,,by ,,the ,,same ,,author        ,,the 
,,main ,,points    ,,the ,,strange      
,,ways ,,of ,,god    ,,the ,,social     
,,message ,,of ,,the ,,modern ,,pulpit  
,,the ,,young ,,man',s ,,affairs        
,,faith ,,and ,,health    ,,the ,,gospel
 ,,of ,,good ,,health            ,,the  
,,cap ,,and ,,gown      ,,by            
,,charles ,,reynolds ,,brown            
,illustration3 ,decorative ,image       
,,the ,,pilgrim ,,press    ,,new ,,york 
,,boston      ,,chicago                 
,,copyright1 #aiaj    ,,by ,,luther ,h4 
,,cary        ,,the  ,,plimpton  ,,press
    ,w  ,d  ,o    ,,norwood  ,,mass  ,u 
,s  ,a          ,,preface      ,the     
larger part of the material in this book
 was originally used in a  number of    
addresses given in various colleges and 
universities reaching  from ,yale and   
,cornell in the ,east to ,stanford and  
the ,university of  ,california in the  
,west4 ,it is here offered to a wider   
circle in the  hope that these chapters 
may prove suggestive to college students

 and  to those who are interested in    
having them make the best use of the    
bewildering array of opportunities      
awaiting them on the modern campus4     
,it was one of the shrewdest and        
kindliest observers of student life1    
himself a long-time resident of         
,cambridge and a genial friend of       
,harvard men1 who said3 8,it is a       
never-failing delight to behold every   
autumn the hundreds of newcomers who    
then throng our streets1 boys with      
smooth1 unworn faces1 full of the zest  
of their own being1 taking  the whole   
world as having been made for them1 as  
indeed it was4 ,their  visible          
self-confidence is well founded and has 
the facts on its side4  ,the future is  
theirs to command1 not ours2 it belongs 
to them even more  than they think it   
does1 and this is undoubtedly saying a  
good deal40    ,it is this joyous and   
confident company arrayed or about to be
 arrayed  in 8cap and gown0 which the   
writer of these chapters would fain     

address4 ,the academic costume and      
accent may speedily be replaced by  the 
less picturesque garb and tone of the   
work-a-day world1 but the  advantage of 
special training1 of accurate knowledge 
and of the larger  outlook upon life    
attainable in any well-equipped         
university will give  to the fortunate  
possessors of all this a significance   
for the life of  the nation far beyond  
that belonging to an equal number of    
similarly  endowed but untrained men4   
,,contents        ,,chapter             
,,page      ,i4 ,,the ,,first ,,inning  
#c      ,,ii4 ,,athletics               
#bc      ,,iii4 ,,the ,,fraternity      
,,question           #da      ,,iv4     
,,the ,,religion ,,of ,a ,,college ,,man
      #ei      ,v4 ,,the ,,choice ,,of  
,a ,,life-,,work           #ge          
,,vi4 ,,moral ,,ventures                
#ic      ,,vii4 ,,the ,,law ,,of        
,,returns               #ajg            
,,viii4 ,,the ,,highest ,,form ,,of     
,,reward      #abg      ,,ix4 ,,the     

,,use ,,of ,,the ,,incomplete           
#ade      ,x4 ,,fighting ,,the ,,stars  
#afi      ,,xi4 ,,the ,,power ,,of      
,,vision               #ahc      ,,xii4 
,,the ,,war ,,against ,,war             
#bja          ,i    ,,the ,,first       
,,inning      ,the significance of the  
first year in college can scarcely  be  
overstated4 ,the first man called to the
 bat in some great  intercollegiate game
 may be pardoned for feeling a bit      
nervous4 ,he  realizes that players and 
spectators are eagerly waiting for him  
to  give them the key-note of the       
contest by the way he acquits himself4  
,the young man just entering college1 if
 he senses the situation  accurately1 is
 equally alive to the importance of his 
first hits4    ,it is a time when       
freedom and responsibility come in new  
and larger  measure4 ,college men as a  
rule are away from home4 ,there is no   
one to  ask1 with the accent of         
authority1 how they spend their         
evenings1 who  their intimates are1 what

 habits they are forming4 ,studying is  
not done  under the immediate eye of an 
instructor as in the grammar-school     
days4 ,the young man who heretofore has 
felt the wholesome restraint  of        
well-ordered family life1 suddenly finds
 himself a free citizen  in a republic1 
and this larger measure of liberty      
involves risk4  ,the freshman may decide
 the case against himself before he is  
ever  permitted to put on his sophomore 
hat4 ,the way is open for him to go  to 
the devil1 physically1 intellectually1  
socially1 morally1 if he  chooses4 ,the 
way is open1 the bars are down and as   
often as not some  young fool is just   
starting and beckoning his friends to   
8,come along40  ,the bad plays in the   
first inning are frequently so numerous 
and so  serious as to mean the loss of  
the game4 ,it is a time then to summon  
into action all the wisdom and          
conscience which may be brought to bear 
upon those early decisions4    ,there is
 one choice not strictly of the first   

year1 but so intimately  connected with 
it that ,i speak of it here--the        
decision as to whether  or not one shall
 go to college4 8,it will take four of  
the best years of  my life10 the young  
man says4 8,while ,i am reading books   
and attending  lectures1 playing        
football1 and practising the college    
yell1 other  young men will be learning 
the ways of the business world2 they    
will be  actually laying the foundations
 for prosperous careers4 ,can ,i afford 
the time80 ,furthermore1 does it justify
 the expense8 ,on an average it  costs  
each student somewhere from five hundred
 to a thousand dollars a  year in all   
first-class colleges1 though the state  
universities in the  ,west cut down that
 figure by remitting tuition fees1 and  
many splendid  young men take the course
 on much less4 ,is it worth what it     
costs8    ,every young man who can      
compass it by any reasonable outlay of  
energy  and sacrifice had better go to  
college and stay there until graduation 

day4 ,there is a deal of education to be
 gained outside of books or  college    
halls4 ,the business life of a great    
city is a university in  itself with its
 lectures and recitations1 its          
examinations and other  requirements4   
,its courses of instruction have a value
 all their own and  its exacting demands
 flunk more men ten to one than either  
,harvard or  ,yale1 ,stanford or        
,california4 ,in this 8university of    
experience0 the  college colors are     
8black and blue10 for the lessons are   
learned by  hard knocks4 ,but the man   
who knows his full share of what is in  
the  books will show himself more       
competent in finding his way about in   
that  larger school of experience4      
8,systematic training counts everywhere1
  from a prize fight up to being a      
bishop or a bank president40    ,it is  
true that many men have won high place  
in the world's life  without college    
training1 ,benjamin ,franklin1 ,horace  
,greeley1 ,abraham  ,lincoln1 and all   

the rest1--we know the list by heart4   
,but it did not  please the ,lord to    
make ,lincolns and ,franklins when he   
made most of  us4 ,a little extra       
schooling which those men might get on  
without1 in  our case will not come     
amiss4 ,furthermore1 those very men with
 all  their unusual ability did not have
 to compete with college men to  the    
extent that you will be compelled to do4
 ,college men in ordinary  life were    
scarce then2 now there are three under  
every log4 ,in law  and medicine1 in    
teaching and the ministry1 in the       
administration of  large business       
enterprises and in the world of         
political life1 you will  have to meet  
and try conclusions with men who have   
received the best  the universities can 
give4 ,it will be to your interest1     
therefore1  to add to the stock of      
ability which the ,creator has given you
 all  the training that high school1    
college1 and university can yield4 ,to  
neglect carelessly or decline wilfully  

