The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1921-04-27


dress delivered by DR.. G. l. Stacy to
the graduating class of the Grammar
school yesterday afternoon at the
AuditOrium
when Jesus was only twelve years
Of age. he had caught the vision of
service, and astounded His mother
with the strange question, "Wisl We
not th9t | must be about my Fathers
business?' And every honest man,
yea, every honest soul, Of whatever
age or sex, needs to catch the same
vision, and ask the same question.
And il history be correct age is no bar
/ to usefulness, and doing things" in
the world does not depend so much
on age as on willingness and Industry.
( How old are you? Very young?
( Maybe just a boy or girl? Well. re
member that Mozart gave corcprls
when only six years of age. Josiah was
king Of Israel at eight. little girl
! furnished the book from which the
mighty Emperor Of China learned the
I English language, Goethe wrote az
ten, Beethoven composed al thirteen,
Pope was writing sense, at fourteen.
and when fifteen Victor Hugo fur
nished an acceptable poem to the
/ French Academy. Handel seems to
have been intended for a lawyer, but
music was his forte. and he wrote
opera at fourteen, while at sixteen
Bacon could think so soundly that he
was able to detect errors in the phil
oSophy of Aristotle. Bossuet was
counted great orator when fifteen.
and Pascal wrote a treatise on comic
| yUb vt
also was Joan of Arc when she led
her armies to battle, and at seventeen
| Washington Irving was dclighting
the readers OF the Morning Chr0ni-
Gle" with his articles in that Journal.
Calico. who gave to the world
the telescope. and the microscope
discovered the principle of Ii e
| pendulum by watching "A swinging
lamp. when only eighteen, and at the
tsame age MendelsOhn composed his
l~Midsummer Nights Dream" and
EBryant wrote his splendid "Thanat6p-
isis" And with equal encouragement
history tells us that when only nine.
Iteen years of age Charles The 18th
( was the successful King OF Sweden,
and George Washington was made d
major, while al twenty Weber was
writing his beautiful symphonies. and
| Lafayette was Il major general
But have YOU passed the hoy stage"
and become Il man? Then remember
that your claim to manhoud must rest
on something more than the legal
right to cast vote and draw your
own salary. Other men jus, entering
| manhood have done things" and 50
!
Of his splendid army on the plains OF
Thessaly when only twenty-onc and
Campbell gave to the ,wGrld The
Pleasures OF Hope at twen@, two
/ Are you "twenty-three, " and in the
popular language Of tbs day, is it
down and out with you? Then take
a fresh start and get new inSpira-
ton by remembering that at your age
Robert Browning wrote "Festus,"
Wagner had composed his splendid
production ''Lohengrin,' Emmett had
achieved fame and power as the Irish
patriot, Mtchael Angelo completed his
matchless statue of "pietil.' and. New
ton lying on the grass under the ap-
pie tree, and watching the apple fall.
put his thinker" to work and formu-
lated the law Of gravity. So it is like
wise encouraging. to remember that
when only twentyfOur william Pitt
was chancellor of the EXchequer. Sher-
man wrote THE Rivals" and Ruskin
gave 10 the world his splendid work
on Modern Painters in five volumes
| Colefidge was only twenty-five when
he wrote The Ancient Mariner" and
at twenty-siX Howe perfected the sew.
ing machine. Mark Anthony was the
hero of Rome, John Wesley was Civ
ing to the church the great organiza-
ton of Methodism, and Charles Dick.
ems was writing "Oliver Twist" so ac-
ceptably that the reading world like
Oliver, called for "more!"
Are you twenty-seven? So was the
ingenious young Northern visitor, Eli
! Whitney, when he watched the old
time negroes in Augusta, Ga, carding
their cotton, and invented the cotton
| gin that revolutionized the economic
conditions of the South, and so was
| the great Genevan, John Calvin, but
twenty-seven when he wrote his In
| StituteS of the Christian Religion"
and at the same age Napoleon con-
Quoted his daring Italian campaign.
At twenty-eight Raphael painted the
"Sistine Madonna" Thomas Moore
wrote his masterpiece. "Lala Rookh"
and Pollock completed THE Course of
Time" AT twenty-nine Scipio gained
the battle of Zana. James Watt per-
fected the steam engine, and Shelley
completed his brief but brilliant ca
reer, while Thomas Lynch, Jr., when
only thirty represented South Caro-
line in the first Continental Congress
and signed the Declaration of indie
pendence for his state.
But one says: "These were all
young men, and | have passed that
stage. | am now in middle life 1t
is too late for me to accomplish much.
can only plod and drudge!" Oh, no,
you men in middle life. You have time
and opportunity yet to do much ser
vice for God and humanity, as Others
have done. Remember that d. l..
Moody achieved his worldwide fame
after middle life, that when thirty
eight Ulysses s, Grant was still tan
ming hides. and at forty Cromwell was