Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-09-30


stamped the idealism peculiar to the age
Of Moses. Loyalty to authority and pro-
lection of the dependent marked the
idealism that belonged to tho age of
chivalry. For other epochs crusades for
the firm replantlng of the cross, supplant-
ed by the crescent. struggles for popular
manumission and contests for the suprem-
acy of law have stood forth in each in
stance as symbolizing a distinctive age
idealsm. ''rhe spirit of the age" Is the
phrase commonly employed to designate
the dominant ideal of a given period.
We are always confronted by two sets
of ideals. There are the specific and the
general ideals. or a different putting of
1t would be to say the private and the
public ideals. Some people choose to fol-
low one set and neglect the other Then
there are those who are animated by
both, and these are the well-rounded
folks Each of these two groups Of ideals
is the necessary complement Of the other
in every person who does his full share of
the worlds work. The duty of every man
or woman with the proper objective is
to seek to realize the high ideals that
are exclusively his own while he CO.
operates with otherright -motived people tn
promote the realization of the ideals that
are the common property of all In his own
times The adaptablity of the individual
to the finest idealsm of his own age is
patriotic obligation resting upon every
| earnest minded person.
The man who fails in speech and con-
duct to express the spirit of his own age
is usually ignored by his contemporaries.
If he incarnates the spirit Of his era he
will be rewarded with assurances Of
popular appreciation. The man who sets
himself in cynical or destructive opposi-
tion to the idealism of his times will
either be ignored unworthy Of atten-
ton or condemned as a foe to the public
welfare The propagandist may criticise
the 'nadequacies of his own age but If he
| speaks in the vernacuar of that age,
using his knowledge as a basis for his
| judgments. the people will listen and some
will obey.
| Doctor Hough has we'll said that "A
| man must be, in a measure, a child Of his
! age to be n citizen OF the ages. In Solo
mon an age and it's ideal met together. He
did the kind of things tie age most ad-
mred. He lived the kind of life which
most appealed to his contemporaries. He
uttered the kind of words which the men
Of his time felt to be most extraordinari-
! ly wise. 1t is probable that, in intellect
and achievement no man ever more per-
fectly fulfilled the ideal of his own
period than did Solomon.
I'm wonderful way Erasmus was the
typical man of letters to the men of his
day. Hegel became the king Of phioso-
piers in his period. But you can go over
age after age without finding man who
So satisfied the dreams of his contempo-
raries as did Solomon Such an analysis
at once brings to light his limitations as
we'll as his greatness. To serve your
own generation in the profoundest sense
you must outgrow it. The best friend of
an age must be its critic. The apostle
of noble discomfort is the prophet of a
better time to come Solomon was like
an exquisite rose-wndow in which In
beautiful symbolism the past and pres
ent meet He was not like a widow. flung
wide open. through which one gazes at
the infinite wonder of the night sky.
dreaming all the while of the great days
which are yet to be"
To young people on the threshold OF a
new college year there comes the call to
catch the spirit Of the age in which they
live; to be able to interpret 1t in terms
that will make its problems intelligibc
and its possibilities concretely real; to ex-
empify its strvings in personalities that
harmonize with the strain for better
things; to be charitably critical of the
imperfectons in the idealsm of the age
and to be consumed with the desire for
the perfection of an idealism that will
guarantee perfected civilization wher
ideals shall have found fulfillment ir
realities.
| 1t is poor ideal that brings entire
satisfaction when it is realized. Progress
Is life: stagnation is death; inactivity Il
| retrogresson. When a pursued ideal Il
captured the best service OF its captivity
will be rendered by the lodging II creates
to start in immediate pursuit of a still bet
ter ideal. The expansive powerof the spiri
of true idealsm is unlimited. 1t keer.
growing so that it Is never full grown an,
never satisfied. The ideal which Solo
mon set for himself and the chosen peo
, pie lacked this expanding power. 1t wa
unsatisfactory because it was attanabl
and when attained he stood still, feelin,
that there was nothing more to be desired
The growing man whose usefulness t,
society is constantly augmentng is neve
in possession of a realized aim tina
. guarantees complacency. when he en-
ters what he believes to be the thron
room of a great ideal IT always prove
to be but the portal to n nobler audienc
room of the spirit into which he mus
pass"
MENACE OF FALSE IDEALS.
Ambitious people are ever confronte
by the menace Of false ideals. There l
> always the danger OF yielding to the spe
, of the artificial and the superficial TIL
purely spectacular often makes stronge
9 appeal then the real. That which
striking is sometimes preferred abov
@ that which is important. The vivid
a chosen rather than the significant, Al
, tractiveness is ono thing. A moral just
fication for attractiveness is quite anothe
n thing. 1t Is the power of right ideal.
=, then, that | have In mind to-day when
urge you to be inspired by the poten
!, tialities that lie within yourselves an
n that belong to your age.
q What is the transcendent ideal Of ou
q age? The question Is pertinent to tn
:, time and occasion. The answers ar
h likely to vary as widely as the difference
: of concern in different people. Those In
lterested in the great movements for com