Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1881-06-28
THE PRIZE ESSAY.
..U.rssii.sd Iae.isr-sy A,s core

The gentlemen selected to award the
prizes offered BY the Gold Hill Board OF
for the Class Of 81. gave to
Miss Cora d. Moore the arst prize. $40.
Under the condition which the prizes
we're offered. the award stated that her
essay was the best-all points % to
composition, literary merit and delivery
considered. Following II the essay:
uxlEALzED rDrALs.
In childhood. how many ample
fanoiss; In youth. how many bright an
~ticipations; In middle ass. how many
hieh hopes; and. In old eye. still hoping
Tor something beyond. We look over
the future With IN inverted hsld glass;
beautiful. radiant With the sunlight, and
picturesque. bot svsf % Tar distant.
Like the boy. climbing the rugged
heights. running YER the sharp stones.
vsinly trying 70 seeuf the gold hs secs
In the rainbow. the pursusr at the end
OF the rsos ever finds his Ideal un-
attained.
The ideal IL that which exists In the
fancy or Imagination only. It 10 that
which paints the oommonplses afairs OF
everyday life In brighter oolors than We
are wont to see them; that which carries
the idealist into . land which 10 the
beautiful creation Of his own fancy.
Inssnsibls to the cares and worries
which Affect the dull realities Of life. he
ever continues dreaming his own dreams.
and living Q life apart from his sur.
roundings, evsr hoping against hope
fighting against fate.
The commonplace Lies around N
svsiywhsrs. T.nnyson says. Common
IL the commonplace" There II nothing
idsalistio In the struggle for bread. the
struggle for position, and the struggle for
tims 10 which to crowd the work OF the
day; bat to the q thai Il working
towards q summit. even the least inter.
sstine occupation may b made . pleas
IRE. instead Of . drudge.
The unimaginativs person passes the
flowers that adorn the hillside and 10
scarcely conscious Of their prsssnos.
The daisy that grows on the mountain
aide 10 TO him = daisy. nothing more;
bot the man With the poets soul sees
not only the little flower. but In his deep
sympathy with nature be hears hsi
voies. and thsihoughts suggested to him
by the flower are given 70 the world In
his poems.
We oil have our ideals; bat they must
Of necessity b something above ouI
reach; what Ne mean to Be or to do musi
b outside Of and beyond our present
capabilities; still II our ideal be . noble
conception. Il cannot long remain . mere
ideal, bot, BY lifting our minds TO higher
planes Of thoueht, and by impslling NJ
to noblsr deeds. Il will become an almost
real and tangible thing.
"Havs We not all amid LIES petty strife
Some pure ideal Of . noble life
That once seemed posaiblsf"
The sculptor aims to chissl out Of the
rough marble. . face. psfhaps OF IN
angel or . goddess. . face that 10 purei
and loftisr than mortals have.
The painter aims to represent on can.
vas. . living picture Of the scenes around
him, 90 that others far distant may sst
what he sees. Each has before him ar
ideal. ons degree beyond the possible. {
shadow that fies before him. The bstteI
part OF every ideal 10 hidden In the
silence Of the heart. Yet without thiI
great influence the world would never
reach any degree Of sxcsllsnos.
Every one knows from personal sxps.
Renee a. well q from the history oil
othsrs' lives, that the great ideals. ever
whom almost within our grasp, may fall
and crumbls away. This II . bitter
truth, yet In such oAes ''ths virtue lies
In the struggle. not the prize"
Colsfidgs and Shelley. both poets oil
the same romantic school. and both pos.
ssssing wonderful gifts Of genius and
imsgination. were. however. great rhsp-
sodists. They we're constantly building
beautiful air castles, only to crumbls
into ruins; they saw the ideal. but nsvel
possessed IL; they drsant. bot accom-
plishsd little; because. before their In
ward conceptions had moved them "a
cot, dark shadows we're thrown across
them, the light within had gone ont,
leaving even the ideal broken and moon
plets.
But IL 10 through repeated failures tina
great deeds are accomplished; no stor
that 10 earnestly put forth NJ ever b.
wholly In vain. There 10 no royal foat
to success; seldom 10 anything obtaihst
bat BY great labor.
II II hard to fail; Il IL hard ct the end
Of life to look back and say. 81 have
worked. but my work 10 still unfinished,
and I must die" Such . lie, thougt
full Of failures, cannot In itself bs
failure, II it, motive has been high.
Az 10 sometimes remarked. there Il
something noble In failure; there 10 die
ciplins In ito love what 10 great, e
try to reach Il. and yet to fail. II Il
better to stumble on the mountain'
slippery side than walk on the msrsh!
land with even footsteps; Il 10 better e
have an ideal that can never b rsalixet
than to have Q life 90 satished with earth
that IL cares to See no further; Il II bsttsl
to AZ the eye on the pinnacle Of lame
however u~pattainabls Il may seem. thai
to never have an aspiration good snouRt
to be called Q failure. ''If defeat wsr'
unknown. neither would victory b esls
braied BY songs OF triumph"
None bot o has ever said: "lt u
hnishsd." All men, some earlier. SOM
later. lay down thsir yet unaooomplishet
tssk, unrsalissd. But who knows In thu
unknown existence What plane will b
realized and What ~unrsslissd what vii
be considered victory and what defeat
Some one has most beautifully said that
The u~nattainsd
In life a. last,
When life II past,
Shall all b gained.
Wssk Scr . 0fasa JaRy.