The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-06-17
B. H. s. GIRLS
 PRIZE ESSAY
Miss Linderoth's Discussion of "The Heroic Age of
 | America
Committee of Judges Unanimous in Awarding Her First Pre-
 nium in State Contest

Miss Victoria Linderoth, 0e the Bridgeport High school. winner of the gold medal and S1O0, first prize in the state wide essay competition conduct ed by the Connect cut Society. s. A. R.. chose as her topic, ''The Heroic Age of America" The committee, cornpris- ing Wilbur F. Gordy, Hartford; Prof. Ered R. FAfrch5Id, of Yale Untversity and Prof. George M. DutchNr Wesley An University. was unanimous in -ott-
 Miss Lsndero1h's essay follows
 The most cherished. tradition of ev- asry great people has ever been it's memory of a glorious past The great fStates that. the dawn of History found in the zenith of4their power. celebrat- ed in song and story the exploits of their heroes of a mythical age In rTaonarcf1fes- of the Old World whose glory has long since departed, the memory of sthe days of cfivalry, of the abattIe-axe, and tI7e cOnqueTor's g. sword. =stiH fingers and exerts a weird fas- cination over the minds of. the people The light of civilization, ever leading man onward and upward, has en- snoh5ed hfssconception of heEOisTI1, and once srappEed with tyranny. ~TeSt- ing the destiny of their native land forever from ttss1ron grasp. and then spobfy surrendered the swor- -1 asking TOT no reward, at the aI9aT of that country for whose freedom they had Fought ess1rh were the so1Gfer4 of inc American ,RevOiut1on who rerna9n- ed on the scene until the fearful dra- ma was drought n its close. tfe his tory of that erfsts Is cherished by 9he American people as their nation al epic.
 battle of a new nation for 7f6e, for aTber4y-for a4Ss tIxa4 constitutes IF an g 4rcAArsa arex5Faeps- The odds against Ar1e~4-a were O%erwhe he1rninS- The fair| fields were ssrrevvr with her brave sons -zfto GsaH in Eahe struggle; cities and towns were szrsszro4ed by Che hrebrand and Kna ozrce prosperous Colonies were weas-rlfEzh ruined before victory was -zrHug rron the sre1uctant hands of FEte The storyA of fine antecedents of Elfe American people is unique in the histofy of theFrise Of nations. At war, in .1 T6S. there were thirteen pros lperOSzs English Colonies in America, comprising about three millions of people. They possessed the same 61N- gree o4 cuztures and were 1Knbued with the same spirit of progress, as the freedom-Ioving people of England. whose greatness had the toi1 of cen-l turies: yet the uCo1onists were but the descendants in the third and fourth generation of pioneers who had
 
 of America It was a. new 1and.-yet1 not less 1eAr4y beloved, for it aheld no traditions either of faded glory or feudaI servftude: rather did the track less forests, and the silent grandeur of the lakes and mountains, awaken in the deepest recesses of the soui an overlapping sense Of the unfathona- ed greatness of mans true destiny upon earth
 The great truth that such a land must enc day free itself from the trar1neis of all external authority whatsoever. in order to find expression for it's own genius. had indeed been foreseen by thinkers on both sides of She Afaant1cs but it was as truly hid . den from the ken of England's rulers Of 1T6S as the most guarded purpose of the gods Yet such was the fiIial Hove and loyalty of the Colonies to- ward England that the day of sepa- ration might have been long delayed by wise Stztesn1anSh1p- But the DOW 'erfuI hand of William Pitt, who had built a glorious Empire for England, +7TaS fated soon to relax 5fs hold upon the affairs of state, to leave them in hands unworthy of the trust The commercial policy of England with respect to her Colonies adhered to the suston of the age in its principle of monopoly and restrictions; yet disas- rous results had hitherto been avoid d by the connivance of the Grown at lontraband trade. The new ministry