The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1914-05-29

en- by bloody awakenings. Gaf
To men of this day of enlighten-
ment and learning, the question of
peace should overshadow and subor-
dinate all other questions. The Hague
court is firmly established; leagues
for the suppression of war have been
formed in all countries. Much has
been done; there remains still more
to be done.
Christianity is OF the greatest as
sistance to the cause of peace,
strengthening as it does the bonds OF
love. It's influence has permeated the
darkest regions of Africa and Asia.
The missionaries of the Prince of
Peace are carrying this message of
universal brotherhood and good will
towards men to all points of the globe.
The day is fast approaching when
the contests between the nations
shall be contests, not of arms, but of
love; when nations shall stretch forth
the hand of friendship; when the false
idol of war shall be cast down from
its pedestal. Let, then, the strength
of our nation be, not in a standing ar
my and fully equipped navy, but in
justice and fair dealing. Let our he
roes be those who have striven mani
fully for the cause of peace, our bat
ties those fought in the defense of ar
bitration. Let the building of war;
ships and Notifications cease, and let
the wealth of the nation be spent for
the improvement and betterment of
mankind. Let, then, our land of the
Stars and Stripes, which during the
nineteenth century was an emblem of
liberty to all the world, be in the TWEEN.
tieth, the leader of the day, when
strong and proud nations shall beat
their swords into pillow shares, and
their spears into pruning hooks: when
nation shall not lift up sword against
nation. neither shall they learn war
any more"
The next number was a recitation,
king Robert of Sicily" which is a
poem familiar to all, and one that has
magnificent capabilities for the elocu.
ZIONIST, and in Miss Eagleton's rendi.
ton of 1t. this exceedingly clever
young girl rose splendidly to the ext
gencies of her task.
Miss Nellie Beckham's "Apprecia-
ton of Sidney Lanier," paid a fine
tribute to Georgia's famous poet and
as follows: ''i tN
AS the marsh-hen secretly builds on
the watery sod
Behold will build me a nest on the
greatness of God,
will fly in the greatness of God as
the marsh-hen flies,
n the freedom that fills all the space
'twixt the marsh and the skies:
BY so many roots as the marsh grass
sends in the sod
will heartily lay me a hold on the
greatness of God"
To some souls it is given to attain
heights of spiritual beauty that are
90 high and too far for the average
Mortal to do more than glimpse; but
hese favored ones with their divinely
,esowed gifts have a message which
,pens to us wide horizons of trans
endant beauty, if we keep our hearts
)ure to feel and our vision clear to
zee. Such an one of these favored
pirits was Sidney Lanier. His life,
IL too brief, was, with the exception
# the last few years, given to con-
innal struggle against adverse cir
umstances. This struggle was not so
much against poverty as against un-
ongenial surroundings.
At the age of fourteen he entered
)glethorpe College, and here began
he development of his consciousness
f possessing real genius. One with
his gift has right to know it, just
S others know if they possess talent
r versatility. Only once or twice in
is own private notebook or in a let
n sickness and in loneliness to
trengthen her win and his by testify
lg his own deepest consciousness of
over, did he whisper the assurance
+ his strength. But he knew it and
he knew it, and it gave his will a
eace in toll, sunlit peace notwith-
landing sickness and want and mis-
pprehension, calm above the zone of
louds.
When only boy of eighteen years
ID, after having discovered his
enius for music and having debated
ne question of his life-work, he wrote
his college notebook: "The point /
'ish to settle is merely by what
lethod shall ascertain what / am
: Tor as preliminary to ascertaining
ND e.