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Written /or 5T/ie Co > Meruattt > e :
ANCESTRAL HOMES.
( On the Home Centennial of Hon. W. W.
Grout , of Vermont. )
greet you on your cpntury-tilled soil
With old good will , as evtn now I greet.
Hallowed to you bo all the care nnd toil
Which sanctify the sod beneath your feet.
With honest hands , clean hearts , nnd useful
lives
Your sires through years of this long cen
tury
Have tilled this ground. Still mated to their
wives
They "rest in pence. " How better could It
be ?
But ah , the nncient vista for your eyes ,
As through the long-drawn century you gaze
From consummations of toil's prophecies
To toil's prophetic morning 1 In the haze
Of that far time your blood was pioneer ;
S "V Some vim in your hand smote the forest
low ,
And smoothed the plain , till year by sunny
year
Home grew into and out of your blood's
flow
The blood of your race homing In this earth ,
And grafting Freedom upon Law for root ,
And founding in the wilderness a hearth
And roof-tree sheltering immortal fruit.
An Age , and Opportunity , produce
Thus the preportico to templed fame ,
That slowly thus is heralded the use
To men , from deeds that grow around a
name.
Your acres broad what memories they hold ,
Unseen to eyes not of the spirit born ,
Till all their sands gleam with affection's gold ,
r ; v ? And there is halo on the tasseling corn.
And sounds subdued , heard In the twilight
dim ,
That from some unseen Where unbidden
come ,
Are they the ghosts of evening prayer or
hymn ?
For nothing nearer Heaven may be than
Homo.
And nearest , that for which our fathers toiled ,
Wherein our mothers crooned us to our rest ;
Which we returning seek , world-battle-soiled ,
As the sure shelter of a nurturing breast.
Our feet in footprints press freshly removed ,
Of our own lineage and cherished race.
To live , to die , homed so with those we loved
Is dtill to hold in time our dwelling place.
Who loves not well the earth , earth loves him
not.
Who loves her , she will nourish that he grow.
Man still is Nature's child , to earth begot ,
And life is vainest to the herd that know
Not this their mother. This the lesson is ,
Taught by home-rooted generations long ;
And history guards the names and memories
Of toil-nursed sons of statecraft and of song.
AT.MONT BARNES.
Washington , D. C. , Sept. 10,1901.
THE GOVERNMENT AT THE EXPOSI
TIONS.
Ex-Secretary J. Sterling Morton , who
holds old-fashioned views regarding the
f auctions of government , protests
strongly in his paper , the Conservative ,
against the activity of the federal gov
ernment in the show , or exposition ,
business. As "a Mrs. Jarley , with wax
works on exhibition , " the government
has become well-nigh a continuous per
former , for the expositions multiply ,
the. local demand for the presence of
Mrs. Jarley is insistent , and congress-
men are led to support the appropria
tion , which , as in the case of the com
ing St. Louis exposition , serves also to
employ several of them passing to the
retired list with salaries of $5000 for
quite a term of years.
That the business is becoming an ex
travagance and abuse will admit of
little question. Most of the states have
already been tired out and retired from
the game. At first they responded
quite generally to the calls from this
and that exposition for a state building
investment. But at Buffalo the six
New England states joined in a com
mon building , and few of the other
commonwealths are represented Illi
nois , New York , Pennsylvania , Ohio ,
Michigan , Minnesota and Maryland
being the exceptions. It constitutes a
drain upon the public purse which is
becoming too continuous for pleasure ,
particularly in view of the growing
recognition of the fact that the exposi
tion is largely a local boom project.
But the United States government
must keep on , evidently , and there is
something to say in favor of its partici
pation in these demonstrations , provid
ed some reasonable limitation is drawn
as to frequency and the size and character -
actor of the performance. The govern
ment's exhibit , setting forth the nature
of its functions and the extent of its
activities , is interesting to everybody
and acquaints the people with what
their government is doing. That they
are entitled to this knowledge is , of
course , true , though it by no means
follows that the government must go to
them with the information in embodied
form , instead of their going to the gov
ernment at its established seat. But
when the call is for $500,000 of the pub
lic money this year , thus to inform the
people , and for $1,000,000 next year , and
$5,000,000 the next , the "waxworks"
business is plainly being overdone.
Those who have followed the govern
ment's exhibit through a round of expo
sitions from Chicago to Atlanta , to
Nashville , to Omaha and now to Buf
falo cannot but have noticed the rel
ative growth in importance of the mili
tary and naval features of the demon
stration. From the beginning these
were apt to overshadow such peacefully
interesting and instructive settings-
forth , as in the ethnological , geological
and other sections of this character ,
along with the exposition of the govern
ment's work in the fisheries and the
postal , life-saving , river and harbor
and other civil services. But at Buffalo
the war feature is more conspicuous by
far than ever before and private manu
facturers of arms and war equipment and
supplies of all kinds have added largely
to this display in adjoining buildings. In
point of space taken up the war exhibit
forms more than one-half of the govern
ment's whole exhibit , and in point of
manifested popular interest it consti
tutes nearly the whole show. More
models of war ships are here displayed
than have been seen -together before
outside of Washington. More than
one-half the new navy is thus repre
sented , and in duplicate nearly all. The
display of weapons , both army and
navy , is profuse and extends out into
the surrounding yard where the heavier
ordnance , mounted around sample sec
tions of fortifications and on carriages
in the open field , entertain the people.
Mrs. Jarley has here provided an extra
display , for , passing by the traditional
military figures setting forth changes in
uniforms by periods of time , the crowd
is able to turn from a sight of the new
navy with true models of its 18-inch
and smaller guns , to a scenic represen
tation of the deck of a man-of-war
where , in most impressive grandeur ,
stands the admiral of the navy , sur
rounded by rear-admirals , captains ,
commanders , lieutenants , ensigns , gun
ners , etc. , each in his proper uniform.
The pomp and glory of war is cer
tainly set forth most attractively and
abundantly , and war also as a chief
function and activity of government.
The military spirit of the nation will
suffer nothing by all this. That the
government is true to the life of things
in making war a greater feature than
ever of its later exposition displays will
have to be admitted. It is well that
the people should know what their gov
ernment is and what it is doing ; but
the reasonableness of expending large
sums from the public treasury to keep
in pretty constant motion among the
people , in response to local boom de
mands , a wax and wood embodiment of
informing facts about the government ,
is decidedly open to question. Spring
field ( Mass. ) Republican.
REMINISCENT.
We remember when J. Sterling Mor
ton and Dr. Miller were the Democratic
party of Nebraska. One wrote De
mocracy upon the tripod and the other
preached democracy at the hustings.
When the state was hopelessly repub
lican , J. Sterling Morton accepted the
nominations for Congress and Governor
with alacrity. He knew he was leading
a forlorn hope , but he smilingly faced
the music and lustily spouted for "free
trade and sailors' rights. "
Recognized.
His ability and faithfulness were
recognized and rewarded with a cabinet
position , which he filled with credit to
himself and the entire nation. But the
new democracy the fusion spoils hunt
ers , "who would rather be president
than be right , " have no place in their
smoky wigwams for Miller and Morton.
Antique Equines.
These worthies have been discarded
and have been turned out , like broken
down canal horses , to browse upon the