The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1896-06-12
LOCAL COMMENC EMENT.
THE NORTH STRICT SCHOOL.
Issccn laureate by Rev. u, u. lenSth In
.ulrlnu TALL. ~. the Class by Rev =, NJ
Crothers THE Glass Reception and
Alumni Bn MQuet.

| CrOthcrs Glass kecfpttoh "h'
Alumni Bn MIuet.
The commencement exercises G
North street school opened Sunda
evening with tn, haccalan.eat" scr
mon which was given hy Kew. +. II
Leavitt. Music was furnished by TIN
Baptist choir and Lucien Howe pre-
sid.d at the organ.
| The baccalaureatc sermon wa, SiV'i
by Rev. r.. b. Lcavitt ut the Unitarian
church Sunday evening and II was
discourse sing,ilarly rich in thought and
uplfting in sentiment. His topic was
the Hope that Puriiicth'', and his text
from John 3 b. MANY people, he SAID
80 whom u thought of God Is indislinct, an'
scarcely available for immediate use, can D'
from sin by n hope that they have OF some ia,
accomplishing noble task. ihdecd. KNOW o
nothing that makes me put mort conn.Sn III. ~
young man or woman than 10 ulscuIn t,,'.t ~ "
She has plans and hopes for Il fufurc' that nc u
concerned now, In these present days, WIN
castle. building about future. Gladstone only
In his teens was debating ut = room OF an uN
ford Union, ana was already IN parliament
when lust OF age Disraeli, In spite Of an out
ward vanity and display OF his early youth ~
spite OF fippancy that seemed ~ ieas., u
characterize him, had nope I'D nun that purheo
a deep purpose in his soul 10 make name TO be
u leader; and with disadvantages social ana pc
lltical such as we In this country cannot under
stand, he made himself strong and great, as his
hope was strong and great. NO one can Know
possibly what hone there Is in this girl or that
This lad or that no ono knew that q steam en-.
CINE was In q boys head century or so ago
or that circulation of the blood, or mat u the
DRY Of probabilities. or that the origin OF species.
sThc Last Supper" or sistinc Madonna
were all hopes that have purified, strengthened
and controlled youth and men in different
com trip af hiHerent times. luc ONLY DpOp q
we shall have to fear are the lads anu girls VINO
have no hopes In themselves. Inc lawyer VINO
lives In a little cell of law, ana knows anu cares
for nothing else, ruins his health maybe, and
narrows his lie; but his hope AZ least saves
him from all the worst things OF life. The pes
thence that walketh in darkness anu tine de-
structiOn that wasieth AT noon'day, nc neeu hot
fear. Just as a physician who Is wrapped up IN
u hone of saving his patient, whose Imagination
Is not turned In on himself, but Is piercing the
darkness of ignorance, anu searching ~ tue
hooks and corners of science to find remedies
he l. safe from the contagion while another,
who comes trcmbingly TO - bedside fearful for
his own safety, il he who suffers malahy to lay
hold of him. One may almost compare this
hone To an armor One man walks the streets
wrapped in plans and schemes for fullliment
Of his hope; he Is wrapped 10 his business
thinking of his great railroad, or newspaper, or
property of one Kind or another ana " arrows
Of intempcrance and evil appetite. touch him
not, fall from his armor rs though they were
Hat headed; while another man. wrapped In no
-uCIl IfmpT, LOOKING ABOUT WIN ub Hbptt IN
pierced by every arrow that lcth IN his yicn-
ty. Let Il man be filled with the hope OF right
ng great wrong; let him feel the chains of
he negroes tearing his own Mesh, let him feel
he hunger OF the poor, or the nth OF their
dwellings himself: let him feel the poisonous
fapors of saloon ut every corner blowing Into
his own face, let him learn to hate the respect
,blc compaccncy that lifts aside its skirts from
me sin, when they were bought and paid for by
mother sin; let him come TO think of politics as
rational, and not as partisan, let III short, any
vii nf histimc rankle In his soul, ana that man
walks the world with an army IN his single nst,
md thousand shall fall at his side, and ten
thousand ut his right hand, but 1t shall not come
ugh him. Let man or boy have hope of be
omtng Ike some man he believes In and ad-
nircs. Let him feel M the time that 10 be the
nan he hopes to he, he must lac self-restraincd
ind strong and true, and 10 this hope In him
'urheth him, even As his hero Is pure. When /
men were filled with the hope of u country in |
which no state was sovereign, and no class OF /
men sovcreigns; then this hope purified men, |
made leaders and heroes and martyrs, made !
