Tombstone epitaph., 1921-05-22

( World as it revealed itself in Judea: the spiendor that streamed from | Athens across half Of th. globe. across ' our own time to the very end of the ages: the powerful ray that fell from ome; the flaming torches of Florence and Venice: the lighting of the lamps of the first universities of Salamanca. | Salerno. poisna. Paris. oxford and | Camhridcc The first intimation of the New World to it's discoverer was faint light on its shore. Now from { Cambridge. Yale and the other great ! institutions on the Atlantic to the uni versailles at the Golden Gate. the torch of knowledge has passed until there is line of fire across the continent.
 These lights have been kindled with infinite toll and self-denial they have been fed with sacrifice. aspiration. heroic work with beautiful and un- failing courage Many torches have 1 been kindled by them and in turn have augmented their splendor. This it is which gives famous schools their hold upon the imagination of the world. and makes lessor schools dear to our hearts They are all homes of light. Every school is a torch from which other torches are fired Generation after generation dips its torches into the flames of knowledge and goes down its way to the future making the | highway brighter for those who come after
 { The purposes and ends of education are as broad as life itself To one or two Of these which seem of the utmost importance may breifly allude
 First as to education is its bearing upon our choices. Life as has been well said. is but succession of choic- es. from the awakening of the facul- ties of discernment to the end of the chapter. and the first of all purposes which education should serve is to di- rect us alright in the matter of our Choices-to make sure of our judg- ments
 1, The power of choice with which man has ben divinely endowed. ere ates him q free and moral being of ac- countabiity and responsibility It distinguishes him from the mere brute whose highest faculty is that of in. stinct. The power of choice is both an element and an evidence of his spirituality. By right or wrong chOic. es the destinies of nations as we'll IS Of individuals. success or failure, is determined. In the succession of choic- es, often in but one, We attain or fall short Of the limit of our possibilities. By our decisions and judgment either full. useful and efficient lives are at tained or ship-wreck and ruin entaiIed.
 The members of this graduating class who have availed themselves of the educational advantages of this community to train them 10 make right choices. are themselves the ben. eficiaries of wise choices Their de- termination to complete and that of their parents and the citizens here 10 provide these courses of study have bene wise choices. Back of them has
 been the determination of the people of this town. county and state that our schools should be as far advanced and as advantageous as those else wheer and that the cause of education should not wane. They in turn brought with them the cherished ideals and standards of the sections from whence they came. east. west. north and south. Back oi them were those who chose to maintain the principles and institu. tions which have made this nation great. and back of them wera those who landed at Plymouth Rock. and those who established the settlements at Jamestown who sought the nev world that they might exercise un. J hampered the right and power of l choice in matters of government. re. | lision and education
 If education serves no other pur- pose. all that portion Of our lives | the most impressionable one. devoted 10 the training of the mind is well employed that the mind and heart may meet sau2reiy and correctly :hC issues of to make riCh, choices.
 ! Let me quote one who learned the value of choices. one whose parents had the foresight to endow him with all Of the educational advantages of his day-one who unconsciously pre- pared himself TOT his great mission in life. Twenty centuries ago when all opposition to the Roman power had i died away. when the right oi property by one man in another. nothwithstand- 1 ing his race and color. was considered | thoroughly reasonable and wise when the whole idea was that the cap italist should own both the stock and the labor. and one had no more scruple in dealing with his fellow man com merciaiiy than in the handling of goods or anw other product Of cer- merCe-when the rule Of the world was that might is right. an old man of bodily present weak and al the close Of a remarkable career on the summit of Mars hill and made the amazing announcement that, God had created of one blood all of the nations of men. This man to whom next to the Cali lean. Christianity owes most-this man whose intellectual attainments had fitted him to cope with the lead CTS in law, religion and philosophy of his times. and had fitted him to bring his message in the tongues of the many lands to which he journeyed- this humble but inspired scholar whose epistles have counted for more | than all the learning of his time. knew and emphasized the value of choices and summed 1t all in these words:
 Prove all things. hold fast 10 that which is good"
 Then for the joy O. living, as well as in a practical way. education has for an important purpose the develop ment of our appreciations-the awak- ening of those avenues or faculties of comprehension of the beautiful in the world of Nature and in the works of man-the stimulation and widening of our visions. Wisely enough the cOurs-