Norfolk High School - Milestone Yearbook (Norfolk, NE)

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THE MILESTONE 17 But who shall question that voice from tradition that proclaimed a woman’s name among the heroic figures of fame. Heroines there have been, whose names have been unfurled in the banners of history where greatest achievements mark their missions of glory. ‘ Eighty women fell wounded at Amiens” doing battle for their country. Were they not heroines? Hack in the fifteenth century, among the oakwoods of Lorraine, a lowly girl, though destined to bear the sword of France, was born. The legends said that the fairies of the black Forest hallowed her with holy inspiration. Cut while those legends sang of the fanciful, the prosaic declarations of war were heard in the distance. A hurried stop and history tells us of a proud and beloved city, the city of Orleans besieged by a host of English soldiery. She must hive succor or French glory must fall. Another step, and the crisis is reached. A mediator appears as by a Holy will. A Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans comes t the rescue and the crown of France, upon the white arms of a heroine, is boine to its throne. Lot all women worship such a mm ■ a character without a recorded stain; a spirit which always breathed the breath of Him who gave it; a heart so kind she always cared for the enemies slain and wept for pain after her own victories; a life that was a prayer to her God before whom she never faltered. Worship is hers, whose mission was a glorious tribute to a woman's name. Man by nature adores that in which he has great faith; pays homage to that which he lores and admires. Great leaders are always plentiful, but scarce a score there are whose names have passed through decisive crises of time, and gained unsullied positions on the portals of fame. Idols of wood and stone have b»en worshipped. Man’s disposition is to worship. But the truest, most intelligent and purest instincts of man have been taught a holier worship. A worship of the Hero of heroes, and King of kings. Ages ago the people who had waited for his coming worshipped Him. Worshipped Hint as the ‘‘sweet babe of Bethlehem” and as the Hero of the cross. “And now, listening with bated breath, we may hear his foosteps echoing down the ages, till today they bring to us the same blessings that then fell on the waiting people.” “The millions, the countless prayers and songs of praise that lift heavy laden hearts above sorrows of tins world,” are all the product of faith

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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,

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 thk mij.kstonf. in this Hero. All that distinguishes us from the pagan world, all that makes us what we are and stimulates us in the task of making ourselves better than we are is Christian worship. The worship of Jesus Christ is the very fountain head of everything that is desirable and praiseworthy in our civilization, ami this civilization is the flower of time. Humanity has reached its noblest thrift, its highest altitude of excellence through the influence of the worship of this ilivine hero, Christ.