Connecticut western news., 1902-06-26
TALMAGE SERMON
By Rev. FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,, Pastor of Jefferson Park Presby- terian Church, Chicago

advice and encouragement to young men and women who in these summer days are graduating from college are given by Rev. Frank De Witt Talmage in this discourse on the text Numbers vi, 24, "The Lord bless thee"
 Last week I received an invitation. It came from one of the large colleges of the east, and 1t read thus: ."The president, trustees and faculty of Princeton university request the pleas ure of your company at the exercises to be held during commencement week." That was all the wording the square card had on it, yet those twenty-three words had for me an absorbing interest.
 That invitation attracted me be- cause it was sent by one of my old Sunday school scholars. AS held the square card in my hand I seemed to be standing again in the sacred room of the dear old Second Presbyterian church in Pittsburg. I could see this young man. then a little boy in short trousers, sitting at the feet of his teacher. could hear the sweet young voices singing the old songs we always loved to sing. As I read between the lines of that invitation I soliloquized: "How time does slip away! My Sun day school scholar Is now a grown man. Willie's name has been changed to William. He Is no longer a child. of k<e, universities of the world, he is about to step forth to the battle of life a fully equipped recruit. He Is about to take his position by my side in the ranks. We must hereafter look upon each other ae brothers"
 Then as I still read that invitation my study room changed again. seemed to be thousand miles away. I was walking through the long cor riders of memory. 1t seemed to me as though I had gone back to the time when I myself, gowned and capped, was marching with the senior class to participate In the scenes attending my own graduation. The classmates who were then seated by my side have all scattered. Some are ministers, some lawyers some doctors, some electri- clans, some merchants and some sol diers. They are living in the north and the south, the east and the west. Some are dead. That graduation scene was a sad time for many of us. Col lege affections are very strong. We young men knew that we should never be to each other the same again.
 m L ,@Av IVY study with the hopes and anxieties of my own graduation day passing in re view before me, said to myself, T wonder if some of the young people whom I know and love who are grad uating from school or college this June month would not like me to come and nit by their side and tell them what the commencement exercises truly mean in their lives" I wondered as sat there holding that invitation in my hand if could not at this critical time of their lives say something to inspire them, to nerve them and to encourage them not only with faith in themselves, but also with faith in God, and I bowed my head over that white invita- ton and made this simple, earnest prayer: 70 God, help me to say some thing that may be helpful to the young people who are graduating this spring 2 and about to buckle on the armor of life. O Christ, may I be able to bring my young friends nearer to thee, so :. thou shalt bless them. May this plea be answered in the noble lives of these young men and women, which shall be consecrated to thee and thy service For Jesus sake ask it. Amen"
 4 Word of ConEratulation.
 I congratulate the young men and women who are graduating from the different higher institutions this June because now the financial struggle which many have undergone for the 0ake of an. education Is practically over. Here and there young man who receives a college diploma may be the son of rich father. He may have had during his scholastic career no am. bition; he may have gone through school and college merely because his rich parents compelled him to go; he may have spent most of his time h idleness and only worked enough tc just slip through the different exam nations by what Is known in college as "cramming" with the aid of tutor But such a young man does not repre- sent the great mass of college gradu ates. For most young men and womeI the acquiring of higher education has been a struggle, an awful finan cial struggle. Most of the college grad uates come from humble homes, an( the education of these young men anC women represents intense sacrifice last ing through many years not only ol their own part, but also on the part O. their loved ones.
 Let us study as an illustration tn past life of that young man who thi year Is graduating at the head of hi class at Yale or Harvard or the Uni versity of Michigan or the Universit. of Nebraska. In all probability he wa born in a farmhouse. The family wa comparatively poor. In raising enougl money to send him to college his moth CT broke down her health; his sister for years have taught school or worke' fin the factory to put him there; the ia ther, to put him there, dismissed tn hired man who once helped upon tn farm; the boy himself has had to rim the chapel bell, to work during the ho months of summer, to wait upon tn college dining room table, to tutor back ward students, to work night and da in order to stay there. Few peopl realize what the struggle of getting college education means.
 One day a classmate was fookin; very blue and depressed. I said t. him: What Is the matter? Has any thing gone wrong" "Yes," he an swered, something has gone wrong and awfully wrong. You know fathe and mother do not dress very well. Al 1 went around in the homes of the diff ferent boys and saw how well thei parents dressed began to be ashamed of my parents wardrobe. Lately l ezk