such opportunities when they are        
offered1 becomes a wrong committed      
against yourself1 against all who  are  
interested in your growth1 and against  
society which is entitled to  the most  
competent service you can render4       
,when you have actually set foot upon   
the campus there comes the choice  of   
courses4 ,the modern drift toward       
unlimited electives1 especially in  the 
first two years1 is open to serious     
criticism4 ,the tendency is to  allow   
each student to study only what he      
likes1 consulting merely his  own       
interest and preference4 ,even where    
young people have reached the  mature   
age of nineteen or twenty1 and are      
regularly entered freshmen or           
sophomores1 it is just possible that    
more wisdom can be found somewhere  as  
to what is best for their intellectual  
growth and training1 than  is           
discoverable in their own individual    
preferences4 ,there is a  disposition on
 their part to select courses of two    

kinds1 those in  which they are already 
strong or those which are supposed to be
 8snaps40    ,moving along the line of  
least resistance is not the royal road  
to  anything worth while4 ,insight1     
grasp1 and self-mastery come rather by  
doing hard jobs4 ,rolling down hill on  
green grass does not develop  robust1   
enduring1 effective manhood as does     
climbing ,shasta or ,whitney  over loose
 rock and rugged snow-fields4 ,there is 
no such thing as  8painless education0  
in the market4    ,in the judgment of   
many there is peril in the fact that at 
one end of  our educational system we   
have the kindergarten1 bowing with      
almost  idolatrous reverence before the 
untaught inclinations of the child in   
its effort to make the work of education
 as enjoyable as a game1 and  at the    
other end the university with its       
wide-open elective system  tending to   
breed distaste for hard courses or for  
studies in which the  young people do   
not already feel a warm interest4 ,we   

shall not rear  up sturdy character by  
too much humoring of individual taste1  
which  is often abnormal in intellectual
 as in other directions4 ,mr4 ,dooley   
indicates a weakness in the present     
method where he says3 8,to-day the      
college president takes the young man   
into a ,turkish room and gives  him a   
cigarette1 and says1 #8,now1 my dear    
boy1 what special branch of  larnin'    
would ye like to have studied for ye1 by
 one of our compitint  professors8'0    
,in the selection of courses it is      
unwise to ignore completely certain     
fields because you feel you are weak on 
that side--you may need  rounding out4  
,the man who sits in the seat of the    
scornful1 displaying  a contemptuous    
indifference toward fields which lie    
aside from his  personal preference1 may
 live to find that narrow seat as       
uncomfortable  as a sharp stick4 ,it is 
well not to specialize too soon1 or too 
rigidly4 ,we are compelled to specialize
 at last in order to forge  ahead1 but  

it is more important to be a man1 round1
 full1 rich in  contents1 than to be an 
expert lawyer1 physician1 or mining     
engineer4  ,the early and rigid         
specialization1 sometimes extending even
 down into  the high school1 tends to   
sacrifice the man to the profession4    
,there are certain fundamental interests
 which cannot be left out of  the       
consideration of any educated man or    
woman4 ,take these five  main fields3   
every student should know something of  
language1 the  instrument of            
communication4 ,he should for the       
purposes of comparison  and enlargement 
know something of two or three          
languages4 ,his knowledge  should extend
 beyond the mere ability to read and    
write and spell--it  ought to include   
some acquaintance with the best         
literature of each  language1 the widest
 acquaintance naturally with the best   
that has been  thought and said in his  
own tongue4    ,he should know something
 of history4 ,there is too much of it   

for any  one man to master it all1 but  
he should have some genuine             
understanding  of the chief sources of  
history1 and of the main courses and    
movements  of thought and life in the   
world4 ,he should enlarge his own brief 
and  local experience by some           
participation in age-long1 national1 and
  international experience4    ,he      
should know something of science4 ,the  
general method of science is  the same1 
whether observed in chemistry1 zoology1 
botany1 or elsewhere4  ,one may never be
 a specialist in any single science1 yet
 he may know  the scientific habit of   
mind and appreciate the fundamental     
positions  of science sufficiently to   
make him a more effective worker in his 
own  chosen field1 which may1 indeed1   
lie quite over the divide from any      
directly scientific pursuit4    ,he     
should know something of the organized  
life of men through the study  of       
sociology1 economics1 and civics4 ,he   
should have some understanding  of      

institutional life in its various       
industrial1 political1 and              
ecclesiastical expressions4    ,he      
should feel in some measure the power of
 that group of studies which  have to do
 with mental and moral processes        
considered apart from the  world of     
outward phenomena1 psychology1 ethics1  
philosophy1 religion4  ,he needs to     
relate his individual activity to the   
larger life of the  whole by some       
genuine grasp of fundamentals in his    
thinking4    ,no single student can be  
at his best in all these or can even    
make any  two of them his major         
interest1 but a certain elementary      
knowledge of  all these fields1 thorough
 as far as it goes1 is a better         
foundation  for a genuine education than
 the most elaborate training in any one 
specialty4    ,when one builds a pyramid
 it must come to a point somewhere4 ,it 
can  only be built1 with the conditions 
as we find them1 at a certain angle1    
for material will not lie on a slope too

 steep4 ,how high it may be1  therefore1
 when the apex is reached will depend   
upon the breadth of the  base4 ,in your 
education1 you are building character   
and personality1  which is much more    
important than any special ability for  
money-making1  and the apex of that     
personality will be high in proportion  
as you  avoid the narrow base which     
results from too much specializing in   
the earlier years4 ,let the foundation  
which precedes your special or          
professional training be as broad as it 
lies within your power to make  it4     
,if you specialize rigidly in the early 
years1 you may a little later  change   
your purpose in life and find yourself  
handicapped by the former  narrow       
outlook4 ,the college is a place where  
many a fellow finds  himself for the    
first time1 and the fellow he finds is  
oftentimes  another and perhaps a better
 man than the one he had planned for in 
the  earlier years4 ,he may take his    
college course expecting to be a lawyer1

  but that spiritual impulse1 which     
lands many a man in the ministry1  may  
be at work beneath the surface1 none the
 less potent for being  one of those    
unseen things which are eternal4 ,if in 
his college days  he entirely ignores   
,greek or turns his back on philosophy  
and ethics  as having little practical  
worth1 he will find himself at a great  
disadvantage if he finally faces about  
toward the pulpit4 ,as ,cromwell  said  
to the theologians who were so cock-sure
 in their opinions1  8,beloved brethren1
 ,i beseech you by the mercies of ,god  
believe it  possible that you may be    
mistaken40 ,you may be mistaken as to   
the work  you will do in life4 ,it is   
unwise therefore to discount that       
possible  future by narrowing down too  
soon to some specialty which may prove  
to  be off the turnpike when you make   
final selection of your life-work4      
,the selection of habits in a modern    
university is left almost entirely  to  
the judgment of the individual student4 

