Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 December 1893 — MARTYRS TO HUMANITY. [ARTICLE]

MARTYRS TO HUMANITY.

Some Instances of the Spirit of True Scholarship. The scene at the deathbed of Bede, the father of English history, is told with touching simplicity by his pupil Cuthbert. The closing years of the great scholar’s life had been devoted to translating the Gospels from Latin into Anglo-Saxon, and he was above all things desirous of completing the translation in the hope of civilizing his wild countrymen by giving them the Gospels in their own language. He had not completed the work when his illness grew so severe that he could no longer proceed with his writing. Ho then dictated to Cuthbert and his other pupils until he was on his deathbed. when there still remained untranslated the closing chapter of St. John. “Venerable Master,” said Cuthbert to the dying man. “there yet remains one chapter.” “Then take your pen and write with speed,” said the dying scholar. When it was done, Bede repeated the “Gloria Patri” and died. And thus we have the Anglo-Saxon gospels, the most complete record of the language and mental habits of a most remarkable people. Over and above this, far more important than thjs, we have an illustration of the spirit of true scholarship, of the self-sacrifice with which so many scholars have lived and died for the advancement of cizilivation and the uplifting of humanity. In his lessons on electricity Prof. Tyndall says that the beautiful essay on the “Formation of Dew" was written by Dr. Wells when ho was on the brink of the grave. Stephen Gray continued his experiments until he was almost in articulo mortis, and when he could no longer sit up or write he dictated the account of his discoveries to others. He dictated thus to Dr. Mortimer, Secretary of the Royal Society, while dying, and the language of his description of his discoveries in the use of electric conductors and nonconductors represents his last painful gasps for breath. The world knows litt’e or ‘nothing of the men who have done most for it. It is astonished at the magnificent results promised and achieved by the scientific use of electricity as a motor, but it troubles itself very little about Gray wrestling foot to foot with death for a few precious minutes to give the world the result of his painful labors. These men who have not sought place or money or glory have civilized the world and have done all that has been done to make the conditions of human life more tolerable. Whether called Christian or not, they are true saints and martyrs of the religion of humanity.