The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-10-22

made o scene of surprising beauty.
! 1t was at1er eleven O'Clock when
Superintendent Derr stepped to the
front oil the stage to read tho procla.
nation Of Governor Mckinney setting
apart the day as holiday. Mr.. Derr
| followed the reading Of the proclama-
tion with an address appropriate to the
| occasion. He spoke at some length of
the life OF Columbus and the lesson it
| teaches. He said that it was fitting
| that tho public schools should celebrate
| the day because free education was the
| corner stone Of this republic and one of
the greatest blessings that have como
to humanity through the great work of
| Columbus.
Continuing Mr.. Derr said: cit is pc
culiarly fitting that the children of this
| republic should celebrate this occasion
for it contains lessons greater than text
books can teach; it teaches that great
deeds are undying, though men must
pass away; that monuments of worth
and work are moro enduring than those
OF stone and bronze; that even the dis
| covery of America was not SO great a
thing a, the achievement of the people
OF America in establishing a free gov.
eminent in the continent. The one was
the forerunner OF the other, the cause of
which the latter is q consummation.
the fostering of free schools among
free people is no less source of pride
and pleasure.
"TheSe arc events that stamp their i'm
press upon the times and give new turn
to human affairs and will transmit their
consequences to ages and generations to
come We see their Importance in their
results, and call them great because
great things follow. Universal educa.
. To =
zenship and intelligent freedom. Lib
erty without enliR htenm ent.is,l like power
without purpose. Both are dangerous
alike to the possessor and possession
This great celebration will have been in
vain II it does not impress the import
ance of education and patriotism and
stimulate tho young to achievement.
There are probably no more continents
70 discover, but there are untried fields of
| experiments and untrodden paths OF in
vcntion and untold heights of attain.
ments in every walk of life waiting for
the resolute hand and bravo heart
OF some young Columbus Thy another
name) to start forth from these public
schools to win the laurels and wear the
praises Of other ages.
"Those who stand Ist in their classes
and first in the esteem of their school
fellows and school. officers will 90 the
ones to whom we look for the making of
our future history 10 them we must
soon commit the future Of the republic
There will be- no such barriers TO pro-
| gress as Columbus encountered there
will be no monarch's permission to ob
tain; there will be ouly the energy, the
| effort, tho brain and the Drawn for you
to bring to the task, for the pomp and
pagesntry OF royal prerogative are pass
ing away in all the land; crowns are
| crumbiiDg, thrones are trem bling and
all the people now arc free!
| 'In America there is no crown or
thrones, and if the rising generation is
faithful to the trust committed to their
care, there never will be such. But IL
they grow Needless of their liberties
and allow their suffrages to be taken
the requiem ofothis republic will be
sounded instead of the "S5ar Spangled
Banner" bayonets will take the place
OF ballots. and liberty and freedom will
be but passing tradition. Freedom
individual and universal-.mustb be your
watch word and your jealous care
Remember, when your forefathers
reached this wild shore and built their
altar and knelt upon tho frozen snow
and hinty rock to worship, they built
that altar to freedom-to individual
! freedom OF conscience and opinion and
their noble prayer was that their child
rem might BIO thus forever free. What
barrier is there against the universal
despotism OF public opinion in this coun-
try but individual freedom? Who is to
stand up against it here, but the pos
SCISSOR of lofty independence? If you
yield the point, If you are forever making
compromises, if all men do this, if the
entire policy OF private life here is to
escape opposition and reproach, every
thing will have to be swept beneath the
popular wave. There will be no in.
dividualitY, no hardihood no high and
stern resolve. no self-subsistence, no
fearless dignity, no glorious manhood
of mind left among US.
ut is true that education while it
aggrandizes tho whole man in point of
men'al excellence, IT tho same time and
in the same proportion 1t renders the
finest spirit suscep ible TO pain. The
ignorant man may pass over many
scenes both of pleasure and disgust
with entire Indifference while the man
of culture, taste and refinement will be
moved most sensibly Tho same acute
sensibilities which lay cultivated
mind feelingly open to ethereal beauty
and transcendent worth. render their
possessor most fearfully exposed to the
poignant pangS of sorrow and the ills of
life"
"Chords that vibratc sweetest pleasures
Thrill to deepest notes of woe"
"But knowledge is power and power
controls people and even republics.
Without it princes and potentates would
DO weak and impotent Zealously pro-
tect nnhlic educotiou and yao lnuolu