The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1909-05-20
THE START IN LIFE.

vouno men and women are ending their
school DAYS, they are gaining much intor-
nation in the form of baccalaureate ad-
dresses and sermons on the right aims ana
results of education, and are receiving
advice on the conduct of life, on success
and on the surest roads to happiness ana
fame. The messages of the season are
undoubtedly most wholesome guides TO
conduct, and must leave an impress upon
youth who are impressionable, interrupted
and responsive to higher impulses ana
pure motives.
One of the finest texts in the whole range
of literature applicable to the time is to be
found in that rambling old historian or
story teller, Herodotus, who recites in
most delightful and unaffected way the
tale of the defeat of the Persians and other
barbarians by the Greeks at Marathon, at
Salamis and at Thermopyle. These epoch
making victories decided the fate OF the
world, because they held in check the
Asian lords and permitted the development
of the Greek philosophy, art, life and liter
allure, which in time permeated Western
Europe ard infused it's spirit into the whole
civilized world, thus affecting every man
and all institutions of this day, even in
GLIDING the remotest hamlet in America,
where, perhaps, not one of the inhabitants
knows any more Of the Greeks than the
very name. And this fact, that when a
few people fight and contend for their
honor and their homes and for the higher
things of life, they sensibly or uncon-
sciously fight not only for themselves, but
for humanity as whole and for countless
succeeding generations, is one of the most
inspiring truths in the world, and is calcu-
lated to strike the imagination of all men
and to inspire them to higher effort.
The keystone of inspiration in the story
OF Herodotus is found in the anecdote told
OF the Persians. One of the mobiles at
tached to the court of Xerxes, on being
informed that great many of the Greeks
were at a distance engaged in the Olympian
games, asked what was the object of the
games and what were the rich prizes which
could thus attract the attention of so many
people. On being informed that the prize
was simply an olive wreath, he said in
amazement, "What can be done against a
people SO wonderful that they will contend
simply for honnr2',
The sequel to that struggle is well kn1Mn;
the earth is ths.n'was low. material and
tawdry. 1t was founded on riches, feast
ing, ease and merriment. The barbarians
could not even conceive of keen solicit
tude for art, literature, philosophy, and
their political conceptions and systems
were in accord with their slavish minds.
Though the Persians of antiquity were
beaten back, the barbaric idea survives in
every land and among all peoples. The
contest is an endless one, and it is the
junction of colleges, schools and UNIVERSE
ties and of the arts which notify and
adorn humanity, and of all the sciences
and of all the teaching and preaching
which uplift mankind, to develop and ex-
pand this single idea of the struggle for
the honor Of man. This is the right aim
and idea of education, and Ruskin states it
thus:
Education is the leading of human
souls to what is best and making what is
best out of them, and these two objects are
always attainable together by the same
means. The training which makes men
happiest in themselves also makes them
most serviceable to others.''
The object of the long training is to
produce honorable men and women and
good citizens. 4 nations best product is
hlgh-minded men and noble women. Anv
system OF education which fails to produce
mat result IS failure. The liberal educa-
tlon is designed not for the purpose of en-
aollng youth to make money more easily.
though that may be one of the incidental
advantages. The broad education is for
the recipients personal satisfaction and for
the training of more intelligent and more
useful citizen, and the chief characteristic
OF the successfully educated man is the
elevation of his aims. The effort should
De made to "rear up such sentiments as
shall guard US from the pangs of envy; to
make US rejoice in the happiness of everv
sentlent being; to feel too happy ourselves
for hatred and resentment; to forget the
body or to enslave it forever; seeking to
purify, to exalt and to refine our nature"
Men will learn trades and professions and
u