Show I We Are Here Because They Were There ThereBY I BY JOHN A JAYNE x T last wt said a A JL man the other day I am completely out of debt My r home horn is all paid for my children are areE I educated E my bills bUIll are t paid I have no noi i iotes otes maturing and I do not owe a ak k dollar to any man In the world I Iam Iam Ir r am completely out of ot debt Happy in many respects the man m I who can say and truly I am a out ot of cn 11 debt d bt for tr while to some aUt rare souls sus debt debts to things with the r Ja s a spur greater things majority it is a millstone round rund the I neck nek a ball bal I and a chain on on the ankle akle and a misery ml ry and a center of disturb disturbance disturbance ance in the heart hert hertT There te are ar more mor than t financial obit obligations T world however Every Everyman in this Eer r ii nan man ma gato is 1 a debtor deb to the past pt that has b given him hi his hi present day dy opportunities ties and ad privileges Men Me are debtors to the past which debt by a strange I th pt paradoxical law of ot life Ufe can cn only oly be paid pd by a sacrifice to posterity The Th past pst pours its wealth of accomplishments pour It Into the lives live of present day dy men men r Present day dy men me must send nd the te stream srm of ot accomplishment driven drive a little higher highe made me a little broader ber dowA down the I rivers livers of posterity for the perpetual up uplift uplift I lift of the th race r No o man m liveth to himself t no n man ma dieth to himself Centuries ago ag a great gt man mn realizing realising his indebtedness said 1 I am ant a a debtor to the Jew Je and the Greek to the bond bondad bondI I and ad the free fr In like lie manner men I twenty centuries removed from him 1 rove fm must say MY We too t are debtors Catching the t true t thought tbt that is I F up in I the t lines Un of ot J G Holland Hol they ty may say eay y I Life evermore er Is 1 fed te by b death deth In Sn earth and sea l and ad sky sk And that er a a rose res r may ma draw drw its breath br something must die smet mu de That the t lyse ie of today ty blooms blooD ao so 1 beautifully and aird flUe Alls 1 the t air with Its per perfume p perfume fume fume the t rose r of yesterday died die and ad passed away That Tt life of today ty might p wisdom and truth be full ful of blessing ble wom ad privilege and opportunity yesterdays ye life gave freely of Us tin u strength You stand in Lexington Green or by bythe bythe bythe the side of Bunker Hill Hi monument or orIn orIn orIn In the th great gt cemetery of unknown dead ded at Gettysburg and from f these thes points of view vie study life Ufe as it i is Ii unrolled urle and before Contrast conditions opened bore you I of today tay with wit conditions with which these heroic unknown made their great ret sacrifice Ask why wh the simple menu monument mont ment met in Lexington the th towering shaft at at Bunker Hill Hi and the polished rows of ot marble at Gettysburg and the an answer answer comes come boating beating and throbbing into Int the heart hert with resistless insurgence 4 They paid pid their debt to the t past by b a ar aI r r I sacrifice for tor the sake of the future I L Because Beu they were we there thee we are here Life Lie builds itself upon the growing fulfilling and perishing phing ambitions of men even ven aa as 8 coral cral reefs re lift lt themselves the lve from tram the oceans ons depths by b the sacrifice of o the t little life that gives to the th reef ret retIs Its Is name name What debts debt men me owe to their ther ances ancestors ance ancestors tors A sound sund physique a splendid brain brin a responsive heart hert a spirit touched touche with a sympathy for the in infirmities of others These Thes things thing are a rot mans mens own ow by right of conquest conquet they are theirs by right of inheritance What mt debts debt men owe to their ther teach teachers tech ers ems er in youth Men and women who taught the t young idea Ie how to shoot led le them to drink drIn deeply of the waters we of truth gave them the Ideals purposes PUr 4 and ad ambitions and helped help them the in their T f determination to do right Henry Henr HenryS S Wad Ward Beecher caid taid cad he owed ow d all al that he I was to John ohn Ruskin Who opened m my I eyes e es to see se things Beecher Beher a great grea gret teacher a debtor to a great gret teacher What debts men owe to fortuitous circumstance favorable occasion hours hour of exalted ext inspiration and an privilege While Ue it I is 18 true tr that there thee must be the open eye to see s the open gate It I Is I also als true that the gate must be b there therein in order to be seen Few men there are who conceive erect eret and swing sing wide ide open thir own ow gates gate Because Stephenson tolled toiled tole and Watts Watt labored men have the locomotives o of oftay today tay Because Beus of Apple Seed Se Johnny Ohio has h its It apple orchards Because Beus of Keppler and Copernicus we have our astronomers o 0 of today ty Because Beuse the past poured pur itself itel with resistless force into the days that were to be b the pres present prel present ent is I We Ve are here because bus they were there thee Debtors bt to the past pt Yes Debtors Debtor to the present Yes Debtors to the posterity far tr down the th line lne of the years Yes Ye On the works work of others men rise to better things thing On the work of our creation transforming mixing and molding other men shall rise ris The world today tay is better because beuse the as aa of ot the past pst eventuated in sac sacrifices sacrifices for the future The world will wil wi willbe wilbe be better when our own aspirations eventuate In sacrifice for the days that are to be beAs b beAs As we say ay of ot the men of the past pt so if It we are a wise wie will wi men say sy of ot us We Weare Weare Weare are here bere because bus they were there And if it through sacrifice labor and andton ton toll one on life is made mae higher purer purr and ad sweeter ste that sacrifice labor and toil tol shall sal not nt have been b in vain |