Page:Women of Ohio; a record of their achievements in the history of the state (Vol. I).djvu/83

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I am the Spirit of Education. I was conceived ere man beheld the miracle of the first, dawn or marveled at the glory of the first sunset. On the mystic banks of the Nile I dreamed when Egypt rose and flourished and decayed. }} By the waters of the Tigres and Euphrates I walked with Babylonian and Chaldean and Assyrian, with Mede and Persian. I beheld the pastoral Hebrew tending his flocks and herds on the purpling hills and in the silent vales of Canaan. I solve the mysteries of the stars; I reveal the secrets of ocean depths. My habitat is land and sky and sea. I know no nation, no race, no creed. I am the Spirit of Education. I am an envoy of the Prince of Peace. I am an embassador of good will. My offspring are the mighty planes whose motors sing among the stars; the marvelous feats of engineering; electricity, in whose magnetic grasp lies the power of life and death; structural miracles of stone and steel rearing their majestic heads toward the skies; radio, that makes as one the secluded hamlet and the busy marts of the world; science; invention; discovery; art; literature; music — such music as is rivaled only by the singing spheres — these are my offspring. I open to childhood the magic byways of imagery, that in years to come he may walk the broad highroads of achievement. In an era of unparalleled significance in the annals of history, I make articulate the increasingly complex role of youth. I attune the minds of men and women to an appreciation of the inherent value of living in a day like today. I bring to them an awareness of the high privilege of standing at the crossroads of the centuries and beholding the moving pageantry of human achievement. I am the Spirit of Education.

— Estelle H. Wilson, Cincinnati, O.