COMPETITION ESSAY

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 4 September 1912, Page 3

COMPETITION ESSAY

GHEAT MEN.

" Lives of great men all remind us, We can make our lives sublime, . And departing leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time." This beautiful verse was written by Longfellow who was one of the world's greatest poets. Cxreat men are men who do great deeds. To be great a man must be truthful, honest, and brave from boyhood. There is an old English proverb which says : " Brave boys make brave men." Unless a man is truthful or honest, ho is not great. He has not the confidence of friends, nor does he attain high or honourable positions, Nearly all the great men one hears about are noble, kind and generous, Some men have high positions by right of brith. Neverthe]ess these men are not great unless they perform some great deed. Some have the ability to be great, but not the money that is needed to carry them to the front. The following couplet is taken from Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard : Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest, Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.

As far back as can be remembered, there have been men who have marie themselves groat. To be great one must be brave in time of way. The English are famous for the great deeds they perform on the battlefield. Although we praise the heroes of the sword, we must uot forget the men who give up their lives teaching savages Christianity. Year after year they toil, thinking only of the people and doing good wherever they. go. Men have won fame for themselves by writing poems, and others by writing books. One of England's greatest men was Lord Nelson, He made her " Mis tress of the Seas" by his great fights against the French Robert Clive and Captain Cook helped to build up the British Empire, Shakespheare's name will never die, because of the great plays he wrote, Francis Xavier the great Spanish missionary who gave up his life teaching the heathen of Asia the Gospel will never be forgotten, Sir John Logan Campbell was one of New Zealand's great men. All should follow in the footsteps of these

great men whose names will never die - Trixie Wharton, Helensville.

The foregoing is the essay of No. 10, St 5, which the inspector considered the best of all he examined, and we must congratulate Miss Trixie Wharton,