Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1892-10-15


Thy exiles afar are dreaming OF thee.
No fields OF the earth SO enchantingly shine,
No air breathes such incense, such music as
thine.
Eumanity's homei thy sheltering breast
Gives welcome and room TO strangers op.
pressed.
Pale children OF hunger and hatred and wrong
Find life in thy freedom and Joy in thy song.
Thy fairest estate the lowly may hold,
Thy poor may grow great, thy feeble grow
bold;
For worth is the watchword to noble degree,
And manhood is mighty where manhood is
free
o union OF states, and union of soulsl
Thy promise awaits, thy future unfolds,
And earth from her twilight is hailing the sun,
That rises where people and rulers are one.
An address follows in which the
story of the four centuries is told. We
give it in condensed form as follows:
We, who are here met together, are now real
ly in company with 100000 pupils of the
American public schools. That is the thought,
this day, which stirs our hearts.
Though our eyes do not see all these we can
gee them with our minds-an army OF 5000, 900
boys and girls gathered in schoolhouses great
and schoolhouses little, throughout the land
and all with the flag OF our country floating
over them. All are assembled at the request of
the president OF the United States for one pur-
pose. That purpose is to celebrate the disco.
cry of America by Columbus, whose ship fred
gun 400 years ago this morning, to signal that
he then frst saw the new world.
Yes-the New World. For that discovery
added more than new continent to the other
continents II changed the prospects of man
kind it opened broad lands TO their labor: It
gave them great new hopes, and so made the
world new.
Have those hopes been disappointed, No.
hat thar mi In
free school rooms this morning is the best evil
dence that those hopes have been more than
fulfilled
Behind him, in old Europe, Columbus left our
own ancestors-men, women girls and boys
without any better prospect than that OF toll
ing and fighting for kings and mobiles. He left
behind him world where the most OF the
people were common people, and where COM
mon people were treated as having few human
rights.
He saw before him q new world, where those
common people, set free to do their own will,
were by and by TO establish the same rights
for everybody, free education for all the chill
drer and government by the people for the
people
He saw before him this America, where 49,,
900, 600 of us pupils OF the commol schools are
this day met in thankfulness TO God who sent
Columbus forth, and who moved our fore
fathers to make this land OF freedom, law and
schools.
done for us: it is given to us freely. So upon US
is laid mighty trust Upon us is laid the duty
TO be patriots, like those who made our land
the glad place IL is. The people to-day have
made the school children all over the land the
leaders in this Columbus day celebrat tion so as
to give to us n lesson in patriotism which we
never shall forget
We can begin TO be patriots now. We are
patriots as soon as We love OR country and its
flag. When we try to make our school better
nhnnt vhnn frC IN NM lra nt1r fQyr -
games, we begin to be patriotic citizens,
And then, we, the boys and girls of America
to-day, are going to be the men and women of
America before long. Very soon we will have
to govern the towns and cities, build the schools
and make the laws Whatever we shall do that
makes all the people happier will make our
country's flag brighter. But il we should vote
when we grow up for things that are wrong that
would stain the flag.
So, let us promise that the flag of our dear
land, which, so proud and bright, flies over our
heads to-day, shall never be stained by our
fault Let us pledge ourselves that the great
name America shall forever mean an equal
chance to every citizen and love 10 all the world.
Then follows a magnificent ode
written by Edna Dean Proctor. This
is as follows and concludes the uniform
exercises,
COLUMBIA BANNER
"God helping me-" creo Columbus "though
fair or foul the breeze,
will sail and sail till find the land beyond the
western seas"
So an eagle might leave its eyrie bent, though
the blue should bar,
To fold lis wings on the loftiest peak Of ar un
discovered starl
And into the vast and void abyss he followed
the setting sun;
Nor gulfs gales could fright his sails till the
wondrous quest was done
But oh, the weary vigils, the murmuring, tor
turing days,
Till the Pinta's gun and the shout OF "Landl'
set the black night ablaze
Till the shore lay fair us paradise in mornings
balm and gold,
And Il world was won from the conquered deer
and the tale OF the ages toldl
Uplift the starry banner! The best age Il
begunl
We are the heirs Of the mariners whose voyage
that morn was done.
Measureless lands Columbus gave and river.
through zones that roll,
But his rarest, noblest bounty was new world
for the SOUL