The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1914-05-26

teIligence what was in them. He
learned through toll the love OF lib
erty and respect for rights OF man.
In Infancy, his energetic soul was
nourished By poverty OF scholas-
tic opportunities he had only the
slightest But in spite OF all this
there was that indominabIe inspira-
ton Of determination and growth,
which cherished and pursued culmi-
mated in the SUBMITS OF honor and
success.
Lincoln. martyr to the broad prl-
ciples which he represented went
forth from the log cabin to the White
House; from the lowest depths OF
poverty TO the highest ranks of hon
or; and he carried the sorrow of his
country as truly as he bore its bur-
den. Lincoln was the ruling hand
at a most critical time, time when
, our states were engaged in a civil
, war; and there, by his courage, his
| justice, his even temper, his fertile
counsel. and his humanity, he stood
like an heroic fifure in the center of
an heroic epoch.
Nor do we have to turn to the
history of the past to find great men
. who. without the assistance of wealth
and scholastic education, have won
fame and honor by their own abili-
ty and genius. We have them in our
midst. Or the present day heroes
none deserve more praise than Thos.
Edison. At the age of seven, on &C
count of his fathers misfortune, he
was sent out to earn his own way
With a vision of the wonders that
were to be" he utilized every spare
moment for the development of his
mind. Strange as it may seem,
young Edison, who is known by many
as the poor newsboy." became an
electrician by chance, a chemist by
years of hard labor and denial of
everything but the barest necessities
of life. We can hardly conceive it
possible that a man with his first
laboratory in a box car, should in
some way by his many inventions,
assist almost every industry and bus
mess on earth. 1t usually takes the
perspective of years to enable us to
see greatness in its true proportions,
for as great men rise and bring forth
their theories the tendency is to ig-
more and deride them. But Edison
is a great exception, for few men
have accomplished more, and few
have been more appreciated, and
justly SO, for to no man, dead or
alive, is the world more indebted
than to Edison.
He has worked his way to the top
of the ladder of fame and has be-
come one of the greatest men of this
age, if not the greatest.
In our memories are the names OF
many great men; we treasure all
their lives in the consecrated ground
and, when the name of each is cali
ed, We answer in flowers dead up
on the field of honor" We cherish
the names of those great men, who
have won fame and honor which the
stain of time can never blur; who
were stimulated to action, not by
wealth and scholastic opportunities,
but by those priceless gifts-ambi-I
ton and duty-upon which the sun
of success never sets; who, when
they had once felt the scorpion sting
of ambition were never satisfied
with a limit less than the circle of
our planet: and who, when duty
whispered low Thou must" answ-
cred boldly, +" can" To the hum.
BILE sphere of life we are indebted far
more than We can ever repay by a
lavish gift of honor and praise, for
from this lowly sphere has come
forth a class of men, whose works
are of incalulable value, not only to
world. Men who have left behind
them a work and influence which
will be enduring as if Their names
were written in letters of light, form
ed by the stars upon the midnight
sky
THE TWELFTH MEMBER