Evening star., 1896-10-21
lie EVENING STAR

( with vast estates and palaces, needing
only to purchase key for this big front
door, has right to be questioned, and to
| be heard. An institution in a community.
! that is to occupy Hfe time and thought of
scores of cultivated laborers, to control
capital by the milliehs and expend its in
come by the hundred thousands, to buil.l
! its walls for the centuries srd plan its
| campaigns by the thousand years, to fur
nish a home for mu1titudes of the sons and
daughters of the lSffi in critical time Of
ars and scientlstssI preachers and philolo-
gists. physicians and philosophers jurists
and statesnen-an institution thus pur-
posed and intrusted has right to the
1t is today In the center of American
| thought. Tine eyes CT millions of freemen
| are turned this way this hour. The pray
ers Of millions of believers are ascending
on behalf of the woEk occupying us at this
| moment; hearly half hundred common
wealths are turning this way, and states
unborn, struggling in the womb of the
nation, are listening to the plans here
crystallzing, and hearing the strokes of
the hammer bringing into place this cor
ner stone.
The Capitol Corner Stone.
Standing here this hour, with my back
to the mountains that stand about Har-
Der's Ferry. with it's memories so dear to
every patriot. and with my face toward
! yonder Capitol building, 1 am reminded Of
another ceremony. not wholly unlike this.
| 1t took place September 1s. 1793 one hum
ared and three years and one month ago
last Sabbath. Methinks l can see 1t now.
There is the noble form of Washingtc ton,
surrounded by heroes of the revolution and
officers Of the infant republic, crossing the
Potomac yonder. ana walking up onto that
hill In the thick forest, and there with ap-
DroDriate service and ceremony he laws
the corner stone of the first building of the
national capital. How meager and strange
ha yISr.tt
hot battlefielss can not yet talk plainly. 1t
can only shout the battle cry of freedom
With army dispersed and unpaid, with
treasury empty. with the nations of the
because 1t was too weak to heed. with
sparse settlements along the Atlantic
coast, with wild and unknown continent
stre1ching ,,, toward the setting sum- the re-
public seemed ike mere dreamer or
mere trapper camping in the Wilderness
Surely those were prophets that gathered
on yonder hill In the woods and laid that
corner stone They looked over the bulge
OF the world and saw the teeming future.
fonder magnificent Capitol with its cham
bers and halls, and stairs and plateaus
ana ana columns and pillars and carved mar
DieS' ana statues and dome, and towering
Goddess OF Liberty catching the first rays
or the morning sun from the Atlantic and
| the last rays from the western plains. that
,,aseiy structure the wonder and admira-
1'on OF all the civilized peoples of the
.arth stood complete in the faith of that
NIUE group of patriots as they stood there
tnat long ago day in the woods and lai.l
Inc me corner i,s stone OF the first Capitol build
ing, with blows that echo round all the
word and through all coming centuries
NOT unlike their conditions and task are
our cohhitions and task. We are in an
open field beyond the wood on a hill law
ing corner stone. not of the capitoI of q
fatlon. but of a university Of great peo-
pie They had three and one-haIf millions
or OF people scattered in the wilderness. Out
nf
or people. members and adberents IN a
'hlckly settled and wealthy land. They had
young nation back of them We have
great nation, and q great Professionalism and
great church back of US. They had the
ialtf or the patriot to inspire them We
nave the faith of the patriot and OF the
CHRISTIAN to inspire hs. Did they go for
ward? We can go forward in the name of
God. Did they succeed to the toy of tbe,r
children? We shall succeed to the ioy of
God. VI
We are only dischargirg duty. w. are
sprung from heroic ancestry Our IA
tiltrS Went forth empty -harIded to build \.
church and d nation. They drove ont the
ssVaSes and tie wild Leasts and subdued
the continent and built ii full of CITIES ani
towns and houses and comforts Witb
their blood in our VEINS and their achieve
n'ents in our inheritance we have no right
TO plan or do little things. AS Caesar said
70 the frightened sailors on the storm.
Mediterranean: Fear not YOU have Caesar
on board. so we cah say: THE world has
r!Sht 10 expect achievements and courage
iIoIn rom us, we are CT the conquering race"
bu.y demands from us great achievements
we are the heirs of priceless liberties
ana not one right do we claim that was moi
Wrenched from fierce enemies with the red
ss nalus OF heroic battle Have We religious
freedom? 1t cost the fires of Smithfield
Have We freedom of speech and of the
press? 1t cost the long and bloody strifes
OF the English-speaking peoples Have we
poiitlcal freedom? 1t cost the bloody trail
from Concord to Yorktown. Have We uni-
Fersal freedom? 1t cost the long and Grim
son struggle from Fort Sumter to Appo-
mattox. Mankind has a right to expect
much of US.
The age in which We live demands of us
great achievements. We are no longer
provincial; We are cosmopolitan: citizens of
the world. There are no strangers; all peo-
pies are tributary to All the treasure
houses OF the world are open to us All
knowledge Of the ages beckons to us
Nothing seems impossible. We can meas
ure the millionth part of an inch: We can
create diamonds: we can whisper two thous-
and miles and hear the breathing of the
man with whom we are whispering: we can
see through triple bars of bones and flesh.
Secrets are no longer safe in the heart
We can amass fortune by the hundred mil
lions in A single lifetime We have no right
to do small things.
Intrusted With Vast Respons ri litics.
we are tntrusted with vast treasures
and must measure Up to vast responsible
ties. The man who receives fifty millions
as patrimony has TO right to keep a pea
nut STALL Nature keeps a one-priced store
She sells only to him who pays the price;
and whoever puts down upon her counter
the value Of an article can take the goods
50 she holds all her servants and agents
and debtors to a strict account. She has
her sleepless eyes open upon rs. If we do
not use and improve our talent and gain
other talents, she will recover her gifts
and send us to the eternal poor house We
must win or go under. Nature has no time
to shllly shally. In this enterprise we are
only meeting imperative obligations
Ihe university has the right of way She
mas this because she takes Us up into the
invisible world of forces, into the world of
ideas. All forces are invisible. Power
never took you by the hand. 1t never
looked you In the face. You never saw its
form or color. l never saw my own soul
nave hunted for 1t everywhere 1 have
gone into my body and searched for it
everywhere-down in the center of the
bones. In the pivots Of the joints, eyery-
"here. l have taken my best chemistries
ana strongest microscopes and have
h"nted through all the SOO,OOO,OOO cells of
my Draln, but nowhere can 1 find my soul.
~ never comes out to me. 1t may be yon-
der among the stars while am hunting
In hfc