“A REMARKABLE OVATION.

“President H. B. Plant, of the Plant System, was a happy man yesterday when he looked into three thousand smiling faces at the Exposition Auditorium and saw among them about one thousand five hundred of his faithful employees, who were assembled to celebrate his seventy-sixth birthday.

“It was a rare tribute to a great and a good man. Probably no railway president in the world could have commanded such an ovation.

“Mr. Plant was overwhelmed with graceful attentions from his employees, the Exposition directors, and our citizens generally. The day at the Exposition was a celebration in his honor, and at night the directors entertained him at a banquet.

“It goes without saying that this tribute is worth more to Mr. Plant than presents of silver and gold. It will touch his heart as nothing else could. That he may long hold his honored place among us is the earnest wish of all who know him.

“MR. PLANT AND THE NEGROES.

“In addition to what has been said of Mr. Plant and his great System, the negroes are grateful for what he has done for them. There are over two thousand negroes employed by Mr. Plant. A great number of them have accumulated homes, educated their children, and have nice bank accounts, and they all love him. He has contributed liberally to churches, school-houses, and other negro enterprises; in fact, he has built several institutions of learning for negroes. A number of negroes hold positions of trust, with good pay attached, as is not the case with any other system the size of his in the United States.

“May the years of Mr. Plant’s usefulness in behalf of the South, colored and white, be many more.”—Atlanta Constitution.

“HONORS TO MR. PLANT.

“Few men have done as much as Mr. H. B. Plant to develop the South, and the Journal joins heartily in the tributes which are being paid to him to-day.

“He has reached the age of seventy-six with a record which any man might envy, and we trust is good for many more years of usefulness. Mr. Plant is the head of great corporations which have been of incalculable value to the South. They have been so, not because they are rich and powerful, but because, under his direction, they have been conducted on broad and liberal lines. Mr. Plant’s policy has been to build up. His career presents a splendid contrast to those of the railroad wreckers who have enriched themselves at the expense of thousands of individual victims and of great regions of the country.

“Mr. Plant has used his power nobly. He has made it beneficial to multitudes of his fellow-citizens, and has contributed immensely to the general development of the South. As the president of a great railroad system, of steamship lines, and of the Southern Express Company, and the Texas Express Company, Mr. Plant enjoys, not only the kind regards of a host of employees, but the respect and admiration of the public as well. The many evidences which he receives to-day of the good-will and esteem of his fellow-men must be exceedingly gratifying to him, but we are justified in saying that seldom have tributes been more richly deserved. We extend to Mr. Plant our cordial congratulations on his seventy-sixth birthday, and hope that we shall have the pleasure of seeing his honored and useful career continued for many years to come.

“Mrs. H. B. Plant, the wife of the distinguished president of the Plant System, is at the Aragon. She is a beautiful, cultured, travelled woman, and as such receives everywhere the most flattering social attentions. She will be the conspicuous social figure of this week, and several brilliant affairs will be given in her honor. Mrs. Plant is one of the New York Commissioners, and has proven her interest in Atlanta’s Exposition in many satisfactory and assuring ways.”—Atlanta Journal.

“A splendid banquet was tendered by the Southern Express Company to its superintendents, route agents, and agents attending the Cotton States and International Exposition, last evening in the Kimball House.

“The occasion was a most happy one.

“The banquet was held in honor of Plant Day—Mr. Plant being president of the Southern Express Company.

“Mr. T. W. Leary, the popular and genial assistant general manager of the Southern Express Company, presided and acted as toast-master. In this capacity he distinguished himself, and made some of the happiest hits of the evening. The speeches were of the happiest character, and befitted the occasion which they commemorated—the birthday of the venerable president of the express company, who has done so much towards the building up of this rich and powerful transportation company.

“Among those who spoke were the following:

“Mr. C. L. Loop, traffic manager of the Southern Express Company; Mr. H. Dempsey, superintendent; Mr. H. O. Fisher, superintendent; Mr. G. W. Agee, superintendent; Mr. V. E. McBee, general agent Seaboard Air Line; Mr. J. L. McCollum, superintendent Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railway; Mr. F. H. Richardson, editor Atlanta Journal; Mr. C. S. Gadsden, superintendent of the Plant System.

“The entire occasion was marked by the greatest enthusiasm, and it will be long remembered by those present. The following is a list of the guests:

“J. S. B. Thompson, assistant general superintendent Southern Railway; V. E. McBee, general agent Seaboard Air Line; W. R. Beauprie, superintendent Southern Railway; J. L. McCollum, superintendent Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railway; D. E. Maxwell, general manager Florida Central and Peninsular Railway; L. M. Weathers, Memphis, Tennessee; F. de C. Sullivan, E. M. Williams, George E. Carter, New York; B. R. Swoope, Virginia; F. H. Richardson, Atlanta Journal, and G. W. Haines, H. A. Ford, C. O. Parker, C. S. Gadsden, W. B. Denham, Judge Brawley, of the Plant System; M. F. Echols, agent Southern Express Company, Atlanta, Georgia; W. A. Dewees, agent Southern Express Company, Chattanooga, Tennessee; F. L. Cooper, agent Southern Express Company, Savannah, Georgia, and H. M. McCulloch, W. E. McGill, G. A. Wilkinson, J. A. Cleary and F. M. Folds; C. L. Loop, traffic manager Southern Express Company; H. Dempsey, superintendent; H. C. Fisher, superintendent; C. T. Campbell, superintendent; O. M. Sadler, superintendent; W. J. Crosswell, superintendent; G. W. Agee, superintendent; C. L. Myers, superintendent; W. W. Hulbert, superintendent; V. Spalding, superintendent; C. A. Pardue, superintendent; J. C. Arnold, route agent; S. R. Golibart, route agent; P. B. Wilkes, route agent; W. C. Agee, route agent; J. Cronin, route agent; K. C. Barrett, route agent; John Lovette, route agent; H. E. Williamson, route agent; J. B. Hockaday, route agent; W. M. Shoemaker, agent Southern Express Company, Montgomery, Alabama.

“The Exposition was crowded to-day with the employees of the Plant System and the friends of Mr. H. B. Plant, the president of that System, for it was Plant Day.

“There is perhaps no more interesting figure in American business life to-day than H. B. Plant, and his employees have for him that feeling of love that is so rarely held by the employees of a great corporation for its head. As an evidence of that love and kindly feeling the employees gathered to-day to do him honor.”—Atlanta Journal.

“The Chronicle publishes this morning an interesting sketch of Mr. Henry B. Plant, by Mr. Clark Howell. The writer has a most excellent subject for his theme, and he has handled it admirably. Than Mr. Henry B. Plant there is not a better man to be found anywhere. Starting from the plain people, unaided by the adventitious circumstances of birth or wealth, he has, step by step, ascended the ladder of fame and fortune, until he is now classed among the railroad magnates and the multi-millionaires of the country. He has been the architect of his own fortune, and he has done the work in the most artistic and substantial manner. His work for Florida and the South cannot be exaggerated. He has been one of the most potential factors in the upbuilding of this section, and he is still full of hope and faith in the present and future possibilities of the South. He knows thoroughly the advantages which we possess, and he is enthusiastic for their full utilization. Mr. Plant was for years a familiar figure in this community and a valued citizen of Augusta.

“Speaking of Mr. Plant yesterday, one of our prominent citizens observed that he had the remarkable gift of always selecting the right man for the right place. He is a capital judge of human nature. His life has been a most exemplary and laborious one. He is the personification of kindness and courtesy in his intercourse with his fellow-citizens, and his consideration for his employees is most marked.

“Monday was set apart by the Cotton States Exposition in honor of Mr. Plant. This recognition of his services to the South is well deserved. In his case it is an honor most worthily bestowed. At the age of seventy-six, Mr. Plant possesses a sound mind in a sound body. Long may he live to continue his good work for Florida and the South, and to wield his influence for good among his fellow-men.”—Augusta Chronicle.

“The employees of the Plant System, who went to the Cotton States and International Exposition on the invitation of President Plant, returned yesterday very much gratified with their visit. And Mr. Plant was very greatly pleased to meet them at the Exposition. The occasion was the celebration of Mr. Plant’s seventy-sixth birthday.

“Mr. Plant is still a very vigorous man. His mental faculties are as bright and keen as they ever were. He looks back on a long life of great activity and usefulness. He has built up a splendid monument to himself in the Plant Railway and Steamship System. All his life he has been a builder—never a wrecker. And the speech he delivered to his employees on Monday shows that he has a just appreciation of the relations he holds to the public.

“No man has contributed more to the building up of the South than Mr. Plant. The country tributary to his lines of railroad presents an appearance vastly different from what it did a quarter of a century ago. There are thousands of comfortable homes now where there was then only a wilderness. Plant Day was a feature of the Exposition, as the Plant System is a feature of the South.”—Savannah Morning News.

“On this, the seventy-sixth anniversary of his birthday, we extend our wishes to Mr. H. B. Plant, the head of the great system of railways which bears his name. Long life and happiness to him.”—The Bulletin, Savannah, Georgia.

“The ceremonies attending the anniversary of Mr. Plant’s birthday yesterday in Atlanta were very imposing. There was a large crowd on hand, and Mr. Plant responded in a very feeling and appropriate speech. There was a feeling and eloquent address by Judge Falligant. One of the gems of the occasion was the excellent letter of Capt. D. G. Purse.”—Savannah Press.

