The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1917-05-31

In his address last Thursday in
presenting Carnegie hall to Mary.
vile College, on the occasion of its
dedication, Rev. j. S. Jones repre-
senting the Chamber of Commerce
said:
Mr.. President
1t is with no small appreciation of
the honor conferred upon me in this
representative capacity, that | stand
for a moment upon the threshold of
this New Carnegie Hall to weave
three chaplets of our own mountain
laurel for the brows of those who in
relation to this enterprise are ad-
judged worthy of honor. AS view
it, the rebuilding of this splendid
hall is three-fold tribute to Mary
vile College, to the character of its
student body, and to the citizens of
Blount County.
Human life in its activities may be
roughly divided into prophecy and
history. Only a few months ago
this building existed only in the
i2r,tistic faith or thss frisnasA4ss this
institution. The red sla4.s 81 the
destroying fame mingled with
smoke, created an atmospheric con-
dition in which floated a mirage of
a hall better and more beautiful
than the one whose destruction the
people mourned, and they who saw
it determined that it should become
real. History is but the material
ization of prophecy, the concrete ex-
preston of ideals born of hope and
purpose.
1t seemed to many that the fire
which rendered 126 young men
temporarily homeless, swept away
their personal belongings, and re-
duced to blackened heap of rubbish
a building costing $4,000, could only
be a disaster. But they who know
life, know then that there is no de-
feat so crushing but there is left
room for transcendant victory, and
none are ever finally overcome who
believe in God and in themselves.
A worse calamity than the burn
ing of every building on this campus
would be, that athe purpose and
policy and practice of this institu-
ton should be unworthy of the deep
est sympathy and the practical help
of this community in the hour of
your need. 1t would be a sad COM
mentary on your work, covering now
nearly a century, if the doors of the
peoples love and sympathy and
resources were closed to
you.
Thus, I bring this chaplet of
mountain laurel, woven with un-
skilful hands, and place it upon the
brow of Maryville College. Because
of the nobleness of your aims, and
the efficiency of your work, the peo-
pie answered before you called, and
gave before you asked. Your need
was their opportunity to show their
and approval. Better
than any words of praise they might
have spoken are the gifts they have
brought to you. Words are poor
vehicles of thought and feeling, but
leeds reveal the inner life. What
we say may soon be forgotten, what
we do lives on forever.
In every age and in all lands
and students have cOnstitut-
I'd the most important classes of
society. The race has gone forward
)r has declined toward the animal
evel as these classes have been noble
,r ignoble in their leading. Thought
eads, and thinkers, ever consciously
" unconsciously, seen or unseen, are
n the forefront of the worlds move
nents. We read of bloodless re
rolutions and of constitutional
born over night, and the
world looks on with wonder. But
nen forget that as steadily as the
'lacier and the stream cut their way
Iown the sides of the mountin, and
hange the form and fashion of the
arth's surface, so do the currents
f thought silently work their revo-
ution in society. The clashing of
words on the limitless battlefield
f earth today is but the strife of
leas and the struggle of thought for
he mastery. Happy, therefore, is
hat land whose scholars and stu
ents are pure in thought, noble in
pirit, and clean in life.
Mr.. President, had the student
ody of your institution been other
ise, dare say the task of aiding l
ou in the reconstruction of Carnegie t