,the college rules grow  fewer year by  
year4 ,personal supervision becomes     
impossible where the  enrolment reaches 
into the thousands4 ,parents are        
sometimes unaware of  the measure of    
liberty accorded4 ,college presidents   
entertain each  other with experiences  
which come to them in the way of letters
 from  anxious mammas4 ,one president   
tells us of a letter received from a    
fond  mother whose son had just         
entered--8,i shall expect you to send me
 a  long letter each week telling me how
 my darling boy is doing40 ,another     
reports a letter from a father--8,please
 send me each week a full report  of my 
son's absences1 of his failures in      
recitation1 and your own  impression as 
to the progress he is making40 ,the very
 humor of these  suggestions indicates  
to what measure the freedom of the      
student has  been extended4 ,it would be
 somewhat difficult for ,president      
,lowell or  ,president ,hadley1 for     
,president ,jordan or ,president        

,wheeler to see to  it that the boys and
 girls eat the proper amounts of        
wholesome food and  put on their rubbers
 when it rains4    ,university life is  
not a personally conducted tour with the
 trains  and hotels1 the points of      
interest and suggestions as to clothing1
  all printed in the schedule4 ,it is a 
case of going abroad upon the  continent
 of learning1 relying upon your own     
letter of credit to draw  supplies from 
the banks of opportunity open to you1   
with the necessity  upon you of learning
 to speak the language and order your   
trip for  yourself in a way to gain the 
utmost possible good4 ,the sheltered    
life  policy1 suitable for little boys1 
must come to an end some time and  the  
young man be compelled to face the good 
or bad results of his own  choices4 ,the
 beginning of the college course is no  
doubt an appropriate  time to inaugurate
 this new rgime4    ,you will enter     
college without any definite college    
habits4 ,this will  be at once an       

advantage and a peril4 ,habits are      
sometimes heavy1  troublesome chains2   
they are sometimes the best friends in  
sight4 ,in  driving over a mountain road
 on a dark night when one cannot see    
even  his team1 the deep ruts are a     
comfort and a safeguard--as the driver  
hears the wagon chuckling along in the  
ruts he knows that he is not  on the    
point of going over the grade4 ,certain 
useful habits1 which  come from doing   
certain things in certain ways over and 
over again1  are beneficial in that they
 take sufficient care of those lines of 
action and leave the man's will and     
attention free to deal with other       
problems4    ,the habits you select and 
exhibit during the first year will      
almost inevitably determine your        
standing with the faculty and  with the 
students4 ,when you enter you are what  
cattlemen call a  8maverick0--there is  
no brand on you4 ,your associates will  
wait to  see where you belong4 ,by your 
own choices you will brand yourself as  

studious or trifling1 as thorough or a  
dabbler1 as honest or a cheat1  as clean
 and sound in your moral life or as     
shady4 ,the habits of the  first year   
will brand you and in the award of      
college honors at the  hands of the     
faculty or of the students1 and in the  
operation of  university influences upon
 your career after you graduate1 the    
brand  you wear will be well-nigh       
determinative4 ,look at it carefully1   
then1  before you apply it to yourself1 
for its mark will stay4    ,you cannot  
afford to shilly-shally4 ,the man who   
spends his time in high  school or      
college mainly for his own amusement is 
a sham and a sneak4  ,he is there at    
considerable cost to somebody--parents1 
tax-payers1  professors who are doing   
educational work out of love for it when
 they  might be doing something much    
more remunerative--and when he merely   
puts up a bluff at studying he stamps   
himself as a sneak4    ,the men who     
undertake to get through their          

examinations by a kind of  death-bed    
repentance become cheap men4 ,in the    
moral world a man is  judged not by the 
few holy emotions he can scramble       
together in the  last fifteen minutes of
 earthly existence2 he is judged by the 
whole  trend and drift of his life1 by  
the deeds done in the body1 by the      
entire accumulation and net result of   
his living as deposited in the          
character formed4 ,this is sound        
theology in any branch of the ,christian
  ,church and the principle involved is 
also sound in pedagogy4 ,the real  test 
of the student's work is not to be found
 in what he did last night  or in what  
he can show upon occasion as the result 
of a hasty cramming1  but in what he has
 been doing through all the days and    
nights preceding  the examination and in
 that net result which stands revealed  
in his  mental grasp and effectiveness4 
,whether he becomes a man who will      
stand the hard tests the world puts upon
 every one who undertakes to  do        

important work1 will depend largely upon
 the habits he forms in the  first year4
 ,he may take low ideals and live down  
to them2 or he may  set high ideals and 
then direct his energy and shape the    
methods of his  life unceasingly to the 
hard task of living up to them4         
,there will also come the choice of     
intimates4 ,you will have  acquaintances
 many--the more the better4 ,you will   
have1 ,i hope1 a large  circle of       
friends and you will discover that      
college friendships are  the most       
lasting and perhaps the most rewarding  
of any you form4 ,but of  lives so close
 as to give shape and color and odor to 
your life1 there  will not be many2 and 
for that reason the intimates are to be 
chosen  with the greater care4    ,you  
can know all sorts and conditions of    
men4 ,you can be on good terms  with    
many whose prevailing attitudes toward  
life do not meet your wish4  ,you cannot
 afford to be on intimate terms with a  
man lacking in those  fundamental       

qualities of every-day rectitude which  
are legal tender the  world over4 ,the  
man you admit to your heart and life as 
an intimate  ought to be 8hall marked0  
as they say in ,england2 he ought to    
have  the word 8sterling0 stamped upon  
him1 indicating that in the great       
melting-pot of human experience he will 
meet the test and show full  face value4
    ,it will be good to have a few close
 friends who are not students4 ,there   
are townspeople whose main interest is  
in the larger life outside the          
university whose friendship you need4   
,there is some member of the  faculty   
whom you ought to know well4 ,in many   
colleges every student has  a 8personal 
adviser0 in the faculty4 ,it is a       
foolish mistake to look  upon the       
professors as your enemies or as being  
indifferent to you1  lacking in any     
genuine interest in your problems4 ,they
 covet a closer  touch with their       
students than the young men in their    
mistaken reserve  are ready to accord   

them4 ,the closer friendship of some    
one1 wise1  mature1 sympathetic man in  
the faculty will be an influence        
wholesome  and abiding1 making always   
for your best development4 ,the mere    
fact  that some weak man may undertake  
to 8cultivate0 a professor in the       
spirit of the sycophant need not deter  
strong men from the enjoyment of  such  
friendships in straightforward1 manly   
fashion4    ,let me congratulate you    
that you are in college6 ,it is a jolly 
thing  to be alive at all1 these days1  
and to be alive and young and at        
school--why1 the whole world is yours6  
,the world is yours potentially1  and   
wise1 right decisions during that first 
year will aid mightily in  making a     
generous measure of it actually yours4  
,you may1 if you will1  score a good    
number of runs off your own batting by  
the way you play  the game in the first 
inning4          ,,ii    ,,athletics    
,all the human beings we know anything  
about have the cheerful habit of  living

 in bodies2 there is a physical basis   
underlying and conditioning  all earthly
 activity4 ,physical vitality1          
therefore1 has a direct  bearing on     
possible achievement4 ,a rousing stomach
 ready to take what  you give it and    
rejoice over it2 lungs large1 sound1 and
 unspoiled by  inhaling what was never  
meant for them2 heart action reliable   
because  never tampered with by drugs or
 hurtful indulgences2 nerves prompt and 
accurate as telegraph instruments1 but  
ready to sleep when put to bed  because 
never abused2 muscles which take up hard
 work and laugh over  it as those who   
find great spoil--all these are useful  
items in that  physical excellence to be
 gained and guarded as a priceless      
heritage4  ,in all intellectual work    
where men undertake to think1 write1 or 
speak there is a demand for red blood1  
which is better ten times over  than the
 blue blood of any fancied aristocracy6 
,and in moral life1 if  you are to put  
down evil under your feet and be        