“To-day is a great one in Atlanta. The Plant System celebration of the birthday of its great founder is perhaps the most remarkable event of its kind that ever occurred in this country. It marks the beginning of a distinctive era in progress—when the men who are leaders in material progress are recognized and honored as public benefactors. While Florida is under vast obligations to statesmen of the past and present, to the heroes of several wars, to the pioneers who redeemed its lands to the plow and hoe—it is not too much to say that the present generation owes fully as much to the group of men who, having acquired large means elsewhere, are expending and investing them in developing the resources and advertising the resources of the State. And it is not overstating the case to say that to no one on this list belongs so much credit as to Henry B. Plant. He was the first, as he is to-day the leader, to see the good points of our soil and climate, and to bring them to the notice of the world. To him, and to his unwavering attachment to Florida, is due, to a preponderating extent, the surprising and persistent growth of the State. No pretense is made that he has done it all, but he led the way and set the pace, and it is a pleasure to the intelligent and fair-minded people of Florida to hold him in high esteem, and to testify to it. As long ago as 1853, Mr. Plant saw and appreciated Florida, and from that day to this he has been its unflinching friend. He has been the direct agency for the investment of many millions of dollars here, and the indirect cause of its duplication by others. He deserves the honors and compliments that are paid him, and more.”—Tampa Times.

“The birthday of Henry B. Plant, head of the Plant Railway System and of the Southern Express Company, was yesterday celebrated in fine and appropriate style at the Atlanta Exposition. It was Plant System Day. Mr. Plant deserves such recognition. He has done much for the South, the section of his adoption. He has brought a great deal of capital and enterprise into the section, and built up important conveniences that have proven highly profitable to the Southern country and people. No one man has done more for the advancement of the South’s material development. He was seventy-six yesterday, but looks twenty years younger, in spite of the big load of care and the big amount of work he has done in the last fifty years. Long may he live to enjoy the fruits and honors of his good works.”—Daily Times, Chattanooga.

“The west coast of Florida, Alabama, and the portions of the country around the Plant System in Georgia, sent thousands of people to the Atlanta Exposition for the celebration of Plant System Day at the Exposition. They have been coming on special trains since yesterday morning. To-day Mr. H. B. Plant celebrated his seventy-sixth birthday, and to-day is Plant System Day at the Exposition. Officials and employees from all the railway, steamship, and express lines controlled by Mr. Plant, and numbering nearly 5000 men, are here to celebrate the day. The public exercises occurred in the Auditorium, and the Plant System people were welcomed by Mayor King. Mr. Plant made a response to the welcome.”—New Orleans Times-Democrat.

“The following invitation for last Monday the Marine Journal regretted very much not having been able to accept:

“‘The Cotton States and International Exposition, Atlanta, Ga., having designated October 28, 1895, as Plant System Day, the officers and employees of the system will meet there to commemorate the birthday of their president, Mr. Henry B. Plant. You are invited to be present.’

“Advices from Atlanta since Monday announce that the event was a brilliant success, as befitted such an occasion. Mr. Plant was weighed down with congratulations, both personal, telegraphic, and by mail, and presented himself in such an excellent state of health and enjoyment that no one would have imagined he had so far passed the regulation threescore years and ten as the day commemorated. Mr. Plant saw much that must have deeply gratified him on the occasion, not only the result of his own labor and enterprise, but in the encouraging presentation of things that give evidence of such a restored measure of prosperity throughout the South as only men like himself, who have worked so hard to accomplish such a happy state of affairs, can thoroughly appreciate. The recognition of the Plant System in such an auspicious manner by the management of the Atlanta Exposition was a fitting testimonial to the prominent part that the System is recognized to hold in conducing to the well-being of the South, not only from a commercial point of view, but from the excellent reputation among the best classes of people that must necessarily attach to the places where the Plant hotels for winter tourists are situated. Thus the day became a fitting compliment to the true worth of the founder and president of the Plant System and an additional ray in the glory with which his deeds crown him in the fulness of his days. Long may he enjoy it.”—Marine Journal.

“To-day the anniversary of the birth of Mr. H. B. Plant, President of the Plant System of Railroads and Steamships, the Southern Express Company and the Plant Investment Company, is being celebrated by the officers and attaches of these companies and friends of Mr. Plant at Atlanta—principally by the Plant System men.

“H. B. Plant is a remarkable man, and though well advanced in years, he is just as active in business to-day as he was a half-century ago. Thousands of his employees to-day assemble to pay tribute to his worth as a man; besides, thousands of acquaintances and admirers extend their heartiest congratulations.

“No better place or time for such celebration could be had than at the Atlanta Exposition, where is another, and the latest, monument to Mr. Plant’s worth as a developer and as a man of enterprise and genius. The building and the exhibits there of the Plant System are similar to his good works all over the country, and every Floridian, South Carolinian, Georgian, and Alabamian must feel proud of these representatives of the products and enterprise of their States collected and displayed to such an advantage by the great System that benefits the States.

“The best men in Florida acknowledge H. B. Plant as one of the State’s truest friends, and willingly in heart, if not in person, join in doing him honor on this, his seventy-sixth birthday, and all hope he may be spared many more years to the grateful people.”—Jacksonville Metropolis.

“The reception given to the venerable president of the great Plant System of hotels in Florida on Monday, October 28, at Atlanta, was a deserved recognition of the work he has done in developing Florida and, indirectly, the whole South.”—New York Hotel Register.

