The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-06-19
LIFE IS A SCHOOL.
Years at College Only a Stage
in Journey.
So Says William Allen White to
OberIin Graduates.
TERM is MISLEADING.
"Commencement'' Only Marks
a Stage Along the Road.
His Theme Is: "SOme Essentials
of an Education"
TERN is MISLEADING.

Oberlin, o.. June 1e.-William AL
len Wife. the Kansas editor and au-
thor. delivered an address at the COM
mencement exercises here today on
Some Essentials of an Education
He spoke as follows:
In the desert to the west of us. the
traveller often finds by the wayside,
little heaps of stone And If he watch
es long enough. he will see passing
these mounds If he is an old Indian,
unspoiled by the schools, the traveller
may know that the Indian is a pious
man, and as he lays his pebble upon
the heap he is thanking God reverent-
ly that he has come that far, and
praying that he may go. further.
Thus trails are marked in the wilder
ness and thus they are made in our
brighter liVes-by our pauseS and our
prayers, as we cast our common gray
experiences upon the pile beside the
way. And this occasion. and the
thousands like it all over the world
at the close of spring, when childhood
formally is entering youth, should be
marked by pause and a pious pray
era pause to look back, and thank
God that we have come this far, and a
prayer to Him that we may go wisely
farther For it is all one journey
this life of ours-and commencement
is a misleading term. School is but
next stage of the journey, and life is
but school for some larger existence
whose way is hidden. by the mists.
And as this preparation which we call
education obviously means so much
to the whole of the souls life, surely
1t is not out of place, here and now, at
one of these early affairs on the trail,
to halt a moment and inquire what
education means; what it has done,
to fit us for the life that now is, and
h t,a- eri,-r 7ea1 fD- In
lasting journey.
Higher Education.
For in this year. more than any 9TH
that has passed under the sun,
higher education is an important part
of life; and you who are going out in
to 1.-The old trail. the long trail, the
broad trail that is always new"-are
passing more directly than your pre-
decessors into a mighty conflict. The
century last past, has witnessed the
material conquest of more of this earth.
than any other century ever witnessed.
Man is coming into the new century
staggering under an armful of mater
ial things; steam and electricity have
been harnessed to the pulleys of civil
zation, and have been made to do the
worlds rough work. 1t shall be the
problem of educated men in this CEN
tury to spiritualize these material
things that they may work for all
and not for a few. Until the mater
ial discoveries of the last one hundred
years have become assimilated into
the lever, and the wheel are assImi-
lated, they still will be material
things. And the stir in our world
polite, that is felt in every American
town and county, the earnest striving
among educated men and women for
distributive Justice, is an instructive
attempt to spiritualize the gross heri-
tage of the nineteenth century. The
new reformation is world wide; it is
quickening of conscience, a war
against greed and for the legalization
and establishment of kindness in the
earth-the kindness that makes for
happiness. And chiefly as education
concerns this new reformation, as
young men and women who come
from our schools and colleges are
equipped to join the fight for the
CAPITALIZATION of our material world
does education concern us today. For
the education that neglects to ground
the soul in the great first law of our
human relations. the law that kind
ness makes for happiness. is worse
than ignorance. And we have moth
ing to do with the education that
merely sharpens the teeth and claws.
Defines Education.
Speaking broadly, we may say that
education is the influence of environ
ment developing consciousness.
"A chilo went forth every day,
And the first object he looked upon that
object he became,
And the object became part of him for
the day or certain part Of the day
Or for many years or stretching cycles
of years."
And so we civilized men place our
children in the environment of books
the abridged experiences of the best and
wisest Of humanity, in the belief that in
such an environment the children may
obsorb in months what the race has
been storing up for many generations.