Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1909-07-28
RINGING WORDS OF
PRESIDENT HADLEY
In Baccalaureate Address to the
Students at Yale.
Cynicism ann Distrust are Crying Evils
No Room for Back Biters
or Tale Bearers.

In his bsccalaureate address to his
students. President Hadley. OF Yale
University gave expression to senti.
ments that it would be we'll for every
one, particularly every young person
to bear in mind. He not only urged
that man be upright and clean in
his personal life; but he especially
warned against cynicism and distrust
as crying evils of the present day.
He said in part;
sin order to accomplish anything
great, man must have two sides
to his goodness, a personal side and
a social side. He must be upright
himself and he must believe in the
good intentions aud possibilities of
others about him.
I'VE recognize the first of these
things. We know that the leader
must have principles of his own ;
thas hs must stand for some thing
definite, which he is prepared to
maintain through evil report and
good report We do not, / think,
recognize the second Of these things
to an equal degree.
I'VE do not appreciate how nee
essary 1t is for man to believe in
those about him just as far as he can
and cooperate with them just as
fully as he can. Yet this also is a
condition of leadership.
''No matter how high the ideals
for which we stand, we cannot ex-
pect others to follow us unless we
have confidence in them. We can
not expect devotion if we return it
with distrust. We cannot expect
cooperation unless we are prepar
ed to give freely of our confidence.
''The man who lacks taith in other
men loses his best chances to work,
and gradually undermines MS own
power and his own character. If
man singled out some occurrence of
my life, came to me with distorted
account of it, and then said it was
typical of my whole career and con-
duct. should order him to leave the
house land so would you under similar
circumstances.
If we were equally ready to do
the same thing in behalf of our
friends when charges or insinuations
are made behind their backs modern
society would be healthier and more
efficient than it is at present. By
the ready acceptance of these reports
we harm ourselves no less than our
friends. We do not realize to what
extent others judge US by our beliefs.
But we are. in fact, judged in that
way; and it is right that we should
be judged in that way.
1.-THE man who is cynical, wheth-
er about women CT business or pol
itics, is assumed-and in nineteen
eases out of twenty. with full justice
to be immoral in his relations to
women or business or politics. The
man who has faith in the integrity
of others in the face of irresponsible
accusations is assumed-and in nine
teen cases out of twenty justly as
sumed-to have the confidence in
others goodness because he is a good
man himself This is why people
will follow the optimist even though
he is sometimes wrong.
THE things that Jesus had and
that the prophets preceding him had
not was the belief in the essential
goodness of humanity which would
respond positively to the gospel of
self sacrifice. He that would follow
in the footsteps of the Master must
be prepared. not simply to stand up
right himself, but to have faith that
others will stand by him.