“As a rule, men of large interests are charmingly simple and unaffected in manner, and this is eminently true of H. B. Plant, President of the famous Plant System Railway and Steamship Lines, a millionaire, and the controlling power of three great hotels, the Tampa Bay, the Seminole at Winter Park, and the Inn at Port Tampa, all in Florida.

“Mr. Plant resides in New York much of the time, in an elegant home, but is also to be found a good deal in Florida, while he takes trips to Jamaica and other places where he has business to transact.

“Personally, he is a delightful conversationalist, and remarkably young for his years, which are not few. He is quite up to date in every way, and never lets a business chance go by him. The magnitude of his orders may be understood from the fact that he has recently given an order at Newport News for the largest coastwise steamer ever built, 440 feet in length, and having every comfort and modern arrangement for safety. He is deeply interested in the Cotton States and International Exposition, and has a building of his own at the grounds, with a comprehensive exhibit.”—New Haven Evening Register.

“THE ATLANTA EXPOSITION.

“We hardly think the Northern Press has been as generous in its good offices to the Southern Exposition as it might. We have just returned from a visit to Atlanta, and were delighted with the beautiful landscape order of the grounds, the large and elegant buildings, and, above all, the wonderful exhibits they contained. The farm products will astonish our Northern visitors. Canned fruits and garden produce are varied, numerous, and luxuriant. The manufactures, especially of cotton, were very fine, and their machinery equal to the best in the country—was so pronounced by the Manufacturers’ Committee from the New England States. The Art Building; is a model of artistic taste and elegance. The Industrial Building, in which France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and other nations are represented would require an entire day to explore. The minerals, fossils, photo plates, gold and silver ores, coal, salts, lime, and peculiar clays found in the Southern States, will repay close inspection. I saw beautiful china made from a white clay found in Florida only four months ago; also great blocks of salt as they were taken from the mine, that needed only to be crushed to fit them for immediate use.

“One of the things that has given a great uplift to the Cotton States has been the improvement of its railroads. A quarter of a century ago these were in a very depressed condition, crippled, bankrupt, and unremunerative, and about this time, H. B. Plant, of New York, interested Northern capitalists in them, bought, combined, reorganized, and improved them in every way, adding steamboat lines to the West Indies, and perfecting an express system unsurpassed in any part of the country, for the whole South. This so increased travel to the South, especially in the winter season, by health-seekers and pleasure-seekers, that better hotel accommodations were demanded. These were soon provided, at a large outlay, giving the South, especially Florida, the finest hotels in the world. St. Augustine, Palm Beach, and Tampa Bay, especially the latter, are unsurpassed for healthful, comfortable, and luxuriant appointments. Hence, Plant Day was one of the great days of the Exposition, when some two thousand of the more than twelve thousand employees of the Plant System came to do honor to the man who had done so much for the Southern section of our country. Receptions, addresses, silver cup, compass, and flowers, and a grand banquet in the evening at the Aragon Hotel, were cordially tendered to this benefactor of the Cotton States. Labor and capital clasped hands in the most friendly accord, and this problem of the age was here solved, where peace and good-will abounded among these men. We saw the man of war, the admiral of the fleet at Hampton Roads, pay his respects to this man of peace, whose guest we were, and whose power for good has been so widely felt in our land.”—An East Orange Dominie, East Orange Gazette, East Orange, New Jersey.

“EXPOSITION ECHOES.

“Mr. A. B. Wrenn, special agent of the Southern Pacific, who has been in Atlanta for the past few days, returned to the city yesterday, and gives a glowing account of the Exposition. He says that the number of people who visited the great show on President’s Day was something over 78,000, and that on Atlanta Day the number will be considerably more.

“‘One of the prettiest sights I saw while in Atlanta,’ said Mr. Wrenn, ‘was that of the thousands of the employees of the Plant System, when Plant Day was celebrated. Mr. H. B. Plant, president and owner of the Plant System of railroads, gave the thousands of his employees, who could possibly get off duty, a free trip to the Fair, and on Plant Day there were several thousands of them present. A grand reception was given, and section bosses, freight agents, clerks, and even negro laborers who worked on the sections, were given an opportunity of shaking hands with Mr. Plant, who is now an elderly gentleman. Mr. Plant made a speech and expressed his satisfaction at meeting so many of his men, and the affair passed off most pleasantly.’

“Mr. Wrenn says that the Exposition is well worth seeing.”—Daily Picayune, New Orleans, Louisiana.

“THE ATLANTA EXPOSITION.

“BY THE REV. GEORGE H. SMYTH, D.D.

