The Yale expositor., 1922-06-15

uating days for Yale High school
was held on Thursday evening
last in the Auditorium.
The stage was tastefully dec
Grated with flowers, and the four
teen young ladies and fourteen
young men looked very womanly
in white gowns and manly in gray
suits as they faced the audience.
Superintendent A. T. Green
man, Fred Dale Wood. the speak
er of the evening, Revs. Martin,
pastor of the Presbyterian church
and Stroup Of the Methodist Prot
estant church, also occupied seats
on the stage.
Speaking to the subject, "The
Story of an IDEAL" Mr.. Wood
quoted the following from st.
Paul, and built his address
around it; This one thing l
do. Forgetting those things
which are behind and reaching
forth unto those things which are
before, l press toward the mark
for the prize" He impressed OH
the members of the graduating
class and the audience the beau
ty of defniteness in ones ideals,
remarking rather quantity, as an
aside, 'if you are determined to
be a horse thief, be a good one,
or be none" After celebrating
the idea that nothing is gained
by promiscuity and aimlessness
of thought or action, he defined
the word, ideal, as Webster de
fines it,, "a standard of perfec-
tion," but said it meant much
more than that.
\ 81 believe" said Mr. Wood,
that all of US would have a bet
ter and clearer concept Of our
duties and obligations in life if
we only had a deeper understand
ing Of the words we use. A ma
jority of us acquire our language
by ABSORPTION rather than by in
vestigation. That is. one OF the
reasons we go wrong, many times
in our application Of the word,
ideal. An ideal is not some high,
intangible, almost unreachable
thing to be striven for. ii is
something to work by, or with.
at is an instrument of accom-
plishment, a tool, just as truly a
tool as the plane Of. the carpen-
ter, the trowel Of the mason, the
stick and rule Of the printer are
tools, and if we will get and hold
that definition Of an ideal we can
better understand its application
to the affairs Of our everyday
lives"
& "All people are goveNed by
their ideals. If those ideals are
high and exalted, so will the one
having such ideals live a high and
exalted life. If ones ideals are
on lower plane, one must, per-
force, live ones life on that level,
until the standard of ideals is
: raised.
'It is trite, but very true, that
no one ever gets out of life any
thing that is not first put into life.
If you put in sweetness, kindness,
unselfshness, helpfulness, proper
energy and righteous ambition,
all those things will be returned
unto you million fold. On the
other hand, if you put in Crouch
mess, distemper, meanness Of
9 soul, pessimism and fault find
ing, you may be sure those things,
too, will be returned to you
many times increased. You can
not gossip about your neighbor
without expecting your neighbor
to gossip about you. You cannot
destroy character in others and
e except to escape the attack on
your character others will make
: whether your lives become
j successes or failures will depend
e on you, the individual, and not or
your neighbor or friend. As your
: ideals are, so will your life be
: congratulate the people of Yale
t on these bright young men anC
4 women of the graduating class.
: believe the nation is safe in the
{ hands of these and such as these
and that these young folks here
will, in their own time, take ul
n their burdens of faith. and carry
them onward and forward. to th'
glory heights, better, maybe, thar
!. J you and |, their elders, have evei
done. l have faith in the you'll
of America, and l bid you hav'
f faith in the members Of this grad
e uating class, who will soon q
r Il.