The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-06-02
COMMENCEMENT At
RALEIGH ACADEMY
One of the Finest Schools
For Boys.
AN OLD INSTITUTION
Mr.. Morson Has Been It's Principal
For Twenty-Five Years.
AsPLENDID ADDRESS BY PROF. CARLYLE
His Subject Was The Coming Century. It;
Crisis and Its Call" A Memorial
Medal to be Given. The List
Cf Honors.
CT Honors.

The closing exercises of Raleigh
Male Academy were held yesterday
morning.
This is an occasion that is always
terest by the people of Raleigh, for
it is in this famous school that their
boys have for many years been pre-
pared for college or the business Of
life.
For exactly quarter of century
this great work has gone on under
the present well-known principal,
Mr.. Hugh Morson; and in most able
manner has he discharged his du-
ties.
I'm the beginning of my remarks,
said Prof. j.. b. Carlyle, who deiv-
cred the annual address yesterday,
II want to congratulate my audience
and the people of Raleigh generally
upon this splendid school. 1t is an
institution second to none of its kind,
not only in North Carolina but in
the whole South. My connection for
many years with Il college (Wake
Forest) to which it sends "A large
per cent of its pupils has given me
ample opportunity to judge Of its
work. The record its students have
made, for industry, character and
scholarship, is second to none. There
fore I congratulate the people of Raj
cigh upon having in their midst an
institution that does such excellent
work"
The address was delivered by Prof.
J. b. CARLYLE, of Wake Forest College.
His subject was The Coming Cen
tury-lts Crisis and its Call 1t was
thoughtful discussion of a timely
topic, carefully prepared and deliver
ed in eloquent language. There was
not one dull or uninteresting sentence
in the whole address. and those pres
cnt listened to it with close and most
apprecative attention.
There come times" he said "in the
history of men and nations when the issues
of an eternity seem crowded into an hour.
This is the grandest of all centuries.
1t has witnessed more triumphs of the
arts of civilization, a wider spread of the
gospel and a more general upward move
ment of humanity than any ten previous
centuries have known.
Wonderful as the century has been in
production, in promise it is even more
wonderful We are but standing in the
twilight of the things that were and the
rcddenng dawn Of things that are to be. -
Three elements the speaker found to
characterize the crisis of the century:
j. spirit of gross materialiSm.
,. A spirit of sordid selfishness.
3. spirit of goddess skepticism.
The first spirit, he said. finds express
sion in the vast aggregations of wealth,
crushing out the individual and substitute
ing therefore great soulless corporations.
The spirit of selfshness is manifested
In the dedication of the dollar and the
effort to acquire it at any and all cost
And beneath all is found the deep, dark
spirit of skepticism
Ito meet these three and master them
is the supreme task of the coming CEN
fury. They make the crisis of which |
speak, and to meet them is the call"
The speaker then pointed out that it
was not wealth or resources or a glorious
past that constituted a great State
Its definition is found in Christian
homes and contcnted people, he added.
ITO make these three things are essen
tial: "a Manual labor well applied (2)
mental vigor rightly directed, (3) moral
excellence.
THE call of the century is through
these channels.
Forests must be felled, highways con-
structed and homes built before the foun-
dations of civilization are laid. Coal and
iron must be taken from their hiding
place in the earth. and this must be fol-
lowed by the erection of forge and fac
tory. And this is labor.
Now of manual labor l have two OBJ
servances to make: ID 1t must be skill
full. ca it must be comfortable.
THE savage stands helpless in the
presence of the powerful forces of nature.
Why? His efforts are not skillfully APP
piled. 1t is not the lecture of the sage.
but the labor of the worker that marks
the path of civilization.
Then labor must have comfortable sur
roundings. l plead for labor. No civili-
cation can be great, no progress be real
where the workers are wretched. The Ia
boring class sets the pace of real prog
ress.
Learning is fair goddess before whom
we bow in deepest reverence. Labor is u
giant with the power of the universe at
his command. Learning divorced from la
Dor scars in the cloud. Labor divorced
from learning is a blind Sampson grind
ing in mill. But linked they become
two of the mightiest powers in the Crea-
tors beneficent purposes.
I'VE have heard much of tho man be-
hind the guns. but greater and grandcr
than he is the man behind the plow and
the hoe. These are the men that move
forward civilization and bring things to
pass
Little it matters to you, as passen-
ger on railway train how fare the men
and women in the Pullman, but it is to
you a matter of the most vital Importance
how the engineer and fremen in the cab
are farng. On the comfort and skill with
which they do their work depends your
safety.
1.-The comfort and skill of labor, there
fore, are part of the call for the coming
century
There must be light. intelligence, edu-