Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1876-06-28
Matfhman & journal
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2s, ls7o.
Vermont Methodist Seminary.


tnre before the Tsthetic Society. The lee
tnre before this society has since rs organ.
nation in lo52 been part Of the commence.
ment exercises aud among their lecturers
have been many eminent speakers. They
We're fortunate this year in securing so
able man as the Rev. II. Il. Meredith, A.
NJ, Of Boston, who spoke before larger
audience than were saated the previous even
isg. The music for the morshallmp Of the
four societies Of the school was furnished
by Mr.. Briggs, aud little past eight the
lecturer was introduced. lie spoke for an
hour in am earnest and energetic manner
upon a subject at once practical interest.
ing and important
Orr LEtsrm HOURS.
The speaker first alluded TO the value Of
time. There is time to be born and a
time to die, but between these two periods
is a space Of infinite Importance to every
one Of us. lie then spoke Of the different
manner in which this allotted time may be
spent by different people. Time is a stream
upon whose banks we may garner the rich.
est haryests Of intellectual and moral cul-
ture, or die Of thirst with the water Of life
within our reach Time is a volume from
whose pages one may CLEAN wisdom, another
nothing Time is Jacobs ladder upon
which one may rise to the highest eminence
Of fame, or sink to the lowest depths Of deg
radiation and oblivion. Time is what we
make it, good or an evil An have their
callings, differing as widely as the natures
of the persons themselves; but into every
one Of our lives there comes or may come
moments and hours Of leisure There is a
doleful fiction in the minds Of many that
this is not true in their particular case
Ask many a woman whose household duties
are manifold, why she does not spend more
time in the cultivation of her mind, and she
will turn YOU of with that most worn weapon
Of feminine warfare" womaus work Is
never done" But by taking thought, by
.ystcmatziug our labors, "by taking time
10y the ioretop nothing is impossible in
this direction. That time is often spent in
idle dreaming, which Il rightly employed
woud work ont for ms results whose innl-
ence. eternity alone could measure. 'Tis
not hy one tremendous blow upon the marble
that the sculptor forms his image, but hy ten
thousand little touches Of the mallet upon
the cli,cl 50 lost moments make the hours,
the hour. the days aud the day, eternity.
And he whose conscience will not allow him
10 lose a day allows many al hour to pass
unemployed. God gives MS one moment at
a time, never two, and this moment leaves
MS better or worse, as we employ it. 1t Is
in our leisure hours that the tcmpter comes
'ris not when sweeping from ocean To ocean
that the mighty arm Of the engine becomes
powerless by the corrosive influence Of in.
activity, but when idle and uncarcd for the
destroyer does his work The little piece Of
steel lying upon the table reveals nothing,
but poise it upon pivot and it unerringly
turns toward the pole star Of it, being. In
like manner 'tis not when the mind is occu-
pied with the business Of life that the seed
is sown which works our ruin, but in the
leisure hours habits are formed which moth
ing but the power Of God can break. Mar
shall before me thousand drunkarls stand
ing to-day upon the verge Of the grave, and
nine hundred and ninetynine Of them will
say they took their first glass in leisure
hour
BE careful then, what habits are formed
in these hours Study your habits, and if
there is in them the shadow Of a gloa of
wrong, for God and your souls sake, hands
of" We sometimes think We are strong TO
resist temptations; that habit will in no way
| affect u.s. Beside the oak that mayhap has
withstood the storms of a century, springs
up an ivy which grows from year to year,
twiuing its far-reaching arms upon every
twig aud branch Of the tree, till it literally
hugs it to death. So a seed OF evil or a
wrong habit, formed in leisure hour, be
comes at length a bulwark too strong for our
feeble grasp alone. Leisure hours have
their relation TO culture lie then spoke Of
three faculties which might be cultivated
memory, observation, reflection People Of
ten say 81 have no memory for Names dates
or places" but either Of these three facul.
ties can be remedied, educated, aud en-
tirey overcome by our own efforts By OBJ
seryation one man can learn as much by a
trip from here to Boston as another can in
going around the world, simply because his
ewes are open to the lessons everywhere tc
be learned Beecher is the acknowledged
leader Of America in the pulpit, and in this
habit of observation lies the secret Of hi'
power. BY reflection he did not mean idl'
day dreaming, or building air castles, but
sober, earnest faithful thought.
rnr EXAMINATIONS
continued through Wednesday forenoon clos
ing with the reports of teachers and exanlin
ingcommittees at twelve NJ. The teachers re
ports showed that avery high degree Of schol
/ arship had been maintained throughout thu
term But the committees report, although
It contained nothing but praise for thu
progress made, seemed by some TO be to'
short and general. After visiting classe
in constant succession for day and hali
committee ought to have a report tina
+ would occupy more than two minutes
Teachers in this or any other school are no
supposed to be infallible in their method
of teaching the different branches, and
wide-awake committee should be able +
suggest now and then an improvement
= in the several classes which they visit
, They did, however, mention the appearane
Of the studio in terms of the highest prais'
3 During the present term no less than seventy
five oil paintings have been perfected, an
s in the year over one hundred and fifty hay
been made This department never locke
as well, nor ever was as prosperous. At iou
p. NJ, occurred the
CLASS TREE ENERClsEs,
which opened with prayer by Rev. H. 4
Spencer followed by America " by tn
70 choir Next came "Class Prophecies" b
Miss Hattie Whitcomb, who, in a supern'
vision seemed to see the future of all he
classmates, in panorama, pass before he
The prophecies were unique and varied, an