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Show Columbus Achieved 'Greatest Discovery Just 450 Years Ago The year 1942 would ordinarily be one marked by a great observance of some sort for the achievement of Christopher Columbus in 1492. For 1942 rounds out 450 years since the discovery of America. In 1892, on the occasion of the four hundredth anniversary, the Chicago fair, one of the most renowned re-nowned in the world, took place. But for World War II, 1942 would have brought about another significant signif-icant celebration. Even as it is, there is some talk of paying due honor to the great navigator who, in 1492 like the world we know in the dawn of 1942, also had his "darkest hour" before the light burst on a new world. Joaquin Miller wrote of this hour in Columbus' life and it could be symbolic of the arrival and hopes of the year 1942. The poetry follows: fol-lows: Then pale and wan he kept the deck And peered through darkness. Ah. that night, of all dark nights And then a light a light. It grew, a starlet flag unfurled It grew time's burst of dawn He gained a world. He gave that world its grandest lesson. On and on! |