Morning journal and courier., 1889-04-12
ArBATrRLL CHAPEL.
The Junior Orators Of Yale-An Audi ence of About 500 Present-One of tn Finest i'm YearG.

The Junior Orators Of YaIe-An Audi
 ence Of About 500 Present-One of the Finest i'm Years.
 Students may come and students may go, but the junior ex. goes on for ever. Yeater- day afternoon an audience of about 800 filled Battell chapel to listen for an hour and three- quarters to the efforts of the competitors for | oratorical honors selected from the junior class to take part in this traditional exhibi- tion. It was certainly one of the finest ex- hibitions in years, and not man failed in ability and interest. President Dwight in- troduced the speakers, and Roger s. Baldwin of New Haven first ascended the platform. His subject was Cardinal Lavigerie. In sub
 stance he said: The Cardinal comparatively unknown year before. had in early life gone to Africa with hopes for it's rescue. As result of his efforts nowhere to-day is the charch stronger than in the French colonies
 of northeast Africa. Eight hundred years ago christendom rang with the appeals of Peter, the Hermit, to rescue Jerusalem. To-
 day the crusade is directed toward the salva-
 tion of Africa. There should be @ more tol-
 erant spirit in religion, and from this move
 ment there may be thought anew the old les-
 son of Christian charity.
 The next speaker introduced was Yale
 Kneeland of Brooklyn, N. Y.; his subject,
 "Henry Ward Beecher in England in 1S63"
 The speaker pictured vividly the position the
 country was in when at the darkest hour of
 the war, Grant not yet appeared, Vieksburg
 untaken, preacher from Brooklyn, tired and
 Jagged out, sought rest by @ trip to Europe,
 as it were moved by providence. And in an
 interesting manner the speaker treated MT.
 Beecher's career abroad and the influences
 that resulted.
 Next come John Crosby of Minneapolis,
 Miss, with the subject ''John Wilmot End,
 Earl of Rochester" In the most elegant and
 graceful language did he clothe his subject,
 John Wilmot, that enigma of the restoration
 period of England. The reaction against
 the Puritans had set in, and in the fall of Cromwell were the hopes of the Puritans for @ kingdom of God on earth dashed. The peo- pie rush to the other extreme, their May poles and dances. It is upon this scene that John Wilmont, poet, cynic and ibertine is
 ushered. Living through life of the most
 reckless indulgences endured by the king be-
 cause he was so extravagantly pleasant, at
 the end, he did make something like contri-
 tion, which the speaker listened to Mary
 aside the black cloak that enveloped him and
 appearing in bright red apparel.
 John D. Jackson, of New York city, on
 s'Voltaire's influence on Liberalism in France" had a subject that demanded deep thought, and he handled it we'll Voltaire directed his efforts against the union of Christ and state at time when, in France, few men dared say what they believed, or did not. His weapons were purely intellec- tual poems satirical allusions in tracts and letters directed against fanaticism and intol- erance. It is hard to say how much he was to blame for the state of atheism France emerged from the revolution in, but he only attacked what to him seemed monstrous and awful.
 Lewis s. Haslam of Stamford, Conn.,, was the next speaker; his subject, 'Julian the Apostate." A man renouncing Christianity in manhood for belief that is already dead \ is something to cause wonder. The speaker made historical review of the short reign of Julian. Christianity was not then what it is \ to-day, and it was seeking after the esthetic and beautiful that made Julian turn from it. George A. Hurd next spoke on "The Pro- vencal Element in Daudet." It was a re- markedly well polished literary production, describing the chief characteristics of Daudet. ! his love for the beautiful in nature and ab- horrence for the vices and iniquities of Paris covered by brilliant civilization. It is for this reason that he draws his pictures so terribly earnest, to warn the young man inc tending to come up from the country to Paris.
 Walter Alden DcCamp of Cincinnati, O., followed with the subject "Walt Whit mana man greatly misunderstood, not separated from us by long lapse of time
 but living to-day, and one who. ought to have the support of every American, thor | oughly democratic and alive to the needs of the lower stratums of society, not pessimis- ! tic, but an optionist seeing the noblest in society as well as the bad. To be appreei- ate1 he must be contrasted.
 Wolcott W. Ellsworth of Hartford, Conn, was the last speaker. His subject was ''Some Conceptions of Jobs Author" This was one of the deepest and probably the best understood of all the orations given. The speaker showed himself to be thorough student of Old Testament literature.
 Immediately after the speaking the mem-
 bers of the faculty present hastened to the treasury building to decide who the success full man should be, and in the meantime the students collected about discussing the
 result. De Camp had been looked upon as almost a sure man before the exhibition took
 place, but the splendid efforts of Crosby,
 Kneeland and Hurd made it matter of much
 perplexity that was not settled till the decis-
 ion of the judges was made known, awarding
 the prize to Crosby after about half an
 hours consultation.