Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-06-22
Evening Exercises.

III" annual Phi Beta Kappa grafton
was delivered Tuesday. evening by
Prof. Edwin A. Grosvcnor of Amherst
| COllesr. V no. said: -1-. 49,
In t'iis college have ministered and
minister still great teachers, rich in
scholarly experience and>e- learning.
around each of these college rooms
throhg traditions and memories of
| conservation and heroism and achieve
| ment. From these halls in continu-
Ious procession. have gone forth. here
equipped for service in the World the
weil-trained and devoted. Nowhere
else could be more appropriate the
subject on hwich l wish to speak.
The Exalted Vocation"
On the 23d of April, 1910. an Amer
lean traveller in Paris addressed sew.
eral thousand French men and wo-
men. who, that they might hear him
crowded to overlooking the great hall
/ of the Sorbonne. Gathered there was
the most brilliant and the most repre-
sentative assembly that had ever
come together to listen to any speak
er in all the history of cultured
France. The address there delivered
might we'll serve as example and les
son to any Commencement speaker,
be that speaker man Of long expert
ence and acquaintance with the world,
or be he student OF fresh lip and rud-
dy cheek, about to y be diplomaed.
Above all that address might serve
as check and curb upon any man who
in the pulpit would seek to astound
and startle with etcentricity and in
novation. In 1t not single hitherto
unknown fact was stated or suggested.
In it there was not limited or attempt
ed single new idea. Yet it was not
la speech of platitudes. A platitude is
something insipid or weak or stale:
and insipid or weak or stale truth
can never be. 1t might be called COM
monplace.' in the sense. and in no
other sense. in which we reckon COM
monplace such things as love and
fight and afr. With energy, with the
dominant force of clean-eut, God
fearing personality. the speaker ham,
mered the forever fresh. the immortal
old truths home.
1.-The Exalted Vocation. Several
[adjectives there are which somewhat
approach as synonymous the word ex-
|alted. Such are high, lofty and au-
gust. BY comparison with them the
exact meaning of the word, exalted,
is made more clear High has ref
erenee to place occupied, and the
quality of height self-centers on the
object noted. Thus a high pedestal.
high house. high cliff. Lofty indi-
(cates distance and aIoofness. AS the
aloofness ceases, the holiness disap-
pears. The lofty mountain is no long
err lofty when we stand upon it's peak.
August" signifies inspiring awe. or
reverence. and directs attention to the
effect or impression produced. Thus
the barbarian Gauls were awe-strieken
when they beheld the august senate
of Rome. Exalted signifies raised in
rank position or dignity. The eleva-
tion it denotes is due to the quality or
character of the object it describes:
Because Of that innate character or
quality, the object is exalted. Exalted
sentiments. An exalted strain.
1.-The word vocation also has its
almost synonym in business and pro-
fession.
"A business is a regular occupa-
ton. in which one engages for the
sake of material profit as for liveli-
hood or gain. 1t is common to speak
of merchant, manufacturer,
banker, as a business man.
"a profession is a regular occupa-
ton, in preparation for and discharge
of which scholarship is required. Be-
cause of this usual preliminary equip
ment, clergyman. lawyer. a ply
Stefan. a teacher. is often referred to
,,,op,har If a prOfpSSiOn
"A vocation is regular occupation
upon which one enters as called there
to by natural inclination or sense OF
duty. Each of these terms, business,
profession. vocation. is honorable.
Each denotes mental rather than man.
ual labor. In each the brain is mas
ter rather than the hand. Engage
ment in any one of the three is legiti-
mate and praiseworthy. The boun-
Diary line between them is not distinct
but vague. Each trenches upon the
borderland of the other. l recall a
friend, banker and member of the
New York Stock Exchange, In whose
daily life are combined all three l
count him one of the happiest of men.
ION the other hand many a man en-
sole hope Of livelihood or material
profit. To him. law, medicine. theol-
ogy. teaching. is mainly, perhaps pure
~, a means to an end. At him let us
not cast a stone. Let us not call him
mercenary or sordid The struggle
for existence always has been. and
doubtless always viii be. hard. Most
men. like Horatio at the. bridge. are
battling. not so much for themselves
as for their own.
And yet, when all is said. the fact
remains that there is regular occupa :
| ton which is business, other regular
occupation which is profession. and
still other regular occupation which is
vocation. The last is exercised I'M
der various forms. each of which is
a definite vocation of itself. From
these various vacations. there is spe-
officially one to which. because of the
unselfishness Of its motives. the
breath OF its aims and the permanence
OF its influence. would apply with
the xplendor.. Of its full significance
the term exalted.
IN 1890 there were registered in
the common schools of the United
States more than 1900, 900 pupils In