"''J-'"'-"
412
Today.
Voii. vii,
raSEQsOni
r
s.
earth is broken; the world in nt the thresh
old of an age of freedom, and human na
lure demands its right. America's bril
liant example has given afresh impulse
to the call for popular go eminent; count
less millions are gazing in eager aston.
ishmeut at hut- marvelous deeds, should
she continue unwavering in her onward
course, sho will stand ere long leader of
one great army of republics, at the head of
a now civilization. Hut lo insure perfect
tranquility, nations must reverence n
higher authority than tneir own. There
must be u central government to which
all others shall be subordinate, and that
should have power, in times of political
convulsion, to stretch forth the strong
arm of justice over the fields of sanguinary
contlict and stop the work of destruction.
Then will cit'iI strife and contention be
silenced throughout the world by adjust
ing all international dilllcultles in one
grand tribunal. H. II. Cui.yku.
TO J) AY.
" Wo nro living, wo aro (Uvulllng,
In a Kntnd and awful tlmo,
In nil age on agos 'oiling,
To lio living in sublime."
Great indeed is our privilege to be al
lowed to live in an age so stirring and
eventful as the present. It is the pro
duct of all former ages, and excels them
in well directed efforts, heroic achieve
ments and grand results. Work is being
done, the result of which astonishes even
the workers themselves. Impossibilities
are daily changed to probabilities, prob.
abilities are moulded into actual and glo.
rious certainties. "Pistnnco lends en
chantment." The arts, literature, and in
venlions of to-day, seen through the dim
distances, are thought to compare unfa
vorably with like productions of the ast.
But once let the thirteenth century sit in
judgment, and how di HercM is the ver
dict. Since Greece and Homo have fur
nished the themes for almost every com.
mencement oration, let us for onco em-
ulato England, Russia, Germany, or
America, if you please. Who shall say
that the present century is not more glo
rious in light and liberty, than any pro
ceeding? Iron sinews bind in closer
brotherhood and union, our Nortli and
our South, our West and our East. The
clattering car of commerce is but the
exchange of friendly greetings. The
telegraph Hashes thoughts from shore to
shore and dives beneath the waves and
upon the trackless ocean bed, carrying
our messages to continents beyond.
Next comes the telephone, and not only
the thoughts, but the very tones of our
voices are transmitted to distant cities.
Last, but not least, the phonograph steps
in and proposes to send in packages the
melodies of Ihe voice, not only from city
to city, but to seal them up and hand
them down to after generations. What a
glorious future as well as present is before
us.
In literature, the achievements are
equally as great. Hardly has a work of
real merit left the hands of the publish
ers, before it lias been translated into a
half dozen foreign languages; and while
wo are reading the thoughts that live and
woids thai burn, thousands in all parts
of Ihe world are enjoying the same privi
lege. Our poets have been the mrst hu
morous and the most pathetic, exciting
the world alike to laughter and to tears
Hut the great result of this age is seen
only by close inspection; not by examin
ing the most prominent men whose bril
liant thoughts have dazzled tiie literary,
artistic, and scientific circles, but by no
ticing the result attained by the masses.
Where hooks, pictures and other works
of art once adorned the houses of the fa
vored few, we now find litem in the houses
of the many.
A classical education is no longer un
attainable for the majority, and every one
that thirstetlt may freely quail' from the
fountain of learning. It is also a day of
civil and roll go us freedom. Not only in
our own America out in oilier lauds the
anna