The Mena weekly star., 1909-05-20
INSPIRING WORDS
 TO THE GRADUATES
Dr. ]. 1. Norris of Pine Bluff Delivers The Sermon to the Graduating Glass of Mena High School
 Church Crowded.

1u hu0 'tA NdA h(SN oN"~NsJ ' which has made it possible for ten of Mena brightest young ladies to be the recipients ot baccalaureate sermon, they have doubtless found no lesson of greater value than the one so beautifully and earnestly im pressed upon their minds by the Rev. J. l. Norris Sunday morning at t h Methodist Episcopal church, South.
 Dr. Norris is pastor of the Presbyterian church of Pine Bluff. He IS a most earnest and foreeful speaker capable of think ing, expressing and making others think beautiful thoug hts.
 When his sermon began the large church was crowded, many sta nding, and when he closed all regretted that 1t was over.
 Dr. Norris took for hls text the 2lst and 22d verses of the seventh chapter of First Kings, which refer to the building of Solomon's great temple as fol- lows:
 "And he set up the pillars in the poarch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar and called the name thereof Jachin, and he set up the left pillar and called the name thereof Boaz."
 And upon the top of the pill lars was lilly work"
 Jachin, nearing he shall es- tablish stability; Boaz, represent ing strength and on top of stabil- ity and strength was placed the lilly work representing beauty. comparing this architecture to character building and referring to the class of girl students and women in general pr. Norris com pared them to the lilly work, the beautiful, and enlarged upon the necessity of this beauty being supported upon pillars of strength of stability and character.
 He spoke of the beauty of a strong loving character which shows through the otherwise al most agly faces There were beautiful men too and he devided them into classes; men who were attractive in features but without strength of character, such as the ladies like to have around at their parties and receptions as they d. ferns and cut flowers and placed their value at about two bits a dozen.
 Men who are strong but are rough and overbearing for feai tbey will fail to show their strength; men who are ugly in features yet beautiful in their strength ot character and full of great love, gentleness aud sym pathy, citing Abraham Lincoln as an example.
 Then with the statement, "Gentlemen, you may be strong and beautiful" he referred to Robert F. Lee, strong, stable and beautiful.
 Referring again to woman, he saia:' The imost beautiful thing in m the world IS beautiful woman; the b, st thirg in the world is a good woman, and the meahest thing ii the world is a mean woman.'
 He sald he did not know as he had ever seen a wholly mean woman, and spoke in a beautiful way of their goodness and beauty, but ever keeping the thought uppermost that unsupported by the pillars of stability and strength 1t was of little value, and in closing he directed the atten- tion of the young ladies to some of the thoughts expressed in the Book of Proverbs including the following:
 Who can find virtuous wom- an for her price IS far above ru- bies.
 The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her.
 She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
 Her candle goeth not out at night.
 She stretcheth out her hand to the poor, Yea, she reacheth out her hand to the needy"