Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-01-03
GRAINS OF WISDOM.
AN ADDRESS TO GRADUATES n
WORDS OF ONE SYLLABLE.


1t Was Delivered by the President OF the
Board of School Trustees of Fort Wayne
and Is a Remarkable Production, Well
Worthy of Preservation.
The strength which lies in words of one
syllable has been often demonstrated, and
no doubt the simple directness of this ad.
dress delivered to graduating class at
Fort Wayne impressed itself on the minds
Of the listeners with force that made them
remember it. The president of the board
of trustees was Mr.. A. p. Edgerton, after.
ward national civil service commissioner,
and his advice given II years ago is still
worth preserving. The greater part of it is
here quoted:
This day we close for the year the Fort
Wayne free schools, and we now part with
you, the girls and boys we are no more to
teach.
Il say girls and boys, for when three
score and ten years have come to you you
will be glad to have your friends say that
health and peace of mind have kept your
hearts warm; that you wear no brow of
gloom; are not borne down with age, but
still in heart are girls and boys When
these years come, and hope they will come
to all, the tide of time will roll back and
tell you of your school time days, when the
fair, the kind and the true found love, but
the false heart found no friends, no tongues
to praise. These days bring rich gifts to
age, and when you shall cease to think of
them your fire has burned low, and your
light has gone out. YOu have been here
taught in the hope that the free schools of
Fort Wayne would help to make you of
use to your friends and to the world; would
give You faith in all that is good and true
and lead you to seek work, for this you
must seek and do if you would have
good name, wealth, a home, a charge to
keep or a trust to serve. Go forth with a
bold, true heart to seek the work for you
to do.
keep in mind that the hours of work
run through each day, and that Gods great
law of life is, In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread
Now for you, young men, the truth is
told.
go where you will through tho world,
and you will find on the front door of shops
and mills. of stores and banks, and on
ships, on farms and roads, in deep mines
where men toll for wealth; where laws are
made that make some men too rich, and
men of worth and work through all our
land too poor; where men by law are taught
to plot with sin, to spurn the right, that
charge and cost and spoil may make old
'Quirk's' law firms rich; where law is so
plead that the judge must guess to find
what's law; where quacks most fight DER
sick mems pains and dead mems bones:
where types are set, and none to mind the
proofs; where priests do preach and pray,
and where schools are taught this sign,
Brains Will Find Work Here
Don't fear. Step up and ask for work.
Brains will get it. Don't let I dare not
wait on i would'-like the cat that loves
fish, but dares not wet her foot.
IF it be said: What can you do? Will
you learn trades say L have none. but l
can learn one and put brains in it When
you go to a place where brains should hunt
for work and will be sure to find it, it may
be said to you: Do you see that pillow? Can
you mold and drive it deep? That pillow, in
it's wise use, gives all men food.
do you see that wheel and that crank
and those shafts and that press, and do
you hear the rush and the hiss of the steam
which moves them? Can you make and
hold and run them? Can you build and
drive the works and wheels which make
the wealth of the earth and cause it to roll
and to float to and fro from place to place
where it is best for man to use it?
Can you spin the thread and weave it.
which makes robes for kings, and silks for
the rich and vain, and dress for the poor,
and all that skill and art have wrought by
loom and hand for mans use?
IL, hot J.,
threads of ight-the light of mind and art
and skill which shines each day more bright
and dims all the old by some new found
light as the years go on.
''If you say that you do not know how to
do all this work, but you will try to learn
some of it and to do it well. then will be said
to you: Can you and will you work? And
will you speak the truth and in all things
strive to do no man wrong? If you say
Yes then all the doors where mans good
and great work is done will swing for you
to pass in to do your part. And thus you
will see how God rules in all his ways in
mans good works and deeds. Some may
hope for fame, but if they doubt that God
rules. have not trust aud faith. they well
NAV fear their fate. New books, not old
coins, keep charge of fame. Look well to
books, for through them the worlds best
thoughts and deeds now speak.
Toy young girls, | must say word,
not to chide nor to praise. You can plant
the rose which shall bloom and give its
sweets to all, or you can grow the thorn,
which shall pierce and tear the hearts OF
those who love you, hope for you, pray for
you.
The turn your minds now take Will fix
your life to come. If you are led in just
way of pure thought and deed, you will be
sure to find joy and peace and health IN all
YOU do. You each hope, some day, to be a
good mans wife 1t is well to be this. but
take care that you be not FOOLS drudge
What should you bring to good and
true man to make his and yours home OF
ioy and peace9 can tell you: Good health;
a mind rich in stores of thought; pure
heart, full of love and truth and trust In
God. :,
1T is not curl, nor a bang, nor smile.
nor n dress, nor art in sigh or tear,
that can win the worth you need to bless
Won. but it is the right sense to know the
way to a good mans heart. to know howto
he true to your own self; to be at your own
home and in all you do the girl that pure
and good men seek; the girl that knows
..,.h man whom she meets them, and finds