Part 13 (1/2)

THE VISION OF COLUMBUS.

The crimson sun was sinking down to rest, Pavilioned on the cloudy verge of heaven; And ocean, on her gently heaving breast, Caught and flashed back the varying tints of even; When, on a fragment from the tall cliff riven, With folded arms, and doubtful thoughts opprest, Columbus sat, till sudden hope was given-- A ray of gladness shooting from the West.

Oh, what a glorious vision for mankind Then dawned upon the twilight of his mind; Thoughts shadowy still, but indistinctly grand.

There stood his genie, face to face, and signed (So legends tell) far seaward with her hand, Till a new world sprang up, and bloomed beneath her wand.

He was a man whom danger could not daunt, Nor sophistry perplex, nor pain subdue; A stoic, reckless of the world's vain taunt, And steeled the path of honor to pursue.

So, when by all deserted, still he knew How best to soothe the heart-sick, or confront Sedition; schooled with equal eye to view The frowns of grief and the base pangs of want.

But when he saw that promised land arise In all its rare and beautiful varieties, Lovelier than fondest fancy ever trod, Then softening nature melted in his eyes; He knew his fame was full, and blessed his G.o.d, And fell upon his face and kissed the virgin sod!

--_Ibid._

COLUMBUS' STATUE IN CHICAGO.

The Drake Fountain, Chicago, presented to the city by Mr. John B. Drake, a prominent and respected citizen, is to occupy a s.p.a.ce between the city hall and the court house buildings, on the Was.h.i.+ngton Street frontage.

The monument is to be Gothic in style, and the base will be composed of granite from Baveno, Italy. The design includes a pedestal, on the front of which will be placed a bronze statue of Christopher Columbus, seven feet high, which is to be cast in the royal foundry at Rome. The statue will be the production of an American artist of reputation, Mr. R. H.

Park of Chicago. The fountain is to be provided with an ice-chamber capable of holding two tons of ice, and is to be surrounded with a water-pipe containing ten faucets, each supplied with a bronze cup. The entire cost will be $15,000. Mr. Drake's generous gift to Chicago is to be ready for public use in 1892, and it will, therefore, be happily commemorative of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus. The inscription on the fountain reads: ”Ice-water drinking fountain presented to the City of Chicago by John B. Drake 1892.” At the feet of the statue of Columbus, who is represented as a student of geography in his youth at the University of Pavia, is inscribed, ”Christopher Columbus, 1492-1892.”

The fountain is a very handsome piece of bronze art work, and Commissioner Aldrich has decided to place it in a conspicuous place, being none other than the area between the court house and the city hall, facing Was.h.i.+ngton Street. This central and accessible spot of public ground has been an unsightly stabling place for horses ever since the court house was built. It will now be sodded, flower-beds will be laid out, and macadamized walks will surround the Drake Fountain. The new feature will be a relief to weary eyes, and an ornament to Was.h.i.+ngton Street and the center of the city.

The red granite base for the fountain has been received at the custom house. It was made in Turin, Italy, and cost $3,300. Under the law, the stone came in duty free, as it is intended as a gift to the munic.i.p.ality.

DREAM.

JOHN WILLIAM DRAPER, a celebrated American chemist and scientist.

Born near Liverpool, England, 1811; died January 4, 1882. From his ”Intellectual Development of Europe,” 1876. By permission of Messrs. Harper & Brothers, Publishers, New York.

Columbus appears to have formed his theory that the East Indies could be reached by sailing to the west about A. D. 1474. He was at that time in correspondence with Toscanelli, the Florentine astronomer, who held the same doctrine, and who sent him a map or chart constructed on the travels of Marco Polo. He offered his services first to his native city, then to Portugal, then to Spain, and, through his brother, to England; his chief inducement, in each instance, being that the riches of India might be thus secured. In Lisbon he had married. While he lay sick near Belem, an unknown voice whispered to him in a dream, ”G.o.d will cause thy name to be wonderfully resounded through the earth, and will give thee the keys of the gates of the ocean which are closed with strong chains.”

The death of his wife appears to have broken the last link which held him to Portugal, where he had been since 1470. One evening, in the autumn of 1485, a man of majestic presence, pale, careworn, and, though in the meridian of life, with silver hair, leading a little boy by the hand, asked alms at the gate of the Franciscan convent near Palos--not for himself, but only a little bread and water for his child. This was that Columbus destined to give to Europe a new world.

A PEN-PICTURE FROM THE SOUTH.

The Right Rev. ANTHONY DURIER, Bishop of Natchitoches, La., in a circular letter to the clergy and laity of the diocese, printed in the New Orleans _Morning Star_, September 10, 1892.

We cherish the memory of the ill.u.s.trious sailor, also of the lady and of the monk who were providential instruments in opening a new world to religion and civilization.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HEAD OF COLUMBUS.

Designed by H. H. Zearing of Chicago.]

Honor to the sailor, Christopher Columbus, the Christ-bearing dove, as his name tells, gentle as a dove of hallowed memory as Christ-bearer. In fact, he brought Christ to the New World. Look back at that sailor, 400 years ago, on bended knees, with hands uplifted in prayer, on the sh.o.r.es of Guanahani, first to invoke the name of Jesus in the New World; in fact, as in name, behold the Christ-bearing dove. Columbus was a knight of the cross, with his good cross-hilted sword, blessed by the church.

The first aim and ambition of a knight of the cross, at that time, was to plant the cross in the midst of heathen nations, and to have them brought from ”the region of the shadow of death” into the life-giving bosom of Mother Church.

Listen to the prayer of Columbus, as he brings his lips to, and kneels on, the blessed land he has discovered, that historic prayer which he had prepared long in advance, and which all Catholic discoverers repeated after him: ”O Lord G.o.d, eternal and omnipotent, who by Thy divine word hast created the heavens, the earth, and the sea! Blessed and glorified be thy name and praised Thy majesty, who hast deigned by me, thy humble servant, to have that sacred name made known and preached in this other part of the world.”