The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-04-21

DSSl Seeo pldlieIS. 1Hey nave lIldue iill- dions of dollars for other men; but. like Agassiz, they have not had time to make money for themselves One man soweth, and another reapeth." One generation plants the seeds of the industrial world, and another generation reaps the har- vest
 Magnificent Heritage.
 Have you ever stopped 10 think how magnificent is the heritage in the indus trial world you as a child fell heir to when you were born? Have you ever stopped to think of all the well built roads and the railroad tracks and all the lighthouses and aqueducts and sani- tary developments which have come to you through your ancestors? How you have been served by the wise men and the greatest heroes of the Wrld! Child of the twentieth century. how rich Is the heritage on which you have entered! Men have thought and studied and toiled. and you enjoying the fruit of their labors. Do you not realize that when John Gutenberg invented printing he was inYenting 1t for you and that when O. lumbus sailed across the seas he was discovering America for you, and that when Cyrus w Field stretched his ca bles he was laying them for you, and that when Galilei developed the tele- scope he was developing it for you, and that when Isaac Newton discovered the law of specific gravity he was dis covering 1t for you? All these men were seed planters. They were the giants who laid the foundation stones upon which tho superstructures of our industrial prosper ity have been erected. They themselves received very little personal benefit out of their seed planting, but they made millions of dollars for other men. The , next generation reaped the harvest Of their seed planting. One man soweth, and another reapeth.'
 This fact was powerfully illustrated In the life of one of my friends. In my Pittsburg church there was family which for generations had produced bridge builders and contractors. The first member of that family who came to the western part of Pennsylvania was con tractor. His grandson, whom l knew well, was also a contractor. Some years ago this grandson of the first pioneer had a contract to build over or reconstruct railroad bridge. As he dug down into the foundations to relay some of the old stones, much to his surprise he found there a tool chest marked with his own hintials, "R. S." That tool chest could have belonged to but one person, and . that his own grandfather, after whom he had been named. One of his grand fathers men had forgotten and left his tools there when his grandfather built the original bridge. So when we begin to dig down into the foundations of our modern industrial prosperity we always find that our modern industrial life has been built out of the inventions that are dead and gone. Like the coral reef, we have been growing in a temporal sense. Our industrial prosperlties are built upon the catacombs and the tombs of our an- cestors. These former generations may have received but little personal bene- fit from their seed planting. We have reaped the rich harvest. "One man sow eth, and another reapeth."
 History of the Flag.
 What is true of the industrial life is emphatically true of the political and the social life. The flag under which we live and breathe and have our be- ing was not designed entirely by Betsy Ross. 1t was not woven by the fingers of a Martha Washington. That flag is combination flag. It was dyed red on the bloody soil of many hard fought battlefield. Its white stripes were cut from the santed robes of many martyrs It's many stars represent the states add ed one by one to the great family. The men who followed 1t when 1t was first un- furled and who made 1t glorious by love and sacrifice reaped but little per sonal advantage in this world, but these noble patriots were seed planters. The present generation and all coming gen erations will gather the plenteous har- vest of their sowing.
 Do you for one instant suppose that even there we are at the beginning? There would never have been a Decla- ration of American Independence unless there had first been a Magma Charta. Why, those stern faced, iron listed. un, relenting English barons who gathered about the round table" at Runnymede in 1215 and compelled King John to grant them their personal liberty unconsciously fought as much for American independ- ence as they did for their English rights. Washington and Samuel Adams, and lief ferson and Patrick Henry would not have been possible unless these patriots of sev- en centuries ago had first dared to chal- lenge the doctrine of the divine right of kings. Do you suppose there would ever have been a constitution or the United States unless there had first been Bannockburn or Beverly Manor House? John Witherspoon was only reincarna- ton of a Sir William Wallace. Miles Standish and Israel Putnam have lived POO or 300 years apart but they were twin brothers. Governor Carver and Gov ernor Bradford spoke In the Continental congress through the lips of John Adams and Franklin A man may seem to die, but his spirit never dies It has its first incarnation, then its reincarnation, and then 1t lives in thousands of other lives. You see the doctrine of psychical hered- ity displayed in these national crises far apart in time and place. It is made up of the combinations of thousnds and tens of thousands of heroic men who when they lived did not or could not dream of a country like that in which today we are living. These patriots in their own time received little per- sonal benefit from their sacrifices. They were governmental seed planters. But the present generation and all succeeding generations shall be the gatherers of the harvest which they sowed One man soweth, and another reapeth."
 Did Not Die in Vain.
 Many patriotic martrys have died deaths of ignominy. but that does not prove that they lived and died in vain. No. From the blood soaked blanks of the French guillotine has been lifted the glorious French republic. From the sac rifice of human life at Valley Forge Bunker Hill and other fields have been evolved this mighty government of the United States today under whose con stitution we now life. In Rome there sleeps the immortal dust of one who has the following sad words for his epitaph: This grave contains all that was mor- tai of a young English poet who on his deathbed in the bitterness of his heart at the malicious power of his enc mics, desired that these words be en- graved on his tombstone: Here lies one whose name was written In water" " That is the grave of the immortal John Keats. Did John Keats ever die? No As an inspiration of his pen there have come forth two mighty poets who studied