Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1920-06-17
BARABOO HIGH
HOLDS ANNUAL
COMMENCEMENT
Continued from page one.1

any ship that sails the sea, I do not
/ care if he be captain of fishing craft
Of the early morning catch, ask him
whittier bound and he will tell you,
he knows just as well where he Is
going as he knows where he pulled
up his anchor; or you ask the captain
of an Arctic liner whittier bound and
he will tell you; but you ask the
average youth out on life's sea, Say
young fellow, whittier bound, where
are you going"', and if you get any
answer at all he is very apt to tell
you that he don't know where he is
going. The truth is he hardly knows
where he is at; he is drifting, drift
ing, playing upon the forces over
which he attempts to exert no control,
and after some years of experience
and observation I am fully convinced
that after all the thing in life we call
success is largely a question OF will.
I would rather have a long skulled
brunette from Italy who has will,
than one of your noble Scandanavians
that has string up his back instead
Of backbone. I don't mean to or in
tend to make any criticism about the
fine speech of young Whitman-he
is right, but give me will in any race
and there is hope. It is largely a
question of purpose. We, can make
out of our lives very largely what we
will. We are accustomed, who read
our Bibles and believe in it's exOrta-
tions to think that our future hinges
upon the exercise of our own person
al Individual wills, and we preachers
preach whosoever will, may be saved.
[ say it is largely true of the life that
now is, that we can make out Of our
lives very largely what we will.
No Control Over Place of Our Birth
Of course, I know that there are
one or two things over which we have
control. We didn't select the ship in
which our forefathers came over, and
yet I have met folk who talked as
though they had. | might tell you my
great grandfather came over in the
Mayflower or in the ark, as though
he had selected that particular ship
in which to come, but | have learned
! he was never consulted. Why boast
over a thing you have no control o.
yer? When I stop to think, there is
another thing over which we have no,
control, and that is we can't select the
place Of our birth, and yet I have met
with folk who talked as though they
thought they had l heard a little
chap say, I could have been born in
Philadelphia if I wanted to, but
didn't want to be born there; I have
heard grown-up folks say | was born
in the Empire state of New York, or
I was born in the grand old keystone
state of Pennsylvania or, l was born
in the Buckeye state of Ohio, or, [
was born in the old HOOsier state Of
Indiana-Well, | guess nobody brags
about that now-as though he had Sc
leted that particular state in which to
be born, but the real truth of the mat
ter is he never was consulted. We
! Americans are very much inclined to
brag that we were born under the
flag in this land of the free and the
home Of the brave. Suppose we were,
we deserve no special credit for it.
Whenever I run across man who
has been born under some alien flag
on some foreign shore and who saved
and toiled until he got enough money
to purchase his steerage or passage
to American shores and us soon as
he lands to take out his first papers
and as soon as he can applies for his
second papers-the fellow that can
look you in the eye and say | am a
full Pledged citizen Of the United
States-I take off my hat to him; he
knows a good thing when he sees it,
but you and I were born here we
never were consulted; don't let us
think we might have been born in
Shanghai, China, or some place in
Europe, but we were smart enough to
be born in BarabOO. The truth of the
matter is we never were consulted.
But as I said a while ago, we can very
largely make out of our lives what
we will; it is a question of purpose,
not Of place; it is a question of char
acter, not of circumstance, and under
it all we can attain to something in
life worth while, but if we lack a
personal will the most favorable cir
cumstances will be of little avail.
On one occasion Chief Justice
Chase was riding on train and
stopped at the place where Patrick
, Henry was reared. He stepped off
the train and walked I'D and down
the platform and breathed in the pure
air and looked away off across the far
stretching valley, through which ran
a small but cool stream, to the hills
far away and he remarked to an old
farmer standing by, with his pants in
his boots and his hands in his pants
The Chief Justice said, ST don't won
der that Patrick Henry became the
orator and statesman he did, having