Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1895-06-20
THE VALUE OF CHARACTER.

President Adams, Of the University
of Wisconsin, delivered the baccalau.
reate address In Armory Hall, Mad
ison, on Sunday afternoon, his subject
being Predominance Of Character. v
Among other excellent things, he said
"Character depends upon the will.
l am fond Of quoting that line saying
of George Elliot: character Is the
result of reiterated choice between
good and evil" If the saying is com
prehensively true, and ! believe 1t IL,
IL follows that character, unlike all
other elements Of success, Is purely a
matter of choice. This does not
mean, OF course, that 1t Is the result
Of choice ut any one moment, but
rather of the habitual, the "reiterat.
ed" acts Of choice performed while
character 1t taking shape. 1t Is
necessary not to be mistaken on this
point. Everyone often has to choose
between what he knows to be the right
thing and what he knows to be the
wrong thing. The decision may be
trifling or 1t may be important; but it
has to be made. With some the right
course Is always taken; with others It
Is sometimes taken; with still others
IL Is seldom taken. The right course
IL easy or difficult according to
custom. 1t Is the habit of right
choosing that makes right choosing
easy. The opposite Is equally true.
Temptation, of whatever kind, carries
one In defending path that ever
grows sleeper aud sleeper, and makes
u return even more and more difficult.
The one is typiiied by the easy decent
into Avernus: the other by the dis
couraging attempts of SiSyphus to
roll stone up mountain side. We
are then to conclude that character is
determined not by n rough act of
choice but by the habit of choice. 1t
Is only when the choosing of the
right, In any and all delicate and
difficult situations, become habitual
and easy that character has become
established. 1t IL when this habitual
choice has become 80 established MS
to be recognized rs inevitable
that character becomes an element of
trancendent power and success. II
character, as | have asserted, Is the
result of choice, and IL in this respect
IL is exceptional, it follows that the
building up of character is the most
practical means of success. But, let
us ask what Is the value of success in
the estimation of the world? We are
accustomed to think so much of
the training of our minds, and of
the acquiring Of this or that piece of
knowledge, that we do not sufficiently
realize just what success requires. 1t
not only demands knowledge. We
too often forget that the worlds
market asks for much more than
talent; it asks for the power to make
talent trusted So, too, in the whirl
and reek of political affairs, we some.
times, for the moment grow discour-
aged and do not keep sufficiently In
mind the indubitable fact that the
great heart of the people does in the
end insist upon the right. Our faith
In our institutions has begotten
negligence; and negligence always
bears bitter fruit. But nothing is
more certain than that the American
people inst upon character as the
foremost condition of their heartiest
allegiance. Seldom do the facts of q
great mans life seem to Justify the
estimate In which he Is held. w,
cannot account for very large part OF
the estimate popularity placed upol
Washington and Lincoln by tht
simple record of their exploits. II
was so of Sir Philip Sidney, of tn,
the Earl of Essex, of Sir Walter
Raleigh and of John Hampden
There is certain something about
some men that begets an expectation
that outruns all performance, and ye
that leaves ns fully satisfied"