Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-05-25
DR.. Elijah Brown Jones Talks
to Glass of '03 on Char
acter Building"
THE ANNUAL MEMORIAL SERMON
Latter Delivered by Rev. w. H. Scott
at the Christian Church = Special
Sunday Services Were Largely At
tended-Woodmen Circle Monument
Unveilins-TempIar's Ascension Day.

| Sunday was a busy day in church and
| fraternal circles. The graduating class
| by Rev. Elijah Brown Jones, d. D.,
at the Methodist church IN the even
ing; the Grand Army of the Republic
and allied bodies were addressed at tbs
Christian church in the morning hy
Rev w. II. Scott: the Woodmen Circle
members participated in a monument
unwilling at Riverside; and St. Aide
mar Commandery. No. 80, X. T., OBJ
served Ascension Day.
The baccalaureate address of Rev.
DR.. Jones. on Character Building" was
heard by an audience that completely
church. Seats in the front portion OF
the audience room We're reserved for
the members of the class and the jun
iors. The members of the class of Oh
passed TO their places first, and We're
followed shortly afterwards by the sem
iors. The pulpit was decorated with
flowers. The general services were in
charge of DR.. Coleman. Rev. w. II.
Scott gave the scripture reading: Rev.
E. r. Purdy offered prayer. The music
was by the Baptist quartet. composed
of Misses Grace Butler, Luella Menden-
hall, Chester Durelle and r. A. Sails
bury.
DR.. Jones took his text from Matthew
1888: The kingdom of heaven is like
unto leaven, which n woman took and
hid in three measures of meal, till the
whole was leavened." He said: The
Master uses the parable to illustrate
the growth of the kingdom, and as tina,
growth means the expansion OF char
acter, it is no forced application when
we get character building for our
theme.
1--WE are born little and grow n
great deal I know no better inter-
probation of the fact than TO adopt THAI
statement 1t means that we do not
come into the world with characters
formed, but that we are here to make
characters, and no thoughtful person
will dispute the statement that the
topmost purpose of our being here
is to make characters. The material
for char acter- building is near at hand.
Some of it you do not have far to
search.
How trite a saying it Is that ones
associates reveal character. 1t may be
that such are intelligent. witty, fasci-
mating, and agreeable company, with
no social superiors. and 1t may be y
sacrifice to deny ones self OF such
company. The poison may be hid be-
meath the most brilliant surface. Is
their influence against the best moral
standards? What sort of an atmos-
phere do they carry? How does your
thought of them affect you?
No doubt some have impulses more
noble than others. Nero and Caligula
were both full of promise when boys.
Seneca mentions time when the ten
der sensibilities of Nero caused faint
at the sight of blood. Not long hence
and he becomes matricide and Tx
oricide 1t was their companions, pos
sibly a faint of madness, certainly
strong dash of satan, that wove for
them the names they bore.
LAS companions mean eternity, choice
becomes too sacred and too serious to
be lightly made. Augustus says that
he neither began nor broke off his
friendships rashly. Youth is unsus-
picious because inexperienced, and Of
ten is as foolish with friendships as
child with fire.
Among life's teachers you will rec
ognize the power of the books you read.
You must preserve the thirst for read
ing. l say not you must beget it. That
you have already, but soon you may be-
come so numbered with cares that
books, like childhood's friends, will be
forgotten. Not every book can you
read 1t is in the proverbs that of
making books there is no end Many
valuable books must one turn from for
lack of time; but the histories, the po-
ems. the best in fiction, the great es-
says, one should know. Many of the
great criminals have said that their
incentive to crime was gathered from
the books they read. Therefore shun
bad books as you would the rankest
poison.
"As long as men live they must ac-
knowledge the power of that in literature
which is back of them. The literature
of the sixteenth century made possible
the civilization of the twentieth CEN
lie uuSl VI iCoeS a.
Stratford- on-A Avon, but his spirit still
walks the earth You can not find
the grave OF Plato, but men do hon.
age to him and derive nutriment from
his words. Charles Lamb suggested
that men should return thanks not only
for the banquet of food but also for the
banquet of books.
But apart from and above all others,
is that book affection calls the Bible. 1t
is the book that alone has civilized ma
lions. It's literature and sacred history,
its poetry, and proverbs of the ages, are
vastly superior to any other book
known to men. Its high range of sub
iects invite the mind TO it's loftiest
reach.
But / would that you might recog
nize what the home is to you as one
of the potent influences that shape
character. Happy the youth who APP
preciates his sacred obligations while
still a member of the home. Nothing
more enobles youth than to recognize
with many a thanksgiving the home
that sustains and protects him. / have
no patience for that youth, who, among
his mates, speaks sneeringly of that
home center others have toiled to make
for him.
But / must speak to you about a
feature in character building seldom
reckoned as an element Of power-your