The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-11-13
Especially the Young are
,, Set to Thinking.
CITIES ARE BENEFITED
This is the Verdict From all
Sections.
IDEAS Secured from Lectures are
Put luto Practice for the Goo d
Of all.

Let us reason together a little bit
about tomorrow in Our Town. You
and | won't be here. We have done
what we could to make the dreams
of yesterday come true; we have
built new houses and paved some
of the streets and helped the IL
brary and encouraged the schools
We have done what we could. But
our day has come almost to the tyi-
! light. What about tomorrow?
What sort of boys and girls are
growing up to take our places? Are
they going through the High School
faithfully and patiently to the time
of graduation? Are they planning
not to stop there but to go through
sume college Do they know that
work is joy? DO they believe that
Dc is their duty to oil the worlds
machinery and make things run
smoother? Are they loyal to Our
Town? Are they interested in the
library and the paving of Main
street?
Out in Colby, Kans., the people ran
up against a few questions like these,
and found the young folks we're an
swering ''No!" with all the lung
power they had. When they fin-
ished the High School they thought
that was enough. Their parents were
well-to-do; there was no immediate
destitution staring them in the face
If they loafed around for a while and
had good time. Four young fell
lows, in particular, were in fair
way of becoming worthless, shiftless
hangers-on. That season a Lyceum
course was presented to the town for
the first time by the High School
The first number on the course was
a lecturer who had gift for inspir-
ing young people. He called his
lecture ''Day Dreams and the ef-
feet bordered on the miraculous. The
next week those four boys packed
their trunks and went off to college.
The right word with the right amount
Of sincerity, earnestness and inspira
right moment. Colby believes in the
Lyceum course since then, and has
made IL an institution OF the town.
The same thing happened in Inde-
pendence, Ohio with different set
Of boys, another lecturer, and an
other subject. This time the inspir-
ational call was dubbed sUncrowned
Kings and the effect upon the High
School pupils was startling in It's
quick returns. Boys who had not
planned to return for the next year
finished the course. For the ten
years preceding that lecture the school
had not turned out a single teach
FER; the year after seven pupils were
teaching Others went away to col
lege; still Others went into business.
A roll-call recently revealed the fact
that all of them are prosperous and
helpful citizens. ''And II was I'm
crowned Kings that gave me my
start" was the universal, unsolicited
explanation offered. Independence be-
lieves In the Lyceum,
SO II goes in towns all over the
country. Ora Samuel Gray. a Lyceum
lecturer, tells the story of lecture
course that had failed financially. .
They lost fourteen dollars and fif-
ty-fye cents" everybody in town,
the station agent the hotel clerk,
the girl in the postofflce, the man
on the street corner. knew the loss
by heart to the very last penny. IL
was a New England town; II, too,
had boys who were getting shiftless
and lazy and content with things as
they were. Two of those boys heard
the first lecture on the course. II
was the story of the por boys of the
country and what they have accom-
plished. Now these two boys had
become resigned to staying all their
lives on the farm. ''pegglng along
for enough TO live on. But after
that lecture they began to ask them-
selves, ''ifsthose other boys could do
things, why can't weT' A few years
later the boys answered the question
for themselves. They received ode-
grees with honors from one Of the
oldest universities In the country and
are now on the highway t0 Joining
the ranks of the "poor boys who be-
came famous" l3l
The Lyceum lecture doesn't always
send boys to college to save them; II
sometimes opens the door, TO q par
ticular line Of research and endeavor,
an dthen leaves Uhe boy to find him
self That was The way II happened
to John Burroughs. When he was
a boy, he listened to a lecture by
Edward L. Youmans. on "The Chem
istry II a Sunbeam" and It started
the boy on the right road for self
EXPRESSION Thfa fe No unaiaual IU