WHERE STANDS THE GREAT CITY?

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3212, 6 May 1911, Page 3

WHERE STANDS THE GREAT CITY?

• -The place where a -great city stands is not the place of stretched wharves, docks, manufactures, deposits of produce merely, Nor the place of ceaseless salutes of newcomers or the anclxor-hftois of the departing, Nor the place cf ihe tallest and costliest buildings or shops selling goods from the rest of the earth. Nor the place of the best libraries and schools* nor the place where money is plenties!, Nov the ulace of the most numerous population, Where the city stands with the bran n-ic-st breed of orators and bards. Where the city stands that is beloved bv these, and loves them in return and understands them, Where no monuments exist heroes but in the common words and deeds, Where thrift is in its place, and prudence is in its place. Where the men and women think lightly of the laws, Where the slave ceases, and the master of slaves ceases. Where the populace rise at- once against the never-ending audacity of elected persons, Where fierce men and women pour ioiiti as the sea to the whistle of death pours its sweeping and unript waves, Where outside authority enterers always after the precedence of inside authority, Where the citizen is always the head and ideal. and President, Mayor, Governor, and what not. are agents for pay, Where children are taught to be laws to themselves, and to depend cn themselves, Where equanimity is illustrated in affairs, Where speculations on the soul are on- - eburagedty. Where women walk in public processions in the streets the same as men. Where they outer the public assembly and take placets the same as men; Where the city of the faitiifulest friends stands, Where the city af the cleanliness of the sexes stands, Where the city of the healthiest fathers stands, Where the city of the best-bodied mothers stands,—. There the great city stands.” WALT' WHITMAN.