Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 85, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 April 1919 — BRED GREAT MEN [ARTICLE]

BRED GREAT MEN

Italian City of Florence May Claim High Honor. Birthplace of Meny of Those Who Rank, In Intellectual Ability and ~ Achievement, Far- Above th* - Rest of Mankind. At first thought one would be apt 'to claim for-London, the great metropblls, the honor of having given birth to the greatest number ofXhe world’s geniuses. Among other great Londoner* following might be cited: Francis Bacon, philosopher and "e**ayl«tp Spenser, Jonson; MWrtm Sniff* Keats, Wvort**known and hohdted** poets; HOgtrrtk. Turner, Watts, Millais and Holman Hunt, artists whose achievement* are acclaimed by ail the worldCofi. taste-; Fot, Pitt an*-Beaconsfield, statesmen who have Influenced the building of* empire; Daniel Defoe, the rtiovelistt Faraday and Huxley, the scientists, * and many others. All these would! stand in the very front ranks of great* nene, some of them/ like- Milton and Bacon, towering above their fellow TnarnkeTncnitftaiapealWTrmong molehills. _ The Frenchman would' undoubtedly stand up for the claims of Pfirts, qtTOt J ’ Ing a long list of poet* and painters and novelists and statesmen to Justify ids- boast. The Italian would probably put the question: “How far back may we go in this quest? For if ancient Rome i» to be added to the record of the more modern city, where will you find her equal?” Then Athens would lift up her classic voice in protest, and'quote a long list of her sons who have formed the models of all subsequent time in art and poetry and philosophy and architecture. But there is another competitor which can beat them all in this combat. Compared with London or Paris, or even Rome, it is a small place. The city is Firenee—Florence —the native city of Savonarola, of Fra Angelico, of Donatello, of Botticelli, of Leonardo da Vinci, of the mighty Michael Angelo, the glory of his ago and of all succeeding ages; Florence, the city of Boccaccio, the father of novelists; of Machiavelli, whose very name is a proverb, and of the famous Medici ; yes, and lastly, Florence the city of Dante, the first both in time and position of this glorious galaxy of stars of the first magnitude. How such a small place ever gave birth to so many mighty son* of genius is one of the standing puMles of heredity and environment and education. Why does not Glasgow br**4 geniuses? Nobody knows. During a period of two hundred years Florence was a forcing bed fof* supreme achievement. During that time the tittle city broke all records, ancient and modern, and it is haW to see where her competitor is to spring -from who *hall take away het- crown of laurels.