Christopher Columbus and His Monument Columbia Part 11

Even his discovery of America was a disappointment; he was looking for India, and utterly failed of this. He made maps and sold them to support his old father. Poverty, contumely, indignities of all sorts, met him wherever he turned. His expectations were considered extravagant, his schemes futile; the theologians exposed him with texts out of the Bible; he wasted seven years waiting in vain for encouragement at the court of Spain. He applied unsuccessfully to the governments of Venice, Portugal, Genoa, France, England. Practical men said, "It can't be done. He is a visionary." Doctors of divinity said, "He is a heretic; he contradicts the Bible." Isabella, being a woman, and a woman of sentiment, wished to help him; but her confessor said no. We all know how he was compelled to put down mutiny in his crew, and how, after his discovery was made, he was rewarded with chains and imprisonment, how he died in neglect, poverty, and pain, and only was rewarded by a sumptuous funeral. His great hope, his profound convictions, were his only support and strength.

LIKE HOMER--A BEGGAR IN THE GATE.

DIEGO CLEMENCIN, a Spanish statesman and author of merit. Born at Murcia, 1765; died, 1834. From his "Elogio de la Reina Catolica, Isabella de Castilla" (1851).

A man obscure, and but little known, followed at this time the court.

Confounded in the crowd of unfortunate applicants, feeding his imagination in the corners of antechambers with the pompous project of discovering a world, melancholy and dejected in the midst of the general rejoicing, he beheld with indifference, and almost with contempt, the conclusion of a conquest which swelled all bosoms with jubilee, and seemed to have reached the utmost bounds of desire. That man was Christopher Columbus.

THE FIRST CATHOLIC KNIGHT.

JAMES DAVID COLEMAN, Supreme President of the Catholic Knights of America, in an address to the members of that body, September 10, 1892.

History tells that the anxious journey was begun by Columbus and his resolute band, approaching Holy Communion at Palos, on August 3, 1492; that its prosecution, through sacrifices and perils, amid harrowing uncertainties, was stamped with an exalted faith and unyielding trust in G.o.d, and that its marvelous and glorious consummation, in October, 1492, was acknowledged by the chivalrous knight, in tearful grat.i.tude, on bended knee, at the foot of the cross of Christ, as the merciful gift of his omnipotent Master. Then it was that Christopher Columbus, the first Catholic knight of America, made the gracious Christian tribute of grateful recognition of Divine a.s.sistance by planting upon the soil of his newly discovered land the true emblem of Christianity and of man's redemption--the cross of our Savior. And then, reverently kneeling before the cross, and with eyes and hearts uplifted to their immolated G.o.d, this valiant band of Christian knights uttered from the virgin sod of America the first pious supplication that He would abundantly bless His gift to Columbus; and the unequaled grandeur of our civil structure of to-day tells the manifest response to those prayers of 400 years ago.

BY FAITH COLUMBUS FOUND AMERICA.

ROBERT COLLYER, a distinguished pulpit orator. Born at Keighley, Yorkshire, December 8, 1823.

The successful men in the long fight with fortune are the cheerful men, or those, certainly, who find the fair background of faith and hope.

Columbus, but for this, had never found our New World.

THE CITY OF COLON STATUE.

In the city of Colon, Department of Panama, Colombia, stands a statue to the memory of Columbus, of some artistic merit. The great Genoese is represented as encircling the neck of an Indian youth with his protecting arm, a representation somewhat similar to the pose of the statue in the plaza of the city of Santo Domingo. This statue was donated by the ex-Empress of the French, and on a wooden tablet attached to the concrete pedestal the following inscription appears:

Statue de CHRISTOPHE COLOMB Donnee par L'Imperatrice Eugenie Erigee a Colon Par Decret de la Legislature de Colombie Au 29 Juin, 1866, Par les soins de la Compagnie Universelle du Ca.n.a.l Maritime De Panama Le 21 Fevrier, 1886.[33]

Translation:

Statue of CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS Presented by The Empress Eugenie Erected in honor of Columbus By Decree of the Legislature of Colombia The 29th of June, 1866, Under the Supervision of the Universal Company of the Maritime Ca.n.a.l Of Panama The 21st of February, 1886.

