Christopher Columbus and His Monument Columbia / being a concordance of choice tributes to the great Genoese, his grand discovery, and his greatness of mind and purpose

by Unknown

THE EARNESTNESS OF COLUMBUS.

(ANONYMOUS.)

Look at Christopher Columbus. Consider the disheartening difficulties and vexatious delays he had to encounter; the doubts of the skeptical, the sneers of the learned, the cavils of the cautious, and the opposition, or at least the indifference, of nearly all. And then the dangers of an untried, unexplored ocean. Is it by any means probable he would have persevered had he not possessed that earnest enthusiasm which was characteristic of the great discoverer? What mind can conceive or tongue can tell the great results which have followed, and will continue to follow in all coming time, from what this single individual accomplished? A new continent has been discovered; nations planted whose wealth and power already begin to eclipse those of the Old World, and whose empires stretch far away beneath the setting sun. Institutions of learning, liberty, and religion have been established on the broad basis of equal rights to all. It is true, America might have been discovered by what we call some fortunate accident. But, in all probability, it would have remained unknown for centuries, had not some earnest man, like Columbus, arisen, whose adventurous spirit would be roused, rather than repressed, by difficulty and danger.