Pocahontas star herald., 1910-06-10
Valedictory
B. A. Short

! " dOCOhi pliSh "'i N'''o
finish that thing, and without ac-
complishment there is nothing. No
matter how small or how great an
undertaking, that enterprise must
be accomplished before it can be
made useful. In fact the value of
accomplishment can not be counted,
weighed, or measured, for we are
Judged according to what we can
do, and we do no more than we
are able to finish. Then if we
would be useful to the world and
make tie world useful to us, it be-
hoves us to accomplish things while
circumstances permit.
| am sure there is not person
mere who does not possess, in some
degree, desire for accomplishment.
We know that If we rank high in
this world of ours, our attalnments
must be great. People are, in
large measure, what their desires
are. If they do not desire much,
doubtless the world will not recOg-
nize them; but if they have great
desires, there S chance for
them to be great.
1t is my opinion that a man does
IN injustice to himself and to his
country when he fails to crafty his
desire for good accomplishments.
In these days of ours one can not
value too highly accomplishments
,ince our happiness depends so great
kly upon it.
Though it is natural to desire to
be accomplished, neither desiring
nor satisfying the desire is the
greatest thing but that sweet conso-
lation of knowing the desire is graf
| fled and that we have accomplished
something's is one of the tlnderest
of human affections. How much
/ it means for us to be able to say that
we have finished something. What
a sweet consolation to know that
we have mastered something.
shall not undertake to mention
all the kinds of accomplishments
that have been, but follow with me
for a little while the life of man
who has been so fortunate as to
have his name become throughout
all the world, a synonym of elo-
queDce. The labors and struggles
by which he achieved excellence in
his art are held up anew to each
generation of youths as guides of
the path to success.
The first address of this man, De-
mosthenese, was before the public
assembly and it was a complete fail
ure; but with invincible courage he
went to work to master his faults
which, was done by constant effort
and dilligent study.
More than sixty of his orations
have been kept and of all the hui
man productions, they present the
models which approach nearest per
fection. But the most famous Of
these orations is his Grafton on the
! Crown, by which his rival Aeschi-
nes, was crushed and banished from
the country. Think what it means
to hold an audience in breathless
awe, to crush a prominent man or
to sway the hearts of multitude
by the art of the tongue.
For these have been great men in
the philosophical world. One
among the greatest is Socrates.
That great and good man easily
ranks among the greatest philoso-
pliers of the world, though nature
was unkind to him in the matter of
his person, she was very generous
to him in the gift of soul.
Socrates was a teacher. He was
the author of what is known as the
Socratic or question method of teach
ing. 1t was his delight to gather
small circle about him and draw
out the minds of his listeners by a
series of ingenious questions. The
youthful Alcidides claimed that he
was forced to stop his ears and flee
away, that he might not sit down by
the side of Socrates and grow old
in listning. Socrates taught the
purestIsystem of morals the world
has ever known except the precepts
of Jesus and believed in the immor-
tality of the soul and in the supreme
ruler of the universe, Though he
oneumes spoke slightly of temples,
this lead to the double charge of
blasphemy and of corrupting the
Athenian youth.
Yet he was not praised for his
work and attainment, but the rulers
of country, failing to see the good
of his new teachings, condemned
him and forced him to drink the
fatal hemlock. The last night the
great philosopher lived, he spent
the time with his deciples discuss
-. A. s,,,.,o,tol;tv nf tho soul