THE COLUMBUS OF LITERATURE.

Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albans, commonly called Lord Bacon, is generally so called. Born in London January 22, 1561; died April 19, 1626.

THE COLUMBUS OF THE HEAVENS.

Sir William Herschel, one of the greatest astronomers that any age or nation has produced, is generally so termed. Born at Hanover November 15, 1738; died August, 1822.

THE COLUMBUS OF MODERN TIMES.

Cyrus W. Field was termed "_the Columbus of modern times, who, by his cable, had moored the New World alongside of the Old_," by the Rt. Hon.

John Bright, in a debate in the British Parliament soon after the successful completion of the Atlantic cable.

THE COLUMBUS OF THE SKIES.

Galileo, the ill.u.s.trious Italian mathematician and natural philosopher, is so styled by Edward Everett (_post_). He was born at Pisa February 15, 1564; died near Florence in January, 1642.[34]

THE PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF COLUMBUS.

HERNANDO COLUMBUS, son of Christopher. Born at Cordova, 1488; died at Valladolid, 1539.

He was tall, well formed, muscular, and of an elevated and dignified demeanor. His visage was long, neither full nor meager; his complexion fair and freckled, and inclined to ruddy; his nose aquiline; his cheek bones were rather high, his eyes light gray, and apt to enkindle; his whole countenance had an air of authority. His hair, in his youthful days, was of a light color, but care and trouble, according to Las Casas, soon turned it gray, and at thirty years of age it was quite white. He was moderate and simple in diet and apparel, eloquent in discourse, engaging and affable with strangers, and his amiability and suavity in domestic life strongly attached his household to his person.

His temper was naturally irritable, but he subdued it by the magnanimity of his spirits, comporting himself with a courteous and gentle gravity, and never indulging in any intemperance of language.

Throughout his life he was noted for strict attention to the offices of religion, observing rigorously the fasts and ceremonies of the church; nor did his piety consist in mere forms, but partook of that lofty and solemn enthusiasm with which his whole character was strongly tinctured.

THE SONG OF AMERICA.

KINAHAN CORNWALLIS. From his "Song of America and Columbus; or, The Story of the New World." New York, 1892. Published by the _Daily Investigator_.

Hail! to this New World nation; hail!

That to Columbus tribute pays; That glorifies his name, all hail, And crowns his memory with bays.

Hail! to Columbia's mighty realm, Which all her valiant sons revere, And foemen ne'er can overwhelm.

Well may the world its prowess fear.

Hail! to this richly favored land, For which the patriot fathers fought.

Forever may the Union stand, To crown the n.o.ble deeds they wrought.

Hail! East and West, and North and South, From Bunker Hill to Mexico; The Lakes to Mississippi's mouth, And the Sierras crowned with snow.

Hail! to the wondrous works of man, From Maine to California's sh.o.r.es; From ocean they to ocean span, And over all the eagle soars.

THE FLEET OF COLUMBUS.

Six sail were in the squadron he possessed, And these he felt the Lord of Hosts had blessed, For he was ever faithful to the cross, With which compared, all else was earthly dross.

Southwestward toward the equinoctial line He steered his barks, for vast was his design.

There, like a mirror, the Atlantic lay, White dolphins on its breast were seen to play, And lazily the vessels rose and fell, With flapping sails, upon the gentle swell; While panting crews beneath the torrid sun Lost strength and spirits--felt themselves undone.

Day after day the air a furnace seemed, And fervid rays upon them brightly beamed, The burning decks displayed their yawning seams, And from the rigging tar ran down in streams.--_Ibid._

COLUMBUS COLLECTION.

Rudolph Cronau, the eminent author and scientist of Leipsic, Germany, has contributed to the World's Fair his extensive collection of paintings, sketches, and photographs, representing scenes in the life of Columbus, and places visited by Columbus during his voyages to the New World. Doctor Cronau has spent a great part of his life in the study of early American history, and has published a work on the subject, based entirely upon his personal investigations.