The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-06-03
talk ON PURE LIFE
DIR. C.. MI. She1dOn's Theme for
BaccaIaureate Sermon.
Washburn Students Hear Ser
mon on "SplendOr of Youth"

IF there is anything which any
I Young nan or woman can give 10 the
world n the way Of service which is a
splendid gift to succeeding ~neraIio
it is the. example of an unsolled me,
said DR.. Charles M. Sheldon IN ~
/ course OF the baccalaureate sermon
which he delivered Sunday morning
! before the members of the
college graduating class. He was
speaking on The Sacred Splenoor Oh
Youth" -
."The list of achievements of youth
in all ayes-in all departments OF ac-
J tivity-ts an endless one. A mistahen
idea that has become almost laloIndsaS
is that youth is a time for anything
except serious things; that it is mostly
playtime and that the serious Things OF
life are to be under taken after one mas
exhausted the play period.
.ePGavtime is in reality a short period
for human beings 1t belongs to the
period OF childhood, not of youth. II
is both a natural and a necessary
period of life. 1t should be Tree an9
bannv THE few years of childhood
which he:ong to play should not De
burdened with problems OF eNlsleHGe'
or carrying it's too heavy ~responsiplIIr
ties even childhood itself
cannot be entirely free from real re,
~snonsibility without injuring childhooo
itself. But the years or sheer play III
he nat,:re of the case, g 10 De'
and really are very few.
9TH sacred splendor of youth does
NOT rsc,;ire for its development and
exercise very much play. Inc time
that is given by many Ihousahus y
yoTnp DeopIe for what they cali
amusement is not necessary for their
own happiness. The greatest APP
ness known to youth Is founq IN az
uaI Work-that is work whlch Is pro-
ductiye. which has in it the element OF
conscious power which is adding TO the
worlds sum total of real happiness ana
lasting delight. ..
Mere amusement in 1tselr is d triVIal
thing with the boundless
iov which comes from the exercise OF
the powers which every m being
possesses between the ages or twenty
and forty; /. e. powers or the magma
ton of creative effort or poetic HI
sight. of inventive genius powers o.Fe-
ligious enthusiasm and of the lnltla-
tive for reform; the physical and the
mental. and the artistic in what may
BE- called the resiliency in lie. Inese
take the place in healthy souls, those
who have had the vision of what real
1ifa is ! of all superficial entertainment.
1t is not an exaggeration to say that
the amount of time wasted by youth
il seeking to entertain itself II ange
into actual power for the betterment
of the world could reshape our cities
and mold into new and lasting forms
the happiness of millions of people who
today toll without any hope of better
ment. 1t would be a fearful sight II
one could actually measure and pile
up somewhere the visible amount of
power that goes to waste in playing,
in a world which is waiting for work.
erS: and the sac part of it is that
there is a mistaken idea on the part
of thousands that yot tn cannot be
without a vast amount of play.
There is no entertainment so great
and no refreshment of mind and body
and of the spirit so vast, as that which
grows out of the hardest days work
accomplished for the purpose of doing
and being something in a world where
have only one life to live and where
the sacred splendor of youth burns
with a fragrance and beauty which
the world needs more than perhaps
it needs anything else.
along with the mistaken idea that
youth is the time for much play is the
is a time for getting rid of superflu-
Gus energy by doing wrong; no adage
is so entirely false as the one which
takes for granted that youth must
have it's fling before it settles down
to permanent and useful ways OF liv-
ing. OF all times in ones life, youth
is not the time to sin. If you are go
to sin why not wait until you are
That would be a better time.
After you have used all h brilliant
energy of mind and body and spirit
in splendid ways and the machine
begun to wear, then have your
fling.
'Ther are many things which sin
offers to middle age which are eX-
ceedingly alluring. Selfishness in a
vast variety of forms is able to tempt
Did men and women. But it is a
thing to think of taking
that is young and vigor-
ous and exuberant and flinging it
INTO the c~esspool of vice and dissi-
patton, scattering it with lust and
cruelty.
You will not have a better time
% live than now. Every minute is
adding something to the possibilities !
IF either accomplishment or defeat.
rhe highest standards you will ever !
KNOW, the greatest enthusiasts that {
will ever bear you on, the noblest in !
,entives of which you will ever dream, :
will come to you in youth time. !
These are not vain dreams or mag :
nings. They are the promptings of '
| divine inspiration. If you do not Z
iced them they will pass rom you :
md then you will look in vain for !
hem to come back when you are 7
I'D" $
Frank K. Sanders gave the benedic-
and a short talk to the members
# the graduating class, who were
in the usual garb of ~collegians
Who are about to see the good old"
College days ended. The invocation ,
vas pronounced by the Rev. Rob B. !
Suild, successor to DR.. Sheldon as
pastor of the Central church. Dean
Crank T. Lee and Dean D.. L. Nc
also took part in the ser g
s