The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1913-06-12
DR.. ALLAN HOBEN AS SPEAKER
Well-known Chicago Educator Makes
Strong Plea for Development of In
dividuaIity in Address to Graduates
Meeting of Alu1nnae this Afternoon.
(From fridays Daily

Kemper Hall closed for the year to-
day and the annual commencement ex-
ercises held at the Simmons Gymnasium
this morning drew to the hall a large
company of visitors. The buildings were
bright with flowers and everywhere the
Kemper Hall flowers were in evidence.
There was an unusually large attend
ance of the alumnae of the school, many
of whom remained for the annual re-
union and banquet of the alumnae
which was held this afternoon. Bishop
w. w. Webb of the Milwaukee Diocese
and many of the members of the clergy
from both Illinois and Wisconsin were
present at the exercises. The annual
commencement address was delivered by
DR.. Allan Hoben of the Department Of
Sociology of the University of Chicago.
A class of eight members received GER
tifcates Of graduation, these as well as
the other honors for the year being con-
ferred by the bishop. Miss Irene Tur-
ley Rogers Of Memphis, Tenn, a mem
Der of the class of 1912 at the hall, was
given the st. Mary's Cross.
Commencement exercises opened with
the usual professional to the gymnasium
and the program opened with the play
ing of the Tannhauser march by Earl
G. Blair. Several of the members of
the class of 1913 appeared on the pro-
gram, musical numbers being furnished
by Miss Marion Tilley Jones, Miss Nor
ma. Anita. Hauser and Irma Louise Hub
bard. Mrs. Helen Buckley Lee of Chi
cago, sang two solos, after which the
annual address was delivered.
DIR. Hoben said in part:
What should be expected of the
graduates of a school of such rare aud
beautiful influence? Will the patient
devotion; of teachers, the fond hopes
of parents and the constant invest
meut which society has been making
throughout these years of your de-
tendency be warranted | know that
it may sound ungracious to invade this
occasion with an itemized expense ac
count. But still it is well to face the
facts. The graduates who are going
forth from our schools at this happy
season of the year are debtors, and it
might not be amiss, now that the
various problems of the class room are
laid aside, to 90 simple sum in
arithmetic to take paper and pencil
and compute ones cost to the world.
The world charges you with room
and board with clothing, SCHOOL, lg,
medical care, the expense of travel
and of amusement aud with the cost
of your education to date doubt
not that this sum will reach $4,000
at the present time. And in addition
to this actual indebtedness there is
all the invested, love and tender care
of parents and the great accomplish
meuts Of humanity itself which comes
weary and oyerborne to lay at your
feet the results of it's long toll, the
achievements which we call civiliza-
tion.
What will the graduate do about it?
How can one hope to make just return
and to create "a balance ON the credit
side of life's ledger9 Chiefly, think,
by cultivating the art of being your
self. Develop true to your own type,
honor the individuality which marks
you as different from every other per-
son in the world and measures your
personal contribution to the common
good.
When are obstacles to such task.
The tacit conspiracy of society to make
us all alike, the false humility which
shirks duty, the idea that all that is
great and noble has been, the test of
a better than our best and the in
evitable cost of all high endeavor tend
to halt the generous enthusiasm of
youth and reduce us at last to a world
in which there is only the common
place, the humdrum and the treadmill
of daily existence,
But there are also helps. The de-
sire to be socially solvent and to leave
the world better by the measure of
your life, the thought that the ma
terial for self-making is ever present
and not far to seek, the fact that this
fine art is perfected-not in miserable
self-concern-but by devotion to a
cause and the thought that in the
mind of the Almighty there rests the
plan of our life-these combine to grid
us for the endeavor.
Youth is indeed the greatest wealth
and enthusiasm is the soul of youth.
Let no one rob you of the power to
respond ardently and wisely to the
calls of human welfare and then you
cannot fail The passing generation
invests in you because it believes in
you. It places tomorrow in your hands
and if you but accept the trust accord