Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1915-07-01

rereo 10 the graduates OF Charlotte
Hall Academy:
Young Gentlemen Of the Senior
Glass of Charlotte Hall Academy:
When | first took up the preparation
OF the brief remarks will make t1
you today, did so with the idea o.
discussing with you the question,
what viii you do with the diploma
you have Just receivedf" Such q dis
cussiOn would doubtless involve much
good and wholesome advice OF a kind
which, | am frank to say, received
but often failed 20 follow in my owT
younger days, and which you also, II
you are red-blooded young men, sub
ject 10 the ordinary weaknesses oI
humanity, would likewise reserve the
right To disregard.
Nevertheless, the question what
win you do with your diplomaf" il
one which perhaps should not have
put aside. Il Is the question which
must be uppermost In your minds to-
day. The world Is as full of oppor-
tunities as you, with your varied
tastes and inclinations, could wish.
All that the world asks for its favor Is
a clear head, reasonable ability and q
willingness to work hard. Genius IL
self often consists of no other qualities
than these. There Is no one among
you who cannot require them all.
Into this world whose favors thus
lie open before you, like a garden
where the flowers are blossom
ing and ready 10 be gathered, you go
with the traditions of an honored
school. The years you have spent
there are not cast behind you like an
old garment. Whether Won continue
your studies in higher institutions OF
learning, or whether business claims
your labors now, in either case the
teachings and the training of Char
lotte Hall and the friendships formed
there, will always be part OF your life
and character. AS you ascend the
path which others are now defending
you will, ! sm sure, always think of
that training and those friendships as
gifts to be treasured and lived uD To
form the school which, for nearly $50
years, has been a source of pride and
qualification 20 the people of our State.
IL is because this institution has
thus become forever n part of your
life, that what are you going To do
with your diploma?" concerns more
than you and your families and your
friends. IL concerns also this institu-
ton which has helped to make you,
and which bids you to be true to her
traditions, and cause her To be proud
that you are her children. She asks
that you be worthy brothers of her
older graduates who are playing the
part of men in the world.
But the present era in the world g
history is hardly one for the conven-
tional commencement address. The
needs Of the hour are not quite graft
fed by showing the opportunities
which a sturdy, honorable, hard
working business life affords for the
betterment of the community: or by
pointing out the satisfaction which the
pursuit of literature, art or science
can give to yourself and TO your fell
lows; or by picturins the fascination
of lawyers or a statesman's life; or
by painting the wonderful constructive
work which the field of medicine offers,
enabling those who adopt IL to feel
that greatest of all happiness, the
kind which comes from displacing the
gloom of sickly and Respondent lives
with the sunshine of health and
strength.
You are closing your school life,
and crossing the threshold of what
ever may lie beyond, ut the greatest
moment in the history of all the world.
At time when universal peace was be-
lieved by its advocates to be nearer
realization than ever before, suddenly.
almost over night, one after another
OF the great nations of the world
plunged into moral combat, until now
nearly all of them are Joined in a
grapple of life and death.
This great mutton of ours will have
its part TO play in that international
crisis. The part we are TO play may
be one of peace or IL may be one oi
war. No man today can lift the veil
which hides our future from US. No
man can say how near or how distant
is the time when the part we s4e hes.
tined To play will begin. IL may be-
tomoIrow-it may be in years. This
only is certain, that somewhere in the
days beyond, there lies a task of either
peace or war which we must perform,
the greatest task in all our history,
because the future history sef the whole
world, and its geography, and the flu
ture peace of all its people may depend
upon il. In that task, whatever II
may be, you, as men OF our common
country, will have your part.
AS we gather here today in this
beautiful country of our State, we can
not realize what Europe Is. Around
US here we see the pursuits of q peace
full and happy and thriving race, the
healthy buzz of industry, the tillage ol
the soil, the love of business and pro-
fessional life. We behold men and
women happy in their homes, and in
doing the work OF nation which is al
peace.
But in Europe the bugle sounds 9nd
the shrapnel shrieks. There the
trenches replace the freside as the
homes of splendid aud courageou:
men. New and hitherto unknown in
struments of warfare leave behind
them paths of death and of destruction
The battlefield Is the bedside of the
dead.
Out of il all results which no mar
can foresee must come. IL may bs
that Germany will stand triumphant
in her place in the sun, or she may bS
humbled to the dust. A new Russia,
stronger and healthier in her indus
trial and economic life, may win heI
outlet TO the east, or that mighty En-
pire may become diSmembered. Bel
gium may be forever lost to the MAJ
vi int WOEtu anu ~ tutuEC utSboEgs vi
from her ruins she may rise again into
a splendid state. France may crown
her brave and accomplishing sacrifcs
of the lives of men by the recovery oi
AlSace Lorraine, or it may all have
been in vain. England may lost hei
colonies, and taste the cup of national
bitterness, or the gfories and triumph:
of her future may surpass the triumph'
of her glorious past Militiarism ma
be the politics OF the ages to come, ol
monarchieS may perish from the eartf
and republics and democracieS tak'
their places. All is IN the hands o
God.
But whatever 5e the rise or fal
among the nations of Europe, which
ever may survive or whichever may
decay, the time for the United State:
60 act must come. When that time i:
at hand, our task may be that of the
worlds peacemaker. Ii may be our
glory to bring together in friendly
convention the exhausted nations OF
the world, TO soften the bitterness
which this titanic struggle has engen.
dered among them: TO reconcile the