The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-10-12
Praises of Columbus.

five centuries ago. on date un- certain was born the man by whose boldness of imagination realized to its hundred million citizens. Nothing is more diff cult than the attempt to say what might have happened had some different circumstances interven- ed in a chain of events. Had Columbus never been born, or be- ing born if he had not become daring navigator and explorer. some other person might have discovered America, or might not
 Had the discovery been made by some other, much else must have been changed. There might ferent civilization, under a, differ ent flag, derived from other orig ins and other purposes.
 
 The precise type of civilization which did arrive in America after Columbus made his discoveries in the precise manner and time, have been revolutionary. The great progress has come from America The inspiration of much more progress may we'll have been derived from the twist given to thought by the new knowledge which the great navt- gator thrust upon mankind.
 It Is true that Columbus did not know what he had discover ed. and that he did not forsee all the consequences of his dis covery. He was upon another errand. He was searching for a short water way to the Indies. In this his situation is like that of other great men who preceded great times. They toiIed with courage; they worked with vts- ion; the result was more than they could know.
 
 If Columbus did not apprehend the City of New York, nor the great railways that tie the conti- nent together, nor the stars and stripes flying over millions of Washington. Our modern civili- ration. with its telephones. its radio. its air ships, its steel ships. it's apparatus for killing and its mechanisms for material we'll be- ing would have been scarcely more strange to Columbus than to Washington; perhaps not so strange in the area of inagina- tion. Columbus was born upon tfie edge of one of the great cre- atfve periods, when the soul of man b1ossomed out, and his gen. ius had expression.
 
 Justly is the name of Co1um- bus honered. It Is of mans na- ture to found upon the genius of some man. Columbus laid the the foundations of America as truly as if he had perceived the future. What heroes give Is their genius to imagine and their cour- age to act, and all things what soever that flow from genius trace back to them.
 
 This Columbus Day in Bridge port Is specially to be honored. The Italian people of Bridgeport, through their General Committee, are celebrating with a meeting at the High school. over which Chief Justice George W. Wheeler will preside. Distinguished Ita1- Ian scholars will tell about Col urnbus in impressive terms
 
 The public schools, instead of dtsmissing as the custom has been, have assembled teachers and children, to study the life of Columbus, to learn first hand of his worth and his courage. From such studies good will come. By contemplation of the great, youth is put upon the road to greatness. There can never be another Columbus. But of those who will do great deeds, there will be no end, while man is man. Bridgeport schools contain boys and girls who are to be among the heroes of tomorrow.