The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1872-05-16
Acts are the Sign-BOards which Mark
our Ideas.

Acts are the Sign-BOards which MARI
our ideas.
What means this assembly of age, youth ant
beauty? Why this floral decoration and these
| soul-entrancing strains of Melody, which still
sweetly lnger in our ears reluctant to give place
| to harsher sounds and tend TO watt US in oul
| IMAGINATION, from tins world where peril ano
| dlsmay wave their black ensigns' to higher
| and purer sphere, more akin to our idea
| heaven than TO earth2
| These, my audience mark the point, in tht
revolving cycles of time, where Phi Sigma
sons pause 10 commemorate the birthday Of
| their A Tina Mater
Once in each twelve months, when nature is
attired in her apparel of delicate and exquisite
| tints; when the tender bud bursts forth from
it's concealment to kiss the gentle spring
breeze as 1t passes redolent with the com
mingled fragrancemof thousand flowers dc
| we gather arOunPthis consecrated spot to
testify our devotion to our beloved society,
which has triumphantly survived the vicissi-
tudeS OF life from infancy to hOnOred manhood
under the nOurlshment and culture of South
| ern hands and Southern intellects, and which
| has shot forth from its walls CLEANS OF intel
| lectual fire thatn glow and sparkle the
| busy arena like gems amid the rubbish of life
/ Each occasion like this should add new
| charm to her name, and atfix another emblem
| of honor to her unblemished escutcheon.
| As each spring day calls into existence an
| other beautiful flower; each zephyr s
breath fans new vigor and beauty into the
rose; each age develops and rarer
! powers in the ingenuity of man, so should each
year stamp its distinctive mark of honor
| on the shield with which we breast the battle S
| hOrrid front, and attach another glowing star
| of victory to the folds of the banner around
which we contend against the fierce and stub
| born elements of ignorance.
| Life, my hearers, is an interesting picture,
| though but span when longest.
1t is that short space in the existence of the
| immortal SOUL when through the medium OF
| these mortal bodies, IL develops its powers,
| 1ignlaV9 it's hpautlpS and DprtOrnS
| the perpetual progress of our race.
Our lives are nOurished and moulded by a
knowledge of the history of the past, and by
the hopes and anticipations which glmmer
| and flash upon the impenetrable bosom of
| futurity, and lure us on with eager hearts, by
the destinations which they lend to whatever
| is before
In order TO live so that these hopes, these
cherished aspirations, may not be stihed; in
order that the dismal gloom of dependency
| may not gather around our heads to shut out
| the vivifying rays of happiness, and cold dis
appointment chill not the very vitals of our
fondest expectations, it is necessary to be wide
awake to the duties before u.s. to remember
that life is short and feeting and we should
live it well.
To discharge the duties which the very
principles of our being render incumbent
upon us, with credit to ourselves and justice
to others, several primary lessons must be
studied deeply and learned thoroughly
Several great landmarks for our guidance
must be kept ever in view or we fail to appre-
and attain the end to which our capacities
so justly entitle US.
The grave task which now undertake, Her
means and Phi Sigmas, Is to point out to you
one of the important landmarks, which stand
out prominent on the rugged shore of life 5
billoWy ocean; to impress deeply and FIRMLY
upon your minds the significant truth that
Acts are the sigE-6Odrds tchtch mark our adeds.
Here before us we might find all that is
noble and exalting in man, and lOvable and
winning in woman.
Here we might discover those beautiful
characteristics of humanity that I'LL the bosom
of the true man with those deep, JerUent feel
ings of admiration, which lift the soul to that
grand and sublime conception OF man and
woman, resembling that state of purity and
integrity in which our parents dwelt together
in the garden of Eden.
But 10 Deity alone is given the power OF look
ing into the human heart and observing every
feeling avery desire and every principle
which move man to action.
Human knowledge only embrace the
external acts. These must serve as man
guide in the formation of his opinion OF the
Character of his fellow being, and of his inter
nal nature; of the motives and principles
which lurk deep down in the inner chambers
of the soul.
These mirror the secret workings of our
moral nature, be they of crystal purity or Of
foul corruption.
The deep-minded and correct-thinking men,
who constitute the bone and sInew OF the land,
scrutinize closely and constantly the first APP
pearance of each Young actor in the theatre of
practical life, and pass judgment upon his
performance.
Parents watch with intensest solicitude each
movement of the child to detect the earliest
buds of thought and the complexion of the
dawning disposition, and II possible, 10 form
some conception of the future man or woman.
The world ever turns its eye, with a search
ing gaze, upon the public man, as he battles
for his country rights, either upon the Iegls-
lative arena or amid the roar and clash OF
contending arms. and sometimes even as he
IIc mid no nniptndp of nFlyafe life. and
pronounces its dreaded verdict As one battle
has fixed the fate of nations, so one act has de-
cided the destiny of man.
In the midst of a scene where love, happl-
ness and plenty reigned supreme, stealthlly
crept monster in serpents garb, with the
words of tiattery in his mouth, the destruction
of mankind at heart and feelings of bitter
burning revenge heaving in his bosom.
Opportunity smiled on his base design and
he spied the mother of our race alone amid
the beautiful solitude, and aecosted her with
sweet words and plausible speech, before
which her hrmest resolutions melted like snow
flakes on the river, and were gone forever
She disregarded the command OF her creator
not to eat of the forbidden tree, and the admo-
milton of Raphael to guard against the temPter
and.
Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she
eat
Earth felt the wound; and nature from her
Signing through all her works, gave signs Of
woe,
That all was lost
By this one simple act the chain that linked
God and man in blissful union was forever
severed, and man hurled down, down with
fearful precipitancy, into the black ABYSS OF
misery, where he now gropes IN awiui dafk-
ness pierced in the tenderest parts Dy the
poisonous fangs of sin, the terrible legacy De-
queathed him by his own folly.
Thus Satan, in serpent form Wouhu ms
Shiny coils in firm embrace around the mlhu
coll
resting on a foundation of purity, innocence
and happiness, and towering its lofty head IN
til it merged into the essence OF delty ltselI,
and hurled il PROSTATE in the mire of depraved
humanity; and now Satan and his host like
vultures hold high carnival over the vitals OF
human happiness, and dance in horrid reVeIry
around their victims.
Ladies and gentlemen, if, in my anxiety TO
strike a feeble blow in the cause of right ana
the promotion of good, my words should par
take of a censoriOus or fault-hnding charac-
ter do not consider them as emanatlng from
such q disposition. Rather attribute them 10
a generous spirit, with an eye looking to your
good and not to the qualification of any pref
udice may have. Ii seems TO be natural
tendency Of the young to oSeFra1e the n osa u
some instances this propensity assumes the
undignihed garb of arrogance or lnorulnate
| self-esteem, which we all unite IN denounelng
in others, even though we possess II ourselves:
There is scarcely feature in the character OF
| the young, that tends more towards ollghtlng
their early prospects and placing barriers IN
the way TO success, than this one.
The old man, who has learned the lessons OF
| life from experience, wishes not to come IN
contact with the young man who respects
neither age nor wisdom, who sets up his own
opinions In opposition to those Of the well-in-
| formed and profound thinking man, with all
| the apparent gusto of one who had fathomed
the depths of knowledge and drank long and
deep drauEhts from the Pierian spring. Ha
II is amusing, and at the same time offensive
| 10 good sense, TO see one Of these self-con-
Gated heroes strut inta-yonr presence, young