Norfolk High School - Milestone Yearbook (Norfolk, NE)

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FOR MWLUE RECEW1ED Promise Vo Pay. Words are inadequate and language powerless to express our indebtedness for wliat we are. Since we sprang into existence, we have been hut cumberers—always receiving assistance but rendering none. Then what can we say or how repay those who have guided us through this state of helplessness? We owe more than we ever can repay to our kind, patient, enduring parents, who have watched and cared for us through all stages of our dependence, provided for our every want through all tin- vicissitudes of their fortunes. It mattered not what lot befell them, whether blessings or woe, joy or sorrow; their first thought was of us. Many times the storm-tried vessel creaked, swayed, and tossed to and fro; destruction seeming almost inevitable; but the hands at tin wheel remained steady, the cheek unblanched, till their precious-laden craft reached a port. In our youth we have shared like privileges. The rich, the poor, the weak, the strong, male and female, have had the same linn restraint so necessary to youthful lives, the same wise counsel, the same unalienating interest. We have had ample opportunity to garner up rich stores of knowledge that would serve us in future usefulness; and well do we know that this is the golden key, that unlocks the treasure-houses of the world, and. as it were, opens wide the toll-gates along the road to honor and greatness. We have learned too, that without labor there is no knowledge gained and that diligence is the price of success. Our preceptors have been spending these years in moulding our natures into character and fitting our minds to be the rulers of our

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14. tellect, mind and heart., cultivated to an extent demanded by the present opportunities of our day and country, brought within the reach of almost everyone; with the stores of learning that may he acquired, added to the natural endowment of woman’s quicker perceptive power; with tact, talent, fortitude, energy and patience, and an open door of usefulness on every hand in the family and social circles; in the schoolroom and missionary field; in the hospital, store-room and counting-house; with the printer s stick, and in the editor’s chair; in the telegraph office, in the pursuit of fine arts, on the musical instrument;” with the painter’s pallet and sculptor’s chisel; with the author’s pen and gifted thought, it is proper to enquire, “What can’t she do?” “Let the maiden, with erect soul, walk serenely on her way, accept the hint of each new experience, try in turn all the gifts God offers her, that she may learn the power and the charm, her newborn being is.” She who repels interference by a proud choice of influences, who is careless but pleasing, is willful but lofty, inspires with her own nobility. “O friend, never strike sail to a fear. Come into port greatly, or sail with God the seas. Not in vain you live, for every passing eye is cheered and refined by the vision. Edith Hays.

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1«. Bodies. Till! impressions they have made both by precepts and examples will be as lasting as our lives themselves, and. it' obeyed, will carry us beyond into a blissful Kternity. First of all, we wens endowed by our (treat Benefactor with sensibilities, intellects, and wills; and by virtue of these faculties, man is master of all lod’s creatures. None are capable of so high {V state of culture. ()ur teachers and parents, through our sensibilities, have developed our intellects and wills, and can'd for us during the period when the little shoots of character were yet unable to battle with the storms of life. Thus far have we gone; and now as we are about to assume responsibilities of our own, we can hut promise to pay, at some future time, the value we have received. We have a joint obligation with (Sod, our parents, our country, and society. You ask why we are indebted to our country. Are not my sister-classmates and I debtors for the intellectual freedom we as women can enjoy? Let us rejoice that we live in these closing years of the nineteenth century. Traditions nor chains of custom no longer bind us. All avenues are open to us and we can pass hand in hand with our brother classmate through all the gates ol higher learning. Our hearts are full of gratitude, but thin shall not be our mthj ottering. How faithful we are to our promise let the future disclose. Though we may not reach the uppermost rounds of the ladder of fame, our efforts shall Ik unalmting. By doing what good we can. we shall forge a glittering chain on which to string the pearls, whose soft pure light shall belt our world like a spiritual equator. Could we but look into the future and read its pages we should probably see engraved in golden letters the achievments of the class of’Si). We might read the career of the musician. In hci we possess a voting lady of rare musical talents and already the touch of her “magical” fingers thrills us with pleasure. Mozart can hardly excel her in the imitation of a storm. And what is more charming than “Hock a bye Baby” rendered by her. She may travel through (iermany and Italy cultivating and enriching her talents; and in time we shall see 1»r nn»» heading the list of the great musicians of our country. Another member may attend the state university and graduate with honor and distinction. Having also acquired a knowledge of book-keeping and short-band, thus quieting her old passion