Oakfield High School - Oak Leaves Yearbook (Oakfield, WI)

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is also the cause of leading many other persons to partake of a life like that. These ideals must be developed in the child and so the parents, teachers and associates are responsible, in this sense, for the standards of our citizens. The strength or a nation is not measured by the quantity of its natural resources and the amount of its possessions but by its citizens, and their character depends upon the character of their homes, their training and their associates. When we leave the home roof, our foundation as a citizen has been laid and insomuch as we loved our homes, so we will love our country. The home of our New England ancestors is the corner-stone of the United States citizenship. These homes were very simple in structure and lacked many of the conveniences which we enjoy to-day. But these people were strongly united by the ties of love, reverence and loyalty. Here the children had constant examples of riyid respect to duty, conscientiousness, strong courage and strict obedience. '1 hese children became men and women of character and developed into citizens of the highest order. If trained in such a home, the children of today will grow up with strong, firm characters and will be powers in their communities. It is in the family that we first learn the rules of government and to respect the rights of others. t hese are the fundamental rules which govern the town, state and nation. These are so made as to give to the individual as much freedom as will not infringe upon the rights of others. To accomplish this end, each separate township needs men who will inspire respect and command confidence. In the different communities, for this general welfare of all, are officers to look after the public schools, the poor, the highways, and other public property. It is their business to provide for the protection against fire, the offenders of the Jaw and to attend to the other general business of the town. These officers should be trustworthy men who will be willing to spend a good share of their time in this work. It is not necessary that every true citizen should fill one of these offices and thereby be serving his fellow-men, but he should use power of voting so that these places will be filled with noble men not only voting for them himself but trying to persuade other voters to do likewbe. He will try to bring about measures which will raise the standards of his neighbors, intellectually, morally and circumstantially. “Ours is a government of the people and is no better nor worse than the people make it.” This shows the need of true citizens both in office and among the voters. “God give us men. A time like this demands Strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands. Men whom the lust of office does not kill; Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; Men who posses opinions and a will: Men who have honor—men who wilt not lie; Men who can stand before a demagogue And scorn his treacherous flatteries without winking; Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog In public duty, and in private thinking. '

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THE TRUE CITIZEN “The ideal citizen is the man who believes that all men are brothers, and that the nation is merely an extension of his family.” Such a man will try in every way to better the condition of his country as he would his own family, and if he be a true citizen, he will place his country’s interests above those of his own. A true citizen will be well mentally, morally and physically. I am going to deal with the development of the moral side with a view of showing how a higher grade of citizenship may be established. But this moral side must not be the only one to be highly developed for the other two must be developed co-equally with it. A person generally proves to be a detriment to society in whom any one of the three is highly developed to the exclusion of the other two. An old writer has said, “Cultivate the physical exclusively, and you have an athlete or savage, the moral only, and you have an enthusiast or a maniac; the intellectual only, and you have a diseased oddity,--it may be a monster. It is only by wisely training all of them together that the complete man may be found.” Ever in life our attention is called to treatises dealing, more or less, with citizenship from the educational and the political points of view, but the other side of citizenship—the higher, the moral and ethical—is sadly neglected. In the path of life there are two trails. One lies upon the highlands where, as we climb higher, our toil gradually becomes easier. Flowers grow by the wayside and upon it the rays of the sun linger the longest. The other path lies on the lower fields where gloomy shadows gather long before the close of day. The true citizen follows the upward path and, as he draws nearer to the goal, his toil is crowned with success. This crown is the result of years of industry, perseverance, courage, honesty and faithfulness to duty. The follower of the lower path has been drawn there by the practice of procrastination, by the lack of self respect, courtesy, ambition and noble ideals. He looks back over his shoulder with longing as he presses onward. The life which a true citizen leads is formed by his ideals. What should these be? In prominence stands a warm fervor for his country with a strong desire to do something worthy of it; then the knowledge that life itself is the only thing worth knowing and not false standards; and finally that, as character is the greatest force in the world, he is going to be a man. Our success depends upon ideals like these. We can truly say that if a person aspires to be the most accomplished cheat ami succeeds in this, when compared with another man, he will still be below the man who has honestly striven to accomplish some good end, but has failed. Tho the former may lie educated intellectually and may speak words of learning and religion, he is still low. Therefore it is necessary, if our life is to be a success, to have high ideals. “No man ever really does a great thing who loses his character in the process” dust as soon as it is found that a man is going to preserve his manhood and stand by his ideals, against all opposite inducements, he becomes a power in the world. He

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'Phe motto of every citizen should he, “The best means to promote the greatest good to the greatest number.” If all practice this it will bring the greatest general happiness to the country. There is something seriously wrong with the government of a nation if a large portion of its population is discontented. The true citizen will try to find the cause of this trouble and then use all of his influence to correct this defect. Many of the corruptions in our government exist not by the desire of our citizens but because of their ignorance of the presence of such evils. This brings out the great need for the purification of the ballot-box. This can l e best carried out by having a strict educational qualification for the voters. They should be able to read and write and at least have been a resident of the United States for ten years. A voter, not having these qualifications, can not be expected to understand the laws, customs and needs of our country; without these qualifications, such consequently become inefficient voters and citizens. The true citizen promotes this progress of civilization in the world by striving for measures which will bring more comforts to mankind and lessen their needs. The real man has the power of turning his inward thoughts upon himself and can judge his own strength with a view of putting it to the best uses. He will know for what he is best fitted and thus will not waste his time and energy in some occupation for which he is not adopted. If this simple practice were taken up by all, it would lessen the dissatisfaction and discouragements of mankind and each one’s natural talent could be extended to its fullest capacities; thereby doing the most good. Everywhere we see evidences of the good which is accomplished by our noble and true citizens. Abraham Lincoln has been endeared to the American people by his kindliness, honesty and lowliness of manner. He was undazzled by power or place and his moral courage which supported him against adverse politicians and hostile criticism, made him a citizen of the highest degree. Emerson always considerate and respectful of the rights of others, showed, not only by his books, but by many little acts of kindness and courtesy that he constantly bettered the condition of mankind. Gladstone is another good example of true citizenship in his labors for England and Ireland. Among the women are Francis Willard, Florence Nightingale and Harriet Stowe each of whom labored faithfully for the enlightenment of their fellow beings. Why is it, that in spite of the flight of time the reputation of these people grows larger? It is notso much the great works which they have accomplished as it is their pure, noble characters that have impressed their many admirers. What powerful illustrations these are of the fact that character is the greatest force in the world. With like characters we all become citizens of the highest order. We may not have the world renown that these people have but we can imitate them by keeping a clear record and tho we may find ourselves in just such a small circle, we can still practice kindness, affection, helpfulness, humility and true courtesy to our associates and thus in our small sphere we can still be true citizens. Eva Paynter