The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-06-26
WILL YOU WEAR THE WREATH ?
Glory of the Grown Is in
Winning 1t, Says DR..
Conrad.

convenient LOT me. lie SdlQ III part
| Nothing less than the best. This is
the winning motto of life. There is q
! coronation day for virtue and valor
There are crowns only for those who
will win them. Would you wear the
wreath? Win it. Can you? Yes. The
best is never beyond the reach of the
brave. For whom is the best? For all
who will pay what it costs. The best
is expensive. Pay for it or go without
it. The best has been bought and is
| offered, but it costs to appropriate it.
What is success? Not an end but
an effort. The Romans said it was an
end, sought it, lost it. The glory of
the crown is not in wearing it, but in
winning it. To be worthy of applause
and approval is vastly better than to
receive it.
We vainly fancy that circumstances
rule US out of the favored list of WIN
ners. Were we more talented we would
win. Not the talents we have, but those
we use, eXalt us. If we were rich We
would surprise the world with our N
erosity and in our leisure we would
make new codes, develop new philosO-
phies, and our discoveries and reVela
tons would startle and enrich the
world.
History says if we were rich We
would do no such thing. Our prosperity
would possibly make us sluggish, prob
ably make us imperiOus and certainly
not make us teachable and humble.
The condition favorable to a realiz-
alton of the brightest and best is just
the condition in which the average
man or woman of America finds him
self or herself. Americas greatness IS
due to the average citizen. Neither
poverty, nor riches favor the brightest
light, the swiftest progress, the surcst
success. The healthy wholesome mid
die ground is safest, sanest and surest.
How such a theme as this appeals to
the human heart. What wonders of as
piration are represented in the world
tonight. Life at it's brightest and braV-
est. That is what I want, says The
student just Ready to enter the COM
petitive strife of life's stern realities.
The totality of human aspiration
passes calculation. Striving for high
ideals is more earnest than most sup
pose. We need not lose faith IN the III
ture so long as men and women are
determined to be satisfied with nothing
less than the best.
We fail through distrust. The first
essential is to believe that you are not
barred from the best. Do not despise
your abilities or opportunities You
must win in and through them or rot
at all. Much is gained when faith that
conquers possesses the soul.
There is no cOncealing the fact that
for most people life is terrific StruS-
gle. In that lies its hope. The athlete
hardens his muscle through vigorous
training. Intellectually, life's brightest
is the hour of clearest perception and
readiest appropriation of truth. Not
wit but wisdom hallOWs. The adapta-
ton Of highest means to greatest ends,
this is wisdom.
Life at its brightest emotionally is
when the current of feeling runs strong
and is as pellucid as the waters Of the
Rhone, when waves of sympathy are
tidal; when love sweeps its course un-
hindered. Life is at its brightest emo
tionally when the stream is purest and
the love is most generous 1t is bright
est when the corrective, purifying cur
rent of divine love streams INTO and
through it, The debased nature Sinks
into darkness. Andrea del Sarto was
gifted extraordinarily. He was called
a second Raphael. He sold his brush
to base uses, he rioted in sOrdid pleas
ures. he run the round of earthly SEN
suality and, fOol-like, thought his life
was roseate and bright. See him,
hated of former friends, leaving his ia
Their and mother to starve, and last
dying in a h0vel and carried at mid
night to a pauper's grave. DO not De
deceived by the brightness which Is
meteoric and which leaves desolatlrn
behind it.
Volitionally, life at its brightest is
life at its mightiest assertions of deter
mination. Through trial, temptation and
adversely men become masterful. Will
lam Pitt endured hardships that fitted
him to save England from the little
Corsican. Patrick Henry shone bright
est when ne became Will for the Whole
house of burgesses and called nation
into being by sheer force of determine
ton Life at its brightest is life might
est in its maintenance of right, justice
and goodness.
Irrepressible cheerfulness is a privt-
lege and a duty. We owe it to the world
to tighten and brighten it. Not a cloud
on the horizon that is not an opportu-
nifty for an Illuminating presence.
The Bridal Veil fall of the Yosemite
leaps from the rocky lip hundreds Of
feet toward the valley. The winds eaten
ii, tear it into a million shreds and It's
lost for a time in spray; but the spray
throws out the rainbow of promise and
the waters gather again and descend in
columns of silver to the mountain base
The broken plan need not mean perma-
nGnt defeat.
Another characteristic of life at its
brightness is undying hopefulness. Goa
bless the soul that hopes in all
weathers Optimism is divine. 1t was
hope that caused Christ to face Calvary
and win salvation for a world. 1t is
| hope that keeps the hearth bright and
! nope that gives muscle to the arm that
wins bread for the household. Hope
rocks the cradle; nope watches the stu
dent; hope climbs the submits and it
/ is hope that wears halo of undyinS
/ beauty On the brow.
But life at its bravest suggests battle
and blood. The call Of the cross is to
/ trial nd tempest and then 10 summer
! skies and a celestial sunshine Of I'M
| changing peace.
The battle is hot. We advance with
/ our faces To the foe. Lies victories
/ have cost always. They are possible to
! all. There are no disabilities save those
sustained by sin that unfit man for
mastery Prescott blinded in 4 college
/ fracas vet wins the worlds approba-
/ ton. Parllman was an invalid. Steven
son fought invading disease, Thackeray
! struggled with poverty Franklin found
no hospitality in Philadelphia until he
/ won it. Hawthorne remained unrecOg-
nized for years. Charlotte Bronte
/ starved and struggled and wrote her
most famous book at the grave of her
/ dearest ones.
! The power Of bravery is unmeasured.
/ Man must be greater than his greatest
! deeds. Napoleon was vastly greater
! than Austerlitz. Meade was greater
/ than Gettysburg.
| Courage is one Of the noblest quail
| ties. Its wounds are always in the
breast; never in the back
The nobility Of courage is food for