Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1912-06-27
ADDRESS BY BLISS PERRY
UPON "THE COHERENT LEFE''
Graduates Number 97-Name of Frederic Roy
Branscombe, Who Died on Eve of Gradua-
ton, Goes on Record as Aumnus of In
stitution- Commencement Dinner

Cromwell, but had put nothing effectively
upon paper: and as was usual with him
in these unhappy intervals between his
greater task, of composition. his spirit
creaked and Tapped and eroaned with
out seeming TO make headway. His
journal at such times * slngularly
Illuminating; terribly frank, hut humor-
GUS and human. heroic. too. in its
iesolute grding on of strength and
grandeur ON October 3, 1871. he records
his lack of energy and perser, erance liis
| opinion of Cromwell is as vet inarticu-
late; his own powers seem ill-adapted to
his epoch and circumstances; at Is a
strange incoherency, this position OF
mine;'-and then he adds this flashing
sentence, which shall be our theme to-
day: But what is life. except the
knitting up OF incoherences into coher-
ence? Courage"
Our mortal task, then, acco ~ding 10 the
Scotch prophet. is to bring order out of
| chaos, consistency out of inconsistency.
| The character of eaC. person should
somehow hang together. |. should be all
of one piece. The ideal life. for the
individual and for society is the coherent
life. These words will suggcst. perhaps.
those other couns.ls of perfection. The
strenuous life" and "'rhe simple life"
which not many years ago were fully.
not to say exhaustvely, urged upon our
attention. The doctrine o. 'rno strenuous
lite's was surely the most
superiluous gospel ned to the
| American people life" was
and is more gracioIa iuvitation to
the spirit; but as ,u" ., III program it
has it's difficulties Simple" may mean
bare, barren. The attempted simpliica-
ton of society has before now brushed
away not only mortmains ana useless
heirlooms. but also the real structural
supports of civilization. Simplicity may
become mere fad, like the shepherd and
shepherdess masquerade OF decadent
court under the old Regime. or the
American millionaire's costly amusement
of so-callcd cottage in the coun-
try Nevertheless, however travestied
the theory of simple living has its value
Egyptian and Hebrey' and Roman
satirists have all praised it, although
they may have disliked to practice IT.
Yet the coherent life is a clearer work
ing model Conference is not opposed tc
IL
manifold variety Of organization and
capacity. But it does suggest the presence
of some unifying principle. some co
ordinatinG force: and likewise the
practical ability not only to plan ones
work but to work ones plan Engineer.
affirm that "A ship finds herself after
Il voyage or two: there is "a subtle ad
justment Of part to part, until all tha
complicated mechanism seems to take or
brain. soul, personality, SO that the shl,
J instead of being an inert. mechanica
thing, becomes herself She" no
it," breaks the record. a man pull.
himself together" as We say. after som,
disintegrating experience. such as be
reavement failure, mental or physica
dissipation. or II may be after the shocl
Of new ideas. the bewildering vision o
wider horizons. He adjusts himself
painfully or joyfully. to the alterc,
] conditions, and lives once more a coheren
/ life
\ When we agree TO praise the principl
q of Conference, we must make one reser
r vation Our pattern of behaviour an,
conduct must not be too small TIL
rights Of growth must be safeguarded
r is worth more than The pot. What seem
incoherent often seems so oecause 1t l
G full of matter; Just as people sometime
b stutter because they have so much I
Z say. Your only truly consistent man
. the man who Is dead. and even his tomb
r stone Will bear watching. Human societ
: advances irregularly. Its alignment 1
: always imperfect. II gains ground her
o and loses there. We tug at the rope.
Q take up the slack a little hold hard. ge
q together, and take up the slack agar
Our best efforts are often III timed
q unrhythmical we are pulling againt
our comrades without knowing 1t. Ther
> is incoherent energy enough all aroun
us; there Is a constant lack of disc
: pllned energy.
y We need coherent thought no les
than united action. We are constant
Is in need OF some new synthesis, som
y rearra ngement of fact under a cleare
e law, some idea which will beat time fc
g us and help our ragged human regimen
to march forward In order. But whe
- the new idea sounds it is puzzling dii
ruptive. It puts us out. Successive gel
erations fail to understand each othe
- Fathers and sons often speak tragfcal
different dialects, they live In differei
Intellectual worlds. The new facts. ne
II experiences. new emotions. new Int
r. pretations OF the old riddles II tho cart
- bring not peace. but q sword. Darw
n and Pastsur have made every theologt
h their debtor; but the debt WAS paid. d
= cadc after decade with contemptuo,
If Misunderstanding The divergence b
n tween the mechanical and the vita
u