Norfolk High School - Milestone Yearbook (Norfolk, NE)

Page 27 text:

THE MILESTONE. a:t and animal life proceed after the same forms and steps from age to age. The germ in the tiny seed, which is dropped in the soil and nourished by the moisture that falls from tlie sky or rises from the earth, soon bursts tin walls of its prison cell, and obeying the law which commands it to seek the light, pushes aside and overturns lumps of earth many times its own size and weight. The bee follows by instinct only natural laws when it builds its cells iu hexagonal form and in its store of honey has brought together chemical elements that blend in a harmony of sweetness. The stone beds of the world are formed and modified in certain ways which are the same now as they were countless ages ago. Even the weather has its own methods. Day and night succeed each other every twenty-four hours; the seasons never change their order. Kepler’s laws relating to the shape and orbits of tin planets, and Newton’s laws of motion wherein he contends that a body set in motion will continue to move forever iu a straight line unless another force is applied, and that the planets lose none of their original velocity but move with the same speed which they received at the beginning, are as operative today as they have ever been. The planets rush round one sun encircled by their moons, on tin4 same orbits in the same times and with the same causes of acceleration and retardation as of old. Even comets, erratic as may seem their orbits and periods of appearance, are governed by the same fixed law which regulates the movement of all the solar systems. That very law which molds a tear And bids it trickle from its source, That law holds the earth a sphere And guides the planets in their course.” So beyond our own solar system, in the ten thousand other systems, in which our fixed stars are central blazing suns, it is still the same law law everywhere. The contemplation of those laws which govern every atom of the universe must bring to the mind thoughts of their infinite author. “The laws of nature are the thoughts of God,” and we. the creatures of God’s wisdom and bounty, should learn from those laws to more deeply reverence Him who has numbered the very hairs of our head and Who, though infinite, market!) even the sparrow’s fall. The World’s Ingratitude to Living Genius. CHARLES A. MADSEN. All that mankind knows of invention and discovery, all that civilization boasts of science and philosophy: all that we enjoy of music, poetry and art, and all that we know of political economy, we owe to Genius to Genius, that God given power that lifts a man out of his narrowed sphere and makes him the brightest star in the constellation of God’s cieation. Time, place and action may with pains lie wrought, Bnt Genius must 1m horn, and can never 1m taught.” So it was with Socrates. The genius, which graced him at his birth, made him one of the most intellectual lights of the world’s history. The intellectual characteristics of Socrates, through

Page 26 text:

THE MILESTONE. 22 they possess lies within those small bounds, home. To some most likely it recalls the meadows, the woodland of their childhood, the old barn in which could be heard the voices of happy children. Or, to others, the little cottage among the trees, the doorstep, the old kitchen where the loving mother trod, who was ever ready to soothe their achings and their pains. And I fancy some see the little orchard back of the house where they laid her frail form to rest among the apple trees and violets. Time lays his heavy hand on the old house, the surroundings of childhood, and summons from us our beloved and friends to deposit them in the earth, whence their coming. Hut never can its corroding hand efface them from our memory. And as we draw nearer to man’s common destiny it affords us great pleasure to look back upon the scenes of childhood, upon the paradise of our life. It seems as though the Creator gives all a taste of that purity which we are all striving to attain. As with Adam and Eve ere the fall in the Garden of Eden, so it is with the youth in the Eden of life. And yet those walls that enclose the place of our birth cannot contain all our home love. For who is he whose heart does not swell when he hears the name of his country? A fairer land was never kissed by a zephyr, or by an ocean bathed. The birthplace of liberty, the cradle of genius, “the land of the free and the home of the brave ” Tho only nation on the globe that observes strictly the divine rights of man: “That all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Yes, and this old world who has nurtured us from birth, and who at last shall claim this form as her own. shall receive her share. She is of tried friends the most true. In trouble, trials, sorrow and pain, is ever at our side: and yet at some time, like all who have gone on before. we will address her in those stinging words of the poet: “Goodbye, proud world, I’m going home.” Home! that place of the Christian’s longing, with the angels and archangels; the only true home, when we shall have returned unto the Father’s house as a little child, weary of the trials and vexations of the day, seeking counsel, sympathy ami repose. tgutSu Universal Laws. FANNIE NORTON. All those studies which we ••all the Natural Sciences are but the results of observations made by men who have studied out and proved certain laws which govern all things in the Natural Universe. There is not an act or movement in all the realm of nature which is not governed by a certain fixed and immutable law which has existed and must continue to exist throughout all the ages of time. Not a particle floats at random or as a unit; not a leaf grows or falls save according to rigid general principles of science. All chemical elements have their modes and measures of combination to which they steadfastly adhere. The great processes of vegetable

Page 28 text:

24 THE MILESTONE. which he influenced the whole subsequent course of human thought, may he stated under three heads: Subject. Method and Doctrine, lie was the first to proclaim that the proper study for man is Man, human nature and human duties. Socrates continued incessantly discussing human affairs, investigating what is piety; what is impiety; what is the honorable and the base; what is the just and the unjust? Men that knew these matters, he accounted as good and honorable; men that were ignorant of them, he associated with slaves. In this way Socrates set the people to thinking and by making them think they were being educated. In 399 B. C. an indictment was laid against Socrates, accusing him: First, of not worshiping the same gods which the city worshiped. Second, of introducing new divinities of his own; and third, of corrupting the youth. The penalty for which was death. There were three peculiarities which distinguished Socrates First, his long life passed in contented poverty and in public teachings. Second, his strong religious persuasion or belief that he was acting under missions and signs from the gods, of which he believed himself frequently the subject. Third, his great intellectual originality, both of subject and of method, and his power of forcing and stirring germs of inquiry in others. To hear of any man, especially of so illustrious a man as Socrates, being condemned to death on such accusations as that of heresy and alleged corruption of youth inspires, at the present day, a sen i-ment of indignant reprobation, the force of which I have no desire to enfeeble. The fact stands eternally recorded as one of the thousands of misdeeds of intolerance, both religious and political. As we trace the growth of science and philosophy our thoughts naturally turn to Galileo, the creator of experimental science, lb was the first to place before the people the following contributions of physical science: The relation between space and time in case of falling bodies; the three laws of motion; that air has weight; the invention of the telescope, and many various and noble discoveries with which he enriched science. Encircled by the lustre of these sublime discoveries he wrote and published the expositions of his opinions. Hardly had these been issued when the book was given over to the iurisdictiction of the Ecclesiastical Court, the Pope having been led to believe that he had satirized him in his productions under the title of “Simplicity.” As one who is careless about scientific truth, he resolved to punish Galileo. the audacious philosopher, and he was summoned before the Court of Inquisition to answer to the charge of heresy. After a long wearisome trial, the judge condemned Galileo to an indefinite term of imprisonment and he, like many other great and noble men was allowed to die in poverty. At the opening of the Uevolu-tionary War there were many eminent and wealthy men, who. for the love of liberty, willingly sacrificed their wealth, political preferment and life itself. We speak in admiration of gallant heroes such as Putnam, Green and Washington. We admire the excellent . motives which animate such noble characters as Franklin, LaFayette and Warren. lint, of all the great men of the