The Paducah evening sun., 1910-05-12

!" ""s Vhe nOrchem conquest Whlcn
IN It's ultimate effects was of by far
the greatest Importance.
With the advent OF the Dark Ages
the movement OF course ceased. and
II did not begin anew for many cent
uries; while a thousand years passed
before 1t was once more in full swing
so far as European civilization, so far
as the world civilization Of today, is
concerned. During all those centu-
ries the civilized world. in our ac-
|ceptation OF the term, was occupied,
as its chief task. In slowly climbing
back to the position from which Il
had fallen after the age Of the Anton
ines. OF course a general statement
like this must be accepted with quail
lfcations. There ID no hard and fast
line between one age or period and
another. and in no age Is either prog
ress or retrogressIon universal in all
things. There are many points in
which the Middle Ages. because Of
the simple fact that they were Chris
tian, surpassed the brilliant pagan
civilization of the past; and there are
some points in which the civilization
that succeeded them has sunk below
the level of the ages which saw such
mighty masterpieces of poetry, of
architecture - especially cathedral
architecture-and OF serene spiritual
and forceful lay leadership. But
they were centuries OF violence, ra-
pine, and cruel injustice; and truth
was so little needed that the noble
and daring spirits who sought 1t, es-
pecially In its scientific form, did so
in deadly peril of the fagot and the
halter.
Were Raids.
During this period there were sew
eral very important extra European
movements. one or two OF which
deeply affected Europe. Islam arose,
and conquered far and wide, uniting
fundamentally different races into a
brotherhood Of feeling which Chris
tianity has never been able to rival,
AMI at the time of the Crusades pro-
foundly influencing European cult
ure. II produced a civilization Of its
own. brilliant and here and there
useful, but hopelessly limited when
compared with the civilization OF
which we ourselves are heirs. The
great cultured peoples of southeast
80 Araf. h3afr
checkered development totally unaf-
fected by, and without knowledge OF, -,
any European influence.
Throughout the whole period
there came against Europe, out Of
the unknown wastes of central Asia.
an endless succession OF strange and
terrible conqueror races whose mis-
sion was mere destruction.-Hun and
Avar. Mongol. Tartar, and Turk.
These fierce and squalid tribes of
warrior horsemen failed mankind
with red scourges, wasted and des-
troyed, and then vanished from the
ground they had overrur. But IN no
way worth noting did they count 10
the advance of mankind.
Modern Movement.
At last, a little over four hundred
years ago. the movement towards a
world civilization took up its inter
rupted march. The beginning of the
modern movement may roughly be
taken as synchronizing with the dis
covery of printing, and with that Sc
ries of bold sea ventures which cul-
minated In the discovery Of Ameri-
ca; and after these two epochal feats
had begun to produce their full ef-
fects in material and intellectual life
il became inevitable that civilization
should thereafter differ not only in
degree but even in kind from all that
had gone before. immediately after
the voyage of Columbus and Vasco
da Cana there began a tremendous
religious ferment: the awakening OF