“Coming so soon after the great Exposition at Chicago,—the greatest the world has ever seen,—and considering the general depression of the country, and the short time taken for preparation, the Exposition of the Cotton States, at Atlanta, Georgia, is a marvel. The terraced ground, selected and laid out with such beautiful landscape effect, the architectural designs of the buildings, the artistic skill displayed in locating them, together with the drives, walks, ponds, fountains, lawns, and ornamentations of the whole Fair grounds, reflect great credit on the committee of distinguished gentlemen who had the matter in charge, and who spared neither pains nor expense to make the Exposition a great success. Atlanta alone contributed $1,000,000 to the enterprise.

“Plant Day was the great day of the Fair thus far. It was set apart by the Committee of Management in honor of Henry B. Plant, who has done so much for the progress, prosperity, and welfare of the Southern States. More than a quarter of a century has passed since he began his patriotic, not to say philanthropic, work of uplifting a prostrate section of our country. Up to this time the railroads of the Cotton States were poor, crippled, and some of them bankrupt. In 1879, Mr. Plant interested other capitalists in purchasing, reorganizing, and improving the railroads of the South. He organized and perfected an express system, steamboat system, railroad system—until now, the Plant System, as it is called, embraces nearly two thousand miles of railway lines and over twelve hundred miles of steamship lines. Of course, the facilities for comfortable travel to and through the South brought the health-seeker, the pleasure-seeker, investor, and permanent settler to the South; and this influx of population continues with increasing numbers each year. ‘To-day, the South is universally acknowledged to be the most prosperous portion of the great Union, and that portion over which the Plant System ramifies itself is known as the garden-spot. Mr. H. B. Plant is the mainspring that moved the whole, and he is, in every sense, a public benefactor.’ This is only the briefest intimation of the reasons for Plant Day at the Exposition.

“Sunday, October 27th, was Mr. Plant’s seventy-sixth birthday. I had the pleasure of being one of a party of friends that filled his private car in going to the Exposition, and occupied one of the large and elegant rooms of his suite at the Aragon Hotel, Atlanta. On the morning of that day a few gentlemen—and they were gentlemen in every sense of the term—representing the more than twelve thousand employees of the Plant System, adroitly entertained their president in his own room, while the others took possession of his parlor. When everything was in readiness, Mr. Plant and his guests were invited into the parlor. He was most cordially greeted and congratulated on the seventy-sixth return of his birthday. Then written addresses, couched in choice language, were read from the three different departments—railroad, express, and steamboat—of the Plant System, followed by presentation of flowers, of a silver compass, suggesting the straight and upright course of his life, and a silver cup, large and massive,—a ‘loving-cup,’—‘filled, Mr. Plant, with the esteem, affection, and best wishes of your associates and employees, to whom you have been a benefactor and friend.’ Mr. Plant’s response was beautiful, tender, and touching, as kindly eyes looked through their tears at this grand old man whom they esteemed as a father.

“Next day, the reception given Mr. Plant in the Auditorium, by the employees of the Plant System, where addresses and resolutions of appreciation, esteem, and gratitude for what he had done for the South, were presented to him, was grand beyond description. In the evening of the same day a banquet was tendered him at the Aragon Hotel by the managers of the Exposition. Judges, lawyers, merchants, the mayor of Atlanta, and a large company of distinguished gentlemen sat down to a sumptuous repast. But it was ‘the feast of reason and the flow of soul’—the eloquent and patriotic sentiments expressed in the after-dinner speeches that gave this choice chapter of Plant Day its chief significance and greatest charm. Never was Southern eloquence more eloquent or tongues more fluent in giving forth the overflow of heart. ‘No North, no South, but one united, happy country—the land of the free and the home of the brave.’

“When, near the close, we were most unexpectedly called on for a speech, what could we say but express the pleasure experienced in all we had seen and enjoyed this whole day. We had witnessed the solution of the greatest problem of the age, a problem that many say will never be solved, that will yet bring on universal revolution. We had to-day seen labor and capital—employer and employed—clasp hands in mutual sympathy and most friendly accord. We had seen, everywhere we travelled in the South, the Plant System men vie with each other in doing honor to their chief. His presence was the signal for willing hands and happy faces in any service they could render him. Men felt better for his presence. The Czar of all the Russias might well envy this modest, quiet, Connecticut man, the connecting link between North and South, the harmonizer of differences, and the promoter of peace and good-will among men; and around whom cluster the respect and manly affection of 12,000 employees and many more thousands of invalids who find lost health travelling in the luxuriant cars and dwelling in the luxuriant hotels of the Plant System. Mr. Plant was first led to Florida in 1854 in search of health for his invalid wife, whose life he believes was prolonged many years by her residence in the soft, balmy air of this State. Travel then was so uncomfortable, and hotel accommodations so poor, that he began to think what could be done to improve both. Verily, ‘There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them as we may,’ and well is it when our own sufferings lead us to discover means of alleviating those of our fellow-men.”—The Christian Intelligencer, New York.

[text decoration not available.]
CHAPTER XVII.