vigorously1 joyously1  winsomely good1 a
 sound physique for your moral nature to
 ride in all  weathers will be a        
perpetual advantage4    ,in making young
 men physically competent1 high school  
and college  athletics1 provided they   
are not tacked on from the outside as a 
frill  or held as a mere aside to which 
the students carelessly turn in hours   
of leisure1 may possess high value4     
,they can be made a genuine1 vital      
expression of the life of the school and
 be related in some wise way to  the    
larger purpose of education4 ,rightly   
ordered they aid mightily in  keeping   
the tools sharp1 in developing a full   
stock of vital force1 in  giving the    
poise1 self-mastery1 endurance needed   
for the work of life4  ,the boy who     
learns to play with zest will be better 
able to do the work  of a man with his  
own full sense of joy in it4    ,david  
,starr ,jordan has said many times that 
8the football field is a  more wholesome
 place for a young man than the         

ballroom10 and those who  know the facts
 endorse his claim4 ,the young fellow   
gets hurt now and  then in football1 but
 taking into consideration the part of  
him which  suffers and the after effects
 of it1 we commonly find that the injury
  is less damaging than are the hurts   
received in indoor1 fashionable         
dissipation4 ,athletics bring men out   
under ,god's open sky1 into the  fresh  
air1 and under the stimulus of healthy  
rivalries4 ,they train men  to see      
clearly1 to hear accurately the first   
time1 to decide quickly1  to move       
instantly1 and to stand together in a   
genuinely social spirit4  ,these        
qualities have high place in the        
combination of talents which  makes for 
success2 they have high place as well in
 the formation of  sound character4     
,but to tackle the subject more closely 
let me name several ways in  which      
athletics worthy of an educational      
institution are particularly            
beneficial4 ,they serve as an outlet for

 the surplus physical energy of  boys   
and young men4 ,in simply walking to    
school1 even though he carries  some    
girl's books as well as his own1 the    
healthy young man does not  consume in  
twenty-four hours all the physical      
energy he manufactures4  ,throbbing     
within him there is an exuberant        
physical life1 excitable  and not yet   
under firm control4 ,there is the       
consciousness of new and  untried powers
 in regard to which he feels deep       
concern4 ,there is the  push of impulse 
not fully regulated by conscience or    
experience4 ,unless  there is some      
wholesome outlet he will burst the      
levee1 devastating  whole fields of his 
own nature and of other natures besides1
 by an  unwholesome use of that surplus 
physical energy4    ,training for       
athletic events means early hours1 clean
 habits1 constant  occupation of mind   
and body1 for in any college worthy of  
the name the  young man must be a       
student all the while1 as well as a     

quarterback or  a pitcher4 ,the         
training1 therefore1 becomes a mighty   
safeguard thrown  around a lot of young 
fellows who are face to face with the   
devil of  temptation4 ,even for those   
who do not make the team or the nine or 
the track1 if they are taking regular   
gymnasium work in hope of that  success 
next year1 or if in other ways they have
 caught the spirit of  clean1 honest1   
joyous sport1 athletics give an added   
motive and a  stronger impulse toward   
clean living4    8,wild oats10 as they  
are lightly called1 produce a sorry and 
a debasing  harvest4 ,no man with sense 
enough to be allowed to run at large    
ever  looks himself in the face and     
takes satisfaction in the memory of such
  sowing4 ,the fellow who thinks he is  
not wise or experienced until he  has   
become familiar with the haunts of      
gamblers and harlots1 until he  has the 
smut and smell of those associations    
upon him1 is regarded by  saner men as  
green1 oh1 so green6 ,he sometimes calls

 his escapades  8seeing life10 but it is
 not life he sees there2 it is          
death--and a  foul1 rotten1 ill-smelling
 type of death4 ,the trainer will not   
tolerate  it4 ,the man himself would be 
regarded as a traitor to the university 
if on the team he 8broke training0 for  
such indulgence4 ,and the whole  spirit 
of wholesome athletics is such as to    
stamp that course as base  and mean4 ,as
 an outlet for surplus energy then and  
as a safeguard  against certain forms of
 wrong-doing1 wholesome athletics in    
college  life hold a place of honor4    
,they furnish also a means of joyous    
recreation4 ,the mind bent and  strained
 all the time with serious employment   
loses its spring1 if not  sometimes its 
sanity4 ,the relaxation of honest fun1  
the excitement  of a sport where one    
measures his strength and skill against 
that of  others1 the self-forgetfulness 
which comes with absorption in something
  other than one's work--all these are  
imperatively demanded for the  normal   

development of youth into maturity4 ,we 
would all bring up in the  madhouse or  
the sanitarium1 if we did not now and   
then have some such  diversion6    ,this
 demand for recreation1 if no           
intelligent and wholesome forms  of     
expression are at hand1 crops out in    
those college pranks which  sometimes   
border on lawlessness4 ,the spontaneous 
fun of college life  is ever enjoyed and
 applauded4 ,there was a ,yale man once 
suspended for  this excusable caper4    
,the students were required to attend   
service  on ,sunday in the chapel where 
the preacher was sometimes dull and     
tiresome4 ,one particular offender      
against the youthful demand for         
vitality and brevity used to divide his 
sermons into heads and subheads  almost 
endlessly1 ,roman #a1 ,arabic #a4 ,one  
in brackets1 a1 b1 c1 etc41  etc4 ,this 
friend of mine arranged to have his     
class of one hundred and  sixty men sit 
together well up in front1 and every    
time the preacher  passed from one head 

to another1 they uncrossed their legs in
 unison  and crossed them over the other
 way4 ,when the reverend doctor passed  
from one in brackets to two1 or from a  
to b1 he saw one hundred and  sixty     
pairs of legs taken apart and recrossed 
simultaneously4 ,when this  had been    
done six or eight times the people in   
the adjacent section  and in the        
galleries became more interested in     
watching this mighty  movement of legs  
than in the sermon1 and the minister    
himself was so  disconcerted that he    
presently gave it up and closed the     
service with  the sermon unfinished4    
,the dull preacher might better have put
 more  life into his sermon1 thus       
affording some legitimate opportunity   
for  the exercise of interest on the    
part of his hearers4    ,athletics bring
 wholesome recreation not only to those 
who play on the  eleven or the nine1 or 
who appear on the track1 but to that    
larger  company of fellows who strive   
for that honor2 to a multitude whose    

interest in exercise and outdoor sport  
is quickened though they  never aspire  
to 'varsity positions2 to the thousands 
of spectators  who assemble to witness  
the game and cheer the winners4 ,the    
physical  quickening1 the mental        
relaxation1 the temporary forgetfulness 
of  hard work1 the joyous hours in the  
open air1 are all good for the  whole   
company of people who thus1 directly and
 indirectly1 share in  the advantages of
 athletics4 ,keep the game free from the
 taint of  professionalism1 free from   
betting1 free from the disposition that 
would win fairly if possible1 but win at
 any cost1 and we have a form  of       
recreation distinctly beneficial to the 
whole community6    ,the discipline of  
athletics develops obedience1           
self-control1 and the  spirit of        
cooperation1 all of them useful1 moral  
qualities4 ,many a rich  man's son1     
ambitious for college honors1 has gotten
 his first taste  of real discipline on 
the athletic field4 ,at home he had     

