Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-11-04
PARKER TALKS TO STUDENTS
favors Strenuous Activity-Refers to
Importance of First Vote.

A large and eager crowd filled the New
raven (Conn) station as Judge Parkers
train rolled in yesterday There was cheer
Ing when the presidential candidate was
recognized crossing the platform accom-
panied by Judge A Heaton Robertson the
party candidate for governor, and the local
committee which had welcomed him. After
exchange of greetings the party took car
rlaSes and were driven to Music Hall. The
gallery had been reserved for Yale men,
and applause was unstintingIy given nv
them as Mr. Parker took his seat on the
platform As the gathering was entirely
informal, there was no presiding officer
ana Judge Parker made his address as
soon as the audience had uuieted down
Judge Parker said, in part:
FOR number of years now I have been
delivering course of lectures at the AL
pany Law School This work and the per-
sonal contact with these bright students of
the laW-many of whom are helping them
serves as did l when taking my law course
In that same institution-give me an inter-
est In young men which is steadily grow
ing.
1t Is, perhaps, inaccurate to say that this
work has given me this interest 1t is
PROBABLY due, more than to anything else,
TO kindly act of a great judge-Chief
Judge Church. The recollection of the way
his ready sympathy helped me gave me the
motive for a deep interest in young men.
remember as it were yesterday standing be-
III
weighted down with the responsibility of
making an effective presentation of my
client s cause. At the moment l rose to be-
gin my argument l feared failure. Chief
Judge Church, divning my difficulty, bowed
and said: Now, We will hear you, Mr..
Parker My nervousness disappeared as
by magic under the influence of his friendly
act and kindly tone. | plunged into the ar
gument at once. When the decisions came
down, my case had been won, as good for
tune would have it, and the chief judge had
written the opinion.
1T has become a fashion during recent
years to eXhort our young men to lead what
has been called the strenuous life Not
content with our universal activity in in
dustry, our work in the conquest of a CONT
nent, and the effort to spread our popular
ideas into all the world, and thus to make
ourselves an example for other peoples who
are looking toward freedom and opportu-
nifty, the conclusion seems to have been
reached that somehow we had overlooked
something.
I'VE must be strenuous not alone in all
things which make for good, for safety and
for permanence, but we must be strenuous
in adventure, for personal glory, and even
in looking for a fight. 1t is, apparently,
not enough that shall be active in every
moral and religious movement, in every
thing that can promote education, the
training and the discipline of our youths
these, apparently, do not assure real prog
reSS.
Even the students in our colleges have
been invited to become strenuous. A little
investigation or knowledge serves to show
that the college student has always been so.
But in what direction? He has been devoted
to his studies, scholarship and our
universal education amply attest Nor has
this activity been limited to the few; 1t has
permeated the mass it has been heritage
of the country. But the student has not
accounted it to himself as a virtue but as
duty something he owed to the society in
which he found himself; to his parents,
who, perhaps, were making great sacrifices
to enable him to be better fitted for the du-
ties of life, and to himself.
mo act that / can think of is more I'M
portant than the first vote In great ma
jority of cases 1t attaches a man for all
time to one of the political parties 1t is
most important therefore. that the first
vote should be wisely cast. The RESPONSE
bnity CT that act Is too great for it to be
lightly or carelessly done"