The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-06-10

Jimmie Dafin. Miss Fannie Fletcher FL liott. Miss Maggie Lee Logan, Miss Mary Elizabeth Skinner. Miss Lucille Steven son.
 Baccalaureate address, by Dr. J. A. Rice of Montgomery.
 Music.
 The Lost Chord (Judge)-Miss Estelle R. Delano.
 Announcements.
 Music.
 (a) Etude Sydney Smith; (b) Polish Danse (X. Scharwenka)-Miss Stella M :. Chapman.
 Benediction.
 President Massey gave the girls words of wisdom and sound advice in delivering the diplomas and admonished them not to look upon this as the end of their ef- forts and their search after knowledge, but rather the beginning and to bring their culture and refinement and learn ing out in the home and let It's refining tn- fiuences and hallowed blessings be felt by all with whom they came in contact. Tt is better that you burn your diplomas to- day and take a new start in the search after knowledge" said he. than to make up your minds that you know enough or that you will not give others the benefit of it.
 Dr. Rice's address had been announced as the silver tip to the entire com mencement occasion and it was rich in diction and entrancing in power, capti- vating In cloquence and sensible ard sound in its foundation. He spoke with ease and grace and told of the great i'm portance of lifting the individual life up to the spiritual level and how the Bible was studied as an inexhaustible re- source to life and power.
 He said, in part:
 1T count myself fortunate to be privi- legged to speak at such a place and at such a time, and I ask you to think with me for a while on the Priesthood of Culture. That you may grasp at once what I mean by the subject. I beg that you remember what the definition of a priest is. In all religions his mission is to stand between the spiritual world and the heart-cries of the world. His 1t Is to stand between the supernaf~ glories of the heavenly kingdom on the one hand and the finite soul in search for the infinite on the other The mission of the priest, therefore, is. on the one hand to bring the spiritual world within the range and down to the level of the individual life; and on the other hand, to brin3 the individual life up to the level of the spiritual world Such I take it is an H. Iustration of the mission of culture. It is to touch, embody and make available the worlds realities on the one hand, and to help the struggling soul on the other hand in it's search for truth. This I take it. young ladies. is to be your mission in the world
 "A year or so ago I went through the largest cotton factory said to be in the world. As l got to the door a gentleman said to me. Have you been down among the boilers?' l said no. He said must see them before I left. and I told him I would like to do SO He took me down into the cellar and showed me a series of mammoth boilers, connected with huge engines. connected, in turn. with some little wires. and these reached up to the ceiling and disappeared above. I said. What do these little wires do?' He said. They carry the power that turns all this machinery A moments reflection show edme that there passed through these little wires the power that turns the wheel, drives the loom, lights the dark places and makes the whole plant vl- brant with power As I came out of there. I said this is the parable of life. The power conveyed by these little wires is the same that flashes around Sinais summit with two million slaves trem- bling at its blaze. So I said to myself there is fin every cubic inch of electricity power enough to run universe, if only
  available. That will be in part your mis- sion in life And in order for the cleo tricity to be available, there must be per feet connection and unobstructed flow: so, on the other hand, there must be per- feet connection and perfect flow between the realities of life and life's actual ma chInery."
 And he continued: "I may speak to you briefly of conditions. In the first place 1t is necessary for you to live a real life, Father than an artificial one All your study in the laboratory and all your manipulation of the test-tubes. etc, all this had for it's purpose to lead you back of this into the world of reality; all your study of literature had for its | purpose to carry you back into the crys- | talized heart pulsations and ideas of the | races that are preserved there; all your study of aesthetics has had for it's pur-