The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-06-18
HASBR0UCK SERMON
Dr.. Paul D. Van Cleef Ex-
horts Them to a Sober
Minded Career.
LIFE WORE FOR WOMEN.
Noble Destiny Without the Stuff
rage-Tonight's Musicale
Weeks Programme.
LIFE WORK FOR WOMEN

filled with youth and brightness yesterday
morning. The regular attendants had given
up the front pews to the graduating class OF
Hasbrouck Institute and to the under
graduates, who had come TO hear the Com
mencement sermon preached by DR.. Paul D.
Van Cleef. There were present also in the
audience Principal and Mrs. G. E. Stimets,
Professor Horace Wait, Professor Fry and
Miss May F. Park. The platform of the
church was simply but gracefully decorated
with white and gold daisies, while a half
circle of glowing %geraniums afforded the
needed contrast of color.
By half-past ten the fourteen graduates,
who came in a body, had taken the front
| seats, and the Rev. Mr.. Wick, the pastor of
the church, began the service. When DR..
Van Clief rose to address the graduates.
whose bright faces were turned expectantly
toward him, he remarked that he felt him
self thoroughly in sympathy with them, and
would speak from their point of view. After
a few general remarks about Paul's refer
ences to athletics, the text, a verse from the
Epistle to Titus H., was announced. 1t was
this:-''The younger men likewise exhort to
be ~sober-minded." DR.. Van Cleft extended
the application of the text by including
young women, and then proceeded to ex-
plain the word 'sober-minded."
AND JOY.
s'In the classical as we'll as in the New
Testament Greek, he said, ''the word means
having the faculties in a normal condition,
no part being unduly exalted or depressed.
TO be sober minded does not mean neces-
sarily to live without joy. One may be
sober minded and yet be merry. All merri-
ment is not empty frivolity. We ought t 0
be sober minded in our religion and yet we
joy in it because we feel sure of pardon.
Religion is the last thing in the world to
make a man sad and gloomy.
"And first Of all let me exhort you, both
young men and young women, to be sober
minded in conservatism. Set a bride on
your tongue and a watch on your lips, lest
you say something u~nseemly. Remember
that silence cannot be written down. And
here l am indebted to al old proverb, which
| nave always remembered: You are mas
ter of the unspoken work, but the slave of the
word shat escapes thee The opposite quail
ity of sober-mindedneSs is shown~ nowadays
in a reckless use of our mother tongue. Be
sober-minded in resisting the tendency
weigh your words well and speak thought
fully. While we do not expect the blood OF
| age to course in the veins of youth, or wish
to see old heads on young shoulders, yet it is
pleasant to see some qualities of age In
youth"
SOBER ADJUSTMENTS.
DIR. Van Cleef then went OF to tell the
graduates that they should be s~ober-minded
in their recreations. After explaining to
them that sober-mindedness would not be a
kill Joy or prevent their %indulging In right
full pleasures, h spoke Of the evil involved
| In an extended reading of fiction to the ex-
clusion of more serious works. II would not
be understood as condemning fiction. he
| said, but l think that the majority OF our
young people read books that intoxicate
| the brain instead of feeding it. Be sober
| minded in selecting your reading matter, for
| books ~infunce us more than we are aware.
sSome of you, after finishing this pre-
| liminary course, are about to enter college.
There you will encounter peculiar tempta-
| tions, and will need to be sober-minded.
| Some of you will enter business at a time
when men seem to lose their sanity in the
pursuit of riches. Even men of high posi-
ton and of good reputation, like him who
was convicted in New York the other day,
| sacrifice themselves for money. In starting
| out, decide to be honest and straightforward
| in your business dealings. You may not be-
| come a brilliant ~financier or amass an enor-
| nous fortune, but you will at all events be
| happy, And you who are about to enter
your profession be sober-minded in making
| your choice"
USEFULNESS FOR
DR.. Van Cleef next proceeded to address
the young women, saying that since they
had studied the same books with the young
men, recited the same lessons, and mastered
the same problems, there was no reason why
at this time they should be relegated to a
life of idleness, while the young men were
sent forth to work on life's highways.
"No matter how the vexed question of
suffrage may be decided" said DR.. Van
Cleef, ''there is plenty of noble work for
women to do. Why should they be confined
l. .o.o4r I;fo "a on,n+inacc on1 i11opacS
when they might help their less favored sis
tiers. Whenever l look at a graduating class
Of Young girls | think of the influence hat
they will WELD in our homes. There is work
for them everywhere if they are willing to
do it.n
He then closed his impressive, scholarly
sermon by comparing life to a labyrinth in
'sThis thread" he said, '.is the love of COD.
You must learn to be humble i'll order to
exalt yourselves. The great fault of our
American students is an intellectual pride
which forbids them to believe in anything
but their W ability"
DR.. Van Cleef's peroratiop was an efec-
tive e~Khortation to the graduates to be
sober-minded in all things and to remember
the true guiding thread in the labyrinth of
life.
THE
After the benediction was pronounced,
DR.. Van Cleef greeted each graduate cordl-
| allv. All the fourteen present. They were
| Misses Hattie Reynolds, Florence Clerihew,
| Nellie Parke, Holbrook. May McWilliams,
| Pearl Brook, Elizabeth Speers, Lennie NJ.
| Owens, Helen Bray, Messrs. G.. Harold
Benton, Frank Benedict Hague, Rudolph
| &. Heike, Nelson E. Newbury, Harry j.
| Turner, and Harrison E. Wright.
THE COMMENCEMENT WEEK.
Tonight the closing musicale by the pupils
| of the Hasbrouck School Of Music will be
| given in Assembly Hall under the direction
Of Mr.. Victor Baier, superintendent, assisted
by Messrs. Gustav L. Becker, Henry Lincoln
| Case, j. G. Withers, John Holland and Mrs.
c.. G. Smith.
The programme will open with Bach's
! Chiacona played by Miss Leila Muller and
| MI. becker on the piano with organ accom-
paniment by Mr.. Baier. Miss Belle Newkirk
| will follow with a baraeole, Water Scenes"
A violin solo, "Rigolette Fantasia" to be
played by Miss Edna Edwards Ames next.
| Miss Lillian Morse has a piano solo, ''Valse
| Chromatique," and Miss Grace Winans will
| follow with q song, Loves Springtime."
| LISTS ssRhapsodic No. 6 will be Interpreted
bv Miss Maude Conway, and Miss Mildred
fin will play Dubois "Grand Chorus in B
! fat on the organ. Mendelssohn's "Rondo
| Capriccioso" will be rendered by Miss Nellie
Gumbs.
As an agreeable interruption to the instru-
mental solos next comes a vocal duet, 'Holy
Mother, Guide His Footsteps" sung by
Master George R. Griswold and Roger {.