Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1900-06-14
Woodbury. Public School Com
mencement.

Interest been more manifest tnau On las
Thursday evening which marked the clos
ing of the present school yegf in Woodbury.
The graduates were given grand recep
ton, the audience filling the opera house il
every para On the stage which was beau
tifuily set with ferns and plants, was th'
graduating class, members Of the Board o
Education, pastors of the city and Principa
Frye. The Clayton cornet band furnished
the music, and that was delightful fea
ture of the evening.
Rev. A. l. Urban invoked the blessing
and then Principal Frey introduced Rev,
Geo. W. Tomson, pastor of the Frs
Presbyterian church, whose excellent ad
dressformed solid foundationfor the sweets
of essay, recitation and defamation by the
graduates. He said in part:
A story is told of gentleman who visited fol
the first time, that marvel of American scenery,
the Falls OF Niagara He stood speIl-bound, q.
gathering its waters from hundred lakes, y
a hundred thunders. His friends waited to heal
what they supposed would be q great outburst Of
admiration from his lips. When he spoke this
water power would turni'' We may be disposed
to smile at his practical, utilitaTian idea, but
confess TO a somewhat similar thought Tonight
as gaze into the faces OF this vast audience
y
and women OF the near and more distant future
II is beautiful spectacle, and one cannot but be
thrilled with admiration as he looks abroad
over this vast expanse of young aud joyous life
But cannot help being practical in my reffec.
ton tonight, like the man who instantly iell To
calculating the water power of Niagara. can
mot help thinking: What power this audience
represents; what machinery, social, moral, poll
teal il is capable of turning; what do not these
Young lives not represent, OF energy, of posi-
bihty, of achievement if each bright boy, and
each equally bright girl, should make the most
OF himself and herself.
we all know people who have never cared to
make the most of themselves. There are per
sons-by courtesy we call them persons-who II
they car have enough to eat, and enough to
wear, and reasonably good time, are content
In school, they studied just hard enough to pass
the examinations In the trades they have
chosen, they do a job about half well and then
wonder that they are not employed second
time They are Ia the world for what they can
get out of it, with the least possible use of them
selves-not to give to the world the pest that
good Methodist sister once in a Class meet
ting, was speaking very humbly about her ex-
pectations, Il viii be satisfied, said she, 'just
TO get into heaven. l will be satisfied 20 siG on
one of the back seats" But the shrewd. old
leader said: .'Sister, you had better try for a
front seat. the back seats are all full.
The back seats in every trade, profession and
calling In life, are full of those who desire to
live with the least possible exertion. There is
plenty of room in the front seats, for those who
are ready to make the most OF themselves. Or
as Daniel Webster once put il: There is always
lake it for granted that am addressing those
tonight, who uesire-snd who will desire when
they come to consider the problem of life with
PROPER seriousness to make the most of them
selves How is that to be done? ] will speak of
three things They are not all. but they are all
that win have time TO discuss tonight. Indeed,
can only speak of these in q most superficial
/. Purpose. Half the success of life is gained
in beginning right No one begins right who
does not have some definite purpose to move and
euide MIN, To drift aimiessly on the river of
time, from youth to old age, is to be no better
than piece Of wood. L. is better to have a
purpose lower than the highest. than TO have no
purpose at all. The bail strikes somewhere, even
though the gun be shot at random. But that is
not the way that an advancing army is checked.
Bows do not hit marbles by shooting anywhere in
the street. They aim at definite point and
mostly hit it. Certain it is, that they would sell
dom hit IL they did not aim. To have true and
definite purpose is the eternal condition Of max
ing the most OF ones self Nothing " III take the
a mute ingloriOus Milton Many Shakespeare
never got into print. Education will not Plenty
of educated men in the world to-day, are dis
NAL failures. Someone has said: 1t is the prob
lem OF society, what TO do with many OF the
young men it Is turning out OF its colleges and
professional schools" To make the most OF
ones self, one needs to start with clear and
definite purpose. Demosthenes had it, and it
made him the matchiess orator of Greece. 1t
lived in Napolean, who being told that the Alps
stood in the way of his armies. said: There
shall be no Alps, land the wonderful Smipion
pass was made It took possession Of the boy,
Warren Hastings, as he lay on the grass of the
ancestral estate that had passed into other
hands. He purposed that he would regain the
estate Nat had belonged to his fathers. That
purpose he pursued with calm, uncOnquerable
perseverance,, until the estates were his again.
