That which distinguishes humanity from the animal kingdom is mind and its achievements. Thoughts crystallized into machines, are milestones showing the progress of humanity upward and onward—the triumphs of mind over matter, the discovery of the prerogative of the spirit to have absolute control over the body. It is mind commanding its former master.
It is a grand thing to let a thought loose upon the world, to utilize the hitherto hidden forces in Nature and bid them into the service of man, to lift the heavy burdens from his shoulders so that he can stand upright in the free sunshine. The greatest missionaries on earth to-day are the telegraph and steam engine. The best defence of the nation is the intelligence of the people and the inventive talent of her citizens. The advancement of science is an angel of peace overshadowing the earth with her silvery wings. Through her war is rapidly becoming so impetuously destructive that it loses the glamor of sentiment and poetry, and arbitration must now substitute for saltpeter and bayonets.
"Know, the stars yonder,
The stars everlasting,
Are fugitive also;
And emulate, vaulted,
The lambent heat-lightning,
And fire-fly's flight."
