The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1895-05-31


eternal. The speaker compared the
poet with the inventor, scientist and
scholar, showing that his mission is
the highest.
The graduates just passing life's
threshold will find the truest friends
in the muses.. This is called the prac-
tical age, but every age has been
thought so by those living in them.
The golden age is beautiful myth,
an evanescent dream. The poet con-
tinues to-be as he always was, seer.
This barren age of ours will blossom,
if we look at it with the poets eye.
Poetry has survived scientific
theories. The fears of those who
fear that the new science has destroy
ed poetry are unfounded. 1t has not
nailed up the doors of the muses..
The speaker compared the impress
siveness of truth expressed in the form
of poetry and of prose. The form
makes a difference. 1t is the business
of the poet to make the truth inspire
US. The poet is the priest in the
temple, at the altar his touch is
lighted, and he comes forth to impart
the thing divine. The speaker illus
trated his point by quotations from
poets to compare them with truths
stated in commonplace language.
The poets help US to see and feel the
common-places of life. They turn dry
truths into pictures. They must see
farther than those to whom they sing.
The only adequate aim of poetic en-
deavor is to present most plainly the
truths stated. Poets make US feel
whence we come and to what we
aspire to. They tell us the hope and
outcome of life, and they will not let
us be satisfied until we rest in Gods
light.
The various questions of life must
be answered by the poet. He tells us
that there is an object to the expert
ences of trials, tolls and privations of
life. He reconciles US to disaster and
pain by telling US how we may adj
vance by them. He gives us the souls
vision of it's true goal. 1t is not what
man does that exaults him, but what
he would do. If you fail, measure
yourself by your ambition. Live in
the sunlight on the hill-tops. This
ambition can exist in every walk Of
life, no matter how low and humble.
The poet sees human life with it's
scars and wrinkles, in the light of
Heaven, revealing the good and the
noble.
The poet must accept scientific in
vestigations, but neither he nor we
need be discouraged by them. He has
a wider and more glorious universe
than ever, and ought to see in it a
wider manifestation of human life,
and greater possibilities for the fu-
ture. Much of the material of the
ancient poets cannot be now used.
We can see that the scientific dis
coveries but add evidence of God. Is
not the fact of evolution speaking bet
ter for man? Better to have arisen
from jungle and care than to have
fallen from Heaven. Better to have
arisen from nothing than to have been
cast out from among angels. The
destiny of this being we can measure
better by the length of it's develop
menU.
The poet keeps alive within US the
hope for better future. Slowly does
the world move forward-but it does
move. When materialism is most
triumphant we hear the song of the
poet more clearly, bringing message
of hope and consolation.
The next number was a solo and
chorus, Fret not Thyself Today"
and, "Tis the Last Rose of Summer"
by Mi Esther Grannis and the ladies
chorus of some twenty voices. 1t is
needless to say that the number was
most excellent one.
A note was received from Congress
man McCleary stating that engage
ments and an accumulation of official
business kept him from being present.
The duty of presenting the diplomas
to the graduating class therefore de-
volved upon President Soaring, who
impressed upon the members the
necessity of continuing to study, in
order to keep advancing. He urged
that the class make systematic
study of subjects other than those
which they would teach. He urged
that the members put enthusiasm in
to their teaching, which would take
away the drudgery of work and slim
ulate the students. Give lessons by
example and perhaps by precept in
morality and the virtues. He well
coined the graduates into the grand
profession of teaching, and again
urged them to continue to study, and
predicted that they would honor
themselves and the state.