The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-05-31
To THE SOCIETIES
Addresses By Mr.. Mills
and DR.. Smith.
Powerful Sermon at Davidson BY DR..
Moment. B. R. Lacy IT., Responds
to the vaIedictory of Mr.. W.
T. Thompson.

- tuVitpOVHs
Davidson College, N c., May 30
The most striking features of the sec
ond day Of Davidson College COM
mencement were the orations by DR..
Henry Louis Smith and Rev. W. III.
Mills the one before the Phi Society
and the other in the presence of the
Eu Society.
DIR. Smith Speaks.
DR.. Smith spoke on Our Transition
Period in the South and its Call to Ac
ton" Among other things he said
that the law of intermittent growth
holds true in the geologic history of
our globe, in individual lives, and in
the history of nation. Long periods
of quiescence, stability, and dominant
conservatism are followed by periods
of intense and revolutionary activity.
Such periods are the turning points in
a nations history, when every passing
hour is big with fate. Through such
transition period the South is pass
ing today. Her old isolation is gone
forever the old social and domestic
life is being transformed before our
eyes, the agricultural life of the old
South is giving place TO very fever OF
industrial activity. The purpose and
changing every year. Our politics is
a changeful sea. Our old religious
ideas are being undermined by flood
OF new thoughts, new doubts, and a
new Indifference. The soil of the
South is thus once more great bat
tlefield on which the whole future of
our civilization depends, and the pur-
pose of my address is to call these
young men to the contest, to plead for
IL, "a I- Of he
courtesy, the chivalry. the sense of
personal honor and personal dignity
the high code of personal morality,
which distinguished our fathers.
Let the wondrous growth and activ-
ity of the South continue, said the
speaker in conclusion, but let the
priceless heritage of the fathers re-
main the heritage of the buster sons.
At the conclusion of DR.. Smiths adj
dress Mr.. j. p Paisley spoke the vale
dictory in behalf of the graduates, and
Mr.. f. l.. jackson made the response.
Mr.. Mills Address.
Mr. w. H. Mills, of North Augusta,
S. c., spoke before the Eu Society on
Cotton Manufacturing in South Caro-
lima and its Problems" Mr.. Mills has
long been connected with mission work
among the cotton mills in that State
and spoke with a wide knowledge of
the subject he had chosen.
The present factory system, he said
damages the family; the operative
physically. mentally and morally; and
society as a whole. First because the
factory takes father. mother and chill
dren away from home for so many
hours day, averaging thirteen hours
for five days in the week, and further,
because the regular work of wife and
children violates the commandments
of God and the underlying principles
of Anglo-Saxon civilization. The rem
edy for this damage done the family
lies in shorter hours for everybody;
the creating of a healthy public SEN
timent against the work of the mar
ried woman; and in proper child-labor
laws. Second, the system damages
the individual physically, as evidenced
by the vital statistics of Massachusetts
and England, and in an article pub
lished in The Southern Textile Excel
sior of Charlotte. The remedy is in
shorter hours, in invention and adop-
ton of machinery to do certain parts
of the work. 1t damages him mental
ly by compelling him to do one thing
over and over again, allowing no
change in the manner of doing except
i'm the direction of greater proficiency,
still of the one thing. The remedy lies
i'm shorter hours and in a compulsory
school law up to the age of IA. II
damages the individual morally and
the remedy lies in the proper organi-
cation of operatives into trade unions,
also in a true religious experience
which shall teach the people to re-
spect their obligations. Third. The
system damages society because 1T re-
fuses to allow operatives to acquire
homes of their own. The remedy lies
in building and loan associations and
savings banks managed jointly by the
mill companies and the operatives.
Mr. Mills appealed to the young
graduates to examine carefully into
these conditions, ascertain their truth
and assist in the work.
The valedictorian was Mr.. w T..
Thompson, of Washington, d. c., and
Mr.. B. r. Lacy, Jr., delivered the re-
Spouse in behalf of the society.
DR.. Moments Sermon.
Those who heard Dr. Moments SER
mon here Sunday night will never for
get the impression produced by this
powerful, highly cultured and deeply
original speaker. No synopsis of the
sermon would do it justice. A note
here and there is all that one may at
tempt.
His text was the 31st verse of the
10th chapter of Isaiah: But they
that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength; they shall mount up
with wings as eagles; they shall run,
and not be weary; and they shall walk
and not faint" The verse stands in re-
lation to the dome TO a great cathe-
dral. The preceding verses empha-
size the frailty of man. He is as the
grass that withereth, as the flower
that fadeth. Even the youths shall
faint and be weary; and the young
men shall utterly fall The text en-
phasizes the majesty of God, and they
that wait upon Him are strengthened
by reason of their waiting. The de-
rivation of the word wait shows a
meaning in this connection different
from that ordinarily accepted. 1t
means to be twisted as a rope, con-
sequently, they who wind their lives
in with God are strengthened. "They
shall run, and not be weary" l. e. in
the great crisis of life, in the supreme
tests, they who wait find their strength
renewed. ''They shall walk, and not
faint" In the ordinary walks of life.
down in the valleys amid common
place environments, they who wait are
renewed in strength.
Closing at Pee Dee.