The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-05-17
COMMENCEMENT AT THE A. t. II. BEGINS;
 ADDRESS BY CATERS
Speaks on Beauty of Holi- ness-Mrs. Henry Speaks to Alumni Society
 Today

Montevallo, May 16.-tSpeeial. )-Com mencement exercises of the Alabama Girls Technical institute began here this morning with the delivery of the bacca-
 laureate sermon by Dr. Walter B. Capers president of Columbia institute, Column
 bia, Tenn, before the faculty. students
 and large number of citizens of Monte vallo at the public auditorium.
 !, Dr. Capers spoke in part as follows: Beauty Of holiness means the com plete man, and not lopsided develop mcnt; it means a man developed In ms | threefod nature, spirit mind and body
 It means the opportunity for each of these
 to lind full and free expression of itself | 1t means a protest against the strangula-
 tion, starvation or atrophy of either the | mans soul his intellect or his body. Many Definitions of Beauty There have of course been variety of definitions of beauty. Socrates called | beauty short-lived tyranny; Plato, a privilege of nature: Aristotle affirmed that beauty was better than all the letters of i recommen endation in fhe world Homer that it was glorious gift of nature; and Ovid, aluding to him. called it a favor bestowed by the gods. But insofar as these, or similar definitions of beauty, relate to the individual, they mean noth- ing more than that beauty which is a 'faultless piece of clay kneaded up with blood l need not remind you how such beauty is made to consume away like a moth.
 "If l had time we might with profit trace the development of the idea of beauty from the time when Pagan skill expressed it in stone and on canvas, on | through the literature of the old Testa- ment to that of the New, where beauty found its perfect flower in character rather than in physical fautlessness But here it is sufficient to say that Isaiah an- ticipated the New Testament idea of beauty in It's highest expression when he thus described it as it relates to indi- vidual service How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bring eth good tidings. that publisheth peace; that brngeth good tidings of good; that puhlsheth salvation that said unto Zion, Thy God reignethl' Jesus gave this es- innate of beauty His unqualified indorse- ment, when, many hundreds of years after Isaiah, Jesus read the prophecy in the synagogue of His own town, and said of it: This day hath this prophecy been fulfilled in Me
 Character developed and expressed in the right kind of life is the only trust worthy criterion of beauty. Not beauti- ful hands because fair and shapev and deckeG with jewels, but rather those. per haps misshapened, but made SO in an un- selfish ministry to others Beautiful feet, not because they are incased in costly kid, but rather because they have been quick and tlreless on errands of love and mercy Ruskin said of spiritual beauty i: There is certain period of the soul cul- ture when it begins to interfere with some 0 rn a arfe ,f f..,.f
 longing to the bodily frame. the stirring or the intellect wearing down the flesh and the moral enthusiasm burning it's way out to heaven, through the ema cia- ton Of the earthen vessel: and there is, in this indication of subduing the mortal by the immortal part an ideal glory of per- haps a purer and higher range than that of the more perfect material form. We conceive. l think. more nobly of the weak presence of Paul than of the fair and ruddv countenance of David'
 Measured by the standard of mere nhv- sical beauty, Catherine de Medicj once Queen of France, was most beautiful woman. She was the descendant of vastly wealthy. powerful and aristocratic family. She was the mother of five Kings Her hands were smooth and shapely, always decked with jewels of lncalculable value: her feet moved through the soft ways of Kings places. Her body vas clothed in the fairest linens and most costly fabrics; she fared sumptd- ously every day. And yet it would be a bold man. indeed, who would challenge the standards the ideals, Jesus has set up among us by declaring that Catherine oe Medici was in reality beautiful woman. The feet of this wretched Queen never carried her upon mission of mercy or love; her soft hands never in sym pathy soothed the fevered brow or min istered to the suffering The flame that
 lit her eye held no love light in 1t: in her whole bea ring there was always the conscious boise of faultless grace playing for increased power. It was Catherine dc Aedfci of whom the historian Motley said; She was artful, perncous and cruel She increased her political influ- ence by corruptiRE the morals of her sons, and fermented civil war among her subjects, and finally instigated the mas sacre of St. Bartholomew. Contrast the character-beauty of such Queen with that of Queen Victoria of England Beau. tiful in the influence of her life and In the fact that that influence was potent and irresistible factor in creating new era. in the advancement of Chris tian civilizationl
 My young friends the ideals of Jesus are not visionary. The spirit of Jesus Is not dead If your work is to he strong, 1t to be esta blished, the strength must come from God, Our work should be beautiful. but God alone can rrve
 II beauty. If our work to be the work of gratitude. love, humility. and self sacrifice, 1t IS God that has made it. Remember God holds the key to every life Let Him hold the key to yours
 Mrs. F.. B. Henry of Birmingham will deliver an addxess before the Alumni so- ciety today. Mrs. Henry is a graduate Of the class of 1903.