Norfolk High School - Milestone Yearbook (Norfolk, NE)

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THE MILESTONE. 11 anee and bloody conflict. Frequently the narrative closes with, “My boy sleeps in an unknown grave somewhere in the South.” Recently the nation has mourned the death of three of its greatest ones. Twenty years hence few of the soldier hoys will be with us for “With drum-beat and heart-beat the soldiers go forth.” Let us ever cherish their memories in honor and love. Many noble deeds are recorded but the actions of the countless host will be known only in Heaven. As succeeding generations learn of those who placed their lives on their nation’s altar fresh laurels will be added to their fame and their names will quite overshadow the early patriots. Our national character is to-day on a firm basis. Ry studying the fate of fallen nations we can profit by their experiences. Buskin has said, “Do not let us degrade ourselves voluntarily and then mutter and mourn over our shortcomings.” We are now advancing rapidly. Every liberty-loving country is watching us and wherever a new republic is founded the United States is taken as a model. And thus the seed sown by our forefathers is springing up and bearing fruit for the harvest, “Some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred fold.”

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10 THE MILESTONE. given. Self was forgotten in the zeal for general welfare. Good conduct, high principles, kindness, forbearance, self-denial, and the love of justice infused those patriots with strength and courage. We think of Washington as the greatest of these early heroes, but there were other noble men of whom history makes no mention that did their parts well. What could Washington have done if those privates had shirked in duty, for no “Purpose is so great but that slight actions may help it.” Wise Benjamin Franklin advanced the cause with his witty sayings and genial manner while working whole-souled in foreign courts in his country’s behalf. All the Revolutionary heroes have joined that “Innumerable caravan that moves to the pale realms of shade.” “They have taken with them to the grave their powers, their honors and their errors but they have left us their adoration.” After the war was ended a great work was before the infant nation. Now was the time to show the training of the stern Puritans and the peaceful Quakers. It required all the sternness, all the charity of both sects to place the government on a firm basis. When the crisis was passed had those forefathers returned to earth they would have realized their lives had not been in vain. Years after w hen even the proud Mistress of the Seas had been humbled it became evident that the greatest enemy was at home. While sections of the nation work in unison.all is well, but when internal strifes come then is its greatest danger. Many years before the civil war Henry Clay produced his famous Missouri compromise: later on came the Omnibus Bill. The fiery eloquence of John C. Calhoun stirred the south as Patrick Henry had aroused the people in old colonial days. All the power of Daniel Webster could only check not stay the storm. With the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln it burst and Sumpter fell. You all know the result. If the majority of the citizens of the United States decide a certain thing must be done, the world may depend upon its being done. The stern character implanted by our forefathers is immortal. Slavery was abolished, but at what a cost? In almost every home there is some one to tell of patient endur-

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WVj t §)l] ll We do Will] T e Indian? Lloyd Coim. Many theories have been brought forward for making the Indian a peaceable and law-abiding citizen. This question has been a leading one ever since the landing of Columbus and it probably will be until public sentiment is more thoroughly awakened. . Slavery never would have been abolished had it not been for public opinion and although it took a long time to arouse the people, the selling of human beings was finally prohibited. On the side of the white man, there have been treaties made and as often broken, a dark record of oppression, of fraud and of dishonesty. The Indian was the prey of everyone, until to-day he regards the white man as his deadliest enemy instead of friend. Not so in the older time when Columbus' white-winged ships were thought to carry angels from Heaven. He is taught even from thecradle swinging in the evening breeze, that “white man” is a synonym for all that is low. base and vile. He has been pushed back from the hunting grounds of his fathers; he “Huh loft the blooming wilds he ranged so long. And nearer to the Rocky Monn tains, sought A wider hunting ground. But even here he is not at rest, for the course of empire westward takes its way. The white man wants his lands, and he must push on. He passes on lamenting: “They waste ns, aye, like April snow In the warm noon, we shrink away; And fast they follow, as we go Toward the setting day— Till they shall fill the land, and we Are driven into the western sea. But what shall we do with him? How can we improve