Norfolk High School - Milestone Yearbook (Norfolk, NE)

Page 33 text:

THK MILKSTONK. 29 the Capitol, with its magnificent temple, no more wiJJ hear the praises of its heathen gods; the Coliseum looms a frowning monument, magnificent still in its massiveness, o’er the graves of the brave gladiators slaughtered in the arena. The ruins of those structures seem to say: We are the glory of the departed Rome which for centuries ruled the world.” America, my country, thou art young. Beside old Rome thou art hut a beardless youth. Thou hast yet thy coliseum to build, and will that monument be the wonder of the generations to come ? Will children point to arenas where lives have been sacrificed to make an American holiday? Will the tale of thy life be one of bloodshed and crime? Build ye, then, countrymen, not of stone, brick and mortar. build ye not monuments that will tell of your slavery to sin and oppression, build in purity and truth, work to the good of generations to come. Purify your ballot boxes; purge your politics of the filth that is collecting to choke the workings of a just and upright government; extend your public school system; build hospitals for the poor and sick, enfeebled and distressed. Build, we say, your coliseum of good intents, noble purposes and worthy deeds. Choose perfect stones for its broad foundations, lay the corner stones securely, build the walls high, smooth and beautiful, and the generations to come will have cause to bless you. and your coliseum will stand through all ages to come. Take to yourself the words of one of our poets:

Page 32 text:

Coliseums. Edgar Gbrbckb. Rome was not built in a day; neither were the lives that guided her to the position of “Mistress of the World” of short duration. What sums of money; what hours of toil; what years of time must her structures have cost. The walls, after two thousand years exposure to the elements, still tower toward the skies in all their mysterious beauty. There they stand! The Senate House, the Forum, Circus Maximus, and the Coliseum, tit representatives of the glory of Rome, whose will was law. at whose shrine the nations paid homage. Could the gates that pierce those walls hut speak, what tales they could unfold. They could tell of armies going forth to conquer the world; to defend the imperial city from destruction; of heroes returning to be crowned with laurels and hailed with joyous acclammations, and of triumphs and gorgeous pageants. The Senate House that once re-echoed with the eloquence of Cicero and the dying groans of Caesar, is a stately ruin now;

Page 34 text:

THE MILESTONE. “Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, As the swift seasons roll! Leave thy low vaulted past! Let each new temple, nobler than the last. Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast. ’Till thou at length are free. Leaving thy outgrown shell on life's unresting sea.