The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1904-06-08
THE POWER OF IDEALS.
Address Delivered Before the Graduating Class OF
Moses Levi Memorial Institute, Manning S. c.,
May 3o 1904, by Hon. Walter Hazard

Louis was a ruler; but art not
thou also one2 His wide France,
look at it from the Fixed Stars
themselves not yet Infnltude)
is no wider than thy narrow
brick field, where thou too dldsJ
faithfully or didst unfalthfu!ly.
Man, Symbol of eternity, I'M
nrisoned into time!!' It is not
| fhv works, which are all mortal,
infinitely little, and the greatest
no greater than the least, but
only the spirit thou workest in,
that can have worth or continu-
ance!''
In this quaint, but striking
and suggestive, language the IA
nous writer breaches the evan
gel of the ideal. He is telling US
that no work, however painstak-
ing, no accomplishment, however
brilliant, no achievement, now
ever high on the ladder of fame
it may lift US, is worth the dong
or the winning, unless it is done
or won in the right spirit, or, to
state it in other words, unless it
has it's handspring or root in a
right motive, the motive Of faith
fulness. And this, again, is but
another way of saying that 10y
atty to duty, to right, to truth, is
the one indispensable quality IN
mans life work, the one and only
condition of it's value and perma-
nence. without which it must be
more perishable than shay or
stubble," and more worthless
than sounding brass or a tlnk-
ling cymbal. %
But how can one be loyal to
duty, to right. to truth, unless
!, he bears in his heart of hearts
an ideal of duty, an ideal Of right,
an ideal of truth? II he has not
formed in his mind a very clear
and definite conception Of what
right, and duty and truth mean,
it is clear that he will be without
a fixed standard Of conduct; for
the criterion, by which he today
Judges his own actions, will be a
different one from that by which
he will Judge them tomorrow.
Let no one suppose that ideals
are fgments of the imagination,
unreal, elusive, unsuostantlal
things, which have no existence
apart from the mind that gives
them birth. Ideals are real, be-
cause they represent realities.
ssAs a man thinketh in his heart
so is he," saith Holy Writ. AS
are a mans ideals, so will he be.
Henry vandyke says: "There is
MANY a man who stands upright
only because the pressure OF the
crowd makes it inconvenient for
him to stoop. THE churl IN
spirit may speak fair words be-
cause of those who hear; but in
his heart he says the thing that
pleases him, which is vile"
The churl in spirit is such be,
cause he has in his heart no ideal
OF courtesy and good breeding.
And so on through the whole cate.
cory of human vices, crimes and
weaknesses. They spring up like
rank and poisonous weeds IN the
neglected garden of the soul, be-
cause the sunlight of high ideals
has been excluded from its dark
ened aisles and the dews OF no.
Bile aspirations have not distilled
themselves upon it's bosom.
The word ideal is derived from
a Greek verb meaning to 'ssee'
the same root as that of the
word idea. An ''idea" is defined
to be San image or transcript of
an object, whether sensible or
spiritual" An ideal is said to
be a conception proposed by
the mind for imitation or attain.
ment; a standard or model OF
perfection or duty" Just as the
tssidea,'' or mental image Of a
~ q tsria] object. according to the
modern school of realistic phil
osophy, can have no basis of ex-
istence apart from the object
which it represents, so we are
compelled by the principle OF
analogy to conclude that the
ssideal," which is the intellectual
or spiritual conception Of an in
tellectual or spiritual truth, can
have no existence apart from the
truth embodied in it. Nay, is it
not a fact that after all mans
skill in dialectics, all his
powers Of reasoning, have been
exhausted, the strongest and
most convincing argument ne
has been able to frame for the
existence of a Supreme Being, a
Divine First cause, is the very
fact that the human soul is able
to conceive Of Him and his attri-
butes; that the human heart has
said to itself in its moments OF
sorrow or doubt: 'sThere is q
Gods" The highest proof of the
existence Of God is the fact that
He is thinkable to US. If we
were disposed for a moment to
question the reality of our ideals
nothing could more quickly dispel
the uncertainty than the obvious
fact that they react upon our
lives and characters with such