with the
older states by the Pacific railway.
and they also passed the homestead
law, and the grant to the agricultural
colleges.
Little Countries.
Comrades. IN these days OF bigness,
when SO much stress 10 laid upon
wealth, area and population, 1t lie
worth while to take lessons from the
Of little countries. Toxic the map Of
the world and note what little portion
Of 1t was covered by Ancient GreeGA.
-5-only about ons-thtrd the size Of
Iowa, -and yet Greece has done more
IL shape the course Of human affairs
than any other land under the sun.
save Palestine. Athens was not SO
but q little dot on the ocean OF the
distant Orient, but she has become one
OF the powers to be reckoned with in
the affairs Of the world.
On the other side Of the globe. Scot
land, England and Ireland take up but
a small space on the map. But the
Scotch people have made their mark
land controls the sea, and her IAN
guage bids fair to become the lam
guage Of mankind: whilst ireland rules
and dominates in every land-except
her own. Holland is but q small
country, but she has made herself a
I power for good in ali parts Of the globe.
Switzerland, In her mountain strong
| hold, def1ed the hosts of tyranny wher,
all others fell into subjugation. Great
| bodies are liable to become numb In
| the extremities.
It was q happy thing for our vast
| republic, that the telegraph and the
| railway came to do away with dis
! tance and time, so that the extremities
Of this great country might be kept in
close touch with Its centers,-if, ms
deed, there can any longer be said to
be any centers.
| washington would now stand upon
/ the extreme edge Of the country but
| for the improvements In communities
ton. But the national capital Is, for
all practical purposes, as central as
Dubuque or st. Louis.
| When Morris made the trial OF his
telegraph. a soldier friend wrote tho
first dispatch In military language:
ATTENTION the Universe! BY King
| donn's, right wheel"
/ But when the line was first opened
between Baltimore and Washington.
| Morse modestly whote a fitting mes
sage which reverently and instantan-
| SOubiy Wd6 EcCOiGGQ at tue pIhoI Sit0
| OF the line. What hath God wrought"
| He realized that the affairs Of man
4 kind were to be revolutiorized.
BY the character Of their citizen
ship and not BY their multitude must
1 nations be judged. There were 20,-
900 Athenians bearing arms In the
days Of Miltiades--but they were the
| Greeks Of Marathon.
In the days Of Dennetrius Phalerus
| there are still 10000 Athehians of the
arms bearing ebut they were the
4 degenerate sons Of worthy sires.
| Quality is everything, and mere
numbers without equality are only
mutually obstructive.
Riches and Poverty.
| our country has always been espo-
4 cially the land OF opportunities.
So commonly has poverty been the
stepping stone to future success IN
the life that we have almost become
| irnbued with the idea that the sweet
uses OF adversely are essential to all
success.
/ Lincoln rose from the most obscure
poverty, without any friendly aid, to
! the highest place in the esteem Oh all
4 mankind. Clay was the mill boy Of
the sashes"; Tom Corwin was the
"wagoner's boy
Garfield rode the towpath OF the
canal. to support widowed mother