The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1886-06-25
Strong Thought and Great. Men
Needed.


takes bdr, puts it into The fire, cuts it in
pieces and hammers it into all kinds of
shapeless bits. He had no plan in his
mind to make any particular thing, so he
has spoiled what might have been used
for some good purpose. Look now at the
other bar. II is put into The fire again,
and again, cut and hammered again and
again, and put through number of rough,
delicate, and skillful processes. until you
see box Of main.springs for watches.
worth three hundred thousand dollars.
You see there is fortune in bar of iron.
Yes, but you have to get it out, and to
labor with plan or purpose in your brain.
Education has made the difference between
that worthless pile of shapeless pieces Of iron
and the delicate and valuable mainsprings
And it is Notwithstanding, of course,
the grace of God-that makes the differ
ence between an angel and a demon, a
saint and II sinner, between the worst
classes and the best classes of our State
and Nation. The difference between the
bar OF iron and man is, the iron is passice,
man is actice. The bar of iron is Il thing
Of hereditary tendencies and circum-
stances" man is free, moral personality,
with power 10 resist bad tendencies. and
become the architect of his own character
and fortune. He is not ball, tossed hith-
er and thither, by some cruel Fate power.
but being with reason. conscience and
will. And these attributes of his higher
nature tit him to see, feel and do, all that
becomes man, and as0M doing that which
makes him worse than brute or demon
Judging from the logic of history, there
seems to be a vicious idea that is very prev
alent, namely, that young men must re-
produce the follies, vices and miseries of
their parents before they can become true,
noble and good. They must have an in
sane period of sowing wild oats before
they can begin the sane period of sowing
seed that will produce a harvest of peace,
honor, and eternal felicity. In some it
seems 10 be settled matter that physical,
mental and moral dissipation must precede
i life of sobriety, purity and nobleness;
and that before they can abstain from al
coholic and narcotic poisons, they must DO
corrupted, tortured and degraded by them.
Here is maelstrom, into the circling
eddies of which thousands of young men
hopelessly come, then go down into their
fearful depths. The teachings of expert
ence and age are not needed, the counscls
of fond parents and loving friends are
sighted; sheer, a laugh, and Il Il don't
care" are the only answers given by
thousands, until they pass the point OF
safety in the rapids of dissolute life, then
their wild cries to God and man for help
are heard as they plunge into the foaming,
surgiDg, cncircling waters of terrible ret
ribution. Oh. there is n deceptive and
powerful fascination in the false glare of
vice, the tinsel of sensual pleasures,
sinful amusements, and the wild, reckless,
irregular habits of sinful companions.
Young friends. suffer word of warning.
Go not with evil companions; do not have
any. Plutarch, an old pagan, says:
Taste not of fish that have black tails
that is, converse not with men that are
smuttcd with vicious qualities" This is
good advice heed it, and they will not
pollute you. Some of you close your
school life, some do not. Let me remind
all you, however, that whatever is intellec-
tually and morally low is contagious. You
had better have the smallpox than to
breathe its atmosphere. | advise you,
therefore, not only to abstain from bad
company, and bad places, but Also from
reading novels that are of low intellectual
and moral order, as you cannot read them
without injury. If you keep company
with persons of low intellectual aud moral
qualities, whether in bodies or in books,
they will drag you down TO their level.
They will prevent you becoming strong in
thought and character. Bear in mind that,
although you may leave school, your edu-
cation Will 60 on. This life is school.
The public school helps you to lay founda-
tons, the building you must rear your
selves If you have done your duty, you
have learned Il little about how to think,
how to acquire knowledge, how to restrain
and discipline your powers. We talk of
''self-made men," What is meant by this
expression? Generally. we mean men not
made in college. But, the truth is, every
made man, whose life is worth anything,
is a self-made man. The school neither
furnishes brains, nor uses them; it simply
guides, helps those who have them, to use
them wisely. Young men and women are
what they make themselves. And the i'm.
prcssions of the first years of life will
stand side by side with the impressions of
the last years. What has been put into
your minds will live. Thought is as i'm.
mortal as the soul. Your teachers, books,
and associations win pass away, but the
results of school life will abide, and so will