indulgent  parents--they were           
self-indulgent because of their wealth  
and they  scarcely knew how to be other 
than indulgent to their children4 ,the  
boy  was waited upon by well-paid       
servants eager to do his bidding and    
humor  his whims4 ,his generous tips    
greased the way for him when he traveled
  or went in pursuit of pleasure4 ,he   
had never felt the rough1 raw edge  of  
an exacting discipline4    ,but when the
 trainer took him in hand this son of   
affluence was treated  as though he had 
been working his way through college by 
currying  some man's horse or by waiting
 on the table at a boarding club4 ,if he
  played football he was knocked down as
 promptly and as hard1 when he  got in  
the way of a bigger and better player1  
as if his father had  been a            
hod-carrier4 ,and all this is exactly as
 it should be6 ,sometime1  somewhere1 he
 should learn the democratic spirit by  
being compelled to  meet his fellow men 
without favor shown or advantage given2 

he should  learn how to take the hard   
knocks and keep sweet1 not losing his   
head  or his temper4 ,the boys say1 8,if
 a fellow plays football it does not    
take long to find out what kind of a    
fellow he is40 ,the real quality of  the
 man comes out more readily and more    
genuinely perhaps than it would  in a   
college prayer-meeting4 ,and the man    
himself finds out what kind of  a fellow
 he is1 to his own lasting advantage4   
,wellington used to say that the ,battle
 of ,waterloo was won on the  athletic  
fields of the ,english schools4 ,he     
meant that when he found  himself       
standing up against ,napoleon's fiercest
 attacks1 he had under  him a body of   
men who had not waited for their army   
experience to learn  discipline4        
,obedience1 self-control1 and the       
necessity of standing  together had all 
been learned long ago at ,rugby and     
,eton and ,harrow  until these qualities
 were bred in the bone6 ,now as mature  
men they  fought the great battle       

through to a finish just as they used to
 put  the pigskin across their          
opponent's goal in the years gone by4   
,to gain this benefit in any worthy     
measure there must be a genuine         
participation in the athletic life of   
the institution4 ,some students  imagine
 that they are greatly interested in    
athletics because they talk  about the  
various events1 smoke countless         
cigarettes on the bleachers1  gossip    
endlessly in the fraternity house as to 
how the game was lost or  won1 taking up
 the time of the players with their     
useless prattle4 ,all  this1 however1 is
 as much like real interest in athletics
 as a bandbox  is like a granite block4 
,the interest to be worthy of the name  
and to  insure any actual benefit must  
be a genuine interest4    ,there is     
something admirable in the attitude of  
those men who try  for the team or the  
nine1 and having failed1 show themselves
 glad to  play on the second eleven or  
nine4 8,scrub teams0 they are sometimes 

ignominiously and erroneously           
called--their loyalty and devotion to   
the  institution is often such that they
 might be called 8,sequoia teams40      
,their spirit of sacrifice is such that 
they are willing to stand out as  only  
second best and to be practised on by   
better men to the end that  those better
 men may gain still more honor and glory
 for themselves4  ,this spirit of       
loyalty and good will serves to exalt   
the part they take  into a genuine      
culture in character4    ,the spirit of 
cooperation is strengthened by college  
athletics4 ,men are  knit together by   
close ties when they participate in     
training or in the  game4 ,they learn to
 rely upon each other4 ,conceit and     
selfish pride  are eliminated until the 
whole nature is in a fair way to be     
genuinely  socialized4 ,the man learns  
that he cannot catch and pitch and play 
left field all at once4 ,he must fill   
his own place and act with other  men   
who are filling their places4 ,he must  

take his color in the pattern  and join 
his yarn to their yarn in a genuine     
spirit of fraternal  cooperation4 ,he   
must subordinate his own personal       
interest or advantage  to the larger    
interests of the institution which he   
represents4 ,if he  has really entered  
into the spirit of the best college     
athletics1 he  will forever after be a  
better husband and father1 a better     
neighbor  and citizen1 a better man in  
the world of industry1 and a better     
churchman1 for his systematic training  
in this spirit of cooperation4          
,athletics also express and develop what
 we call 8college spirit40 ,this  sense 
of joy in one's own college1 the        
generous pride and enthusiasm  over     
victories won by other students1 the    
knitting together of the  student body  
in paying the necessary dues1 in        
cheering the games1 in  helping to      
maintain high and honest standards1 all 
go to make up that  8college spirit40   
,this bit of sentiment over one's own   

institution does not pay term  bills or 
prepare lessons or write examination    
papers1 but it aids  in the doing of    
every one of these things4 ,the fife and
 drum in the  army do not throw up      
breastworks or fire off guns to disable 
the  enemy1 but they do aid in the      
general undertaking by the enthusiasm   
and esprit de corps they help to arouse4
 ,that college spirit1  which is indeed 
a useful educational force1 is always   
heightened by  wholesome athletics4     
,that splendid hit when there were three
 men on the  bases2 that break through  
the line or around the end and the run  
down  the field2 that last spurt at the 
end of the hundred-yard dash1 with a    
whole horizon of students and other     
spectators rending the skies with  their
 enthusiastic cheers1 all aid in the    
development of a wholesome  enthusiasm  
over one's own college4    ,the student 
who holds himself apart from it all in  
blas fashion1  affecting to look with   
cool contempt on the joyous fervor of   

his  fellows is either diseased or else 
his show of indifference is only  skin  
deep4 ,the sneering1 flippant1 cynical  
young person is as much of  a freak as  
would be a ten-year-old boy bald-headed1
 with a long white  beard4 ,intensity1  
enthusiasm1 absorption1 belong to       
college life and  they work their good  
results in transforming youth into      
manhood4    ,the two main evils1 aside  
from the common evils of betting and    
dissipation which are not confined to   
athletes1 to be guarded against  are the
 spirit of professionalism and the habit
 of unfairness4 ,the  smuggling in of a 
professional baseball or football player
 whose  college standing is maintained  
by snap courses or by indulgent         
professors1 is a thing despicable in the
 eyes of all right-minded  college men4 
,it is the sacrifice of the university  
idea to the demand  for victory in      
college sports4 ,and in similar fashion 
the disposition  to win by fair means or
 by foul1 which has sometimes disfigured

 our  college athletics1 lies at the    
root of the ugly distrust felt by       
institutions for each other on the      
athletic field4 ,better no victories    
than victories of dishonor6 ,the word of
 the old professor is always  in point3 
8,play your games as gentlemen1 fair1   
true1 and generous4  ,win your games as 
gentlemen when you can1 with no         
offensive conceit  over your success4   
,lose your games as gentlemen when you  
must1 with no  whimpering or silly      
excuses40    ,it is of vital importance 
that the whole interest of college      
athletics be held firmly within the     
grasp of that larger purpose  already   
indicated4 ,the main business of life is
 not to play baseball  or football1 but 
to do certain things treated more       
directly in other  departments of       
college life4 ,you cannot afford to play
 any game at the  expense of your       
highest development as one preparing to 
do his full  share of the world's work4 
,strive to make your life rich in       

