Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-06-14
NATURE IN HAPPY MOOD AS
OAK Grove SEMINARY HOLDS
EXERCISES FOR LARGEST CLASS

The program was as follows:
Music
Prayer. Rev. Arthur Jones
Music
Salutatory, Reclamation
Frank Peter Krieger
Lyman Abbott, Eileen Preble Clement
Music
knights of the Northwest
Frank Clement Taylor
Modern Verse (prize essay
Florence Edna Fuller
Music
Paderewski, the Statesman
Harriet Estolle Towle
Valedictory. Everyday Idealism
Miriam Elizabeth Rice
Music
Presentation of class gifts
Presentation of diplomas
Award of prizes.
Benediction
Music
The gift which the class of 1923
gave to Oak Grove was a beautiful
pedestal with solid brass sun dial
presented by the class president,
Eliot Williams. He gave u plendid
tribute to Oak Grove. Principal
Robert owen responded with deep
feeling.
VaIedictory
Everyday Idealism" was the sub
ject of the valedictory as given by
Miriam Rice of Dover:
"In the soul of every man. there
burns an irrepressible craving for
something better than he has ever
known. This age-old but still I'M
satisfied desire of the human heart
was voiced by Browning when An
drea Del SartO exclaims, "Ah, but
mans reach should exceed his
grasp, or what's a heaven for?"
"This goal toward which we are
ever striving has been termed our
ideal. and this effort to realize the
highest type of any object or state
has come to be known as idealism.
The term encompasses many dis
tinctly different phases of thought
and experience, and if we wish to
confine ourselves to one current of
thought as a guide, we may take one
Of Webster's definitions: Idealism is
the doctrine that all our knowledge
of objects is IDEAS "A knowledge of
ideas'-the same thought is given
appealing expression by Shake
spearc when Hamlet declares:
There is nothing either good or bad
but thinking makes it So We make
for ourselves either prisons or pal
aces; we are pessimists or optimists
at will; we have the power within
our minds to render the words ugly
or beautiful. This power is evil
denced in idealism: indeed the
capacity for true, beautifying vision
is idealism itself.
"Such a faculty Is very like the
art of a great painter. In modern
art expression there is a division of
style termed the cubist. This ex-
preston is intrinsically idealistic
because it emphasizes an idea rather
than objects. In a great theatre of
an American city a painter in the
cubist style had erected the scenery
for the seasons play. Yet Wien the
manager who had give the commits
sion saw the supposed work of art,
he was both bewildered and dis
mayed. He could see no beauty
there. The result seemed to be
more ugly than any mass Of rough
hewn lumber piled in confused
heap. Suddenly the specially pre-
pared lighting system was turned
upon the stage, and the whole scene
was instantly transformed. New
colors seemed to spring into being
1Aphl IioN HcIG. llle dNkWdTQ sharp
ness of the lines fell into harmonious
position. and all the work seemed to
broaden, giving a mysterious illusion
Of boundless space.
"Work-a day idcalism reaches the
intimate lives of multitudes in vary
ing circumstances and may be di-
vided into four classifications: of
leadership, of work, of Nature, and
OF Fellowship. Each has its own in
dividuality, and each benefits a per-
son in proportion to his ability of
eralizing 1t.
Eve have all been Influenced in a
greater or lesser degree by the ideal
of leadership. Rightly felt. the de-
sire for an ideal guide can inspire
only true nobility. I, is human ma
ture to initiate: and SO it is of vital
that the persons or