The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-12-08

io1ioIl 6ASiSioSS DIT w dhS IOItSl SOl-
lege yesterday. Dr. Henry Louis
said:
Mr.. President: 1t was only four
years ago that / was the central figure
IN such a scene as this, Only one col
lege generation has come and gone
since l received from the President of
our Board of Trustees the keys CT
Davidson College, and felt a weight
OF responsibility settle upon my soul
which the applause of a thousand
friends but made the heavier, a tyro
among college presidents, who offers
to you in the name of the denomina-
tional colleges of our State their sim
cerest congratulations and the aSSur-
ance of their cordial esteem and
friendly cooperation. Yet l cannot
but feel that there is certain fit
ness in my selection: / come from
an institution that has always worked
i'm harmony with all others; my life
as a teacher began in a Baptist neigh
borhood almost within cannon shot of
this campus; l was for years Superin-
tendent of a Baptist Sunday School,
have spoken from a Baptist puIpit
score of times, and rejoice with you
over all s.he Baptist church has done
foI civil, intellectual and religious
freedom.
III the name, lHeIl, Oh all tnc great
denominations represented here. with
the love of a common Master, the
light of u common ideal. the joy of
a common service fusing all our hearts
into one, we, too. glory in the great
work and honorable history of Wake
Forest College. we, too are proud of
the record which the retiring Presi-
dent has made in the cause of Chris
tan education. we. too, congratulate
the college that its future is safe in
the hands of his successor.
Speaking as a representative of de-
nominational colleges. l would like TO
magnify mine office. Ii is the custom
among shallow minds and shallowcr
hearts to call that education narrow
which includes the religious element.
If a man has q three-fold nature.
body. mind. and soul, then surely the
development of only two-thirds of man
is a one sided and partial education.
If there is a world of spirit transcend
ing the universe of matter if there Is
a Lawgiver behind and above the
laws of matter if there is an infinite
Mind of whose plans our feeble intel
lects can catch inspiring giimpses. an
infinite heart on which we may lean
in our weakness and sorrow, an inf
mite Purpose that guides the whirling
stars, yet stoops to take stumbling
child by the ham. an infinite Love
which has been @ inspiration OF
heroic souls in every age and has
thrown over our dull. petty. sOrdid
human life a transforming radiance
if such height and breadth and depth
of knowledge, such transforming love.
such far reaching hopes, such upltft-
ing companionship is possibly to man.
has poor human nature ever been led
further astray by the father of lies
than when it calls that mans educa-
ton broad from whose training the
religious element is excluded?
From the beginning of learning and
culture on American soil till less than
a generation ago the church college
completely dominated American edu-
cation. Through all the heroic age OF
the great Republic the religious col
lege furnished its ideals set its stah-
dards and moulded it's leaders. Even
now i'm number of institutions number
of students in attendance, and aggre-
gate influence on American life the
UNCONVENTIONAL Colleges excel all 9TH
ers In the name, then. of mighty
host of teachers. laboring in loving
self-sacrifice for the uplifting of their
felIow-men | bid you God-speed as
YOU step from the ranks and assume
the responsibility of broader and
more far-reaching service.
Such work as you will strive to do,
such ideals of liberal culture. ethical
standards. and spiritual life as you
will strive to maintain. were surely
neve; so urgently needed in the South
as they are today.
In ali life, whether of aG individual
a nation or the globe itself. long pert
DDS of comparative stability alternate
with shorter ones of rapid and revo-
lutionary change. 1t common remark
that the South is now in the midst OF
such momcntous transition-per1od
yet few, even of our most thoughtfu
citizens. realize the depth and extent
of the transformation which a few
short years are affecting in the char
acter habits, and ideals of whole
people. There is something awe-in-
spring in the way we are swinging
loose from the old moorings and
rushing outward over new and un-
tried sea.
The isolation of the South is for
ever at an end We are caught up and
swept onward by the rushing current
of the great worlds life ana thougnt
when the great oceans are at last
united. the South will be the gateway
of the worlds commerce.
Our old quiet. rural agricultural lie
has given place to very FEVER OF
modern industrialism, dellrium OF
moneV-makipg Our Old-taSn1Oneu
homes. where the servants were al
most as loyal and permanent part
of the household as the children. are
being replaced by the hotel the clup,
the apartment house, and the swarm
ing teneme nt-village.
From the bitter Poverty of the past
our people have lentered upon an era
of rapidly accommodating wealth and
growing luxury With this rushing
flood of ruammon-w Worship has sprung
up new cult in the South-the wor-
ship of Success. Our fathers bowed
low at the shrine of Character. the
new South has enshrined Achievement.
1t measures a man. not by what he Is,
but by what he does.
The old cultural education of the
South is giving place TO technical
training. the classics to the workshop
and the forge, the church and private
academy to the Public School.
The politics of the South is also in
a transition stage. On all national
questions of government. finance, the
tariff. and foreign relations, the So
called Solid South is liquid sea
whose bewildering tidal currents no
man can control or foresee.
Nor has the alloervading spirit of
change spared the spiritual. ethical
Of