meaning1  full of the power to serve1   
fine and true in its inner quality1 and 
that fundamental purpose will so        
dominate your interest in athletics as  
to render your bodily exercise          
profitable both for the life that now is
  and for that larger life that lies    
ahead4          ,,iii    ,,the          
,,fraternity ,,question      ,the       
sentiment of love between persons of the
 opposite sex has  monopolized the      
popular interest1 while other fine forms
 of human  relationship have failed of  
their due recognition4 ,the feeling of  
friendship between persons of the same  
sex has a profound significance4  ,the  
friendship of ,damon and ,pythias and   
that of ,david and ,jonathan  have been 
sung by the poets and the memory of them
 perpetuated in the  rituals of well    
known fraternal orders in such a way as 
to make them  classic4    ,it is good   
for us to know and to love those with   
whom the question of  sex1 with its     
mysterious attractions and repulsions1  

does not enter  in4 ,the woman who cares
 little for other women1 who is only    
happy when  she is talking with men1 or 
the man who is so much of a 8ladies'    
man0  as to be ill at ease when thrown  
for an hour exclusively with men1 is    
mentally1 if not morally1 diseased4 ,it 
is good for the souls of men  to be knit
 with the souls of their fellows2 it is 
fitting that women  should know and     
enjoy other women4    ,it is the need   
for that association which lies at the  
root of the  almost countless           
fraternities found in all our cities4   
,in searching  out names and mysterious 
forms for them all1 men have gone clear 
over  the border into what is both      
fantastic and foolish4 ,the secrecy of  
these societies is not to be taken too  
seriously--as a rule it is  mere dust   
thrown in the eyes of the uninitiated4  
,the members laugh  in their sleeves    
knowing how little the 8secrets0 amount 
to1 but the  organizations offer        
opportunity for social fellowship in a  

way to  satisfy a wide-spread desire4   
,the same tendency1 with some additional
 leaning to clannishness and  to the    
love of mystery found in most young     
people1 is evidenced by  the ,greek     
letter fraternities in the colleges and 
in many of the  high schools4 ,these    
have been in operation for more than a  
quarter  of a century and they have not 
yet by any means so justified their     
existence as to win the cordial support 
of the best educational  authorities4   
,there is still 8the fraternity         
question10 with a big  interrogation    
point after it1 put there by parents1   
teachers1 and  citizens1 and by many of 
the young people themselves as they grow
 wiser4    ,i speak of this matter as a 
fraternity man4 ,i have been initiated2 
,i  have worn a 8pin10 at such odd times
 as my 8best girl0 did not happen  to be
 wearing it4 ,i know the mysterious     
significance attaching to the  8grip0   
when one student meets another and      
taking him by the little  finger pulls  

it surreptitiously nine times to the    
left4 ,i have been  through all this1   
for ,i am a member of ,alpha ,eta of    
,sigma ,chi4 ,what  ,i say1 therefore1  
is not spoken in that prejudice which   
sometimes  attaches to the utterances of
 the 8anti-frat0 man who sees it all    
from  the outside and comes up hot1     
perhaps1 from some hard-fought campaign 
where the line was closely drawn between
 8frats0 and 8anti-frats40    ,i speak  
also with a deep sense of the importance
 of the question4 ,the  principal of the
 high school in my own city1 which has  
an enrolment  of twelve hundred pupils1 
said to me recently when ,i had been    
asked to  speak on fraternities1 8,you  
have a big subject on your hands40 ,he  
spoke  as an educator watching the lives
 of that large company of young people  
five days in the week4 ,i speak as a    
pastor and a teacher of spiritual       
values and ,i agree with him that it is 
8a big subject40    ,the power of       
intimate association for good or ill--no

 nation under  heaven1 ,christian or    
pagan1 has failed to condense its       
observation and  experience on that     
point into some terse proverb4 8,he that
 walketh with  wise men shall be wise3  
but a companion of fools shall be       
destroyed10  said the old ,hebrew4      
8,evil company doth corrupt good        
manners10 said  the ,greek1 and ,paul   
quoted it in his letter to the ,greek   
,christians  at ,corinth4 8,talent is   
perfected in solitude1 but character is 
formed  in the stream of the world10 is 
the ,german of it4 8,live with wolves   
and you will learn to howl10 the        
,spanish proverb has it2 and in homely  
,holland fashion1 the ,dutch proverb is1
 8,lie down with dogs and you will  get 
up with fleas40 ,in these terse sayings1
 elegant and inelegant1  the race has   
recorded its judgment as to the power of
 association4  ,the fraternity promotes 
certain forms of most intimate          
association at  a crucial period and    
thus enters powerfully for good or ill  

into the  lives of young people4        
,there are certain credits to be entered
 in making up a trial balance  for the  
fraternity4 ,it marks out a definite    
group of special friends  for closer    
association4 ,one cannot become         
intimately acquainted  with the whole   
human race or even with as much of it as
 happens to  be present in a large high 
school or college4 ,whether it is done  
in organized or in unorganized ways1    
there must come a process of  selection 
by which one's social interests are kept
 to a manageable size4    ,the          
fraternity gives opportunity for        
learning to subordinate the purely      
personal and selfish interests to the   
larger good4 ,the fraternity man  has in
 view something beyond his own          
individual pleasure or success4  ,he is 
taught to aid some fraternity brother   
who has good prospects1  in athletics1  
in a race for some class honor1 or in   
debate4 ,mutual  admiration1 a common   
enthusiasm1 a corporate ambition and the

 spirit  of cooperation1 are thus       
developed in the whole group by a       
feeling of  common interest4    ,the    
fraternity brings the lower class man   
into closer touch with  upper class men4
 ,the first year man is not a mere      
unbaked freshman to  the juniors and    
seniors in his fraternity4 ,they have an
 interest in  him1 a responsibility for 
him1 because of his fraternity          
connection4  ,these organizations thus  
cause the line of social cleavage to run
  perpendicularly as well as            
horizontally4 ,my own life will be      
forever  different by reason of the     
friendship of two upper class men in my 
university days4 ,such friendships are  
wholesome for both the younger  and the 
older men4    ,the fraternity serves as 
a convenient basis for fellowship when a
 man  visits another college or when    
alumni return to their alma mater4 ,the 
house of one's own fraternity is open to
 him1 and affords opportunity  for him  
to come into touch with the eager1      

throbbing life about him4  ,the alumni  
of a chapter may also exert a real      
influence for good upon  the resident   
members of the fraternity1 because of   
this continued  association4    ,the    
fraternity house offers a useful center 
for returning social  courtesies4 ,the  
students1 in their class-day spreads and
 at other  times1 may thus indicate     
their appreciation of social attentions 
received from townspeople4    ,all this 
can be said and said heartily4 ,it may  
seem that ,i am making  out such a      
strong case for the fraternities that   
any criticism offered  later will be of 
no avail4 ,it would be unfair1 however1 
not to state  the advantages as strongly
 as one's own judgment would approve4   
,but there are certain offsets in       
fraternity life which must come up  for 
an equally frank and thorough           
consideration4 ,there is a constant     
tendency in any fraternity house to     
spend more time and more money  than    
many a student can afford4 ,no fellow of

 spirit can allow others  to treat him1 
take him to the theater1 show him all   
manner of  attentions without feeling an
 obligation resting upon him to return  
these courtesies4 ,a few men in a       
fraternity with rich fathers1 large     
allowances1 and warm hearts1 can1 with  
no sort of wrong intent1 set the  pace  
in such a way as to demoralize a whole  
group of young men4 ,the  man of modest 
means and simple habits1 dependent upon 
a hard-working  father for his education
 and for all the comforts of his home   
life1  is apparently forced into a gait 
which it is wrong for him to take4  ,he 
does not intend to be mean or cruel1 but
 he adopts a scale of  expenditure which
 he cannot afford2 he runs into debt2 he
 becomes  unjust to his parents1 who are
 making sacrifices for his education4   
,it requires more grit than nine out of 
ten young fellows of the high  school or
 college age possess1 to stand up and   
oppose the course of  action which leads
 to these ill-advised 8good times40     

