The true northerner., 1900-06-20


quench them. They minister to their
own personal ease, amusement and
agrandizement, never to the veal of others.
They are soon seen through, thoroughly
known and righteously weighed. My
young friends, il is neither wise nor
beautiful, nor does il reveal strength To
live without high social aim and lofty
place, there are graduated spheres of in
fiuence open for all of you. Influence is
but a fragrance of character, and there
are some characters more fragrant
than others. When / speak of graduated
spheres of influence, | mean that there
are some spheres which are social and
nothing more There are others which
are civil and nothing more, and there are
more spheres i'm which the moral and re-
hgious influence take broad and deep
ranges. The fragrance of character may
be strong and beautiful in one or all of
these spheres; but let me remind you
that before sweet fragrance perfumes
the air, there must be the BLOSSOM the
flower; and the blossom is but the result
of natures forces brought to bear upon
the seed, or the root or the bulb. The
towering monument clothed in grandeur,
weaker only than the character in whose
honor it is erected, would totter and fall
were it not for the base upon which it
stands, and that would be utterly worth
less were it not for the broader, stronger
and il may be rougher foundation that
is under ground, hidden from sight.
And an influence which will perfume the
social, the civil, the moral and religious
spheres, must come from a character OF
the purest quality, and a character of
the purest quality must be born of un-
wavering principle Character without
principle cannot be trusted The execu-
tive forces of human nature are SO many
whirlwinds, so many cyclones in society,
without principle. Sheridan possessed
qualities which might have ruled the
world, figuratively speaking, if he had
| been a man of principle. Ills decision,
his energy, his indomitable will, TO say
nothing of his great mental ability un-
controlled by principle, made him one of
the most dangerous men who ever rested
upon the bosom of society. Controlled
by principle, these same qualities would
have made him far more renowned in
the moral world than ever his talents
have made him in the literary world.
Caesar and Napoleon were men Of
great talents and splendid executive abil-
ity, under the control of inordinate am
bition instead of moral principle. Byron,
whose name ! have already mentioned.
was mighty in intellectual power and
energy, enabling him to preach well, but
his practice was an abominauon TO socie-
ty, for want of principle. And the char
acters are numerous in which there was
the possibility of reaching the highest
spheres of influence, had il not been for
the want of moral control and direction.
go into the garden and collect hand
full Of fragrant leaves and blossoms, a leaf
from geranium here, a sweet scented
verbena there, blossom from migno-
nette bush, bud from rose bush, and
carrying them all in my hand in a
thoughtful mood and yet forgetful, at
last put them in my pocket. They are
not seen, they are hid from view. | go
into the house and instantly a little
prattler comes around me, and looking up
into my face, it says, What have you
got?" Il have got nothing" Yes, you
have, | can smell ity Presently my
friends comes shifting about me and say,
"Ah! you have been using your wife's
perfume bottle before leaving home"
You see, my friends, | cannot hide the
fact that there is some sweet smelling
substance about me; if | do not make
it known, it will make itself manifest.
1t is not otherwise with character. A
man who has really trained his heart
and enriched his affections and built up
for himself strong, beautiful character,
SO that he is generous and noble, can
not keep it long n secret. The fragrance
of that character will ditIuse itself
where he goes and make itself manifest.
So there are some people whose per
sonal influence ranges through whole
school, others whose influence is felt
through whole community, and still
others whose influence is felt to the far
whose influence is bounded only by hu-
manity itself. Truth and nature" says
an essayist, control the spheres" but
more properly | think it can be said that
the man of unblemished character con-
trolls manhood. After all, it is the essen
tial spirit that is cultivated within you
that will determine your manifold deeds,
and / can invoke no greater blessing up
on you than that which your teachers
have striven to inculcate, namely char
acter that in all ways will assert the
highest dignity that belongs to a human
soul BE brave in your faith, be cour-
ageous in your convictions; and when
materialism, indifference, doubt, ease and
unseemly pleasures claim you for theirs,
let your answer be what is expressed in
Carlisles Everlasting Yea" "And then
was it that my whole Me stood up in ac-
tive, God-created majesty and with
emphasis recorded its protest; | am not
thine, but free"
My young friends of the class Of 1900,