The configuration of the earth has altered to a degree incredible to any but those observant of such changes. Winchell has tabulated some of these undulatory movements that have taken place along the Atlantic shore line of the American continent and elsewhere. “At St. Augustine, in Florida, the stumps of cedar trees stand beneath the hard beach shell-rock, immersed in water at the lowest tides. Some of the sounds upon the coast of North Carolina, which have been navigable within the memory of living sea-captains, are now impassable bars, or emerging sand-flats. Along the coast of New Jersey the sea has encroached, within sixty years, upon the sites of former habitations, and entire forests have been prostrated by the inundation. In the harbor of Nantucket the upright stumps of trees are found eight feet below the lowest tide, with their roots still buried in their native soil.” Similar ruins of ancient submarine forests occur on Martha’s Vineyard, and on the north side of Cape Cod, and again at Portland. In the region of the Saint Croix River, separating Maine from New Brunswick, the coast has been raised, carrying deposits of recent shells and sea-weeds, in one instance, to the height of twenty-eight feet above the present surface of the sea. The island of Grand Manan, off the mouth of the Saint Croix River, is slowly rotating on an axis, so that, while the south side is gradually dipping beneath the waves, the north is lifted into high bluffs. Near the River St. John is an area of twenty square miles containing marine shells and plants recently elevated from the sea. One hundred and fifty miles east of this place, the shore is experiencing a subsidence.

The north side of Nova Scotia is sinking, while the south is rising, insomuch that breakers now appear off the southern coast in places safely navigable in years gone by. The ancient city of Louisburg, on the island of Cape Breton, is another testimony to the uneasy condition of the land. This place was once the stronghold of France in America, and one of the finest harbors in the world. It was well fortified and had a population of twenty thousand souls within its walls.

It was destroyed during the French and Indian War, and the inhabitants dispersed, but Nature had herself ordained its abandonment. The rock on which the brave General Wolfe landed has nearly disappeared. The sea now flows within the walls of the city, and sites once inhabited have become the ocean’s bed. In 1822, the entire coast of Chili was elevated to a height varying from two to seven feet, an area equal to that of New England and New York, having been lifted up bodily. In 1831, an island, since called Graham’s Island, sprang from the bed of the Mediterranean between Sicily and the site of ancient Carthage. The island is now but a sunken reef. Another island, as recently as 1866, rose from the bottom of the Grecian Archipelago, before the very eyes of the American Consul, Mr. Chanfield, bearing upon its slimy back fragments of wrecks that had been sunken in the little harbor of Santorin.

“An island in the Missouri River, broken into fragments and washed away, was the unusual spectacle witnessed by the people of Atchison, Kansas. For years an island of 600 or 700 acres has been one of the attractions of Atchison. It was as fertile as a garden, and was known all over the West for the excellence of the celery, asparagus, sweet potatoes and melons it produced. It had the appearance of a veritable oasis in a desert, and its green shrubbery, generous shade trees, velvet lawns, and cool spring, were a perpetual joy. Upon this island a shooting club had a home, and the base-ball enthusiasts had their grounds, and grandstand. Altogether, it was a most pleasant resort. In a single night this island was dissolved into fragments.

“The big June rise in the Missouri River struck it, and to-day it is only a reminiscence. What was Kansas’s loss, however, was Missouri’s gain. With the obliteration of the island the current left the Missouri shore and struck hard against the Kansas bluffs. The result of this is that the Missouri banner has been planted a mile westward, and hundreds of acres of rich bottom land have been added to its domain, while Kansas mourns the loss of its green island and pleasant park.”

The wonderful changes going on in the configuration of England are recorded in a well-known London paper (Tit-Bits) in the following words:

“Is England disappearing? Readers may pucker up their lips and ejaculate ‘Absurd!’ but facts, nevertheless, remain and show pretty clearly that England is positively disappearing, and may in years to come be marked on the map as a vanished isle.

“On the coast the sea is encroaching upon the land at an astonishing rate. Seaside towns and villages, holiday resorts, are gradually being eaten up and the inhabitants driven inland. In many parts the sea runs up on a beach which was once far inland. In other cases churches which were at one time far from the sea now stand at the edge of cliffs and have the sea lapping almost at their doors.

“The Goodwin sands, about five miles off the coast of Kent, were at one time a portion of the mainland itself and the property of Earl Goodwin. But the sea has swallowed them up.

“The coast of Norfolk is minus three villages which it once possessed—Shipden, Eccles, and Wimpwell—all of which have been taken into the arms of the encroaching ocean. The Cromer of to-day stands miles inland of the original Cromer.

“Auburn and Harlburn, two Yorkshire villages, once promised to develop into seaport towns of considerable importance; but, like the will of Canute, the will of the inhabitants of these villages was ignored by the rising sea, and Auburn and Harlburn now exist in mere names and sand-banks.

“Dunwich, on the coast of Suffolk, is gradually being swallowed up. Every now and then the inhabitants move a distance inland, rebuild their houses and shops and wait patiently and philosophically for the next “notice to quit” from the sea. Many other seaside places have suffered or are suffering a similar fate.