,it is to be regretted that simplicity  
is so overborne in all our social  life 
by the elaborate and the expensive4     
,business men1 husbands1  and fathers1  
are being killed off1 before their time1
 by nervous  prostration1 heart disease1
 or exhaustion of other vital organs1 in
  making the necessary money to keep it 
up4 ,society women1 mothers and         
daughters1 are being sent to sanitariums
 and rest cures by reason of  the       
strenuous tasks imposed upon them in    
devising and arranging new and          
elaborate ways of spending the money4   
,what a caricature much of it is  upon  
real social life1 which ought to be a   
joy1 a recreation1 a means  of relief   
from serious work1 but never a          
burdensome1 exacting labor6    ,the     
young girl in high school gives a       
luncheon for her fraternity  elaborate  
enough for a society woman of fifty4    
,the boys plan for a good  time on a    
scale which might indicate that they    
were solid business men  well on in     

their prime1 with fortunes of their own 
earning completely  at their disposal4  
,the whole tendency of it is bad and    
only bad4 ,the  simple pleasures are the
 best for everybody and especially so   
for young  people4 ,the tuxedo is not a 
suitable garment for a five-year-old boy
  even though his father is able to buy 
him a hundred of them2 and some  of our 
social activity is quite as ridiculous  
as such a coat would be  on the         
youngster4 ,it rears up a set of young  
people who1 having tasted  it all and   
become blas before their time1 are now  
nervously intent  upon some new         
sensation by more startling and         
stimulating forms of  social life4 ,and 
all the while the simple1 serious1 quiet
 interests of  education have been      
suffering a loss irreparable4    ,there 
is also the tendency in most fraternity 
houses toward a wasteful  use of time4  
,where there is a lounging room with its
 open fire1 the  university colors1     
pillows1 pictures1 trophies scattered   

about1 and a  group of jolly good       
fellows always accessible1 it is not    
easy to turn  one's back upon it and sit
 alone digging on some difficult        
subject4 ,eve  holding out an apple or  
even a ripe peach in the garden of ,eden
 suffers  by comparison when placed     
alongside the temptations thus offered  
to a  student whose will may already be 
a trifle lame4    ,i recall a certain   
fraternity house which ,i watched for a 
number of  years4 ,splendid fellows they
 were--my heart warms within me as ,i   
think  of their faces6 ,it was always   
,indian summer there--cigarette smoke   
until one could scarcely see through it4
 ,it would not be entirely true  to say 
that one could cut it with a knife2 some
 stronger implement  would have been    
needed1 an axe maybe--perhaps 8the      
,stanford axe40 ,a  number of the boys  
were keen and the jolly talk was        
sometimes equal to  a page from 8,life0 
or 8,fliegende ,bltter40    ,but men    
cannot make perpetual chimneys of       

themselves in order to  furnish such a  
volume of smoke or become perpetual     
jokers without  imperiling certain other
 interests1 much more important than    
smoke  or jokes4 ,and that same         
fraternity1 genuinely attractive though 
it  was in its social aspects1 became   
the banner house on the campus for      
furnishing men who suddenly went home at
 the end of the term1 because  8their   
fathers needed them in business10 or    
because 8their health would  not stand  
the strain of college study0--those     
graceful explanations  which sound well 
and deceive nobody1 either at the       
college end or the  home end of the     
line4 ,the constant tendency in all     
fraternity life  is to spend upon       
pleasure more time and more money than  
the average  student can justly afford4 
,there is furthermore the tendency to a 
narrow exclusiveness which  sometimes   
degenerates into actual snobbishness4   
,this is especially true  of the        
high-school fraternities4 ,the spirit of

 narrow clannishness is  stronger then  
than later4 ,breadth of sympathy1 which 
ought to be the  spirit of our public   
schools1 is thus destroyed4 ,the girl is
 tempted to  think that1 out of hundreds
 of girls in high school1 only the      
little  group of twenty in her own      
fraternity are fine1 choice girls4 ,when
 the  social interests are thus being   
8cribbed1 cabined1 and confined10 it  is
 not a long step to the spirit of that  
bigot who prayed1 8,o ,lord1  bless me  
and my wife1 my son ,john and his wife1 
us four and no more40  ,the 8us four and
 no more0 attitude is apparent to       
thoughtful observers  in almost all of  
the high-school fraternities4 ,the      
larger loyalty and  broader sympathy is 
overborne by a narrowed social interest4
    ,it is the judgment of an           
ever-increasing number of men at the    
head  of the secondary schools that the 
high-school fraternities at least  are  
nuisances4 ,this is their verdict in    
spite of the fact that many  of the best

 students are members of them1 striving 
to make them  helpful1 not hurtful4 ,but
 when the losses and the gains are      
accurately  computed1 the losses seem to
 far outrank the gains4 ,the spirit of  
social exclusiveness is opposed to the  
spirit of our public schools and        
encourages the development of qualities 
that have no rightful place in          
,american young people4    ,some        
high-school principals are              
non-committal1 but more of them  frankly
 utter their condemnation of the        
fraternity as prejudicial to  the       
legitimate work of the school2 as       
weakening the more inclusive  class     
loyalty and as offering an effective    
temptation to social  dissipation4 ,they
 may not hope as yet to carry all       
high-school students  with them in this 
judgment1 but if they could line up all 
parents who  believe that fraternities  
tend to alienate young people from their
  homes1 all high-school teachers who   
deplore the evil which results from     

loyalty to a part instead of to the     
whole school1 and all those who1  having
 advanced to college1 look back upon    
those earlier fraternities  as cases of 
premature development1 the young people 
would be amazed at  the verdict against 
the high-school fraternity6    ,we are  
constantly hearing the assertion that it
 is difficult for  girls to complete the
 high-school course without breaking    
down4 ,under  anything like normal      
conditions such a claim should be       
preposterous6  ,there are good reasons  
for believing that the nervous collapse 
is  due less to faithful study than to  
the unnecessary excitements of          
fraternity rivalry and to the irregular 
hours and social dissipation  consequent
 upon fraternity life4    ,the right    
place for the fraternity is in the      
university where boys  and girls have   
become young men and young women1 better
 able to guard  such organizations      
against these abuses2 better able to see
 to it that  no barriers are built      

between them and those whom they ought  
to know2  better able to extend their   
generous admiration to those not of     
their  particular clique4 ,in the       
university large numbers of students are
 away  from home1 as is not the case in 
high school--and where it is wisely     
controlled1 the fraternity may be made a
 center for the deepening of  wholesome 
intimacies1 in a way to render it a     
useful educational force4    ,it is well
 for every student to postpone the      
choice of a fraternity  until near the  
end of the first year4 ,before he joins1
 he will need to  look the various      
chapters over carefully and learn more  
about them than  appears in the shape of
 the pin or in the color of the flag at 
the top  of the house4 ,he will want to 
ask what kind of men belong2 what are   
their ambitions and aims2 what is their 
rank and standing in college2  whether  
their habits are clean1 sound1          
wholesome1 or enervating and  shady2    
what is the moral atmosphere about their

