One of the blest effects of the flight of time is that old animosities
are forgotten and the nobler things of reconciliation and peace are
seen. An instance of this lately occurred in the South:
A group of gentlemen, soldiers of the present and the past, were
gathered upon an historic Southern battle-field, Missionary
Ridge. They stopt to read the inscription upon a tablet, simple
and unpretentious, which marked the position of a Confederate
battery. This tablet bore the name of “Luke E. Wright, Second
Lieutenant.” Luke E. Wright, Secretary of War of the United
States of America, surrounded by his officers and friends,
paused a moment to read again this chapter from his youth.
A distinguished general of the regular army laid his hand
affectionately upon the shoulder of General Wright and remarked:
“General, how queerly things turn out! Who could have foreseen
that the boy in gray, who served his guns upon this spot, would
one day be my chief, at the head of the Army of the United
States?”
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* * * * *
The instability of all mundane things is suggested by the following
account, which may also remind us of the utterance of Jesus: “Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.”
“When, in 1890, Germany bartered away Zanzibar in exchange
for Heligoland, great was the rejoicing,” says _Shipping
Illustrated_ (New York). “Much concern is now being
manifested in Germany owing to the relentless attack of the sea,
which has already reduced the island’s area nearly twenty-five
per cent since it came under the German flag. At this rate
the little island will, in another half-century, have melted
entirely away. The North Sea has been from time immemorial
an avaricious land-grabber. The Dogger Bank once reared its
head above the surface, a fact proved by the bones of animals
occasionally brought up in the fishermen’s nets. The eastern
coast of England has suffered severely from its insatiable
appetite. Dunwick, an important seaport during the Middle Ages,
is now a part of the sea-bottom, and fishes and other marine
denizens occupy the one-time habitation of men. Visitors to
Felixstowe, once a Roman colony and now a modern seaside resort,
opposite Harwich, have pointed out to them a rock a mile out
to sea, on which the old church formerly stood. The Kaiser may
yet live to see his cherished possession torn from his grasp.”
(Text.)
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