The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1917-12-27

LIBERTY MY HERITAGE

lifting her torch to the stars, her
face calm and serene. gazing proudly
out to sea as If to say, This is tn"
land If faith: this is the land .,
hope; my country. your country;
once the home of the tyrant curse:
he home Of the oppressed, the home
IT the bruised: bat whose gates have
long since been opened. whose life
has long since been renewed 10y
Liberty. Liberty alone; your llcrlt-
axe and my Heritage
II was with anxious aud thankful
hearts that our furcfathcrS listened
10 the first peal of the Liberty Bell
and high within the stecplc Of the
old state house waited the gray
haired bell-ringrr. ready to peal
forth the glad tidings of liberty.
Impaticntly the old man would shake,
his head, repeating over and over
again. They Will never do IT., they
Will never do it, But never did
those men hesitate to sign that doc
umrnt which would prove that all
men are free and equal. for too Bit
tcrly did they hate that English ty-
rant. too long had permitted them
selves to be bound hand and foot and
too long had they suffered him to
Cypress them by his iron rule.
Then great indeed was the reJoic-
ing when the signal was given and
for the first time the old Liberty
Bell pealed forth its musical tones
proclaming liberty to the people 81
America, this America, this grand
and beautiful America which We to-
day can scarcely realize was once
only small colony with but "A hand
full Of men.
In the time past there was great
people whose only idea. whose only
hope, whose only aspirations were
To- reach that long promised land
Canaan. There they knew their
ideas would become idealized. Their
homes would reach that mound
"Contentment" but so wrapped were
they in thought Of their own JOY
that never once did they look down
into the mystic future and see a
people who from birth had enjoyed
a Canaan. not only like unto their
own. but far exceeding IT, and whose
grandeSt heritage was. is and Will
ever he Liberty.
But there l. no reward without
great labor" and our heritage was
by the hardships and sac
rifireS Of our forefatherS, and for 1t
many wives became widows. chit
Irpn were left fatherleSs. and the
wolf Of poverty entered many doors;
vet il was liberty that lighted tn
pathway of the pilgrims, owe" un-
known seas: it glowed IN thu
Iaration Of Independence; IT warmed
the hearts of the half-clad soldiers
at Valley Forge; they left their
homes for it: they gave mp their
lives for it; they left their frozen
footprints on the sands of memory
for it.
Those were the men so strong ami
brave. so noble and true, who fought
and won for us our liberty: fought
and won for ms our homes, our
America: they, by hard labors, al
most frozen, fighting there on the
dark and bloody battle-ground; they,
our ancestors. our forefathers,
fought for and left to us the grandest
that has ever been lett
10 the descendants of a nation, that
without which we could not live;
that without which We could scarce
~ breathe.
Then, when at last liberty was
won, the question was How shall
we make it secure?' At length some
earnest and thoughtful one came to
the rescue and said This is only
possible. by making an organized
by giving all power to
its people for necessary individual
by letting each man be
his own master and by letting each
man, woman and child be a link in
the vast chain
Thus il was that our freedom was
made secur thus it is that we to-
day enjoy perfect union, domestic
and established justice,
so we see that while government Is
the key TO liberty, yet liberty is the
foundation Of government; without
one the other is incomplete, while
i'm the two together we enjoy that
which has made our country famous
above all Others; that which has
made us - the people of America
cnvied by all other people; and that
which has made our states a union
one and inseperable.