Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1896-06-12
B, H. s. COMMENCEMENT.
Twenty-Three Pupils Receive
Diplomas.

The Finished Address Before the Glass
Last Evening by President w. J Tuck
er of Dartmouth College.
The baccalaureate sermon before the
High school class of 1896 was preached in
the Baptist church at o'clock Sunday af-
ternoon by Rev. f. B. Leavitt. There was
a good attendance of the parents and other
friends of the young people. The music
was by Lucen Howe at the organ and the
chorus choir of the church. Mr.. Leavitrs
text was the striking passage from Jere-
miah, 18th chapter, 9th verse: 1t thou
hast run with the footmen and they have
wearied thee, then how canst thou contend
with horses?" The lesson of the sermon
vas the necessity of preparation for the
work and business of life. All of us find
ourselves tired at times of the plainness of
our lives; we are wearied with our little
place in the world, with our monotonous
round of petty duties, and we long TO strike
out and do some great thing or something
that is easier or more profitable. We have
run with the footmen until we are weary,
and now we want change 1t is to those
who feel thus that the words of the text
are directed. There is very strong ten
dency in these days of ours to forget or be-
with the footmen before one can mount the
chariot and drive where he will. Our
young folk are wont to imagine that there
is a short cut to fortune or fame; they see
how success has come to men whom they
honor and admire, but they forget or do
not know about the long years of drudgery
and preparation which enabled them to
grasp their opportunity when 1t came.
Men say that they have not time to 60
through college or the professional school,
or to study and practice and prepare them
selves to do something worth while in the
world, when the fact is that they have not
time not to prepare There are few sadder
| sights in the world than that of the man
who is given an opportunity to do some
thing and who fails because he has not the
| mental or moral muscle to accomplish the
task How such a man longs for the wasted
years that went before; how he wishes he
| had trained his mind and schooled himself,
and gained self control, so that when the
great chance to be strong came he would
have been equal to the task.
And it is Just as necessary to prepare for
| happiness as for woe, TO be a man in the
time of rejoicing as in the time of disaster,
| in the hour of success as in the hour of fail
ure. You will cloud and spoil your happi-
ness If you cannot 90 to 1t clean and pure
90 to it having kept yourself above re-
proach so that you may greet it and take ii
| to your heart without shadow of regret
or remorse. Oh, so many spoil the sweet
est things in life in that way. They did
not stop TO think in the reckless days, in
the days of temptation, that sometime, per
haps, the angel of goodness would beckor
to them and they would be ashamed to go
or that they would be obliged to go cover
ing up the filthy rags of shattered mora
life; or that when messenger came offer
ing them the great ambition or the Utmost
desire of their lives. the answer must be
"If thou hast run with the footmen and
they have wearied thee, how canst thou
contend for me, and defend me, and keeI
me?' No man ever ran along pluckily
and kept at it through fatigue and disap
pointment, but at last he was rewarded
Happy indeed the warrior whose prophetic
insight tells him this, and who holds him
self true; who tramples down temptation
and puts spurs to Incidence, and keeps
himself as though he had been anointed fol
that glorious time when he shall at las
possess his dearest wish.