The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1897-06-10
THE SEVEN LIGHTS.

wood Falls High school were
thrown on the world at the OPP
era house last night. Synop-
sises of their orations follow:
MISS EMMA BANKER.
Poetry is the language Of the heart, !"
began Miss Banker in her grafton on
''The Rise of Modern Poetry" "Since
Creations dawn man has felt the inn
pulse to breathe forth his souls deep
est longings and grandest thoughts.
His feelings have found their most adj
equate, most natural expression in poe
try"
Miss Banker then referred to
the poetry lethargy following
Homer, Virgil and the Grecian
poets. It was a time of uni
versal darkness and intellec-
tual greatness seemed a thing
of the past, but it was time
of preparation before the dawn
of new era. Italy renewed
the letters of poetry and gave
us Dante. Every country can
boast of it's illustrious states
men, jurists, orators, but only
a few can point with pride to a
group of poets. There is only
one man worthy of poetic fame
for every ten millions of people
who now live in this great
country of intellectual and
highly civilized man. The
speaker thought Dante has
been assigned place of pre-
eminence over most of the po-
cts we call immortal. Only
two or three dispute his throne.
He was the founder of modern
poetry the first to incorporate
the Christian idea into Euro
pean literature. The speaker
then mentioned his Divine
Comedy, and said that Dante
was an influence, a part of the
souls resources in times of
trouble.
eff Shakespeare is the most compre-
hensive intellect, Dante is the highest
spiritual nature that has expressed it.
self in poetry. He has shown us the
way in which our trials may become
our greatest blessings. He has digni-
fled mankind and led us to a study of
the human soul of man as mana
study which has furnished all subse-
quent great poets their material"
PETER H. WOLFE.
Mr.. Wolfe's Grafton was en-
titled "The Spirit of Peace" in
which he held that the great
Nations of the earth were no
longer seeking for war, for new
worlds to conquer, and that
peace had begun her universal
sway, He said that this was
not due to patriotism dying
out, but that we of the 10Th
century have learned that war
is a fearful thing, the one great
trait of barbarism yet retained
by modern nations, and that
we have learned the cost of vic
tory. He thought courage and
heroism were as conspicuous
now as ever. Although jingo-
ism and standing armies might
contradict the assertion; of a
desire for peace he held that to
have peace a Nation must pre-
pare for war. The speaker
then pointed to the attempt on
the part of Great Britain and
the United States to establish
a court of arbitration as an en-
phasis, that the United States,
in Jeffersonian spirit, was al
ways showing a peace front.
Arbitration, he said, was as old
as this government, and the
disputes settled by. arbitration
would fill a book as large as
the war record. He pointed to
the VENEZUELAN controversy as
a confirmation that peace was
wanted between the two great
English speaking Nations. Al
though the Olney plan was de-
feated by the Senate he thought
that public sentiment for the
scheme was on the increase
and would triumph and that
military organizations would
eventually have to go. Arbi-
tration points to the higher
ideal. The world is meant to
be governed by justice and
right and not by hatred, VIC
lence and might.
Arbitration-thee embodiment of the
noble trinity; arbitration-the watch
word of peace-the white-winged mes
col ic Cynnolyinr OF loorc ~ hn