TERRA INCOGNITA.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 42, 25 June 1913, Page 3

TERRA INCOGNITA.

RECOGNITION OF PIONEERS AND DISCOVERERS.

A CASE NEAR HOME

(By J.W.)

So far as the present writer knows, the late lamented Christopher Columbus was never, in act or pact, art or part, guilty of any wilful action wherefrom any direct'.benefit''accrued to Stratford j and it seems hardly fair to make particular mention of him ; in a tale which is intended to be entirely about Stratford—it may develop wholly or in part into 'a dissertation on- trigonometry, ■ trarisubstantia tion or trephinotomology, but the fixed, honest intent;, at the time of starting was that it should be entire ly about Stratford. But Christophe. comes in handy to help i adorn the present tale: the hero is a Stratforc: man whose light will shine the brighter by being compared with that ol Mr Columbus. WHAT CHRISTOPHER DID. .HTU< Columbus ventured out fearlessly on the wild, trackless waste of waters, as the sea is called by those circumlocutory gentlemen who are constitutionally incapable of emulating the fashion of speech of the plain person who calls a spade a xjejvpr. He point' ed his nose straight' at' the beyonc 1 end of nowhere and ( made a baldheaded rush for it". And the,baldheaded rush lasted . until he could get no further—at least by boat. ~-Sr stated his work seems to be of iardly enough importance to justify hi.s name being quoted "in all ; the history books. He merely set out for the beyond end of nowhere and stumbled across the continent pi America, on the passage, and a man of very limited intelligence could do that. Men of exceedingly limited intelligence find out lots of things—tables, chairs, etc. —by the same means by coming home lat at night and endeavouring to quietly to bed without a light. However, a good many things which we would miss much could hardly have had an existence if Columbus had not directed the limelight of Europe to America. Think how barren life would be without the Oil Trust, the Steel Trust, the Meat Trust, and the others of the big : family which has friends and relations in all uartsof the world; how pathetic it. would be to think of Andrew .'Carnegie, John Di Rockefeller, the ; Astors', the Armours and the rest'going about out bf a (job; and Sir Thomas- Liptjon would have given up interest in life long agx> if he ( had not v had, ;the, America! Ctp to race for. ;,.,,,[ • ;•-. i< ... .1

MEDALS DOIJRS,

Whatever may .be .said, or thought, however, one outstanding fact re mans: Columbus was .the chap vvhc first got intA the vicinity of the Continent "and stumbled over it, by which action he made himself entitled to reach up and appropriate one of the medals awarded by humanity to the of toj be- h,lM' and 'JtSld'ed' by him,' Ins heirs and SSsigns ' thenceforth- an& "forever. ' Akid truly the doers are entitled* to i the medals. There would have been no medal for Columbus' if he ; had' stayed at home) and said:' "I think" one would find; land Out Beyond 'if he looked long enough," or "If I was you I'd take a Saturday to Monday yachting cruise and see if there are-any large lurflps of land lying about loose and promiscuous like," or "Wouldn't it be a "great idea if some muscular man of-average i intelligence could find some pktce Out West where,.he could dump v bur unemployed and our other superfluous and irritating parties." He probably thought such things and no doubt said them also; but the fact remains as plain as an old maid," that he fini ally arose and ■■■, set about the work, leaving others to stay at home and save the country ; by minding the baby, reading the papers and making a noise at political meetings. No, Christopher was a Doer. So was George Washington-—in' a way. (He did it with 'his 'little hatchet.) So was John Dodd. Or to be more particular, John Dodd and his mate, WHAT JOHN DID. ; ; I John Dodd did not discover Stratford, and even if he had he would hardly have got so large' a ; rriedal' as the one. appropriated by Columbus. Present 1 , writer has never heard that Dodd -"rolled Mount Egmont into its present position, fixed up the water supply, and cut a groove for the Patea River to run down, taking care to see that the river ran through King Edward Park, Stratford. Not even did he discover the fact that the river was beautiful in spots. What he did 'do (helped by his mate) was to run , a path down to the river from the main path in King Edward Park; and that is the act which abovesigned claims to justify Dodd being placed in the same class as the late and more i or less lamented C. Columbus.