Norfolk High School - Milestone Yearbook (Norfolk, NE)

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THE MILESTONE. 15 an ago rots by but some groat man characterizes its course anti regulates the pulse-beats of public sentiment. Buck in the early years after the Hoot!. when civilization was yet in its cradle, an organization was planted upon Assyria’s plains which soon grew and formed itself into empiric shape. History tells us that wild b»asts resisted progress at every step, even threatening the destruction of the empire, and became man’s deadliest foe. The chief of men. commanding the gratitude and allegiance of his fellows, the hero of their worship, was he who subjected the beasts of the field and forest. A man appeared, who, by slaying these wild and savage beasts became the benefactor of his rare. Upon the cycles of time, in monumental distinction characteristic of his day, the name of Nimrod,the mighty hunter, is iKirnotous. A hero truly in noble deeds. Greece too had her heroic age. Brave men were plenteous, but the customs of the Greeks were homely and simple. Art sprang up; sculpture and design assumed material shape; and poetry Mas born in the minds of wandering minstrels M'ho chanted their lays from place to place, till an old hard, a blind Homer, began to relate the brave, warfaring deeds of their forefathers. In him a hero of epic art arose. Homer's name is fresh upon the lips of men to this day, and even the dawn of eternity shall not bedim its lustre, for it is the soul of the world's best literature. Ours is a religious age; ours a religious people; our civilization based upon civil and religious law. But the shadow we have given a passing glance, shows that this philosophic nineteenth century is very different from the crude civilization of ancient days. Purely the original plan hears the marks of many succeeding architects. Upon our monument of men where first is seen the trace of enlightened conquest, a name is inscribed, Charlemagne! Charlemagne, the “Great hero of religious conquest who forged the mighty chain that linked succeeding ages in Christian civilization. Of his success and victories, history has told the tale to all. Of his goodness, the cause of Christ must tell. He was a man of war. His discipline was the hard, harsh role of battle. But his guiding star was one incessant prayer. His reign marks a period of forty-four years. On the day we celebrate the birth of the Havior of men, lie received the iron crown of the Western empire. That crown

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Prize OratioH- By Miss Ai.ik I. Johnson, ‘JO. |Tlie fo,lowing Oration won the (»oM Mods in the North Nebraska Oratorical Contest, at Norfolk, December 27, i tl'.). J HEKO WORSHIP. ‘‘History is the biography of great m m. Arising ubjve the common tide ot events that have enlisted the myriad of multitudes of human hearts and hands, along the march of destiny have been unveiled massive monuments of men. Like great guide-posts along the line of progress, every era is marked by their presence. In every epoch to them the linger of history points as an index of their time. Janus-faced in their majesty, a twofold declaration is read upon their brow. Upon their front is-piece behold a name! A name that is revered. A name that has in its time, moved the whole spirit of a people. Hut while that majestic monument bears upon it the epitaph that commemorates a life glorious with renown, in symbolic duplicity it speaks to the passing generations tin sentiment of a people; the sentiment of its age. The people pause before it, and there see deeds ot valor, of sacrifice, of heroic devotion, love and philanthropy, and in the great patriotic heart of mankind a hero is produced to be worshipped. A hero, worshipped indeed by all succeeding peoples. It has been wisely said, ‘‘Heroism is the divine relation which at all times unites a great man to other men. 1 rulv great human links in all past ages have bound together the swaying masses of humanity, and borne them onward. “Hero worship is the underlying principle of progress. Scarce

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16 THE MILESTONE. must be the crown of the christain empire today. Do the people of these countries worship him? Yes. Let church and state pay tribute to his glorious name. Let Christianity build him a monument, like mountains piled on mountains to the skies, while inscribed upon it in blazon characters, shall be the name of that religious hero of the world, Charlemagne! Shakespeare is worshipped as the greatest, the sublimest hero of poetry. His career of dramatic production is without parallel in the history of literature. His drama has been called the Mirror of life because no other man ever possessed immagination, humor, knowledge of human nature, and creative power as all these were united in him, the sand heaped by one flood is scattered by another; but the rock always continues in its place., l'he stream of time which is continually washing the dissoluble fabrics of other poets, passes without injury by the adamant of Shakespeare. To whom are we indebted for our present national condition? To thousands of brave patriotic. Americans. Hut to two in particular. lhe first, Washington. Is he a hero? Ia?t the immortal homage paid by all the sons of earth be the answer. God bless forever and ever, the father of our Country! Such characters never die. Hut, “as the sun setteth low, leaves a track of glory in the skies, so these glorious nam',s live and reign. There is another name written on America’s dome of fame, a name that we mention with pride unspeakable. But a few years since, our nation wept and mourned. A sable veil of grief hung across the hearthstone of our houses. Abraham Lincoln! Is his name written there? Ah, Yes! His life, his mission, his martyred end, need no telling. We worship him as a hero, sublime. He guided the ship of state through the long storm so dark, so fratricidal, so full of blood, until at last there dawned the sunrise of such an absolute national victory,” the triumph of the union, dispelling the darkness of the long night of slavery, and sent through the land the rays of peace and universal freedom. His unparalleled love for mankind, his great heart of gentle acts and kindness, his unguarded mercy toward those who suffered, his soul, his magnanimous character, make him a hero that not only we. but all nations must revere. Man, true it might seem, has inherited the birth-right to be a hero,