The Earl of Beaeonsfeid one OF the most
brilliant of modern English statesmen, was
ehar When ~ iauph0d a M al
him into silence in his first attempt to address
the house of Commons, he said: The time will
come when you will hear me, and by his in
domitabie purpose he made the time come when
they were glad TO hear him, and proud to own
him as the premier of the Kingdom. do not
mean to tell you tonight, that you can all be
just what you purpose 70 be. Certain limitations
must be taken into consideration. Only about
eight persons in generation can be Presidents
of the United States twenty-five men supply
the demand for Presidential material for q CEN
fury. One may not do all that he aims to do,
nor be ali that he purposes 10 be. but sure it is
that he will not do the most nor be the best
without such aim and purpose.
IL Education. Education increases the value
of life as cultivation increases the value of
plants What magnificent roses we seel How
came they TO be SO large, SO glorious III their
perfectlOns Il has been done by cultivation,
which is another name for education. Someone
gives this illustration; Here is a bar of steel
worth S. Worked into horse shoes it is worth
$lO.50. Made into needles its value is increased
TO 1885, Made into knfe blades it is worth ,2S5,
while turned in balance wheels for watches its
value becomes S250OO0. That illustrates the
value of education 10 human life. The steel of
the common nature is worth certain amount
worth great deal, for 1t is the roduct of the
Almighty Father. Educated little, it is worth
still more. More highly educated its value is
correspondingly increased. The more highly q
person is eoucated-n0t merely filled with book
iearning-hut taught the true use of himself,
which IS real education, the more he can make
OF himself He comes to the problems Of life
with distinct Advantageous as a man who
has learned the use of tools, is more skillful in
the use of them than the unframed person.
When EestOr surged the Greek generals to at
tack Troy, he said: THE secret of victory is in
getting good ready" The secret of success in
life is largely in getting good ready Getting a
good education is getting good ready. Wendell
Phillips was once asked how he acquired his
mastery oratorical skill in delivering mis- lecture
on "The Lost Arts" the answer was: by get
ting hundred nights of delivery back OF it. :"
That is TO say, he got magnificent preparation.
as the basis OF making the most of himself in
OratOry. young man asked distinguished
writer and scholar his views on the subject Of
Education Said he: IF were twenty years of
age. and had but ten years to live, would spend
the first nine years in getting ready for the
TENTH" Thus he emphasized the Importance Of
education, as enabling him to make the most
of himself it'll nine years of education he
could do more Ia one year than with one year Of
education he could do in nine.
The opportunities OF education give to our
the most OF themselves. Do not stop with the
Public School. It is mistake to think that edu
cation can be finished in q few years OF school
life. You will occasionally see advertisements
OF institutions that call themselves finishing
schools There is an unintended irony in the
name There is no finishing school except the
school of Life. In which God himself is Principal
and all providences and all experiences are
teachers. by which We are being trained to
make the most of ourselves in the next world
by making the most Of ourselves in this.
Young friends of the Graduating Glass, do
not congratulate you ON the completion Of your
edpcation-but on q most hopeful beginning Of
your education, You have learned how to lean;
you know how to know better than when you
began school. We call this occasion, not an
ending, but 9 Commencement. because
you have but crossed the threshold of
the great Temple of Isearning-you have but
begun the process Of Education. as you con.
tinue that process. both in the higher schools to
which you may go, and in the universal school
Of life, you will be enabled to Go. as l trust you
all desire, make the most OF yourselves.
Ill. Character, The end of Education is charac-
ter, and character is the sum OF what one makes
OF himself. a mans power In the world is not
in his learning. nor in the wealth he has gained.
but In the kind Of man he is. The greatest
thing In the world Is character. OF an ancient
governor 1t was said, that his character was
more than a constitution. Emerson says that
there was power Ia Abraham Lincoln not to
be explained by the words he spoke, nor by the
deeds that he did-it was his character.
A few years ago there died in England that
peerless statesman, Mr.. Gladstone. He was q
man of vigorous intellect and profound learn
ing. but transcending everything else, was his
shining integrity; y was what he was, more
than anything else that made him the man OF
power-Lhe Grand Old Man, y as he was some
times called Half the greatness Of any man Is
in the man himself. We say that knowledge is
power" but in truth. character is greater
power. knowledge Is power because IL teaches q
man how 10 make the most OF himself Charac-
ter Is that which Is made. and TO what one