Norfolk High School - Milestone Yearbook (Norfolk, NE)

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THE MILESTONE. 23 the free! The little hand of wearied mariners who stepped to a new l orn land o’er the century washed rock of an eastern shore is now a people of sixty-five millions. The little nucleus of thirteen colonies is now a brotherhood of forty-two states. True to history our forefathers fought a war for possession, whose foe was symbolized by the tomahawk, ami yell of savagery. But we were not our own. An iron rule held us beneath its sway. But, 1776, an old bellman rang out our independence. The inspiration was caught up by the l ople, and, through the most heroic war ever fought for God and country, they sustained their most righteous cause. In 1788 a constitution was adopted, cementing a brotherhood, the United States. But allied with our young institutions, and sanctioned by the government, were the elements of domestic strife. Slavery grew rank in the republic. In 1863, a proclamation was issued. Emancipation was its message, and its fulfillment forever stigmatized before the world, the curse of servitude; and in the American nation was instituted the most illustrious example of the universal liberties of man. Now, America is a great home, a fireside. Her people are the most magnanimous of the human universe. Education, music, art. culture are inmost virtues of the heart. We still are a nation of progression. But whence ooraeth this heritage? What has it all cost? The famed Pericles in Athenian supremacy, standing over the remains of his fellow men said, “The whole world is the sepulchreof illustrious men. Illustrious men. how fresh the memories of their names, where lives purchased an inheritance whose blessing shall live and reign forever. Tomorrow I see a procession; it goes toward yonder marble stones; 'tis our fathers, our mother.!, our brothers and sisters; they carry flowers in their hands; they stop and sing; we hear the notes of fife and drum; they strew their flowers o’er the graves; ah, soldiers are buried there! To them—heroes of our heritage—let the living forever pay their choicest benedictions. Our Warrens and McPhersons are buried there. There are thousands more with resting places unknown. No sculptured marble gives them names, but to them all We pay most hallowed tribute. “We’ll deck their tombs with flowers, The rarest ever seen, And with oar tears as showers, We’ll keep them fresh and green.’ But a new roll of national service has dawned full upon tis. The valor

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THE MILESTONE. 22 things, they must revere thee, thou biue cinctured isle of England—not of today but this long while in the front of nations. Mothers of great kings, soldiers and poets. Round thee the sea flings His steel bright arm, and shields thee from guile. Again, in the great drama of the evolution of nations, France has ever been a figure, widely varied ’tis true, but always most important. Her drama has been played in many acts; her scenes shifted twixt brightest colored splendor. and deepest woe. Not constant and sublime, but gay and passionate. But her progress, though spasmodic, has ever been brilliant; she ever held high the achievements of art, and ideal development. Her history early becomes a romance; volumes must be to tell the story. Hut. true to the history of all countries, but few characters play the great acts. A war of races, a Ctesarian conquest, for years warring for place and existence, characterizes her chaotic infancy alike with that of every European power. Clovis formed a kingdom, 507, and, with the Franks he named it France. In .68, the next great act, a hero of christain war plunged his sword of conquest far and wide o'er the feudal powers next to his kingdom; Charlemagne conquered the empire, and with sword and heart, hand in hand, lie founded his dominions in civilization, in Christianization. Across a dark night of chaos, Henry of Navarre comes as a beacon light in the confusion of both religious and civil anarchy. In 1598 the Edict of Nantes reinstated Christian liberty. In lb4d Louis XIV declared “I am the state, and “thirty years” of awful and unscrupulous war characterized his most delusive an arrogant synonym, the “Golden Age. A revolution was the final crisis. The most wicked depravity reigned; a horde of petty stub's became rank in anarchy; but at orsiean hero comes to the rescue, A Napoleon ignites the great boulder of political feuds, and institutes the more pacific system of French Democracy. The cost of the French Republic of today cannot be approximated. Her millions of gravestones tell her tale of woe, and represent the cost of her present glory. Madame DeStael once said to a distinguished man. “You arc the advance guard ot the human race. You are the future of the world. lhut distinguished man was an American, and she was speaking of the American people. Ah, our national heritage! The elysium of the happy, the loyal.

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24 THK MILESTONE. of the patriots who purchased our birthright, we never shall dishonor; but the war upon the invasion of evil and ignorance now is inaugurated in the American home. Industrious armies respond daily to the roll call of drill and development. “All in arms, All plumed like eetridges that wing the wind. Rater! like eagles having lately bather!; Glittering in golden coats like images; As full of spirit as the month of May. Thirty millions of these young hearts, train under the most lieneficent educational generalship in the world. The evolution of the present out of the past bespeaks a forthcoming millennium. With an educational sentiment founded upon the deepest emotions of love and purity; with justice administered as never before; with public favor on the side of right and truth; with a guardianship of Christian truth and character; “Let us believe with all our hearts that out of the high-hearted dreams of wise and good men about our country, time, however invisibly and inscrutably, is, at this moment, slowly hewing the most colossal and resplendent result in History.” Alik I. Johnson.