The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-06-04

are altogether to be desired has not
been accidental; it has not been mere
II q fortuitnous circumstance Of our
existence. Beneath and above and
around it all there have bean active
agencies, all-prevadIng forces which
hare wrought the change Our minds
and our consciences have been edu-
Gated. The school and the college,
the library and tAe press. have done
their work we'll, and their work has
been most happily cornpiimented By
the influence of the church. The earth
his been changed from a wilderness
in which men CROPPED for light to a
garden where civilization and human
|ity reign.
All. but you say, look back along the
pathway of history. 1t is strewed with
the wrecks OF nations that were once
mighty and most puissant Nations
which have ruled the world, but could
not rule themselves. Republics there
have been. Republics whose people
were liberty-loving and patriotic, and
who believed themselves no less civ
iibzed than We. Plenty and riches were
their portion. Art and literature dwelt
among them. We know the proud spir-
lit of Rome. We remember the hero
ism of the little band that held the
pass of Thermopylae against the Per-
sian host. But how have the mighty
fallen. One recalls the lament OF By
ron over the deported glory Of Greece.
The Isles of Greece; the Isles Of
Greece;
Where BURNING sappho loved and
sung,
! Where grew the arts of war and peace,
Where Delos rose and Phoebus sprung
Eternal summer gilds them yet, I
But all except their sun is set.
The mountains look on Marathon,
! And Marathon looks on the sea,
! And musing there an hour alone,
| dream'd that Greece might still be
free;
For standing on the Persians grave,
could not deem myself slave.
A king safe on the rocky brow,
/ That looks DER sea-born Salamis,
And ships, by thousands, lay below,
And men in nations all were his;
He counted them at break of day,
And when the sun was set where were
they?
'Tis something IN the dearth OF fame,
Though linked among fettered race.
To feel at least patriots shame,
Even as sing suffuse my face;
But what is left the poet here,
For Greece blush-for Greece tear.
Greece and Rome! Rich and power
| full though they were, under the ener-
waiting influences OF wealth and licen-
tiousness their strength could not en-
dure.
Can we hope for better result In
America? Will in some distant day
l.another poet chant a lament over oul
Il departed grandeur? Must We look
forward to the time when our wealth
J shall have become so great and oul
people SO weak that we too shall be
drawn into whirlpool of national dis
aster? am not so pessimistic as t
/ contemplate even for moment any
i such a future for our beloved country
l believe that we have become grea
i to remain great and that the wore
: FINS will be inscribed upon the tab
: let of our fame only when the heavens
shall have been rolled back and tim,
+ shall have struck the kneli of earthl.
7 things. have not accustomed mysel
i to view with apprehension the visit
r of coming time, nor to dread the da,
f when the veil shall have been rem
S and we shall behold as realities tn
e things which are now shrouded in tn
! mists of futurity. believe that GU
/. destiny is before us and that 1t
a bounded only by the possibilities 9
g human achievement.
c I believe that this will be, not b.
J. cause we are rich, not because we ar
r, powerful, but because a school-hous
II stands on every hilltop, and churc
e in the valley. Because every year thu
passes witnesses an increase in OF
e educational facilities, and bette
4 response to the earnestness wit
'e which religion points our path of dut
e. We can safely look to the same age
st cies which have brought us thus f
le on our way to preserve us from tt
IS
IS