Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-06-07


value. Your graduation is typical Of
much that we find in actual life. it is
both an end and a beginning end
that has been sought by laborious
study and a beginning of another stage
enter on some new course of activity.
Education is life process, there are
various stages, but no final end: and
it is all-cOmprehenSive, including
everything which contributes to the
fuller development of life.
There is the education of body and
mind, of hand and brain, of reason
and feeling, Of conscience and will,
the harmonious unfolding of all the
pOWerS-that is the educational ideal.
[ would point you to it tonight and
urge you to make it the goal of your
highest ambitions.
| do not mean that you should dream
of what is too far away and utterly
impractical le-losing sight of the
immediate needs of life: your duty is
to live, and yet the purpose of educa-
ton is not to make a living but to
make the most of life. To make life
greater should be the ultimate aim of
education. intellectual attachments
are of value as they are under the
control Of lofty moral motive,
as they help to eXalt and enrich the
quality of life. There is no word CT
counsel we need more today than that
we have in the song of the poet.
"Be good sweet maid,
And let who will be clever,
Act noble deeds, not dream them all day long.
And SO make life, death and the great forever,
One grand, sweet song"
Our excessive intellectualism- this
rapid and one-sided development of
life makes it seriously defective.
What does it avail if we are not good:
1t will not help us to achieve anything
of enduring value. If cleyernesS is
the only result of all instruction and
learning we shall be proud and
naughty. acknowledge puffeth up"
to know many things without under
standing them-WithOut seeing their
meaning-the divine thought in them
leads to irreverence: where the spirit
of reverence is lacking life becomes
shallow and tiippant.
Our age is not an improvement on
the past because we are mentally
quicker and smarter, this accomplish
ment does not give any element OF
permanence to life, weneed something
more than the flash of brilliance
which quickly goes out into the dark,
ness. CleverneSs has often corrupted
and destroyed the life. If the intel,
lectual life is not nOuriShed from q
root of virtue, it will wither and
perish, however brilliant its
attachments. Neither can a nation
be kept alive by clever men and
women, without the moral element
they would become multitude OF
selfish Schemers. 1t is imperative
that we realize this truth in time
when intellectual achievements have
such faSCinatiOn-When our ad
miratiOn and praise may be SO eXceS
Siye that we forget the supreme value
of goodness. 1t is not what we know
that is the chief thing, but what use
do we make of our knowledge, it is
better to know a little and make 6
good use of it than know much anC
pervert it to selfish ends. Hence, &
true education must teach US the
purpose of life, must show us why we
are learning all these facts anC
principles-why we are going through
this diScipline-that it is not to make
us quick and clever to Outwit another
but wise to make right use of life
to give us noble idea of life-tO help
us to see its SacredneSs and possible
greatness and inspire us with the
ambition to attain it.
The attitude of the mind to what
we see and know is of greater i'm,
portance that all knowledge and
accomplishments, because of this |
want to speak Of it tonight.
How you look at thingS-at life-at
the wOrld-what impression they
make on yOu-tO see everything in
such way that it greatenS your life
that is my word to you as you &c
forth into the world.
Reverence is my theme, and though
[ have only time to point out how vital
it is if your life is to have any real
worth, | hope it may lead you to think
more of it.
ITO cultivate reverence" says Car
lyle, ''tO teach us whom we are to
revere and admire, should ever be the
chief aim of education, it is herein
that all instruction properly both
begins and ends"
Reverence begins with intellectual
and moral inSight-with the power to
see differences and diStictiOns. Our
democratic theory of equality does
not mean there are no distinctions
and yet the leveling process seems to
wipe them out. A generation which
claims unlimited liberty to slap any
and everyone. from deacon tC
governor, on the back, and call him
old horse, makes a serious misuse OF
the doctrine Of equality, "Such an one,
said Goethe, tries to prove himself
my equal by being rude"
This element Of irreverence is pre-
valent in our American life, it jokes
about the most sacred things, uses
slang phrases to speak of those whose
names ought always to be uttered with
respect, has no sense of awe before
greatness or grandeur. the effect OF
this is to bclittle life-tO lose sight of
the great and sublime, making all
things small and common.
But if we are to be a great people
we must have reverence-an intelli-
gent admiration of those wonders
which fill the world, we must be able
to see and appreciate what is great in
thought, and character, and deed, we
must honor moral greatness and give
it the first place among all the ideals
which are to shape our lives.
To build up characterize make
noble men and women is the end of
life. The true Educator works for
this grand result. To be educated is
to be educed-drawn out-unfolded-
to realize our posi- bilities-to become
what we were made for. Reverence
is one of the first essentials of this
culture, the foundation of all real
greatness.
/ wish now to call YOUR attention to