Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1920-06-25
PRESIDENT DELIVERS
BACCALAUREATE
CONTINUED from page onel


If it could be said truthfully Of one
that he Disseminated, it would testify
that he passed by thousand occupa-
tons of his time harmless enough, in
teresting perhaps, valuable and suffi-
cient for some persons in some circum-
stances, but unrelated to what should
be the main purpose of his life. The
way to the highest usefulness for every
man is to adopt the motto-This one
thing do, judging rightly what that
one thing should be, and then to dis
tinguish clearly and accurately what
will contribute to it, Clear judgment
is the basis of strong character and
achieving power of will We say that
men fail because they are tickle, ire
solute, weak in purpose, Indifferent and
lazy. The cause lies farther back. The
root of the difficulty is not in the will,
but in the mind. If any saw the goal
clear, they would not WAIVER from it.
If they had judgment to appraise
rightly the exceeding value OF the
prize, they would not be irresolute. 1t
is because they do not have mind
enough to understand, that they do
not rouse their energies. | doubt very
much the existence of those exceeding
ly clever and brilliant individuals who
mighhachieve the highest possible sue
cess if they wished to do so. That
they do not wish disproves the al
legged ability. They may have flashes
of insight, excresences of talent OF one
sort or another, but no man who sees
clearly and in its glory a manhood
developed to its full power, magnificent
IN its strength, towering in its influence
forging its way up the heights OF ac-
hievement, pushing aside petty dittl-
culties, and scorning the small jealous
les from beside the Wayne man who
has soul enough to catch that glory
does not spring to the fight for it and
stay by to the triumph. More do not
strive because more do not see. They
do not want to because they do not
understand. The root of moral ditl-
Guilty is in the mind, in the lack OF
ability to distinguish values, in the
want of power to discriminate.
If it could be said Of one that he dis
criminated it would testify that he
had not given his strength to endea-
vors founded on haI-truths, to under
takings so mingled of fact and fancy
and so indifferent to certain tunda-
mental realities and convictions as to
be impossible of realization. There IS
enough general benevolence, enough
good intention, enough spirit of ser
vice in this world to turn it into
paradise in a single generation. The
trouble with things is not the lack OF
reformers nor in their sincerity, or en-
thusiasm. or self-sacrificing devotion
The difficulty is that they are SO i'm
practical.
At the recent political convention in
Chicago the Committee on Resolutions
gave two whole days to hearing per
sons who had come there from all
parts of the country to advocate var
ious cures for the evils in our political
and social lie. They urged all manner
of changes and reforms, each recon-
mended as the one thing needful to
make America Utopia right away. One
could not fail of admiration for the
zeal and enthusiasm of these advocates,
nor to be deeply impressed by the
vast amount OF idealism in the Ameri-
can people as thus evidenced. But
with not a few notable exceptions
clear headed men and women who saw
the next best step forward and urged
it sensibly and strongly,-with these
exceptions the great majority of these
good people were impractical vision
aries, wasting their strength on
schemes in the nature of things impos-
sibe of realization.
The cure of the world waits for men
of mind men who can arrive at facts,
men who can work with materials at
hand and not waste their time dream
ing of instruments which can never
be manufactured,- in short, men who
in addition to benevolence and enthus-
iasm, possess clear vision, sound judg-
ment, and the ability to discriminate.
Right discrimination is the guide
book to the way of life. 1t is the
test of education Not how much one
knows, but how many facts and theo-
ries he has mastered but how accu-
rately and reliably he can judge-that
determines whether he has a trained