The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-06-24

all churches from the venerable church
of Rome to the most modern develop
ment OF reasonable moral faith when
may nearly fit the newest intidel.
If the Calvnist believes there Is
hell for infldels, the infdel replies that
the Calvinist would go there for con-
signing his felloWman to such des-
tination.
Pride of station developed into eX-
elusive hauteur is a curse of the day,
which judicious education should lift
one above. 1t ordinarily is most con-
spicuous among the swagger set, as 1t
is called. Gentlewomen in whom the
strain of learning and culture is pre-
served, never sWagger. 1t is the reck-
less rudeness of riches that rides
roughly over the proprieties that no
one else ever questions. BE earnest
striving men and women, democratic
citizens of a democratic country, where
the ultimate faith and trust must be
reposed in the people.
In 1895 the Legislature of Massachu-
sets, by deliberate act, put the flag OF
the United States of America on every
school house in the state. Note the OBJ
ject lesson of that flag as it floats over
the boys and girls of America. This
year it is appropriate to mention your
own connection with it. Your senior
year in school has been one of signal
triumph for American arms. Before
the Spanish war you doubtless passed
In and out Of the school under its
folds, not observing its silence influence
upon you. If you noticed it at all and
stopped to consider it, you recognized
it as the flag under which you live,
which gave you protection, to which
you gave a cheerful allegiance. But
those were the weak piping times of
peace" as Black Richard called them.
When last year you stood under its
folds, it became to you another thing.
1t was the flag under which your
brothers and friends were defending
the countrys honor. How each star
took on lustre, how each stripe red
dened in the sun with the flush of vic
tory on them. Then you could say Il
am proud, indeed, to stand beneath the
flag which our fathers followed through
the bloody war of civil strife, and which
yesterday inspired my brother in the
held of Ell Caney and swept at the
head of the army at the hill of San
Juan, which floats over the conquering
battleships of our navy, side by side
the pennant of Schley and a Samp-
son, and where the admirals flag of a
Dewey streams over all"
All my young friends cherish always
81 Jul llCcti VI HedIlS TIE nag Wnlcn
is the concrete embodiment of your
country, and which is the only thing on
earth which takes precedent in the
love of patriot over father and mother,
Wife and child, when the necessity
comes for you to follow it wherever it
leads, even to the death.
Col. Hopkins then spoke in regard 10
dignity of character, which should b.
an outcome of education, and c)ntin-
ued:
The use of profanity as a method Of
emphasis, and without any wicked
ness at heart-that kind of meaning
less swearing which is so unpardonahly
prevalent among young men. is most
damaging to such dignity l feel l can
not except from the catalogue of the
vulgar, the startling slang which some
girls, who are otherwise very nice
girls" assume, and which has given
them the name of the slang girls of the
period. Do any of you think it is in
keeping with the dainty dignity of
maidenhood? All the tendency of the
age to mannishness in dress and con-
duct and toward the kind of Bohemian
life, is fecked with vulgar spots
1t is pardonable, to be sure. when it
leads to nothing actually bad. Lut it
is too often followed with such man
ners and habits as are in contraven-
ton with the old truism. Familiarity
breeds contempt" The truth is that
the tendency to appear fast, if not to
be fast, is in its nature vulgar In
many cases extreme devotion to fads
is vulgar. In truth, going to the ex-
IRENE in any quite innocent fashions
and habits, has the stain of vulgarity
So there is little faint of the vulgar
in the exaggerated and hyperbolic vo-
H. loo ., I'll,
tent, chiefly among young ladies, and
it has a tendency to tarnish and low RI
the standard of dignfied character IN
spite of its Stiffness. Such as lawfully
good" and lawfully bad" lawfully
pretty and ''awfully homely," when
in fact none of them are awful.
1t seems to be a kind Of substitute
for swearing. As l have said before.
these things are pardonable in them
selves, but when they are allowed toI
run riot and establish themselves into
firm habits. they are derOgdtory to
dignity. In almost every new AMI at
tractive feature of modern life there
is much that is good. 1t is only in
abuse that we find mischief One little
darling cigaret does no harm-It is the
habit that kills. When the bicycle as
a ladies carriage was questioned. il |
was chiefly on account Of the drift fCrI
boomers, and the fear that IT would
develop into a struggle for tights
Many things are countenanced in |
that artificial existence known as last
society, that outgrowth Of the extrava- |
gance of the wealthy, which cannot 3a
allowed to become recognized COncom-
itants of a proper educational system |
If the color Of gold can cover many |
deficiencies and follies, remember the |
0ub1ic school should never he aI1OWu,- |
to take on that hue.