Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1896-06-25


altogether too concaye.
Some men have the faculty OF wear
ing either kind according to circum
stances. II OF money, men have
plenty. their spectacles disclose host
OF friends, seemingly so at least but
let reyerses come, ever so suddenly
and how quickly they seem to have
changed glasses for truly AS Chaucer
said:
Poverty spectacle is, as thnketh me.
Through which men may their friends see
This assertion is equally true In one
Of the most solemn and awful exper-
fences OF our lives; the time Of court
ship and marriage. For before
marriage men see good qualities which
their sweet hearts do not possess and
after marriage they never see the
good qualities which their wives do
possess. Such glasses must be some
what variegated.
In this our own time when people
are so willing to wear the glasses of
prejudice, envy and jealousy, we can
easily see that:
II n gentleman waits upon Mary Jane Ann
That gentleman being popular man.
All the ladies in town will be fun TO the brim
or reasons why she is not suited To him
She's thoughtless and vain, she's coquetish
they'll say,
And then its secret don't mention IL pray.
One eye tooth is false and her temper's so bad
What much nicer girl Mr.. Blank might have
And all this proves. we may say, as we pass
That the lenses here used We're "A fine yellow
glass.
What kind of glasses do we wear in
our contact with each other? Do we
see the good or only the evil done by
our associates? And is this all we live
for? Do we live simply to detect the
flaws in The character Of our friends?
Better far to seek the beam in our own
eye, to dig deep into the vitals of our
own faults and then appear with not
only good reputation but a good
character as well. 1t matters little
what our friends think of us for they
may use very different language in
expressing those thoughts before us
than to others. Burns appreciated
this when he said,
20 wad some power the gtftie gle us,
To see oursels as ithers US"
Had we this power, we might per-
haps model ourselves into very differ
ent men and women. We have it not,
but we can at least be happy if we will
only look upon the bright side Of
things.
There is a bright side to the political
specs, although in the main they are
SO smoky that the wearer can scarcely
tell where "he is at, as one of our
| illustrious statesmen has said. But
still we continue To wear them and
blindly follow our party leaders. Dem
agOgues madly saw the air with their
huge fists, and call upon the poor
laboring men, the deluded farmers,
the great capitalists, TO try on their
free-silver specs and they'll have such
IA view Of economics as never before.
File on the great American people, let us
read and think and form judgements
according to our own spectacles, in
and through our own selves.
But oh! What mixture of crystal
in the religious glasses. Great big
round lenses, one convex and one con
cave, for the Congregatonalsts: a
smaller pair with decidedly plain bows
for the Methodist creed; while the
Baptists wear just one little oblong
deep water glass. May there be a
time when this turmoil and division
will cease, when all will look through
Christian glasses and view men rs
Christians without reference to creed
when all will look through the same
glasses as Christ did when he said,
"She hath done what she could"
Classmates, tonight is our com
mencement, our past lives have been
devoted TO obtaining an education,
and trust that we all wear the glasses
which will enable us to look upon ed
ucaton in its true sense. Some
spectacles produce fads, but real
education is that which prepares us
for our future sphere of action. That
knowledge which enriches the mind
which moderates its desires, which
teaches TO make Il right use OF time
and to promote the happiness of others
is indeed true education and we'll
worth a lifetime spent in its quest.
Dear teachers, we thank you for your
patient untiring assistance. When we
were discouraged you cheered us with
words of comfort when in need of help
you were always ready to show US the
way. And now tonight we must go
forth from under your guiding hands
to face the vicissitudes of life alone.
Farewell to you then, each and every
one and when in after years your mind
wanders back to that class of '96, re-
member that you aided them in laying
firm foundation which no after tide,
however great, could quite erase.
Members of the board of education,
to you also we owe debt OF gratitude
which we feel we never can repay.