The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-10-12

that have created the same kind of de-
forrnity in the moral and social world
that is created in the physical world
by a disappointment growth in any
one direction. And he points out how
in all this mad scramble for material
gain, this loss, discredit and demorali-
zation. the universities nus cmbody a
protest. and issue a rehuke. He de-
clares that the university, while Civ
ing youth the means of advancement
in life mus do it through increasing
his power to perceive and reflect,
form in him habits of attention and
application. and give his character IL
bias in favor of c%ultivating intelligence
for its own sake rather than for the
monetary or social advantages it con-
fers.
II do not believe we can emphasize
this function of the university too
strongly. The efficiency test in educa-
ton is something that Ices not appear
i'll the diploma. something outside the
realm OF the check book. The ma
chine that tests the materials going
into Your life has never had a model
on exhibition in the patent office at
Washington. 1t is something as inn
ponderaAle as it is dynamic. subtle as
it is pervasive. You may have mag
nificent material equipment in your
university halls and graduate an able
bodied mass of mediocrity, and again,
You may have halls bare of scientific
apparatus yet echoing ever with the
shouts of those who strive nobly for
the mastery of life.
What's the Motive.
Il presume over half Il hundred
pursuits have been selected by the
units composing this great convoca-
ton. Before me are embryo teachers.
physicians, lawyers. merchants. bank
ers. manufacturers, engineers. archi-
tects. chemists. farmers and journal
lists. But confess l am less interested
IN the career you have chosen than in
that thing controlling Your choice
the motive directing you toward your
vocation. No man can test out. as he
should do in his school days, the
strain-endurins materials of life with
out having what is called a working
philosophy. Says Gilbert Chesterton
in n of his recent essays: There are
some people. and l am one of them.
who think that the most practical and
important thing about Il man is still
his view of the universe. For Il gen.
eral about to fight an enemy it is i'm
portant to know the enemy's numbers
but still more important to know the
enemy's philosophy and that relat-
ing of ourselves to the entire scheme
of things. that suhconscious sense of
what life in the large really means,
that %orienting of self to the centre of
being is perhaps the finest thing some
of you are ever to get in your uniyer-
sity course; II some of you will miss
it II will build your house of mirth
of wood. hay and stubble. Oh, 1 have
seen them do it i'll the open-univer-
sity-bred people building what John
Ruskin in his Seven Lamps of Archi-
lecture" called the constructive lie."
They did not intend to build falsely
any more than Judas lscariot intended
to betraN his Lord. Judas was simply
other money-lovers. he did not under
stand Il MAJ who was not working for
himself. l have always entertained a
profound pity for Judas. I imagine in
IL way he thought more of Christ than
some of us do. He could not UNDER
stand Him, yet. in Il way. he believed
in Him. Could he not take care Of
himself when in the hands of the
Jews? He could work a miracle and
escape. why not the thirty pieces of
silver: Is not thai the way with the
ma who loves an education first of all
because 1t will give him more money
To spend? All this benevolent bust.
ness. you say this love of humanity. is
We'll enough in its place. but the real
gain Is money
but l put before you a question.
Will it stand the strain? Bring in
your test. not Il machine but a man,
a man like Chinese Gordon. Wilfred
Grenfell. General Booth. Judge Lind
say. Set such men up beside the
men who make the fee the first con-
sidcration. Will your fee man stand
the test? If your work says Ruskin.
is first with YOU and your fee second.
work is your master and the Lord of
work is God. But If your fee is first
with YOU and your work second. fee Is
your master. and the Lord Of fee. who
is the devil