gorged, and comes up to the ballot-box to foredoom the destinies of this nation. But look again at that deep and dense array of ignorance, whose limits the eye cannot discover. Its van leans against us here, its rear is behind the distant hills. They, too, in this hour of their country's peril, have come up to turn the folly of which they are not conscious into measures which they cannot understand, by votes which they cannot read. Nay, more and worse! For from the ranks of crime, emissaries are sallying forth toward the ranks of ignorance, shouting the war-cries of faction, and flaunting banners with lying symbols, such as cheat the eye of a mindless brain; and thus the hosts of crime are to lead on the hosts of ignorance in their assault upon liberty and law! What, now, shall be done to save the are treasured all the hopes of posterity? Or, if we can survive the peril of such a day, what shall be done to prevent the next generation from sending forth still more numerous hordes, afflicted with deeper blindness and incited by darker depravity? Are there any here who would counsel us to save the people from themselves by wresting from their hands this formidable right of ballot? Better for the man who would propose this remedy to an infuriated multitude, that he should stand in the lightning's path as it descends from heaven to earth. citadel of freedom, where And answer me this question, you who would re-conquer for the few the power which has been won by the many-you who would disfranchise the common mass of mankind, and recondemn them to helots, and bondmen, and feudal serfs, -tell me, were they again in the power of your castles, would you not again neglect them, again oppose them, again make them slaves? Better that these blind Samsons, in the wantonness of their gigantic strength, should tear down the pillars of the Republic, than that the great lesson which heaven, for six thousand years, has been teaching to the world, should be lost upon it-the lesson that the intellectual and moral nature of man is the one thing precious in the sight of God, and, therefore, that until this nature is cultivated and enlightened and purified, neither opulence nor power nor learning nor genius nor domestic sanctity nor the holiness of God's altars can ever be safe. Until the immortal and godlike capacities of every being that comes into the world are deemed more worthy, are watched more tenderly, than any other things, no dynasty of men or form of government can stand or shall stand upon the face of the earth; and the force or the fraud which would seek to uphold them shall be but as fetters of flax to bind the flame." GOLUMBIA'S EMBLEM. EDNA DEAN PROCTOR. [I am much interested to have our stately, beautiful, indigenous grain -the Maize, Indian corn-adopted as the emblem of America.-EDNA DEAN PROCTOR.] B LAZEN Columbia's emblem, The bounteous, golden Corn! From the ocean of dawn to the west, And by dew and shower, from its natal hour, Till the gods were fain to share with men For the rarest boon to the land they loved Nor star nor breeze o'er the farthest seas In their holiest temples the Incas And its harvest came to the wandering tribes Was made of its sacred meal. Narrow their cherished fields; but ours Are broad as the continent's breast, And, lavish as leaves and flowers, the sheaves Bring plenty and joy and rest. For they strew the plains and crowd the wains Till blithe cheers ring and west winds sing The rose may bloom for England, But the shield of the great Republic, The glory of the West, Shall bear a stalk of the tasselled Corn, The arbutus and the golden-rod The heart of the North may cheer, And the mountain-laurel for Maryland Its royal clusters rear; And jasmine and magnolia The crest of the South adorn; But the wide Republic's emblem Is the bounteous, golden Corn! THE MEANING OF THE FOUR CENTURIES. T HE spectacle America presents this day is without precedent in history. From ocean to ocean, in city, village and countryside, the children of the states are marshalled and marching under the banner of the nation, and with them the people are gathering around the school-house. Men are recognizing to-day the most impressive anniversary since Rome celebrated her thousandth year -the four hundredth anniversary of the stepping of a hemisphere into the world's life; four completed centuries of a new social order; the celebration of liberty and enlightenment organized into a civilization. And while, during these hours, the Federal Government of these United States strikes the key-note of this great American day that gives honor to the common American institution which unites us all, we assemble here that we, too, may exalt the free school that embodies the American principle of universal enlightenment and equality; the most characteristic product of the four centuries of American life. Four hundred years ago this morning, the Pinta's gun broke the silence, and announced the discovery of this hemisphere. It was a virgin world. Human life hitherto upon it had been without significance. In the Old World for thousands of years civilized men had been trying experiments in social order. They had been found wanting. But here was an untouched soil that lay ready for a new experiment in civilization. All things were ready. New forces had come to light full of overturning power in the Old World. In the New World they were to work together with a mighty harmony. It was for Columbus, propelled by this fresh life, to reveal the land where these new forces were to be given space for development, and where the awaited trial of the new civilization was to be made. To-day we reach our most memorable mile-stone. We look backward and we look forward. Backward, we see the first mustering of modern ideas; their long conflict with Old-World theories, which were also transported hither. We see stalwart men and brave women, one moment on the shore, then disappearing in dim forests. We hear the axe. We see the flame of burning cabins and hear the cry of the savage. We see the never-ceasing wagon trains, always toiling westward. We behold log-cabins becoming villages, then cities. We watch the growth of institutions out of little beginnings-schools becoming an educational system; meetinghouses leading into organic Christianity; town meetings growing to political movements; county discussions developing federal governments. We see hardy men with intense convictions, grappling, struggling, often amid battle-smoke, and some idea characteristic of the New World always triumphing. We see settlements knitting together into a nation with singleness of purpose. We note the birth of the modern system of industry and commerce, and its striking forth into undreamed-of wealth, making the millions members one of another as sentiment could never bind. And under it all, and through it all, we fasten on certain principles, ever operating and regnant-the leadership of manhood; equal rights for every soul; universal enlightenment as the source of progress. These last are the principles that have shaped America; these principles are the true Americanism. We look forward. We are conscious that we are in a period of transition. Ideas in education, in political economy, in social science are undergoing revisions. There is a large uncertainty about the outcome. But faith in the underlying principles of Americanism and in God's destiny for the Republic makes a firm ground of hope. The coming century promises to be more than ever the age of the people; an age that shall develop a greater care for the rights of the weak, and make a more solid provision for the development of each individual by the education that meets his need. As no prophet among our fathers on the three hundredth anniversary of America could have pictured what the new century would do, so no man can this day reach out and grasp the hundred years upon which the nation is now entering. On the victorious results of the completed centuries the principles of Americanism |