The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1914-06-12

forth In tones of command.
Then hail to Peter, the rock on
which Christ built His church, the
conqueror of time. ths patron Of art
and literature, the sleepless sentinel
on the watch-tower OF faith.
Classmates, we glory in the name
Of graduates Of st. Pster's school.
Here from our earliest years we have
been trained in the knowledge which
ATS men for earth, and doubly so in
the lore Of heavenly things: let US
then cherish those lessons rs pearls
in times treasury Of jewels. and say
with Fenelon:
III all the riches Of the Indies and
the crowns of all the kingdoms of the
earth were laid at my feet. would
spurn them oil, in exchange Of my
faith"
Praise for Edison.
Thomas A. Edison, scientist, wa
the subject Of the essay prepared by
Marion Landman. He dealt with his
interesting subject in the following
fashion:
All along the beaten track Of his
tory, heroes have illumined the world
bv the splendor OF their achievements
! and enriched it by the treasure OF
their works, but these have passed
away.
The hero would praise, is still
among the living-Edison. the great
inventor. There Is a power IN that
name, 1t thrills us, we feel 1t. II ls
name that will live long in the MS
tory Of the future, for 1t Is the sad
irony OF fate that geniuses are seldom
appreciated until after death.
Viewed from q standpoint OF MS
inventive progress, when Edison ap-
peared, every year was marked by
Some notable achievem snt. For the
twentieth century has In it little OF
romance. it is purely scientific and
commercial; we think in terms OF ms
chineFy, elevators carry us up into
this heights Of modern sky scrapers;
speak OF the clouds and the thought
suggests aeroplanes; automobiles take
the place Of the horse and the green
country lanes are abandon I'd for the
gravelled highway.
Il was at this time Edison was
born. and IL we Judge the man by hds
works, we shall style him a child OF
the period"
The idea of attrbuting great sue
cesses to genius" has always been
rejected by Edison, as evidenced BY
his historic remark Genius Is per-
cent inspiration and 80 percent per-
spiration."
He worked hard and STEADILY at
/ each invention until ne had perfected
the plan and made 1t OF practical USE
ignoring the almost universal scien'
tific disbelief in his ultimate succ sss.
Dreamer" "fool," "boaster" were the
epithets lavished upon him; but no
sooner had the task been accomplish
ed than he found himself confronted
by the conditions which asasil every
inventor. The way had been blazed
through the forest Of difficulty and
| now every one could find the road.
The consequ snce was, that In tho
words OF one commissioner, Edison
kept the path to the patent ONCE, hot
with his footsteps"
The number Of inventions great
ana small, already patented by Edd-
son, is said to bs over TOO, but his
incandescent electric light surpasses
all his other Inventions. Although
manv scientists since the time OF Sir
Humphrey Davy, who made the first
electric light endsavored to perfect
and At the invention, no one succeed
ed until the genius of Edison solved
the problem. Perseverance, Is the soul
O. genius, and such has been the
means by which Edison won success.
The Bard Of Avon.
Leo Rogerson's subject was Shakes
pears, the dramatist, and his sketch
of the Bard Of Avon follows:
Among the many illustrious names
which shine as stars in the armament
OF the worlds history, none stand out
more prominently than the Bard OF
Avon.
"All the worlds stage
And all the men and women players.
This was Shakespeare's favortte
metaphor on humanity, and to the
drama or the enacting of phases OF
life he, in measure, largely devoted
his creative genius.
We derive our liveliest and best
impression of old English life from
his pages, though we seldom think Of
referring to him as authority in mat
tiers OF fact.
It hardly needs to be said that
Shakespeare's labors in this kind are
as far as possible from being the un-
souled political diagram Of history;
TIL ~ are dramatic reviviflcatfons OF
the past. wherein the shades of de-
parted things are made to live their
lives over again, to repeat themselves,
as it were, under our eye; SO that
they have an interest for us suoh as
No mere narrative OF events could