“It may be argued, on the other hand, that some seaside towns are gradually becoming inland towns by the failure of the sea to ‘come up to the mark,’ and running out only to run in for a shorter distance. Winchelsea, Sandwich, Rye, and Southport are all suffering in this way. Winchelsea and Rye were originally two of our cinque ports, but the sea has left them standing high and dry. Sandwich was once a highly important seaport town. It now stands two or three miles inland.

“The sea is leaving Southport quite in the lurch—so much so indeed that the inhabitants have had to sink extensive lakes down on the beach to keep the sea from running off altogether and leaving merely an ordinary inland town.

“But the extension of our island in this way is very much less than the encroachment of the sea at other points, and while our land is certainly becoming more extensive in one direction, it is contracting, and with much greater rapidity, in some other. And the ultimate effect may be that our mountain peaks may form small islands, and eventually be pointed out by posterity as ‘the position in which Great Britain is reputed to have stood.’”

The nineteenth has been the most remarkable century in the world’s history. It was the most destructive and wasteful of life and property in the early part of its career, and in the latter half has been the most constructive and uplifting to the human race of any of the past centuries. The population of all Europe at the beginning of the century numbered one hundred and seventy millions, of whom four millions were engaged in the murderous work of war. The demoralization of society and the miseries inflicted on the people by these wars are beyond the power of pen to describe. France had an absolute monarchy. “The King held in his hands the unquestioned right to dispose, at his will, of the lives and property of the people. He was the sole legislator. His own pleasure was his only rule. He levied taxes, asking no consent of those who had to pay. He sent to prison men with no crime laid to their charge, and kept them there, without trial, till they died.” Political corruption was rampant. For sixty years the court of Louis XV. had festered in the most filthy debauchery. Then followed the bloody Revolution, unparalleled in history. The guillotine, worn out with its butchery of more than a million lives stood idle, and peace—rather, the lull of an unfinished storm, for a time rested upon unhappy France. Then the tumultuous hurricane burst out anew in the wars of Napoleon, which terminated only at Waterloo in 1815.

“The influence which Napoleon exerted upon the course of human affairs,” says McKenzie, “is without a parallel in history. Never before had any man inflicted upon his fellows miseries so appalling; never before did one man’s hand scatter seeds destined to produce a harvest of change so vast and so beneficient. It was he who roused Italy from her sleep of centuries and led her towards that free and united life which she at length enjoys. It was he, who by destroying the innumerable petty states of Germany, inspired the dream of unity which it has required more than half a century to fulfil.” The progress made by these two countries during the century, in liberty, education, and all that conduces to the welfare of the individual and the strength of the nation, has been great beyond precedent.

England has perhaps outstripped all other nations in the advancement she has made during this period of the world’s greatest progress. Her long and terrible wars with France and her allies had wasted her people and depleted her treasury. Taxes were enormous, food was high, wages low, and work scarce. The introduction of machinery in some departments reduced hand-labor a hundred-fold. The power loom threw thousands of people out of employment. England was badly governed. The laws were all made in the interests of the rich. Multitudes of the poor were famine stricken, one in eight being fed on charity, and many died of starvation. Hunger maddens men, and hence crime abounded. Laws, numerous and terrible, were enacted for its prevention and punishment. Capital offences numbered two hundred and twenty-three. Some of the offences were ridiculous trifles. If a man appeared disguised in public, cut down young trees, shot rabbits, or stole property worth a dollar and a quarter, he was at once hanged. The treatment of prisoners was most barbarous. Young and old of both sexes were huddled together like cattle. Vermin, filth, and starvation were the common lot of all. John Howard and Elizabeth Fry inaugurated reforms in the interests of the prisoners that have since engaged the thought and effort of the best men and women of the nation.

War was carried on in the most cruel and brutal manner. Conscription and the press gang forced men from their families, and from peaceful occupation, and drove them to an unwilling military or naval, bloody field-servitude. Five hundred lashes was no uncommon punishment for some trifling offence. “The men who applied the torture were changed at short intervals, lest the punishment should be at all mitigated by their fatigue. The doctor stood by to say how much the victim could bear without dying. When that point was reached, he was taken down and carried to the hospital, to be brought back for the balance of his punishment when his wounds were healed. There is record of a soldier sentenced to one thousand lashes, seven hundred of which were actually inflicted. In the Crimean war two thousand six hundred British soldiers were killed, while eighteen thousand died in hospital of wounds and disease.”

Scientific skill directed by generous-hearted Christian philanthropy has now mitigated these horrors, reducing them almost to a minimum. The same may be said of the brutality endured by women and little children working in mines from twelve to sixteen hours a day.

Slavery, which was almost universal at the beginning of the century, has been abolished. Forty millions in Russia, four millions in the United States, and many more millions in other lands have been made free.

Nor has this freedom been confined to the chattel slave. The courts of Europe were debauched beyond description. Even in England among the higher classes, “the supreme crowning evidence that an entertainment had been successful was not given till the guests dropped one by one from their chairs, to slumber peacefully on the floor till the servants removed them.”

