Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-06-26


is not tallasted by a morally devel.
oped heart is heading toward certain
shipwreck. The sharper the knife that
Is placed In the hand of little child
the easier It Is for that child to do
itself an injury. Aaron Burr was an in
tellectual giant, but Aaron Burr's
wasted life was caused by heart that
was morally bedwsrfed by sin. Thomas
Paine had one Of the greatest brains
ever placed within the skull Of a man;
but Thomas Paine's heart was so dis
eased by sin that he was a drunkard,
a reprobate and a practical outcast.
Lord Byron drank every cup of fame,
drank early - deeply drank - drank
drafts which might have quenched
the throats of millions and then died
of wretchedness" because his heart
was morally diseased. 1t is absolutely
necessary for every young man and
woman in order to a happy and sue
cessful life to have truly developed
Christian heart, yokcd to n truly de-
veloped intellectual brain.
Now, young people, while the uni
your brain, in all proba bility the moral
teachers, like your Christian father
and mother and sisters and loved ones,
have been developing your heart. By
your training and your past religious
life you know what is right and what
is wrong. On the day when as a young
man James Harper left the home of
rf In lie
placed her hand upon his head and
said: Jimmy, you are now about to
go into the great, wide world to make
success or failure. Remember, my
boy, you go from a Christian home
and do not disgrace 1t. If you dis
grace this home. remember that on the
great day of judgment before God l
shall witness against you and tell God
that you We're brought up right and
dedicated by our prayers to his serv-
ice, and that you went to destruc-
ton of your own accord" You know
just as much what you morally ought
to do as James Harper knew what he
morally ought to do.
So on this graduation day Of June I
congratulate you young people because
you have had such competent teachers
to develop your intellect, and I also
congratulate you because you have
had such efficient moral teachers to
develop your heart. You were rocked
In a Christian cradle. You were start
ed forth with Christian prayers. There
has never been day in all the time
In, 1Na%
your father at the family altar did not
make morning prayer something like
this: God bless and protect and guard
our boy and girl at college. God make
John a good man. God make Sarah
good woman Your mother, kneelng
by his side, would say: amen, amen.
God bless my absent son and my alb
sent daughter" There was not n week
In all your college life when you did
not receive a letter from home. Per
haps your professor of bellies lettres
might say they were poorly written,
but Christ would say they were beau
tifully written letters. In those letters
your mother always wrote about her
Saviour, and she always penned n
sentence something like this: my dear
boy, remember that when you are
studying about the ancient Greeks and
Romans you must not forget to read
your Bible and study about Christ l
would have you know nothing but
Jesus only rather than have you know
everything that worldly scholars might
want you to learn If thereby you would
neglect to know about my Christ"
Do No Dishonor.
To show how much young man
ought TO appreciate the moral training
of his old home, as we'll a the intellec-
tual training which he receives at col
lcge, the late ]. Sterling Morton, who
was once member Of Mr.. Cleveland
cabinet. placed this epitaph upon the
tombstone Of his dead wife: Here
lies Caroline French, wife OF ]. Ster-
ling Morton and mother of Joy, Paul,
Clark and Mark Morton" Then the
father took his four sons to the grave
of his dead wife and said: Boys, your
mother is buried here. II any one Of
you does anything dishonorabe or any
thing of which she would be ashamed
If she were alive, I will chisel your
name from her tombstone" And so,
addressing you in the same spirit in
which Secretary Morton spoke to his
! four sons, | now say to you, young
men and young women, remember the
teaching Of your parents, who first
| gave the right direction to your heart
and nature. and. as you would not dis
honor them by ignoring their moral
teaching, so | beg of you do not intel
| lectually dishonor or disgrace your al
ma mater, from whose walls you are
being graduated today"
Again I congratulate you, young peo-
pie, because hereafter you are about
TO have the inspiration Of daily re-
wards. 1t is n hard task for young
man TO work for something that is to
happen ten, twenty, thirty years hence,
to work for something that IS to take
place SO far away that it seems as
though the fact will never happen. t
work for something in the way that {
young man pays his first life insurance
premium. | suppose my personal eX
perience in getting insured is that q
almost every other young man. WheI
l took out twenty year tontine lift
insurance policy. felt as though wa
paying for something which woult
happen at the end Of eternity. I pai(
| my first premium very grudgingly;