Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1882-06-03
SWINGING ROUND.
He Makes Speech Before tho High School
Graduates, and Tells Them What Il
tho Missing Link In tho

General Beaver went to Columbia yes
terday afternoon, where he was announced
to deliver the address before tho gradual
ing class of the high school. He was the
guest of VIM. B. Given, esq, leading
Democrat of the place, and during tho
afternoon there were good many people
who called around to MIR. Given's Office to
meet the distinguished stranger. He
drove over the town, and among the
places visited was the grave ofGen. Welsh,
who was Beavers commander ut one time
during the war. He expressed himself as
we'll pleased with what he saw and the
people he met, but there was no political
significance extracted from tho visitation.
as Democrats and Republicans alike called
to pay their respects.
In the evening the opera house was
crowded from pit to dome. Every scat in
the auditorium and gallery was occupied
and large number of persons were stand
ing in the aisles. The graduates and
teachers of the schOl, board of directors
and orators Of the evening, took seats upon
the stage, amid round of applause, and
about eight o'clock the exercises were
opened with music by the AriOn orchestra,
after which Rev. Il. w. Humphriss offered
prayer, and then Mr.. j. A. Meyers, pre-
sident of the school board, introduced the
orator of the evening Gen. James A. Bea-
yer, of Bellefonte.
General Beaver began by saying no folt
a peculiar charm in this visit to Columbia.
He had been communipg with the dead
and with dead mems thoughts rs he stood
by dead mems ashes. Referring evidently
to his visit to Gen. Welsh's grave, he said
he felt the thoughts Of twenty years ago
come surgiDg back upon him and in fancy
he heard the prattle Of his old command
er's little children, now grown to vigorous
maturity, and whose letters to their father
during the war had given such charm to
the Olden time.
True science, said tho orator, rides
safely in the quiet harbOr of well-defined
and well-matured thoughts, anchored rs
it is to the verify Of everlasting fact. But
there is false science Of which VIC have
heard much, whose votaries are filled with
doubt and are the followers of men them
selves driven by the wind and tossed b.
the events of days gone by; for years they /.
have been eIdeavOring to find a missing
past and ally them to an order devoid
of higher life. It was not the
speakers intention to discuss this missing
link which so-called philosophers are
striving fruitlessly to find, but to speak
of the link that is wanting in American
character. What he meant by this term
was not the character of individuals but
that character common to the mass of the
people of this country. We have Il na-
tiOnal character made up of clearly defined
elements, cosmopolitan in their nature,
but nevertheless clearly drawn and dis
tinct qualities. The first element to
engage our attention in an examination of
the American character is that of Pluck
1t makes itself evident on every hand in
the courage with which our people at
tempt great achievements and enterprises
to the execution of which there are ap-
parently insuperable barriers. A practical
and notable example Of this trait of the
national character was presented i'm the
civil war, which, on both sides of the strug-
gle, furnished an exhibition of pluck and
courage never before equalcd and in which
Americans stood arrayed against Ameri-
cans.
Perseverance is :,nOthe: admirable trait
in the characteristics of our people, and is
strikingly exemplified in the advances we
have made and are making in manufac-
lures, commerce and science. Americans
not only have tho pluck to go at thing,
but they possess also the capacity of carry
ing it through, sticking to it until they
have beaten down the obstacles that rise
to deter them. The Americans arc
cheerful race. They believe in looking on
tho bright side of things and are always in
q good humor. The element of Charity
stands out conspicuously i'll American
character not merely that which gives
aims to beggar and moves a man to be.
stow a portion of his worlds goods Oh
those who have been less favored than
themselves-there is indeed vast degree
of this impulse in the American heart-but
that other charity that thinketh no evil is
not wanting in the character of our pcO
pie. Americans believe in fair play, and
very pleasing and admirable trait in their
composition is their unwillingness to be-
lievc a thing that is not creditable until
the truth of it has been proven.
What then is wanting? Where is the
missing link ? Foreigners fail to portray
tho American character in it's true light.
and writer's like Dickens have distorted
and misrepresentcd it. What we need to
get from the Germans in addition to some
of the other excellent traits they have
given us and that enter SO largely into our
national character is the patience to
wait. Pluck and perseverance We
have in abundant measure, but We are
always in too much of hurry for results.
We see examples of this in every phase of
our national life. Take our system Of
education-it is forced and unnatural.
Children arc sent to school and hurried
through their studies ut killing pace and
the result is that they arc turned out
stunted and understood they are not
physically equipped for the battle of life.
The mind is cultivated at tho expense Of
tho body in disregard of the old saw
"mens sana IN sanO corpore." Let the
bodies bo the first consideration. Tho
cultivation of the mind should come
after tho physical structure has
been assured. The same trait of
unreasonable impatienco is witnessed in
other aspects. We can't even brook
waiting the payment of our national debt,
but 60 plunging along paying it off at an
enormous rate of speed, and the secretary
of the treasury who can't show decrease
of anywhere from ten to twenty-five mill
ions month is apt to hear the query OF
the people who want to know the reason
why. BY such a course we rob our chill
dren of a glory that rightfully belongs to
them. By our unreasOning haste We are
only depriving them of an educating in
tluence which would teach them to prize
their. liberty, won by the expenditure of
so many millions of treasure and vast
sacrifice of human life, more than they
otherwise could.
The men of America have no time for
anything but money-making. They must
get rich and in hurry. They can't sleep,
they can't cat, they can't rest they can
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