The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-05-30
Opening of Commencement.

Especial to News and Observer)
Chapel Hill, N. c., May 29.-The
one hundredth and tenth annual COM
mencement of the University was
opened on Sunday with the baccalau-
reate sermon preached by Rev.
Charles s. Gardner. d. D., pastor of
Grace Street church, Richmond, Vir-
ginia.
At eleven o'clock the Senior class, in
cap and gown, headed by DR.. Vanable,
president, and DR.. Garaner. fc-lowed
by DR.. Williams and DR.. Hume,
marched to the chapel where the in
trOductOry exercises were held.
The opening prayer and service
We're conducted by DR.. Hume after
which prayer was delivered by Pro-
fessor Williams and DR.. Gardner was
presented by President Venable.
DIR. Gardner took as his theme THE
Larger Life. showing the better ambi-
tions possible to high natures in
strong lights and deprecating alike the
skeptical philosophy of the world and
the narrowing influence of money as
the end. instead of the incident to a
large success. From the text, Il am
Come that they Might have Life and
have it more Abundantly," he spoke
for an hour in a way to win his hear
ers attention and sympathy,
DIR. Clark To y. VI. C. A.
on Sunday night Rev William
Moore Clark. d. D., editor Of the
Southern Churchman, preached the
annual sermon to the Y. M. c. A. The
service was conducted by Rev Mr..
Moss 40 int
by the president of the association Mr..
Love. DR.. Clark took as his text a
selection from Saint PauTs letter to
Titus:
Extracts from the sermon and ad-
dress of Or. Gardner and Judge Win
ston follow:
DIR. Gardier's Baccalaureate.
(John 10:10)
An adequate definition of life has
never been given Men have never
been able to grasp and analyze it's es-
sencc. Yet this marvellous something
is all about us. Earth and air pulSate
with its presence. AS a fact whit II
meets us everywhere, it is 50 much
of a commonplace that it rarely eX-
cites the wonder of the average man
The city streets, along which pour the
high tides of vital energy, 20 not so
iHuC1l CACllc ttlC SGilSC VI 1HYSltIH Iii
our hearts as the barren and silent
stretches of the desert where no life is.
But the thoughtful man marvels at
life. He often halts i'm dumb astonish-
ment before this puzZling, this mex
plicable phenomenon. What is it? The
philosopher refers you to the biologist
The biologist says: Il have traced
it to its hiding place in protoplasm.
But if | take that curious substance
and analyze it, it dissolves into chemi-
cal elements but life has flown
whittier / cannot tell" He sends you
back to the philosopher.
And so. up through the scale of
living things. life grows larger and
richer through a wider and m<re
perfect adaptation to the elements and
beings which make up this complex
and many-sided universe. Man stands
at the apex of this ascending series of
the animated world. In his body there
is a unique and complex adjustment
found nowhere else. He has instinct.
Added to this there is a broader sensi-
bility and perception than are enjoyed
by the creatures below him. Above
this there is in him a power Of mem
DRY and of intellectual combination
and reaction that lift him totally above
the fellowship of the brutes.
But this is not all. There is in man
a mysterious something. which even
the superlative genius of Shakespeare
but dimly apprehended and could not
explore. There is in him a shadowy
consciousness of something which
transcends time and despises the
earth There is in him a hunger which
the whole visible universe cannot
satisfy. He walks through blooming
flower gardens; he looks up at the
staT-strewn sky; he stands upon the
top of the solemn blue mountains: he
walks by the edge of the sounding
sea, but these things q not fulfil tile
capacities of his soul. He feeds upon
the stores of accumulated knowledge.
and feasts upon the rich treasures of
the worlds art, and yet he says: II
thirst" From the centre of his being
there arises a longing for a reality,
a beauty, a power, truth which he