The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-06-14
THE DUTY OF THE SCHOLAR.
The Lecture of Professor D. s. Jordan at Ply
mouth Church Last Evening"

President David S. Jordan, of the State UNI
versity, lectured at Plymouth Church, last night
on 1.-THE Duty of the Scholar to the Community. !"
The lecture was the baccalaureate address de-
livered to the class which has just graduated
from the State University. It was lengthy and
only extracts can be given. Dr. Jordon said:
1.-The good work you do must be the work you
are made for. Only that work will live
Some of US are born hammers knives,
needles harps, trumpets. Only as such, if at
all, will we be remembered. Not merely such,
of course, for the man must be above his voca-
ton; but let us not try to be what we cannot be,
lest failing, we be nothing atiall. The man who
can 'sshoe q horse to the glory of God" is more
to the world and to himself than il be had be-
come third rate preacher or poet 1t is not
the calling which ennobles, but the spirit
which ennobles the calling. The COM
monest trade followed in earnest, it's work
wrought in sad sincerity, as under the eye of
God, is nob1er than the most learned profession,
followed for the sake of the loaves and the fishes
If you help the masses you must stand
among them yourself. You must draw them
apart and give the individual chance To
raiSe the ground they stand on is no easy thing;
unless you take off your eyeglasses and
kid gloves and address yourself to
the work In earnest Yet, standing
with the masses, you should never lose yourself
in the mass. You ehould keep your own com
pass and know your own road. The mass may
move to the left when your instinct and your
principles tell you to go to the right. You may
find it hard struggle, and may fail at last. But
the masses, at any rate, will know 0. yo0r exist
ence and your force will not be lost. Do not
vote the ticket of my party, or of your party or
that Of any other of the time-honored organiza-
tons into (Which men may naturally fall
The questions which usually divide the two
great parties Of this country, or of any other
free country, are not, as a rule, questions of
principles or morals, or of good citizenship
The party divisions are based for the
most part, hereditary tendencies on present
expediencies and hopes Of temporary gain, and,
and punder--of power to plumber. When
your party is led by bad men, or
when its course is in the wrong direction. your
State expects you, as an educated man, to know
of your convictions Your State expects you
to have the power to stand alone-to bolt, If
need be, when other modes of protest fail
One duty Of the scholar in politics is
to serve as An antidote to the thick-and-thIn
partisan, the rock-ribbed Bourbon of any
party. who learns nothing and scruples at
nothing. A good Christian, has been
we'll said, cannot often vote an unscratched TICK
ct. The man who does SO, in whatever party,
leaves, in the course of few years, few sorts of
=
vote helps to elect are properly regarded as your
representatives, and the knave, the trickster,
the gambler, the drunkard, the briber, the boss
should not rightfully represent you. II such
country II you were left unrepresent-
ed, and the State has made a losing
bargain in educating you. Let it
never be said of you, He livesin the First ward;
therefore, he believes in protection; he lives in
the Sixth ward, therefore, his vote is for free
whisky; he will make by this thing, therefore, he
favors that course of action
'You know that we no longer send our wisest
men to make the laws that our legislators are not
men in whom the people have confidence; our
civil-service has been one of the worst on the
planet; our foreign service has been thelaughlng-
stock of Europe our tax burdens
rest heaviest on the farmer, and lightest
on the millionaire; our currency fuctuates for
the benefit of the gambler. who thieves at the
laborers cost. There are men who wish for an
aristocracy Of brains. at least who could take
these things out of your hands and mine, and
make them and keep them right. do not feel
their own affairs. the growth of the race de-
ponds on their doing it. The Reign of Terror
gives more hope for the future than the
reign Of the good King Henry. The people
have a right to expect your influence In the
direction Of the ideal government. the republic
in which government by the people shall be good
government as we'll.
''There is a subtle materialism in the pews Of
our churches as we'll as in our marts of trade
1t breaches the gospel Of creature comforts and
the starvation Of the spirit. It asks of all the
scholar should hold dear, of truth. and beauty,
and goodness, ard sweetness and light.
what are these things WORTH You
must keep your sympathies warm,
and your soul open to all good influences to keep
away the chill of this materialism. One
of the saddest of the occasional products Of the
college is the case of what is in science called
arrested development When the student is
transplanted from the hot-bed of the college to
the cold soil of the outside his growth some
times ceases, to the disappointment of his friends
and the dismay of the supporters of higher ed
ucation. The people have the right to expect of
the scholar growth"