The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1899-04-13

OF Wnat love he Will win. What makes
college commencement day so entranc-
ing to all of us as we see the students
receive their diplomas and take up the
garlands thrown to their feet. They
will be Faradays in science; they will
be Tennysons in roesy; they will be
Willard Parkers in surgery; they will
be Alexander Hamiltons in national
finance; they will be Horace Greeleys
in editorial chair; they will be Web
sters in the senate. Or she will be a
Mary Lyon in educational realms, or
Frances Willard on reformatory plat
form. or a Helen Gould in military hos
pitals. Or she will make home life ra-
diant with helpfulness and self-sacri-
fee and magnificent womanhood. Oh,
what bundle of garlands and scepters
from which l would not take one sprig
of mignonette nor extinguish one spark
of brilliance. They who start life with
out bright hopes and inspiring ambi-
tions might as well not start at all, for
every step will be failure. Rather
would add to the bundle, and if ] open
it now it will not be because wish to
take anything from it, but that may
put into it more coronets and hosannas.
Bundle of faculties in every man and
every woman! Power to think-to
think of the past and through all the
future. to think upward and higher
than the highest pinnacle of Heaven.
or to think downward until there is no
lower abysrn to fathom. Power to
think wrong. power to think forever,
for. once having begun to think. there
shall be no terminus for that exercise.
and eternity itself shall have no power
to bid it halt. Faculties to love-filial
love. coniugal love, paternal love. ma
ternal love, love of country. love of God.
Faculty of judgment, with scales SO
delicate and yet so mighty they can
weigh arguments. weigh emotions,
weigh words. weigh Heaven and hell.
Faculty of will, that can climb noun
tains or tunnel them, wade seas or
bridge them. accepting eternal en-
thronement or choosing everlasting
exile. Oh. what it is to be man! Oh,
what it is to be woman! Sublime and
infinite bundle of faculties! The
thought of it staggers me, swamps me,
stuns me, bewilders me, overwhelms
me. Oh. what bundle of life Abigail
of my text saw in David, and which we
ought to see in every human, yet i'm
mortal. being!
Know, also, that this bundle of life
was put up with great care. Any mer-
chant and almost any faithful house
holder will tell you how much depends
on the way bundle is bound. The
ccrd. or rope. must be strong enough
to hold, the knot must be well tied.
You know not what rough hands may
toss the bundle. If not properly put to-
gether. though it may leave your hands
in good order and symmetrical, before
il reaches its proper destination il may
be loosened in fragments for the winds
to scatter or the rail train to lose.
Now. have to tell you that this bun
die of life is well put together-the
body. the mind. the soul. Who but the
omnipotent God could bird such bun
die? Anatomists, Psychologists, physi-
cists. logicians, metaphysicians. declare
that we are fearfully and wonderfully
made. That we are bundle well put
together prove by the amour. of jour-
neying we can endure without damage,
by the amount OF rough handling we
can survive. by the fact that the vast
majority of us go through life without
the loss of an eye, or the crippling of a
limb, or the destruction of a single en-
crgy Of body or faculty of mind. sub
poena for this trial that rnaa in yonder
view, 20 or so years of age, and ask him
TO testify that after all the storms and
accidents and vicissitudes of Il long life
he still keeps bis five senses. and,
though all the lighthouses as old as he
is have been reconstructed or new lam
terms put in, he has in under his fore
head the same two lanterns with which
God started him. and, though the loco
motives of GO years ago were long ago
sold for old iron. he has the original
powers of locomotion in the limbs with
which God started him, and, though all
the electric wires that carried messages
25 years ago have been torn down, his
nerves bring messages from all parts Of
his body as well as when God strung
them rs years ago. Was there ever such
a complete bundle put together as the
human being? What a factory! What
an engine! What mill race! What
lighthouse! What locomotive! What
an electric battery! What furnace!
What masterpiece of the Lord God
Or, to employ the anticli-
max and use the figure of the text, what
a bundle!
Know also that this bundle of life is
properly directed. Many a bundle has
missed its way and disappeared because
the address has dropped, and no one
can find by examination for what city
or town or neighborhood it was in
tended. All great carrying companies
have so many misdirected packages
that they appoint days of vendue to dis
pose of them. All intelligent people
know the importance of having a val
liable package plainly directed. the
name of the one to whom it is to go
los