The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1913-12-25


dissillusionment for over the sea lies Spain
We can get all the exaltation which came to
Abou Hassan when the amiabe deception of
Haroun-alRaschid was played upon him. without
any of the Ill effects which may presume came
to him when his dream Of power dispeed itself.
The day and the scene invites US to enjoyment,
and to contribute to the enjoyment of others. For
this day, at least Of the year the golden age
is no myth. 1t is here with US, and must uti-
lie it while it stays. This is the hour when lifes
wireless telegraphy carries greetings Of good will
between all the individuals and all the peoples Of
Of the earth. To every one Of us the world
stretches forth the glad hand and salutes us with
May you live long and prosper"
The old prophets conceived the sublime thought
that the Creator set the heavenly bodies in their
places to mark for man the progress of time. The
early leaders of the human race who watched the
stars in their courses, and from their movements
worked out the division Of the days and years,
left blessing behind them for all, time to come.
For if we are to believe the records of the rocks
and cays the first men who lifted their faces to
the skies in profound awe and with germs of
thought stirring in their brains had little II any
more conception Of time and Of the moving planets
than the brutes that shared with these primitive
savages the the huts which were all
the houses they had. 1t took long ages to learn
that the sun is a fixed body as regards our earth,
to divide the globe into degrees and the day into
"a hours. The seasons came and went and savage
had conception OF why beyond the suns
declension below his zenith and the return of the
fiery orb to place high above his head. Then
from the crude superstitons Of astrology men OF
high civilization worked out our year and set the
day that, this we now live, marks the beginning
of circle Of the four seasons.
The crudest savage needed no prophet with a
message from the Ekes to teach him that II he
desired to prolong his life he must work. He
the man of all generations who knew best
that 'in the sweat of his face he must "eat
bread If he ate at all. Storedup wealth there
Each generation began practically
where the last did with no Inheritance to profit
by Nor there a spark Of charity to minister
to the needs of age or sickness The child born
with low vitality met its fate early in its career.
The man who met with accident sufficient to in
capactate him for the chase or for war was left
to perish miseraby where he fell. When age
dimmed the eye made the hand nerveless the
useless one was not permitted to be burden ON
society. As the wounded deer is left. the aged
wolf is abandoned, so was the wounded man or
the toothless woman Parentage or other relation
ship counted nothing.
AS civilization climbed the path Of progress to
higher levels toll became constant,
pressing. The savage has few needs and there
fore much leisure. He needs weekly day Of
rest. With increasing needs to meet man had to
bend his back more necessarily and to strain mus
Gle tendon and ligament. Life had more enjoy
ment at the cost of longer hours of toll that made
rest seem very sweet Then arose the leader of
men, the reformer, the teacher philosopher or
prophet who ordained that there were times
and seasons there should be days of rest. If We
to run the world around we would find many
Sabbaths. The follower of Mohammed takes his
rest on Friday the Hebrew on Saturday. the Chris
tlan Sunday. And the man of advanced ideas
who gave man his Sabbath leader and
benefactor In very deed
The man who stands in the Escorial in Spain
and looks on the sepulchers of kings reaching
back 300 years, has span about long as the
most ancient history Of America. When he goes
to Granada he is face to face with the times Of
the Moors, whose invasion of the peninsula was
centuries before Columbus was born As ne looks
some paved road aqueduct he Is car
red back to the Scipios, to Hannibal, and back to
his forefathers who moved about here; and SO
go back to Carthage, which was a great city
before Rome founded and Carthage takes
over the to Asia where Moses people and
some Philistnes came into combat And we 20
back to Egypt and Its pyramids, to the Pharaohs
and Jacob and his children and on back to Abra-
ham and the nomad chiefs who fed their focks in
the fat plains OF central Asia as long before the
Christian era as 1t is from the year 1911. In these
lands, among these races of men, grandfathers
and greatgrandfathers count for little. One meets
men whose ancestors took part in the expulsion of
the Moors, with others whose ancestors resisted
them when they first invaded Spain, and still
others whose forbears in the armies of the
Scipios of Hannibal The mind loves to dwell
on the memory of these far-away days and to
dream of the way of life of men and women who
died so long ago, and to whom we owe our being
and civilization The oldest title lands in the
Pacific states do not go back far. There are
titles in Spain that date back centuries Castles
here are owned by families who come down d.
recty or colaterally for ages. To these a gen.
GRAFTON is as short as year to us in our brand
new civilization 1t is all impressive. but after
dreaming of such things the mind inevitably re-
verts to our own generation, to own time.