My birthplace is no spot apart,
I claim no town or state;
Love hath a shrine in every heart,
And whereso'er men mate

To do the right and say the truth,
Love evermore renews her youth.

My flag is the star-spangled sky,
Woven without a seam,
Where dawn and sunset colors lie,
Fair as an angel's dream,

The flag that still, unstained, untorn,
Floats over all of mortal born.

My party is all human kind,

My platform, brotherhood;

I count all men of honest mind,

Who work for human good
And for the hope that gleams afar,
My comrades in this holy war.

My heroes are the great and good
Of every age and clime,
Too often mocked, misunderstood,

And murdered in their time,
But spite of ignorance and hate,
Known and exalted soon or late.

ROBERT WHITAKER.

The Herald Office as first erected in Lamoni, in 1881, builded of brick burned in Lamoni during the summer of that year. The first number of the Herald to issue from the new building was dated November 1, 1881. The Herald set up in business in Plano, Illinois, in 1863, with an editor and one compositor, and an office eighteen by twenty feet in size, and with three hundred subscribers. The new office in Lamoni seemed palatial, and was occupied by the editor, bookkeeper, foreman, and five compositors.

During 1891 and 1892 a wing was added on the west, consisting of two stories and basement, almost doubling the capacity of the building.

THE CONFLAGRATION.

The Herald Office was destroyed by fire on the morning of January 5, 1907. Before
the day was done steps were taken looking toward rebuilding. At a citizens' meeting in
Lamoni, the Sunday following, over seventeen thousand dollars was subscribed toward
rebuilding.

The work of rebuilding on the old site began during the last week in May, considerable work in excavating and clearing away debris having been done prior to that date.