The Ordway new era., 1910-06-03
The Baccalaureate Address
Delivered By DR.. Whitte Graduating Class of 1910

III any man thirst let him come
unto me aud drink. John I: 81.
Humanity when left to itself Is In Il
sad plight. 1t Is in CONSTANT up.
heaval, confusion and turmoil.
DR.. Quinsy likened humanity to a
vast sea of upturned human faces.
faces forever grinning, gaping, howl
ing. yelling. never quiet, always
troubled, forever rolling, roaring.
rising. falling. frequently turbulent.
never placid, perpetually uneasy and
restless.
For forty centuries this ocean OF
humanity-this ocean Of upturncd
faces-has been in this perturbcd and
storm. tossed condition.
This shows that man, that all men,
that humanity at large has longing,
a craving and an appetite that the
husks OF earth have utterly failed to
satisfy. This thirst Is deep-seatcd In
the very nature OF man. 1t mani
tests itself in the many forms OF rest
less activity by which men seek to
satisfy their aspirations. Indeed the
powerlessness OF the world to quench
this thirst Is an indication II not an
unanswerable argument. OF the D-
vine origin OF the soul. There Is in
the soul OF man deep-seated desire
or craving that no earth-born object
can satisfy.
Look at Solomon, the son OF Il king,
the ruler OF an empire, the idol OF u
nation, the commander OF an army, the
owner Of q mighty fleet, the pOssessor
Of untold wealth, with n mind SO rich
ly endowed by nature. so well trained.
50 thoroughly disciplined. so splendid
ly stored with Information that the
name OF Solomon has become synOny-
nous with wisdom.
He drank from every spring OF
pleasure that bubblcd out of the
earth; he slipped nectar from all the
flowers that blo0mcd in the gar.
dens Of the world; he saw beauty and
read 4lfe-sweetsof -nature In the grass
that grew under his feet, in the flow
ers that bloomed along his pathway,
and in the stars that rolled and hlazed
above his head.
Surely IL the honOrs, the pleasures
and the emOlumentS OF the world
could have satisfied the deep longings
Of the human soul, Solomon would
have found in them the deepest pos
sible satisfaction.
But was lie satisfied? Let him speak
for himself. After nature had Law
ished upon him her choicest gifts and
emptied in his lap her richest treas.
ures, after a great nation had placed
on his head aglittering crown, Il
golden sceptre in his hand; after other
monarchs had sung his praise,
bowed before him and acknowledged
his exceeding greatness and his SUI
perior wisdom, Solomon stood up be-
tore listening world and said:-
VANITY Of vanities, vanity of vani.
ties, all Is vanity and veXation OF
Spirit"
Perhaps no man since Solomon's
time has tapped nature at more
points than did Lord Byron. Born in
a palace, related to kings, an heir to a
title and vast landed estate, Byron
was as much at home in the highest
social and intellectual centers of Eu
rope as a planet is when moving in It's
divinely prescribed orbit. He was 4
genius Of the highest order. He car
ried an intellectual dynamo under his
hat. A man whose mind, on every
occasion, fairly sparkled and scintil
lated. He had to stOop to touch the
lOftiest thoughts. Lord Byron was
the favorite child of fortune. No,
only noted individuals, but nations
We'd with each other to do him honor
and pay him homage. Like Solomon
Byron drank from every fountain that
the world had to offer. Was his sou
thirst satisfied =? His answer is at
hand. He says:
Fame, wisdom, love and power were
mine,
And health and youth possessed me
My goblets blushed from every vine,
And lovely forms caresscd me;
l summed my heart in Bcauty's eyes,
And felt my soul grow tender:
All earth can give, or mortal prize,
Were mine Of regal splcndor.
l strive to number DER what days,
Remembrance can discover,
Which all that life or earth displays
Would lure me to live over.
There rose no day, there rolled nj