The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-10-25

1 The newly completed gymnasium oI
 the Young Woman's Christian assocla-
 ton was the scene last evening of one
 of the most impressive assemblies that has ever greeted q Birmingham speak
 CT. Mrs. Leonard Thurlow Beecher,
 whose fame extends from the far north
 to Birmingham. where she is loved as
 well as admired, was the lecturer. and her audience included the members of 1 the Young oman's Christian asso-
 ciation, representatives of club and so- cial life, and a number of gentlemen. 1 The gymnasium was filled and the audi
 ence sat enthralled as they listened
 to the interpretation which the speaker
 gave of her poetic subject, "The City | on Hill." What a joy it must be | to thrill and sway the world with the power of ones personality as does Mrs. Beecher! Hers is one of the most mag lnetic natures that comes before the public today. She seems vertically to
 become absorbed into the spirit of her |readings or her lectures, as the case
 may be, and every listener feels q per | sonal kinship. But so well is Mrs. Beechers charm understood and appre- l ciated that one does better to tell of
 her, what she says, than how. She
 stood on a platform arranged in the
 great hall with picturesque back ground of palms and foliage, which acted as q foil to her graceful and
 most artistic figure, presenting, as one
 critic said of her, the appearance of
 a lovely Burnes-Jones panel. Mrs. May belle Sloss Cecil had already out lined the purpose and aim of the edu- cational series of which Mrs Beecher's 's address was a part. She was followed by Mrs James Bowron, whose presenta- ton of the speaker was as graceful
 and clever as this bright woman all
 ways makes her little speeches. She spoke, In very few words. of. Mrs, lBeecher's value to the people of Birmins- ham as one of its townswomen; of her philanthropy, her generous spirit and her splendid ideals, where womanhood is concerned. And Mrs. Beeeher fol-
 lowed with her talk, saying in part Ancient philosophy put Into two
 words its conception of the first req
 uisites of an education. These words
  tion contains the beginning of wis
 dom now as 1t contained it then.
 Know myself!
 1 There may be some here who will remember the beginning of self con-
 consciousness; who recall the very first
 meeting with the sphinx. Childhood
 may have been very happy care free
 time.
 "A time when every meadow, grove and stream,
 The earth and every common sight, To you did seem,
 Apparalled in celestial light,
 The glory and the freshness of 1 deanl."
 l But no matter how happy the child hood, no matter how much Heaven lies about us in our infancy" there comes time when childhood is no more and we see
 "All the glory die away,
 l And fade into the light of common day" 1 Perhaps the revelation comes swiftly; 1 perhaps it comes with some great
 change; with the death of a dear fath-
 CT or mother; perhaps 1t comes in some ordinary happening that is suddenly
 shot through with meaning and lifted
 into eternal significance. You hear
 the golden gates of childhood close for ever behind you and you stand con- fronting the great Interrogation, the
 riddle of life. Perhaps for the first | time you see yourself in detached re- llationship and there begins Those ob-
 stinate qnestionings of sense and out ward things"
 Here I ann I have this gift of life whether wish it or no. I am here in
 this world half realized in these in-
 innate relations with others. What does
 1t all mean? Whence have I como? 1 Whither do I go? What is it all about? These awakening passions, these
 tormenting temptations, these bewid- | ering perpleXities, these yearnings, these inimitable intimations, these subtle | warnings what does 1t all mean?" ." l In the first struggle to find out some l thing about ourselves wen aturally l look at our environment and we be- come conscious of two great realities, There is the world of matter and back 1 of that there is something else. | In all his striving to know some- thing about himself, to find the key
 to his own mystery, man has been obliged to use two great wonders | God and the universe.
 Who would have the courage to say You may take any half hour of my l life and search it for the key to my character" Who has the courage to say, T will apply for myself some such l One says, This half hour tells 10th l ing at all of what Is true about me. Tn ] that time four people have come to me, each with an unkind, vile story that I 1 did not want to hear. I do not enjoy gossip and yet must hear all the re- volting details Are you sure you do not want to hear 1t? We'll, the ears are inc avenues to the spirit within. Perhaps the l sign boards need to be freshened that l the purveyor of the loathsome may clear | ly read No thoroughfare here for gar 1 bage wagons"
 1 Another says. 'I could not allow you | to take this half hour to find the out truth of my life. I cried all the time | out of sheer selfshness and ugliness. I