men and women unAeiHsh VINO had been /
houghtless idlers. and inspired the dainiiiy /
urtured TO court hardsbips, and in spite OF in. !
rigue and mismanagement and faroriteism, led /
n host to victory. II the hope is large and /
oble, so too, will lie the nation possessed by II.
I 1t be small and narrow-so, too, will be the I
tate. When the church had as It's prevailing
Opc worldly wrath and temporal power-then
became indeed the image OF the scarlet
conan. When the church demanded the over 1,
arrow OF games and mcrrment, and Numbered
gainst theatre and poet and dramaiist, and had
9 small a hope that no one who did not sing
salms through his nose was true to God, then
nc church was even as Its hope was. When 1T 4
rature il possessed only by the hope OF de-
riding accurately and In detail the common
outline OF life, high and low, and touches II not
. with the light of fancy--or transforms II not
18th the lima gination, then literature smiles from
omer TO Howcis, from Dante 10 Daudet. Give
lem pnched and wrinklcd in their sympathies
i've TO men the hope that soils-and ii sullies
e life. II Is like some drug that taken In the
'rm OF an innocent powder, soon by my sterious
courses through the veins boiis in
&c brain, drums In the pulse, and pushes the
cart To destruction. ON the other hand let the
,pc be indeed noble hope, and 1t, too gets
to and uuickens the blood, clears the brain,
arms the heart, Gains thc will, aud stcadies
c purpose. One is no more powerful than the ,
her II is only the man of vague desires, OF
if,iDg purposes. OF no hope, but of many con |
citing desires, only the woman whose hopes ! ,
c ali centcrcd in her vain and self. conscious ,
II. whose aim is 10 BE thought well OF socially,
I'd whose standard for herself and Others Is
ercly what other people think OF her them {
is only thesc-and these are really the hope ,
SIS ones-from whom we are in danger. lie who |
easurcs what he wishes to do by what Christ {
Duld have donc' he who is disconnected with I
msclf, AS Christ would hare been discontinued ,
nh him he whose hope is TO make his business
his teaching, or his learning or the'houschold !
*, or his life itself a gilt worthy to be laid t
the feet of Him whose life was without fault. ,
,rily every one that hath this hope in him !
riiicth himself even as lie j. pure.
The exercises We're continued Mon y
AZ evening with the address to the
ass which was. made by Rev. ), N.
rothers. formerly pastor of the Uni
rian church here and now university G
stor at Harvard. The church had L
eu decorated for the occasion with :
urel auu ferns, punches of the laurel !
ing tied to the pews in the broad
sic. Le,tsinger' orchestra furnished !,
usic and the ushers were Misses
ellen Emerson. Annie Leonard. Annie o
richardson and Laura Pcntland. who .
so escorted the class to the seats re !
rved for them in the front of the =
urch. Prayer was offered by Rev. |
r. Leavitt. i
Mr.. Crothers' sermon .
Ii is no exaggeration to say that q
oh time AS this means more To N
ose who graduate from this school O
an any other one time. The work of 81
hool life, of education. differs from te
Ter works in that in almost every Il
ing else. which we undertake. we al
We mere or less clear perception
what it means before we begin, But =,
work OF the school we have no per =
,tIon AS to why we entered. what all n,
S preparation is about. and it is g,
y slowly that there comes reaiza- ~.
n of why all this pains has been ~;
en for us. Perhaps, it only comes h.
the very last day when we look -;
tx at the years that have gone and n,
mt the progress which was imper- ne
tible at the time If | was to ask t n,
at is the purpose of education. why 70
many years are spent in the school vel
IN many persons would give very o.,
ne answers. Some hardheaded, =