Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1893-06-23
The Iead9r..
HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES
/ Addre..s. delivered in oper. Hail.
"Class History and Prophecy

Il ~
To write the history Of empires and king
requires genius. but what quality does it re
quire to write o class history whose aggregate
allotted to one OF the ancients patriarchs. A.
nearly as can learn, and have read the his
| tory of the United States faithfully, each ont
was born, spent several months in vain en-
deavors to swallow tiny fists, were trundled il
willow carriages, lived through the chicken pox
scarlet rash and measles, and wenthered NOR
squalls than q Norwegian sailor, just as all hav
done whether it is remembered or not. I
makes no difference how many titles o MAJ
may have, from plain Mr.. to President, he ha
passed through o time when he was known II
the community as q non-personal I'll" IT.
was q darling, '.it' had blue, black or gray eyes
"it' was pretty, or ''it" had pug nose.
Well, the members Of this class have all pass
ed through their 'it'' period Of existence AMI
re ached the age entitled to gender with thu
full rights Of the personal pronoun. 8
On searching the records we find that In l8E
Q dark-eyed baby boy came to Sycamore, Ill.
there passed the 'it'' period Of existence. Their
ca me west 70 grow up with the country, and b,
his side came q blue-eyed brother whom VIC
now honor Us our class president. When they
| arrived here they found o dark-haired girl who
could say her letters and did not liko boys
Going to Harrison county, t6wa, we find fair
faced girl playing beneath the trees or trudg-
ing by grandpa across the fields. The first
glance we have of our practical classmate, he
is sturdily marching to school across the Dakota
prairies by the side of IN elder brother. Oul
youngest member we find starting out from
sibley, Iowa on westward course. And the
historian well-she just growed.
Leaving their happy childhood. let us look at
them again as they came together one by one
and formed the class Of '03. One bright Septem.
Der mornlpe four met in the high school room
and formed the neucleus Of the Pioneer Glass
two weeks later, three boys were grated into
the ranks and in October Q wanderer returned
and our ranks were filled. With no break. the
autumn and part OF the winter passed, but In
February cruel fate robbed us Of one loyal
member, leaving us .'the mystic seven"
{ But. let us take q glance into the vailed
shadowy land OF prediction and conjecture. We
pause upon an emtnence whose eastern slope
we have trod in the midst Of tangible realitiea
from whose apex we gaze tonight westward over
boundless valley peopled with the fitting
forms Of good and evil genii which seem to
elude our questioning as to what lies hidden in
that untrodden realm. Fearing with eager eyes
into this vista Of the future, we see only vanish
ing shadows that whisper back to our listening
ears no revelation Of its arcana. We turn
again to the past, but 1t hesitates and stammers
in uncertainty and leaves us standing on this
dividing line between the vocal past and the
voiceless future, mute and dumb with the
,paralyzing sense Of the 'vastness o. the un.
known. How. happily at such o time we grasp
the golden chain whose links are forged Of
md fnff aud NM hat Ida
the human soul to its moorings, even on the
very verge Of the turbulent ocean Of despair.
I A moment ago, we were standing in the SEEM
ingly inpenetrable depths OF uncertainty, but
the shadows have flown beyond the bright
skies. The ghosts Of the past may be silent
and the spirit OF prophecy be voiceless, the
present is bright and joyous with hopes beauti-
full imagery. St5
A line that changes its direction uniformly ut
every point, If continued, must, OF necessity,
describe D true circle, the circumscribed area
being determined by its degrees Of curvature.
II such q line changes It's direction at every
point in violation OF oil the requirements Of
perfect symmetry it may form myraid of vary
ing curves, or it may describe o zig-zag course.
crossing and recrossing its own path until lost
in on infinite maze OF geometrical perplexities.
Human life may be symbolized by o line
= = q = I'd, =
governed by the same laws, in which the ever
present moment is o point Of detection In its
course. Ifthis line is made to conform to the
of symmetry under the laws of
the moral ana the spiritual geometry OF the
universe, it will describe broad sweeping
curves OF beauty or circumscribe grand in
finite area Of truth as it sweeps onward In o
sublime circle in which time is represented as
on ever lengthening arc and whose compliment
is eternity.
In the life line Of our classmates we see none
of the unsightly departures from the require
ments OF moral symmetry which mar SO many
young lives.
In ancient times the prophet and poet were
one, and worshipped at the shrine Of the same
Muse; hence, the warp and woof Of oil favored
human lives were woven with the glittering
threads Of the poets dream.
He colored the future with lavish hues OF
romance where he loved; with dark gloomy
retributions, where ne hated. This is the
philosophy OF the appearance in ancient
prophesies Of the glories and the appalling
rasFsasres Of evil which we find. But we can only
acf the possibilities that young hands
2rht aspire only to the angelic
lid I'D N tenderness may be
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ssnan. Also
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