Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/23

12 12 ANGELS ABE MARCONI'S MESSENGERS. Israelites when they concluded to leave Egypt for the "Promised Land". A comparison can be made of the opening of the 16th century in Spain with the craee which prevailed in Europe during the Crusades; the John Law Mississippi scheme of 1719 was but an infant enterprise. By comparison this was the size of the French project, and here is the difference. The reason for this is the fact that it took some money to buy stock in the great French corporation; but the sixteen year old boy of Spain was imbued with the innate and natural desire for adventure, with an opportunity to procure land and a home and riches. The wealthy class took hold of various ex- peditions, expecting returns many fold. To grasp a proposition one must be able to make comparisons, so here are some: In the year 1861 a sound went vibrating round the world. It was made by a few pounds of gunpowder. It was a voice in thunder tones that commanded the Southern States "To Arms, to Arms, Ye Braves", and to the North it vividly brought to mind the truth of the adage, "In Union there is strength". Those who remember the intense excitement that prevailed during four years of that memorable struggle KNOW what it is for a nation to become intensely in earnest. The Span- iards during the twelve years of Christopher's ex- ploits talked and thought of nothing else but the riche.s and the possibilities of the Indies. It must be borne in mind that there were no Atlantic c«,btes or telephones, and Marconi had not communed with God and arranged to have messages tranHinittcd by unknown and UNSEEN messengers;