Ohio History Journal

Reviews, Notes and Comments.             297

 

HAVE WE FORGOTTEN?

Have we forgotton those who went away

When hope burned low behind the window-pane

And the wide sea was very cold and gray?

Have we forgotten those who went away

And will not come again?

 

Have we forgotten those who went away

On great, gray ships into the fog and rain,

Who left the dear, warm arms that bade them stay?

Have we forgotten those who went away

And will not come again?

 

Have we forgotten those who went away

To follow the red flare beyond the main,

Who turned aside and let us have this day?

Have we forgotten those who went away

And will not come again?

We have not forgotten, though at times our indifference

may well lead those who went to the camps and the battle front

to conclude that we did not mean quite all that we said in our as-

surances as they marched away. This indifference is temporary

and apparent. Gratitude to our soldiers living and dead survives.

The death of this Polish boy will help to keep their memory

green. Far from home and kindred he shall not be forgotten,

and on the annual return of each Memorial Day, out on beauti-

ful Green Lawn, in that portion set apart for the soldier dead,

a wreath of choicest flowers will be laid by loving hands on the

grave of Stanley Nagorka.

And remembering Lafayette, we shall not forget Pulaski

and Kosciusco.

 

TWO GENEROUS PATRONS.

The Society has a warm friend and patron in Mr. Claude

Meeker, prominent citizen of Columbus, president of the Kit

Kat Club, formerly private secretary to Governor James E.

Campbell and U. S. consul at Bradford, England. For some

years the library of Ohioana built up by Honorable D. J. Ryan

has been recognized as the most valuable and complete of its

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298      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

kind in central Ohio. It is especially rich in the war literature

of the state which was collected while Mr. Ryan was preparing

his extensive and incomparable volume on "The Civil War

Literature of Ohio".

Feeling that this library should belong to the state Mr.

Meeker purchased it and presented it to the Society. A most

substantial and appropriate addition has therefore been made

to the library of the Society which is steadily growing in spite

of the very small appropriation made by the state.

Mr. Charles F. Kettering, who was graduated from the

department of engineering at the Ohio State University in 1904

and who is now one of the trustees of that institution, gave

four hundred thousand dollars to the College of Homeopathic

Medicine, the largest gift which to date his alma mater has re-

ceived from any one donor.

Mr. Kettering has since shown that he is not unmindful of

the needs and opportunities of the Ohio State Archaeological and

Historical Society. He has purchased the farm near Miamis-

burg, Ohio, on which is located the largest mound in the state

and has presented to the Society this mound and adjacent

grounds. What these grounds will be called has not been decided

by the Society but the name of "Kettering Park" has been

suggested as especially appropriate.

But Mr. Kettering did not stop at the presentation of this

notable gift. He emphasized the evidence of his interest and

appreciation by purchasing and presenting to the Society the

Harry Thompson collection of souvenirs and Indian relics, the

most important privately owned collection in the state.

It is planned in the near future, probably at the annual

meeting of the Society, to give formal expression of our grati-

tude to these two generous patrons and we hope to present in

our October number an extended account of their generous con-

tributions to the upbuilding of the Society.

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