Plymouth High School - Mayflower Yearbook (Plymouth, IN)

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THE SENIOR ANNUAL Winning a. Name. ' Rev. E. M. North, Class '96-Ellendale, N. D. The world loves a hero. The reverence we pay to the great often comes near to being actual worship. We erect halls of fame. In it we place the statues of certain men whom We choose out of the many millions of other men, and these few we call the great. VVe enshrine their memory in books and stone, and around winter iiresides mothers tell their children at their knees of these great princes among the sons of men. ' What is it in these men that marks them thus? In what are they different from other men? We say unusual qualities make men great. We say it was the quality of persistance in General Grant who said I Will iight it out on this line if it takes all sum- mer, that made him the hero he is among us, it was the quality of far-seeing statesmanship that made Washington and Jefferson great, it was the quality of imagination and skill in recognizing dramatic crises that made Shakespeare the giant that he is in the literary world, it is the quality of unflinching courage that makes Roosevelt such a figure in our national life. In this We speak truly, in a measure, but there is something essential beneath all these things, without which they would be impotent, and it is this secret of greatness that we shall seek in this article. lf simply to possess at peculiar characteristic makes a man great, then many a Roosevelt walks the streets of Plymouth, if the possession of an imagination makes a Shakespeare, then there are many Shakespeares among us, if the gift of some unusual distinctive qualities makes a Washington, a Lincoln or a iWebster, then touch your hat to many a man, yes, to- every man you pass on the street, for every man has some peculiar quality or set of qualities that distinguishes him, and makes him diferent from all others of his kind. In addition to the possession of such qualities there is an element Which is not only essential to fame but is in fact the very key to it. Men endowed with these unusual characteristics can never become great till they put these endowments to work in the service of their fellow-men. Whoever heard of a monument being raised to a man who never did anything for the race? That a man may be great in this World he must be a servant of men. The Great Teacher put it in this fine epigram- 'tVVhosoever would be first among you let him serve. Consider for a moment the great galaxy of Revolutionary heroes, NVashington and Lee, Marion and Greene in the army, Jefferson, Hamilton, Franklin and Marshall in the affairs of state, Patrick Ilenry, John Knox, Samuel Adams, James Otis, silver-tongued champions of the rights of men in the hot years of public debate before the war. Why are these names enshrined in the sacred fanes of every American 's heart? It is because they did something for their country, they became our servants, and served mightily in a cause that needed all they gave. Greatness is not so much a gift as an acquisition. It is a com- modity which can be obtained for a price. Every man who acquires it pays that price. That price is labor. Greatness costs. It is not discovered like a gold mine in the Sierras. It is wrought, a golden chain in which the links are the years turned by the laboring hand of a lone man, linked together in the firm weld of fidelity to his

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THE SENIOR ANNUAL mind. Without it man could not cope understandingly with the vast social and economic problems of the times. Progress would be at a standstill. Ambition would be stifled. Truth would be crushed. Our land would soon be in a state of turmoil, possibly anarchy. In the words of the poet Shakespeare All the world's a stage and men and women merely players. The person committing the fewest errors will be the best player and will meet with the great- est applause. During the first act which has just been concluded we have received such training as should enable us to better fill the places that are open for us on the great stage of life. We have now arrived at that eminence which for the last four years we have incessantly been striving to attain. I fully realize that our education is not completed except insofar as the prescrib- ed High School course has been mastered and completed, and I also fully realize that with most of us that must suffice, but even so, it is a. foundation that may safely be built upon. From the past it has been demonstrated, even without further college training, that it has brought out many high grade business and professional men whose influence is felt in various communities of this nation. Our own school Hts us for the various needs of life and also for the majority of the best colleges and universities of the landg but even superior to these is its power of training and broadening the mind. In attaining both of these ends its teachers and officers have taken 9. leading part and to them our thanks as a class are gratefully tendered. Fellow Classmates :-We have now arrived at the hour of part- ing. four happy years together are no more, and each must push his boat out into the sea of life which now opens before us, singly take the oars and row for himself to success. In the years to come I hope as opportunity raps at each of your doors that you may grasp it and that good fortune will shine boun- tifully on you. As we now leave our dear Alma Mater, I trust no act of any of us will ever cause her to blush for our conduct but in the years to come she shall have naught but pleasant remembrance of the class of 1910.

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THE SENIOR ANNUAL life-purpose-a product of toil, forged under the stress and strain of work. To the lazy man a great name never comes. There is no good thing for him in earth or heaven. Nature whips him and stings him all his life through. But the commonest man who really aspires to serve his fellowmen, the man Who possesses only the simplest qual- ities, far from brilliant in any element of his character, can take these common talents and before his life ends do signal service on behalfof the race. The road to success is as common as the road to market, said Horace Greeley, and many attain it who bring no other price but faithful toil. A young man friend of Thomas A. Edison said to him one day Mr, Edison, I Wish I had been given genius like yourself. Genius, -Mr. Edison answered, genius, my young friend, is nine-tenths hard Work. The famous wizard has found the secret of all true greatness-the talisman that opens the treasurehouse of unusual success. It is just plain work. This is what makes the dif- ference between the great inventor and the thousands of other men who like to tinker with electricity. Edison doesn't tinker at it, he works with it. He picks up a stray idea that saunters alongside some one of his experiments, harnasses it up, and drives it like mad till it fetches him up at the portal of some marvelous discovery. The rest of us are too lazy to do that. Edison is called greatg we remain on the lower levels of the common lot. But we could be Edisons if we Would. As a general principle we may lay it down that the human mind is capable of anything, providing we will drive it hard enough. Labor is the coin of the realm in the Kingdom of Greatness. No other coin will pass current, whatever its stamp. Every great man who has given to the world the causes for his greatness, has some- where paid his tribute to the virtues of toil. There is gold for every man if he Will use the iron spade of labor. Napoleon purchased his fame at the price of prodigious labors. The shining jewels in his crown of success-Lodi, Austerlitz, Jena. Rivoli, and Marengo were purchased with the gold of unusual and striking labors. He was an anomoly in Continental Warfare, he be- came the terror of Europe. He was almost omnipresent, he was continually surprising the enemy by appearing suddenly before them in battle array, When, by all the rules of marching he must have been, in their calculations, far away beyond striking distance. He will not undertake the almost impossible task of crossing the Alps to attack us said the Italians. But Napoleon did the impossible thing, crossed the Uimpassable Alps, surprised the enemy, defeated them, and set his brother upon the throne. He was almost constantly in the saddle. In fact he often slept in his saddle except when too much worn to keep his seat, when he would fling himself to the ground beside a common soldier's camp-fire and snatch two or three hours of repose. Then he would arise to inspect the enemy 's lines, not entrusting this to subordinates, lest the enemy change his position in the night and thus interfere with his own plans for to- morrow 's battle. So it came about that all Europe trembled before him. Plenty of people could be found who gave him supernatural powers, for how else, said they, can you explain his rapid move- ments and his unfailing success? So it has been with all the great men of the past. They- have purchased greatness with the coin of