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

No man in the record of history
ever faced more unpromising future
than did Abraham Lincoln. BY some
he has been called an accident: but
few men ever more definitely and per-
sistently worked out by clear intelli.
gence what was in them. He learned
through toll the love of liberty and
respect for the rights of man. In In.
fancy his energetic soul was nourfsh.
ed by poverty. OF scholastic opportu.
mites he had only the slightest. But
in spite Of all this there was that in.
domitable inspiration of determine
ton and growth, which, cherished and
pursued, eliminated in the SUBMITS of
honor and success.
Lincoln, martyr to the broad princi.
pies which he represented, went forth
from the log cabin to the White
House; from the lowest depths of pow
erty to the highest ranks of honor;
and he carried the sorrow of his coun-
try as truly as he bore it's burden.
Lincoln's was the ruling hand at the
most critical time, a 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
ic epoch.
Nor do we have to turn to the his
tory of the past to find great men,
who, without the assistance of wealth
and scholastic education, have won
fame and honor by their own ability
and genius We have the min our
midst. OF the pl esent day heroes
none deserves more praise than Thos.
a. Edison. At the age. of seven, on
account of his fathers misfortune, he
was sent to work 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 news boy" became an
electrician by chance, a chemist by
years of hard labor and denial of ev-
erything but tie barest necessities OF
life. We can hardly conceive it posi-
ible that a man with his first labora-
tory in a box-car, should, in some way,
I by his many inventions, assist almost
every industry and business en- earth.
IL 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 ignore and deride
them. But Edison is a great excep-
ton for few men have accomplished
more, and few have been more appre-
ciated, and justly so, for to no man,
dead or alive, is the world more in
debted than to Edison. He has work
ed his way to the top of the ladder
of fame, and has become one of the
greatest men of the age, if not the
greatest.
In our memories are the names of
many great men; we treasure ali their
lives in the consecrated ground, and,
when the name of each is called, we
answer in flowers, Dead upon 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-ambition 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" answered boldly, II can.
To the humble sphere of life we are
indebted for more than we can ever
repay by lavish gift of honor and
praise; for from this lowly sphere
has come forth class of men whose
WI arc vi value, nOI
only to their native land, but to the
whole world; men who have left be-
hind them work and influence which
will be as enduring as if their names
were written in letters of light, form
ed by stars upon the midnight sky
Following these essays and grafton
~ hn aIo hicfnrU
class will, and class prophecy, all of
which were very clever and filed with
incidents and anecdotes of the class
of 1914, that were of particular inter
est to the class.
The history by Miss Wynona Weth-
erbee was as follows:
Honored audience, | approach you,
with respectful air and mien,
And aCIy Of van GREAT nqfipnCo whiIa