The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1911-06-24
PERSEVERANCE.

mighty achievements of the world
greatest men: mountains tunneled
the ocean conquered; the lightning en-
shaved; the land we love and live il
transformed from the forest home OF tn
Red Men into our own hourishing an,
populous cities of today.
But however potent the God-givel
powers of man, in working these ant
thousand other marvels, any fore
within his control is effective only 8,
far as he perseveres in its application
/ to some particular purpose. So it il
also with the intellectual and mora
forces of mans own nature and being
they accomplish a grand work onl!
when used perseveringly, and iackini
the power Of perseverance,, he lacks th'
chief element Of success and happiness
However high the aims that animate
and the hopes that thrill our hearts, W.
should ever bear in mind that the basis
of all true success is labor,-its crown
is perseverance,.
Will power, determination, the con-
quest of the lower by the higher, make
for moral victory today as we'll as in al
time; therefore, if our minds are soar
ing towards highest aims, our hearts
exulting in their latent powers, we must
understand from the outset that those
aims will never be attained, those latent
powers will never be used, without per-
severing efforts.
May it not be true that many OF the
success-fa failures of our times have their
origin in the absence of serious thought
that is largely characteristic of oui
boasted twentieth century?
And does not this shallowness and
frivolity of mind predispose to the
avoiding of anything irksome, to the
trifling with life difficulties, and to the
neutralizing of the powers of endurance?
Happily, we who have enjoyed the
blessing of Christian education, en-
lightened by the teachings of faith, and
guided by the solid principles of incul-
Gated by religious instructresses feel
prepared, in measure, to meet the tri-
ais that may await us the other side OF
Commencement.
We have been taught that only the
vigorous, determined, persevering can
succeed, and that the vacillating, half
in earnest must fail. But the keynote
of the only real success, of which We
have frequently heard in the class
room, lies in the words ''Thou hast
made US for Thyself, o God, and what
ever we gain, il we lose Thee, all Is
lost''. To save our immortal souls, to
gain heaven and God-this is success,
all else is failure.
And now, in conclusion, my privilege
is one not unmixed with pain-that OF
bidding farewell to my convent home,
the scene of my purest Joys! A death
like pang rends my heart as grasp the
full meaning of this hour: that "we
have come to the parting of the ways, VI
that we must bid adieu to these protect
ing walls, which, for many moons, have
sheltered this mortality and witnessed
it's gradual development from childhood
to womanhood.
Who can doubt that it gives me pain
to say farewell to such hallowed asso-
Citations? Farewell to our beloved pas
tor, OF whose pious zeal it ia and eyer
will be our happiness to have been the
privileged objects; whose counsel and
encouragement stimulated us in oul
upward march to the hill OF knowledge
To you, dear Mother, whose hoverina
care has extended like angels wings
over the charges confided to your gen
tie keeping, tender my sincerost thank
for all that you have been in example
and love, humbly trust that your hear
will still follow your child when sh'
goes forth from her Alma Mater to max,
or mar her life. Farewell, dear Mother
but not for aye.
| To our devoted teachers who hav.
labored so we'll to form our plastic live'
to high ideals and to the virtues Of tru'
womanhood. with throbbing heart, biz
a tender farewell
And, dear classmates. whose merr,
faces are linked with endearing memo
ries of golden days of azure-tintes
visions stretching far out into the mys'
terious future before US, your cherished
| forms will be painted in times portrai
gallery, as the companions OF my chi Id
hoods happiest hours.
bid each fond and loving farewell
"a word which must be and hath boon
| A sound which makes Us linscr-yst farewell 1
!, But we would not conclude in thi
minor strain; hfs's tomorrow is ye
brighter for US than its yesterday.
God OF our glad today, grant that We
st. Joseph's graduates of 1911, ma.
persevere to the end in the practice o
the lessons we have learned within thes'
dear walls.
Our class motto, Truth Conquera
shall continue to guido US unto the at
tanning OF the crown OF perseverance,
an eternal Commencement in Heaven
l
| The establishing OF postal saving'