Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1905-10-27
PRESENT OPPORTUNITIES.
l.. Q. c. W,

l.. Q. c. W,
In the dull quiet hours of the night,
when all nature is enyeloped with a
solemn stiffness, how pleasant-yet,
how sad-it is to let your mind re-
vert to thoughts OF the past and see.
as in a mirror, the golden opportuni-
ties utilized and the many precious
ones sighted.
The opportunities of the past have
been numerous and varied. Many by
sheer force and perseverance have
established for themselves names
worthy of the place on the lasting
scroll of fame aud honor. The part
these men and women have played
on the broad arena of life's battle
fields will have its effect on all future
generations. The influence they
have wrought, the heights to which
they have attained, viii ever be no
BILE incentives to the boys and girls
of this and all future generations.
While we could name multitude
who have reached the highest step on
the ladder of fame, yet when we con-
slider that out of the great concourse
of people, so few have attained to
heights to which they aspire. We
are confronted with this grave prob
lem Why is it that so few reach
lheir heights of the possibilities and
of which they are capable? The
question is only answered by these
sad words, Sighted Opportuni-
ties.
While many of us have passed by
opportunities unnoticed, others will
follow in our footsteps and seize
them with an iron grasp, and when
they are complacently at rest with
the crown of success indelibly stamp
ed upon their brow, shall we be sur
prised to have seen them succeed?
Not if we possess Christ-like spirit;
not if we closely examine our own
lives and see wherein we have wasted
tho golden hours of f1eeting time; not
if we wake up to the many glorious
opportunities that are around and
about us at the present time. Never
in the history of all ages were The the
opportunities so greatT~so near to
every person.
The-time has been when men were
Forced to make their opportunities.
That time has past. They are now
placed. before us, either to lift up
and put into active service or tramp
under the dust by our unhallowed
feet. There were times when excu-
SEES for ignorance were acceptable.
That time also has flown. In this
age of enlightenment and material
progress with school houses in TIE
reach of every child, with improved
methods of teaching, with better pre-
pared teachers to instruct and bet
ter equipped men to superintend the
educational work, with the varied
churches to assist in the work of the
school, with inexhaustible supplies of
the best literature on every phase of
life and of nature-l say, with all
these opportunities before US, there
is no longer any excuse to offer for
US to be ignorant.
Shall we sit idle and let others win
the prize ? Or shall we, as individ-
uals, as citizens of Leakesville, and
as fellow-citizens of the county, rise
in the strength of our might and as
one man, put shoulder to shoulder
with the one purpose of improving
the opportunities about us and meet
the issues before us.
You have established in your town
| a high school, of which we hope you
are proud. You have, aside from
the literary features of the school,
music and elocution departments, of
which but few schools in the State
can boast. You now have an enroll
ment of one hundred pupils, and
many others wanting to enter. But
they CAN'T. Why? One thing thou
| lackest,' new house. | am very
glad, indeed, to see the ideas and
plans for this house about to mater
alize. May the time soon come when
Leakesville will be adorned with a
school building that will not only
meet the demand OF the school, but
let it stand out in its beauty and its
purpore as an incentive to the truth
of Greene county.
Citizens of Leakesvilla and Greene
county. push this building to COM
pletion while the iron is hot, for we
are very anxious to have grand re-
union before we freeze out cooped up
in such small enclosures