Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1894-05-24


Schools, at the closing OF the
Colored State Normal School of
this city, Thursday Evening.
When your respected Principal and
my esteemed friend, DR.. Rives, ex-
tended me an invitation to speak to-
YOU on this occasion. [ was uncertain
as 20 whether | should accept or not
on two accounts In the first place 1t
was a question with me whether L
should find time in the midst of very
busy life to prepare suitable address,
and in the second place, l knew that
the usual puzzle of the speaker-what
to talk about-would be a difficulty with
me. AS to the difficulty in the first
place, 1 finally concluded to answer Dr.
Rives in the affirmative and take my
chances: and as to the second resolved
that [ would, in a sense, await the
prompting of the spirit, that, per-
chance, through that agency the right
topic might present itself to me. Fol
lowing this course / became persuaded,
in view of your prospective work as
teachers. that it would be we'll for me
to speak to you briefly on this subject,
viz.
THE PATH OF DUTY, OR THE THEO-
LOGY OF LIFE.
Most of you. doubtless, have read
that superb poem by Gray, entitled
IAN Elegy in a Country Church
Yard Perhaps nowhere in all the
language do we find a subl1mer OF more
faithful picture of the vlclss1tudes OF life
and the inevitable conclusion thereof.
The poem furnishes an interesting
study in the frailtieS and uncertain
ties, as well as the seeming incongrui-
ties of human life. 1t teaches most
powerfully. that in ther DEATH men are
placed on common level and meas
ured bv a common standard. But, per-
haps. the most striking suggestion OF
the poem is its sweeping recital of the
futility of earthly glory to illumine the
path beyond the grave How striking
and strange these lines to us who are
accustomed to the ways of the world:
''The boast CT heraldry. the ponp of
powor,
And all that beauty, ali that wealth
ever gave.
Await alike the inevitable hour:
The paths of glory lead but to the
grave"
If you will note my purpose
and women present thal not every
path they would choose to
tread leads on to glorious destiny.
Some paths lead only to the grave.
Not so with the path of duty. We
would, therefore, commend to you such
a course in life as will bear you on to
Immortality. We would cite you to a
path which, though it be sometimes
apparently dark, and again unseen to
the eye of flesh, nevertheless leads up
and up. and constitutes the highway
upon which only the redeemed do walk.
and whose end is the very gateway of
heaven. The various means by which
N IN have sought glorious irnmortali-
ty have been the burden of song and
story: and history. apart from the dis
cusSion of those means, would be a
blank. But it is not the means that
gives the chief element of dignity to a
cause: it is the end. It is not the
path. therefore. so much as the destiny
to which it leads.
Itmay be seen, then, that to know the
path of duty we must study the sub
ject of destiny. We must endeavor
to know the whole truth. We must
understand not only the science Of life,
but also the the theology of life. We
should study not only how we live. but
also why we live. In order, therefore,
to understand properly the significance
of history and philosophy we must in
ySStigate not only the ''hoW," but
especially the why and the where
fore.''
1t is interesting and instructive, nay,
thrilling, to read how that gallant band
OF Spartans, under Leonidas. with in
deScribably cOnsummate valor, met
the Persion hordes at Thefmopyla
and found their victory in their death:
but it is far more beautiful to study
how Eastern Sloth ana deSpotiSm was
checked by their fatal, but immortal
stand, and how the East was prevented
from swallowing up the civilization OF
Greece. which has furnished models in
art, in music, and in letters for all
European and Occidental nations to
the present time. Who can read the
story of the desperate resistance of the
thirteen hundred Swiss at Morgarlea
when the chivalry OF the Austrian
army went down without civilizations
for the rise of the sun of the Swiss re-
public.
But it is more interesting to note
that this was the planting of the seeds
of a republic in the very heart of Eu.
rope that has successfully withstood
every encrOachment or attack upon its
rights, and taught the world its primal
lessons in realpopular government ano
civil liberty. How sublime a contem
plation to think of the glorious heroisn
of Nelson's command at Trafalgar
Wellington's at Waterloo, and Wash
ington's at Yorktown, but how much
Europe and the identity of continental
nations were preserved by the hands O.
Nelson and Wellington, and how the
rights of men were given "a new birth
by our own illustrious Washington.
come to you, therefore, my friends
discussing causes only as they produce
effects, discussing the principles of life
only as they are related to the facts o
eternity. 1t becomes my duty, then, tt
maintain Snph a trend Of discussion a
will have a practical bearing upon tht
affairs of life from an ethical stand
point as we'll as from standpoint o
utility. [ want to speak now of you
duty to yourself and the theology o
self-culture. l hold that it is incum
bent upon every individual to attain t.
the highest possible development ant
culture. It has been the execution o
this idea, the following up of such
sense of responsibility that has pro
duced all the great men of all the ages
The parent or guardian and the you'll
should remember continually that il
His image God created man, and that
consequently, the human being is en-
dowed with capacity like unto divinity
that being SO endowed, the mind Q
man has infinite capacity for develop
ment.
We look upon the babe in the moth
er's arms, the sweet innocent creatur
just giving signs of it's upward ten
dency. Bye-and-bye the bud OF intelli
gence bursts forth and continues to en-
large unto reason and Judgment. Bu
unlike the bud and blossom the mind
bound by no ultimate law of decay an
death. Under proper care and wit
proper nurture and stimulus it contin
ues to reach out and widen it's capacit
with emability, zeal and progress unit
the tenement of clay becomes an un