Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-06-24
BOWDOIN COLLEGE.
Continued from Page One.)

came that indescribable moment of
| getting OF a clean straight drive as the
| httie pail went singing off into space, and
you said to yourself: Why, how easy 1t
Is! Now what was the secret of it?
| simply this. You forgot the rules and
| found the ball. Exactly SO. No we not
| realize ourselves at our best whenever
/ we let ourselves free into our task and
| just swing through it in this spirit Of
| abandon?
| Inc man who renounces himself
| cores to hin SELF" said Emerson. ana
| Is II not true of every true worker in the
world? Tie mother, the teacher. the cit
zen, the social settler, the sanitary en-
tsineer. the missionary. all find their life
| as they surrender it in the spirit of SER
vice even to the point of sacrifice. 1t is
| amazing how the service OF man. in al
iiioSt any way, develops manhood and
| makes the man himself as his horizon of
interests wide n and his heart grows big
ana KIND as 1t takes in in ever larger
measure, human sympathies. Tie class
| mate you had not seen in years. Who has
become tie leading educator the famous
surgeon, the honored missionary; how he
mas grown in stature of nlanlincss-and
yet 1t ought not to surprise you. Doing
makes the deed, as has been finely said
| but unselfish doing makes the man
bfotheIs, it's great thing to surrender
ortS self TO something bigger than ones
self.
something was said at the outset, YOU
recall about the significance OF the eN-
| preston finding ones life,' or ones self.
Now let US mark this other term of tile
paradox, losing ones life; that is. loses
IL uttcrly-throwS it away for my sake
does not sucE emphasis imply something
more perhaps than we have yet found in
IL? something more, at any rate than
what we ordinarily mean by being of
service, doing ones duty, making ones
self useful, and the like? Perhaps there
has been something cold and calculating
| in or thought of finding ones life. If 50.
do we not detect here i certain uncalcu-
lating note of self surrender, not merely
OF service but of service carried to the
point Of sacrifice, mood OF abandon, e
kind Of glorious Madness the letting OF
ones self 80, in which man throws him
self into work as if it were Il game?
| think the idea we are after is Caught in
| recent writer, to whom | am indebted for
both the suggestion and the illustration
of it, defines as the spirit oc the game
1t is. lie declares, the deepest motive in
the lives of many people, particularly
men. What, for example, actuates the
tnancicr to 20 on piling up surplus
wealth. when he cannot spend lis in
come? it IS the spirit of the game.
WHY does Darwin risk his reputation
as 4 scientist and incur tie scorn of sci
entists ana tic bitter criticism of the re-
ligious world for the sake of his hypoth-
esis of evolution? 1t is the spirit of the
game.
why does the inventor, Edison, forget
to eat and to sleep, in the hot pursuit of
some new application of electricity? 1t is
the spirit of the game.
why does Commander Pcary ask once
more for leave of absence. and counting
home and friends cheap, spend thousands
Of dollars. risknE lis life and the lives
of others in the perilous attempt to To-
cate Il geographical point on the globe.
the scientific value of which Can hardly
be justified to the lay mind? Again the
answer is it is the spirit OF the game.
why does the beloved physician ana
missionary, Grcnfell. give up his chances
for professional reward, leave his coun-
try and friends. to carry help ami heal
ing to the poor fisherfolll of the deep sea?
One more we say, it is the spirit of the
game.
Now I want to say just this: The
spirit of the game, in the sense [ have
tried to make you see it ana feel it today.
~ 80, "a oF
ana his principle of finding life by losing
it, Ana let US make sure OF this: If we
miss all the rest. that the man who IS
playing the game. playing it fair and
playing it for all he is worth In this spirit
of service for the sake of others, is Il
Christian man, whatever his name or
sign. or even whether he knows 1t or not
For he is finding his life by losing it for
the sake of something bigger and better
than himself. and this is the Christianity
Of Christ. and the rest is only the frills
"As I see today the host Of young men
ana young women who arc going out Of
our colleges ana universities, and as |
think Of their splendid capacity for +cr-
yiro ana rnr Srlf-sacriiico KS th"y take Up
their work in the spirit Of the game, |
believe we have in them the priceless re-
sources of the republic.
"Those are stirring lines of Henry New
bolts IT, which lie tells how the ranks of
:: regiment of British soldiers OH the bat
tlcfiold exhausted and blinded 10y smoke
and dust. their officers shot-wcic rallied
lv the ringing cry of the sChoolboy on the
cricket fell: Play up. Play up! and play
the Gamc.'
.This Is the word that year ~ year
WIFI" in licr Tlacc the school Is *ct,
Every Cnc of her sons must near.
Ana none that hears il dare forget.
This: th.v aIl with joy fLl mind.
Bear through life Iill" 4 torch IN flame.
And. falling ninc to tho host behind
Play W. play ur. and play the game