4 Days of plenty and years of peace; March of a strong land's swift increase; Stately honor and reverend awe; 5 Sign of a nation, great and strong 6 Hats off! Along the street there comes A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums; The flag is passing by! Biographical: HELPS TO STUDY. Henry Holcomb Bennett, 1863--, was born in Chillicothe, Ohio. He is a journalist, a magazine writer and a landscape painter. His articles and poems appear in the Youth's Companion and the New York Independent. This is his most popular poem. 5 10 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. RICHARD HENRY STODDARD. This man whose homely face you look upon, Was one of Nature's masterful great men; Born with strong arms that unfought victories won. Of winning with his humor, and he went Straight to his mark, which was the human heart. He stooped and rose up with it, though the road HELPS TO STUDY. Biographical: Richard Henry Stoddard, 1825-1903, the son of a sea captain, was born at Hingham, Mass. After the death of his father he removed with his mother to New York City, where after a short school life he began work in an iron-foundry. He and Bayard Taylor became warm friends, meeting once a week to talk of literary matters. He wrote both prose and poetry and became a noted literary critic. He is the author of "Homes and Haunts of our Elder Poets." thi Character of Columbus CHARACTER OF COLUMBUS. ARCHBISHOP CORRIGAN. 23 To us it is given to behold in its full splendor what Columbus, like another Moses on the borders of the Land of Promise, could only discern in dim and distant outlines. And, therefore, with Italy, the land of his birth; with Spain, the land of his adoption; 5 with the other nations of the globe who are debtors to his dar ing, we gladly swell the universal chorus in his honor of praise and of thanksgiving. In 1792 the ocean separated us by a journey of seventy days from Europe; our self-government was looked upon as a problem 10 still to be solved; at home, facilities of travel and of intercommunication were yet to be provided. More than this, the unworthy innuendoes, the base as well as baseless charges that sought to tarnish the fair fame of Columbus, had not been removed by patient historical research and critical acumen. For15 tunately, these clouds that gathered around the exploits of the great discoverer have been almost entirely dispelled, thanks especially to the initiative of a son of our Empire State, the immortal Washington Irving. I beg to present Columbus as a man of science and a man of 20 faith. As a scientist, considering the time in which he lived, he eminently deserves our respect. Both in theory and in practice he was one of the best geographers and cosmographers of the age. According to reliable historians, before he set out to discover new seas, he had navigated the whole extent of those 25 already known. Moreover, he had studied so many authors and to such advantage that Alexander von Humboldt affirmed: "When we consider his life we must feel astonishment at the extent of his literary acquaintance.” Columbus took nothing for granted. While he bowed rev 30-erently to the teachings of his faith, he brushed away as cob, webs certain interpretations of Scripture more fanciful than real, and calmly maintained that the Word of God cannot be in conflict with scientific truth. The project of bearing Christ over the waters sank deeply into his heart. Time and again he 35 alludes to it as the main object of his researches and the aim of his labors. Other motives of action undoubtedly he had, but they were a means to an end. Moreover, may we not reasonably assume that the great navigator, after all, was a willing instrument in the hands of 40 God? The old order was changing. Three great inventions, already beginning to exert a most potent influence, were destined to revolutionize the world—the printing-press, which led to the revival of learning; the use of gun-powder, which changed the methods of warfare; the mariner's compass, which permitted 45 the sailor to tempt boldly even unknown seas. These three great factors of civilization, each in its own way, so stimulated human thought that the discovery of America was plainly in the designs of that Providence which "reacheth from end to end mightily and ordereth all things sweetly." HELPS TO STUDY. Biographical: Michael Augustine Corrigan, 1839-1902, third Archbishop of New York, delivered an address at Chicago, October 12, 1892, from which this selection is an extract. guished Prelate, and wrote largely upon American patriotism. Notes and Questions. Explain the comparison in the second line. How does the time required to cross the ocean now compare with that of Columbus? What service did Washington Ir ving render? What claim could Columbus make He was a distin that he was a scientific man? Who was Alexander von Hum boldt? What great inventions occurred previous to Columbus's discovery? How did these inventions affect the discovery of America? Words and Phrases for Discussion. "critical acumen' "potent influence" "factors of civilization" |