ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 325 



newspaper, never traveled more than twelve miles an 

 hour, never received a telegram, never had a pane of 

 glass in his house, never saw an ear of corn or a potato. 

 He had peacocks upon his table, but never tickled his 

 palate with the flesh of a turkey, never knew the use of 

 tobacco, and never had a shirt on his back. 



If we were to go into the workhouse of today and re- 

 move from the daily supply of its occupants everything 

 that had been invented since the Augustan age, the in- 

 mates of such an institution would regard themselves as 

 being the most ill-treated of mankind. 



In 1453, when the Turk captured Constantinople, the 

 learning of the Greeks was dispersed all over Europe, 

 and the world was all the better prepared to avail itself 

 of the discoveries of 1492. The sea had for ages rolled 

 around the known world as a complete bar to human 

 progress; it has become a highway; now it unites, rather 

 than divides, the continents. Natural gas was worshiped 

 by the ancients as a manifestation of the gods; now it is 

 harnessed for the use of man. 



The priestess at Delphi intoxicated herself with its 

 fumes and saw visions. At Kokomo, man has made it an 

 utility. At Guadaloupe, Mexico, a bubbling spring was 

 looked upon and worshiped as a miraculous healer of the 

 Aztecs ; but in our day and generation mineral springs 

 become practical and scientific cures. The scientist and 

 geologist have supplanted the barbarian and sorcerer, 

 and old-time soothsayers would have been struck dumb 

 with the exploits of Edison. Ghosts hide themselves 

 from the light of scientific day. McKinley held his ear 

 to the telephone at Canton and listened to the shouting 

 multitudes at the convention at St. Louis. The results 

 of the Olympic games in Greece, a few years ago, were 

 known in St. Louis five hours before the races started, if 

 we make no allowance for the difference in time. 