The temperance movement belongs to our present century, and while it has not yet accomplished all that could be desired, it has done much to lessen some of the grossest evils of society, and is full of promise for final triumph. The first temperance society was only eleven years old when the subject of this biography was born. It was organized in April, 1808, at Morean, Saratoga County, New York, with forty-three members. The American Temperance Society was formed at Boston, February, 1826, and, in 1829, the New York State Temperance Society, which in less than a year had one thousand local societies with a hundred thousand members. Soon the movement extended to the Old World, and a society was formed at New Ross, County Wexford, Ireland, and within a year sixty other societies were formed in different parts of the country. The Father Mathew crusade began in 1838, and it resulted in the enrollment of one million eight hundred thousand men and women in the temperance cause. The wave spread to Scotland, England, Wales, and the Continent. The Washington movement, started at Baltimore in 1840, doubtless advanced the cause of temperance in our country, half a million having signed the pledge. The great progress made in this direction is seen not so much in the number of temperance societies as in the fact that while there is difference of opinion as to the moderate use of wines and liquors, there is but one opinion among respectable people as to the immoderate use, and any one indulging in orgies such as those to which we have alluded would be excluded from all participation in decent society. No man of standing in good society glories in the shame of beastly intoxication; multitudes do not use liquor at all, and many others use it only as a medicine or aid to health.

The duel was made a legal way of settling disputes between gentlemen, and even, “Fox, Pitt, Castlereagh, Canning, O’Connell, and Wellington, had all attempted the slaughter of a foe.”

Profanity was almost universal. “Erskine swore at the bar. Lord Thurlow swore on the bench. The King swore incessantly. Ladies swore orally and in their letters. The chaplain cursed the sailors, because it made them listen more attentively to his admonition.” Obscene books were exposed for sale by the side of bibles and prayer-books.

Education was limited in its range and extent, and only the more wealthy could enjoy its benefits. In 1818, more than one half the children in England were without school advantages. In manufacturing districts, forty per cent. of the men and sixty-five per cent. of the women could not write their own names.

Penny postage, first proposed by Rowland Hill in 1837, adopted by Act of Parliament in 1839, and followed since then by every civilized country in the world, has proved to be a great adjunct in the education of the people.

The freedom and expansion of the press during this century have also been a great power for the enlightenment of mankind. True, it has not been an unmixed good, but let us hope the good has been, and will continue to be in the ascendant.

Canals, before the days of railroads and steamships, did much for the transportation of merchandise and intercommunication of the people. The Erie Canal, 363 miles in length, commenced in 1817, and finished in 1825, is said to have been one of the first impulses given to New York City in its ascendancy over every other city in the United States. On account of its great cost many of the people were opposed to it; “but in 1866, it was ascertained that besides enlarging many of the principal cities, and adding to the comfort and wealth of nearly all the people of the State, it had returned into the public treasury $23,500,000 above all its cost, including principle, interest, repairs, and superintendence.”

In this same year, 1825, New York City was first lighted, partially only, with gas.

The Suez Canal, opened in 1870, was used by only 486 vessels, with a total net tonnage of 436,609, but its use was steadily increased, until in 1891, it rose to 8,698,777. When the canal was opened, it had cost $100,000,000, that is, $1,000,000 a mile, and since then $40,000,000 more have been expended in improvements. These are large amounts, but the canal pays annually from $4,000,000 to $5,000,000 over the interest of its bonded debt.

The introduction of railroads into England and the United States marks a great era in the progress of these two nations, not to say that of the whole world, though the event is of comparatively recent date, as the following account taken from a recent issue of the New York Tribune goes to show:

“The Chicago Record says that Edward Entwistle who has lived in Des Moines, Iowa, for forty years, ran the first passenger engine. He was born at Tilsey’s Banks, Lancashire, England, in 1815, and was apprenticed to the Duke of Bridgewater, who had large machine shops at Manchester. The first railroad for general passenger and freight business was completed in 1831, between Manchester and Liverpool, a distance of thirty-one miles. The Rocket, the first locomotive or passenger engine, was built under the direction and according to the plans of George Stephenson, in the works where young Entwistle was serving as an apprentice. Stephenson engaged Entwistle as his assistant in the engine. The line being opened for general traffic, young Entwistle was put in charge of the Rocket, and for two years made two round trips every day between Liverpool and Manchester, one in the forenoon and the other in the afternoon. He came to this country in 1837.”

When Mr. Plant was nine years old, there were only three miles of railroad in the United States. They were completed in 1827. Now there are 173,453 miles, and the speed of trains has been increased from ten miles an hour to more than seventy miles. The sleeping-and parlor-cars have made travel one of the great luxuries of this most luxuriant century. The first ocean steamer that crossed the Atlantic was the Savannah, which made the trip to Europe in the year 1819, the year Mr. Plant was born, and in 1838, the first regular line of Atlantic steamers was established.

[text decoration not available.]

[text decoration not available.]
CHAPTER XVIII.