Norfolk High School - Milestone Yearbook (Norfolk, NE)

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20 T1IE MILESTONE. Low that we might once have waved By a single word! Thoughts conceived, bnt never | en'd. Perishing unheard. Take the proverb to thine heart. Take, Oh, hold it fast! The mill will never grind With the water that has passed.’' VALEDICTORY. We have now passed one milestone on our journey of life. It has been a very short and pleasant journey thus far for most of us. We have tried to profit by our opportunities and trust that the ground work of our education has been well laid. We are just stepping over tbfe threshold of our school life and are about to bid farewell to the pleasant school days of the past. We now enter into life’s school which is always in session. May we all be more faithful in the future than the best of us have been in the past. Before we separate as a class and enter the world to battle for place and honor we wish to publicly express our gratitude to the citizens of Norfolk for their kindly interest in our school work. We thank them and say farewell. To the School Board who have given so much time and earnest work, that we might have such a beautiful new High School building, we return our thanks. You have fostered this noble institution of learning in our community which we shall always be proud to remember as our Alma Mater. For your care, aid and interest we are thankful, being honored by it. To you we say farewell. To you. kind teachers, we also must say farewell. We realize how patiently, how faithfully and how devotedly each of you have labored for our advancement. Many times your patience has been tried and your burdens been increased by reason of our neglect of duty. We now sincerely ask your forgiveness, trusting that we may always show to the world the benefit of your instructions and example. We earnestly thank you for the many kindnesses we have received at your hands, and to you we say farewell. Farewell, schoolmates! Farewell! There is always a

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tup: milestone. 19 and darkness of the night, ferried the American Army across to New York. But perhaps there is no more striking illus- tration of lost opportunity than that of Hull at Detroit. He held a strong fort filled with men confident of victory. The enemy were approaching, his cannon were charged and his soldiers eager to fight. To the amazement of all a white flag was displayed, and men, arms and the whole territory of Michigan was surrendered to the British. At the time Hull was bitterly denounced as a coward and traitor, but it is now believed that he was only weak and lacked the decision to seize his opportunity. The event comes down to us as a surrender, the mo'st shameful in the history of the United States. Not only great military men, but also those occupying high position in civil life have been unable to retain the place they have been called to fill through the neglect of some duty. It is customary on great ocean steamers to take observations to see in what direction the ship is sailing. One slight turn of the pilot wheel might put the ship many miles out of its course. So one error, one neglected opportunity in our life may change the whole plan of our existence. We must then take most careful observations, that we may early discover our faults and neglect of opportunities for improvement. Every failure should strengthen us to greater effort, and with high ideals there is no such word as fail. Then we shall have few remembrances to blight our future happiness. How many of us. some with splendid natural abilities, make no effort toward improvement? We spend our precious time in idly dreaming of honor, fame and wealth. Then when it is too late we awaken from our slumbers only to discover that our talents have been buried in the wreck and ruin of an aimless life. “Oh, the wasted hours of life That have drifted by! Oh, the good we might have done. Lost without a sigh.

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THE MILESTONE. 21 tinge of sadness at such a time as this. The hour has come - to sever the bond of union between us. We go out from school into new and untried lines of work. When the bell rings in the fall you will take your accustomed places and go on until you stand where we stand to-night. The hours spent together have been very pleasant. We will cherish the affection which has grown up between us during our school days. We trust that our paths in life may bring us often together. With a perfect trust in a higher power than our own let us enter upon the struggles of life fully determined to lose no opportunity for advancement, remembering that “Energy brings success.” “We meet at one gate When all's over. The ways they are many and wide. And aetdom are two way the same. Side by eide May we stand at the name little door when all’s done! The ways they are many, the end it is one. He that knocketh shall enter; who asks shall obtain; And who seeketh, hefindeth.”