Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1902-07-03

pHliOoOpHlS ulSO uSSlOll VI lnC nOLliCs
that prompted Gen. Lee to his choice.
In any great upheaval either politi-
cal or social, there are certain under
lying principles which are factors in
producing ii. First Of all the south
had become firmly convinced that the
doctrine of state rights was just. The
principles championed by Calhoun
had firmly taken root in southern soil.
Although Clay from time to time
brought forth his compromises tenn
porarily deferring the final conflict,
yet it must come sooner or later.
Brought up under these influences
and deeply impregnated with such
doctrines together with the deep love
of his native state and the wishes of
his relatives and friends, no other
course seemed honorable to him, Do
not think am championing the cause
of traitors, far from it, but it seems
to me that the world in general and
the north in particular, have judged
too harshly. He made mistakes, we
all do He gave his talent and energy
to lost cause, yet methinks when
truth shall come to light, when all the
record shall be made, there we shall
find written i'm unmistakable letters
of light-The Vindication of Robt f.
Lee
Myron Clayton Chapman had taken
for the subject of his Grafton, Gre
serve Power" He stated his belief
that success in life depended largely
upon proper understanding of this
principle, and many failures in life
which seem unaccountable are simply
due to lack of reserve power. Our
great men of today occupy their posi-
tions not so much from their ability
to do the present work at hand but
from the fact that they through a
long life of patient endeavor have ac-
power. Our nation boasts of its great
reserved power. As with nations so
with individuals. If we as a nation
desire TO maintain a prominent posi-
ton a position which will cause the
rest of the world to look upon us with
admiration and pride, then we as in
serve this important element of sue
cess-reserved power.
The ladies octet sang THE Land o.
the Leal" admirably, after which AL
vim John Wright gave an oration
"The Student in American Politics."
He held that students in our high
schools are taught practically every
other branch of useful and necessary
knowledge except political. That for
some reason had always been omitted
and nine-tenths of the voters at the
time of casting their first vote are as
ignorant upon political subjects as
the child just entering school In his
opinion this is all wrong and political
science should be taught as well as
well as other branches.
John f. Wagner took as a subject
for his oratiou, "Our Nations Needs )"
He showed that one of its greatest
and most important needs is bright,
clean, clear headed, educated young
men and women. Such ones are al
ways in demand and there are many
positions of trust open to them, and
advancement as they grow in capa-
bility. There never was a time when
there were more openings or oppor-
tunities for this class than now and
the supply never equals the demand.
Following this oration came a scarf
drill by the Senior Girls which was a
beautiful thing The various manov-
ers performed to music with the
scarfs of the class colors, yellow and
blue, made a very pretty picture and
afforded pleasing variation to the
program.
The class prophecy by FalleyC Nc
Laughlin followed the scarf drill and
in it his fancy pictured all sorts of
comical futures for his classmates
from hand-organ grinder to that of
woman's rights orator. 1t was the
source of much amusement TO the
audience.
The ladies' octet gave another Sc
lection, "Sleep Little Baby of Mine"
then came the class will by Ida Gard
ner Sayles. This followed the usual
style of such documents and disposed
of all their assets.
The Valedictory grafton, "The
South African Patriot" T." was given by
Roy Albert Reynolds. He said in
part: "To strive after liberty and to
resist the power of an oppressor, is
but one of the great fundamental
laws of nature. Nor can we limit the
scope of such law to the affairs of
the human family, for it applies
equally as well TO the animal and
vegetable realms. If the words Of