Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1882-06-17
THE WEEDS OF THE HOUR AND THE PERL 5
OF THE HOUR.
Grafton Before the Alumni SOCIETY," OF inc
Southwestern Presbyterian University
nv II NJ nOAR ESQ
BY II. NJ. D0AK, ES

Southwestern Presbyterian University.
BY H. NJ. DoAK, ESQ
Itjs sometimes permitted to those
who have wandered off their sever
al ways in the world, to return to
the old roof with some word of their
experience. The philosopher may
dive deep into the sea OF knowledge
and of thought, bringing up truths
rom the depths. He may deal
With the grand problem of being,
the past, the here, the hereafter ana
their profound, and subtitle connee--
tions. The learned man may Gull
from the worlds garnered stores. or
from Natures treasures If he has
been entrusted with the keys OF her
treasure house. We who are IN the
turmoil and "storm and stress" oi
practical life, in the bitter ana SWEEP
of il, with its trivial triumphs ana
failures, which are so much In the
moment and SO little in the grand
round of being, must generalize
somewhat from that which we can
see around us. We are constrained
to gather and present such truths as
we NAV see, or may think we see,
floating upon the surface OF the
food.
We must profoundly feel that
there are depths to which we have
not diyed. nights we have not
scaled. We must sadly feel that,
in the ssset'' and drift of life's sur
face. we may he heading southWard
when the mighty undertow OF life
is northward we may well fear lest
in our blindness and our charities
ness we may be running directly
athwart the profound current Of lie.
Alas. we who are in the whirl OF 1t,
and the swirl of it, in the chaos and
confusion of it, veering ana tacKing
here and there, may well 1ear iesl
we may take our own ruuderleSs
and composites wanderings IN our
VOYAGE of discovery upon an un-
known sea for the true chart OF IL.
We NAV well shudder lest When we
come to chart the soundings, we
NAV guide others upon a lee shore,
| instead of into safe harbOrs or out
into open summer seas.
Face 10 face with practical life In
a social order which is just growing
out of the old with its mingled
GOOD and evil into the new with its
mixed evil and good, l can only
endeavor inperfectly to draw Its
lessons from the chaos OF such life
as have seen since left the halls
of Stewart College. | can but try
to perceive dimly and with tremb'
ling hand to grasp the need OF the
hour as it appears to me ana win II
| ~F fhn hour
This world is all progress or ret
repression. Going forward, we arc
continually tempted by dlgresslvt
paths, leading away from tnt
right road; going backward, we
are either retracing wrong step;
or we are, with wrong steps
wasting the way soon again L
be retrodden. There is no deat
point, no idle calm, no rest
This epoch appears, however, to bt
neculiarly one of transition, OF agl
tation, of recasting the old, of grasp
, inc after the new, of seeking anC
acquiring, OF trying and casting OIL
This is true of the world generally
If is about to be especially true Q
our southern land. In the turmol
of human life, "as it bubbles ant
seethes and Kisses and rOars and tn
t flood hurrieS on, never endlng,
2 there are a few crying necessltle
which are apparent ana Denln'
them stalk, dark and grim, thel
own peculiar associate perils, whic
accompany the good to be attaine
as the dark shadows OF eVllS 10
avoided. Out cropping in ever
age and especially in the tumultl
GUS era of every age, stands aiWaS
some great need, something ueihaL
ded which the progressive splri
reaches out to embrace ana cOhsel
, yatism girds itself and plants tn
foot to resist. This spirit and nece:
sity of the age, what ever it be,
ALWAYS accompanied by its own p'
cnliar attendant evil. Is it pre-
found philosophical enquiry, yer
searching the depths, is needed
Empty sophistry stands behlns
and to this tends the grave and goo
like. into the shallow and triillnt
Is il a fervent religion, a dee
nietv? Priestcraft and bigOtry al
waiting to enthral the soul, intox
Gated with It's own ferVent yea
Crime and all uncharitablene:
NAV masquerade in the garb of ths
reIioion. whose sole aim and pr
ducf is peace and purity. A WorS
evil still, the empty braWler follow
IL to accuse religion of the Grim.
sss committed by the masquerader
Id relipIon's garb. Is it human lIberl
10 the theme and need of the hour
. license stands like harlOt by Il
wav to seduce liberty to riot ar
Wantonness.
Coming direct to our own ca
m and this Southern land whose cor
munities go from common past
GOOD and i'll into a common futur
through social, political and lndu
p trial conflict what is the need
the hour, what the peril OF the hot
N First, it cannot be too strong
III IMPRESSED or too stubbornly mal
tained that, in living our life in q
woods. our somewhat loose ana
coherent social order has develo
ed. for good or ill, within itself t
GERMS of whatever it is to be. !
our brief time as people we ha'
lived imperfectly we have 90
hut little well. That which
have done best wears the stamp
> failure and so appears to the sn
\, low who can only find success In
realization of plans laid by mum
4. reason. ,,,
superficially, aiming at the ST.
lSyith the shifting sands beneath
feet. We have built strongly
where. In the best our moral,
teIleetual, theological, com mercl
industrial life has been imperi
althoagh it has wrought much Il
was noble and true and laid
and 6rmiy some granite ped:ro'
for a structure. If in all this
have aimed at and discerned
dim and distant way to the star
is weld, What ever our future
-. be we have wrought the germs
if within ourselves. Our own ]
has conceived and held, quick
leapins I'm the womb, all OF our Q
1850 future life and progress. LIE
20 what we mays whence we may,
40 stubborn fibre, the ipwrought
70 ture. the life which is to live
,os here, and is here. We shall .
'oo no breath of any new lie breat
into our nostrils (; no new EeVelaa
,03 will guide us; no new prra raelpif
80, life will be infused. That stock
1l1 ON which the war closed ia de
40 is here to learn, to reach out
grasp, to buy, to borrow, bat al"
2.~iol-o ;tS oUn to absorb anI