Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-06-28

tneir accumulated wisdom az thew
awaited themselves OF the wisdom of
their predecessors.
He then applied the principle to
pride OF good lineage. to civic life, to
college life, and to the church. 1t il a
crude and shallow Democracy which
SCOTS at honorable discression. Dealers
In horsefiesh are at once Wiser ana
more aristocratic. For inspiration and
direction alike the nation has enshrinatl
in its heart and mind those figures thai
loom so large on the backward ho-i-
Zon-Franklin. Washington, Hamilton,
jefferson. Lincoln. With such men as
these for our political Fathers, II ever
we turn our backs on the past we shall
write ourselves down, fools and blind.
In the college wOrli our debt to ou:.
predecessors Is also Immense. COlby
College Of today owes much to the past.
The very atmosphere Is fich with :ri-
fiuences that begin to act upon the stu
dent the moment Of his arrival and
these invisible figures continue to play
upon him through all his course until
their silent sculpture nas moulded him
into new mental and moral beauty,
The Commencement proc essiOn, as it
winds from the campus TO the church,
is longer and more impressive than the
physical eye can see. ShadOwy forms
head the line. the forms of the ma jes-
tic dead who here lived and toiled many
years ago:
THE moving pomp might seem
ike pageantry of mind or an autumn
stream.
THE wisdom of the ideals of the ven-
cradle Phi Beta Kappa Society. which
dates back to the year l77G is peculiarly
stands for the cultivation of the intel
lect. Its hOnors are not bestowed upon
the student because of his fathers mil
lions or his mothers sociai exclusive
ness; they are not even given to a man
because he has broken the record in
the high kick, or heads the batting list.
or has successfully carried the ethics
of war into what used to be the sport
of gentlemen. systematically violating
the rules of the game or stamping on
his fellow opponent.
In the face of the growing over
emphasis on the social side Of college
life and the growing insanity of under
graduates and younger alumni over
not athletics-but Intercollegiate ath-
letic contests the Phi Beta Kappa
Society is a needed reminder from the
fathers that after all, Il college Is pri-
marty place for the cultivation of the
mind, and not a social and athletic club
with a reading-roOm in the rear. The
religious life of the indiI idual is en-
lsxrl,x n
by a sense of community with a church
| that has had a great past. Woe unto us
if we fall short OF the zeal and wisdom
of our great forefathers IN the church.
But there is another side to this doc
| trine Of fidelity to the fathers. The
same spirit of fidelity which requires
that at some time we should follow the
fathers at other times requires that we
| should depart from them. Ii we lack
| The courage TO do this when there is
! need, we ara degener;it, cons, we are
i;.lse to this spirit. The fathers them
selves would not have us wooden pup
| pets, worked mechanically by the dead
hand Of the past but fearless and in
| talligcnt as they were.
More definitely, If we would be true
| to the real spirit and the truest selves
| of the fathers, we must depart from
them in these three cases: First, when
| their practice, although fit in its day,
| is now unfit; secondly. when, although
they were right so far az they went,
their view was narrow and their ma
lures not fully developed: thirdly, when
they were actually in error.
IF there were no other proof that
fidelity often means innovation. this
one fact would be proof enohsh-th''
fathers themselves wecr often innoVa-
tors, sometimes Of The most radical
type. caring more COR truth than -"
.,uGht else.
"Eog,r Williams, whom we canonlZ =.
TODAY. Was denounced By his Cody
contemporaries as Il dangerous 1nno-
yator because, he preached liberation of
all religious sects. They said he had 4
windmill in his head; 1t was not Il
pleasant remark, and their accompany
ing acts were far from pleasant; nut
he kent the mill going and ground out
,h,, fine crist of Gods truth as he saw
it-a,.d the world has seen 1t since.
"puIl is one Of the saints to us: nut
his Jewish countrymen, because he for
sook the paths if his fathers to walk
With the new sect Of the NaZarenes
said: Away with such fellow from
the earth for he is not fit to live. we
may. rather, range the great apostle
10 The Gcntiles on tho affirmative side
of the proposition that the truest fldei-
ily to the fathers may consist III de-
parting from the letter Of their faith:
for the letter killeth. but the spirit
sivcth life.
The speaker then applied this princi-
Tic to our private, social, and educa-
tional life, in which there is need OF
more beauty and joy than our Puritan
ancestors altogether approve of; to
political and Industrial life. in which
modern corruption and monopoly may
demand more radical remedies than
our political fathers anticipated: and
to church life, in which there IL crying
need for closer union and the subordi-
nation of UNCONVENTIONAL differences
than our ecclesiastical fathers would
have supposed consisted with their
principles.
an al these cases we shall really be
acting in accordance with their trucst
selves. for they too were innovators In
tnei.' day. and were not afraid to for