 house2 what sort of  alumni have been  
sent out4 ,he will only join one        
fraternity and he  wishes to make no    
mistake in that choice4    ,the habit of
 8rushing0 men for membership has become
 inexpressibly  silly4 ,the heads of    
weak men are turned by the social       
attentions thrust  upon them and the    
stronger men are frequently repelled by 
this overdone  eagerness4 ,one would    
suppose the various chapters would be   
ashamed  to exhibit such anxiety to have
 men join as would seem to indicate a   
sense of their own weakness4 ,let the   
fraternities make themselves worth      
joining and a sufficient number of      
promising candidates to fill all the    
lists will be forthcoming6 ,let any     
student make himself worth having  and  
the door will be open into a desirable  
house whenever he is ready  to enter it4
    ,it would be well if each student   
made his fraternity experience          
preparatory to the larger social status 
into which he will enter as a  mature   

man--a status where the narrow          
exclusiveness of the snob finds  the    
door shut in its face by men of sense4  
,if he has really gained a  genuinely   
social spirit1 he will be better able to
 take his place in  the business world  
as one ready to aid in building it upon 
the basis of  honor1 integrity and      
mutual consideration4 ,if he has rightly
 learned  the lessons of fraternity life
 he ought to be a better citizen1 ready 
to work in harmony with men who are bent
 upon making the ,state an  organized   
expression of wise and just principles4 
,he ought to be fitted  to be a better  
churchman1 making that institution a    
worthy expression  of the organized     
spirit of reverence toward ,god1 of     
fellowship with  men1 and of helpfulness
 for all good causes4 ,and he will best 
attain  all these high aims if1 in the  
supreme relationship of his life1  his  
own soul is knit with that 8friend that 
sticketh closer than a  brother40 ,the  
,master of men came to found a fraternal

 kingdom of which  there shall be no    
end1 and in that kingdom every man of   
fraternal  spirit should have standing4 
,,iv    ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,a        
,,college ,,man      ,the leading notes 
in the religious life of a student will 
naturally be  intellectual and ethical4 
,the mind is feeling its way out among  
the  immensities which have come into   
view as childhood is left behind4 ,it   
is seeking to know things as they are1  
learning how to bear itself  in thought 
toward the natural and the supernatural1
 the earthly and  the heavenly1 the     
present and the future4 ,it is no longer
 content  with a child's faith received 
on the word of another2 it has not yet  
found the repose of tried and mature    
conviction4 ,it is in process of        
shaping its beliefs about ,god1 about   
the world1 about the ,bible1 about      
prayer1 about a future life4 ,the       
college man is taken out-of-doors       
intellectually where the walls are all  
down1 and his religious life1  like the 

other sections of his nature1 will      
naturally show signs  of restlessness4  
8,the religion of youth is commonly a   
religion of  rationalism--the           
intellectual life is just starting on   
its long journey  in all the            
exhilaration and freshness of the       
morning40    ,the ethical note in the   
college man's religion will also be     
clear and  strong4 ,young people in     
sound health are commonly rigorous and  
even  merciless in their moral          
judgments4 ,they are oftentimes unduly  
critical  touching the shortcomings of  
others4 ,they are confused as to many of
  the moral sanctions and uncertain as  
to what distinctions are essential  and 
what are merely conventional4 ,they have
 a desire to know what is  right and why
 it is right1 and they wish to discover 
the motive and  stimulus which will     
render them strong in doing the right4  
,the best  results are always attained  
by taking into account lines of interest
  already established1 rather than by   

cutting squarely across the grain1  and 
the most effective approach to the heart
 of the student can be made  by         
observing these two leading notes in his
 religious life4    ,i am confirmed in  
this view by this bit of personal       
experience4  ,for six years ,i lectured 
every ,monday during the second semester
 at  ,stanford ,university1 giving      
courses on 8,the ,ethics of ,christ10 a 
study  in the four ,gospels1 on 8,the   
,life and ,literature of the ,early     
,hebrews10  a study in the ,old         
,testament1 on 8,social ,ethics10 a     
study of moral  values in the various   
relationships of modern life4 ,these    
courses  were offered as any courses    
would be4 ,a full syllabus was used and 
much collateral reading suggested2 a    
monthly written quiz and a final        
examination were held2 credit was given 
for work done as in any other           
department4 ,the courses were popular   
though the requirements brought a       
sufficient number of failures each year 

to keep the thought of a day of         
judgment before the mind of the class4  
,there was evident throughout a  strong1
 healthy interest in the intellectual   
problems of faith1 in the               
interpretation of scripture1 in the     
ethical questions discussed1 and  in the
 intelligent application of moral       
principles to modern life4 ,the  sight  
of those young faces and the reading of 
the papers offered have  helped to      
confirm me in the view that the two     
characteristic qualities  of the college
 man's religion are those already       
indicated4    ,the expression of that   
religious interest will take many forms4
 ,it  will utter itself in rational     
worship4 ,the clear-headed student will 
not continue to do things which seem to 
him meaningless or useless4  ,there are 
church services in which he will refuse 
to participate1 but  sincere1 reverent1 
and rational worship will commend itself
 to him as a  suitable expression of    
that deeper something growing within his

 heart4  ,the upward look1 the outward  
reach of a higher aspiration1 the need  
of  a hand-clasp which is not of earth1 
all these appeal to him6 ,let the       
music1 the lessons1 the prayers1 and the
 atmosphere of the church be  made a    
true1 good1 and beautiful expression of 
intelligent worship and  the thoughtful 
student will rejoice in the aid it gives
 him in working  out his problems4      
,the words of ,thomas ,carlyle addressed
 to the students in the ,university  of 
,edinburgh are in point3 8,no nation    
that did not contemplate this  wonderful
 universe with an awe-stricken and      
reverential feeling  that there is an   
omnipotent1 all-wise1 and all-virtuous  
,being  superintending all men and all  
the interests in it--no such nation has 
ever done much nor has any man who has  
forgotten ,god40 ,in much blunter       
fashion the ,bible says1 8,the wicked   
shall be turned into hell1 and all  the 
nations that forget ,god40 ,the word    
8hell0 can be spelled with four         

letters1 but to spell that for which it 
stands1 the moral failure1  the personal
 disappointment1 the pain1 and the      
distress of spiritual  defeat1 the      
bitter regret and remorse over years    
wasted by turning away  from the        
,highest1 would require all the letters 
of the alphabet and the  sum total of   
human experience4 ,in order to do justly
 and to love mercy1  we need to stand   
humbly before ,god as the one entitled  
to our supreme  and final allegiance4   
,where all this is made plain in a      
provision for  worship which is         
rational1 beautiful1 and helpful1 the   
college man will  find in it a natural  
expression for his religious life4      
,the religious interest will also       
express itself in the study of          
religious truth4 ,courses in ethics1 and
 in philosophy where it relates  to life
 and is not all clouds and mist2 courses
 in the ,hebrew and  other sacred       
literatures2 courses in the history of  
religion and in  comparative religion1  

may all be made genuinely spiritual     
exercises4  ,the students are aided by  
such work in knowing that truth which   
sets  mind and heart free from whatever 
hinders growth and usefulness4    ,still
 more directly1 the courses of ,bible   
study offered through the  ,christian   
associations in our universities become 
wholesome expressions  of religious     
interest4 ,the history and literature of
 the ,hebrews1  the life of ,christ1 the
 story of the early ,church1 studied    
with the  system1 the thoroughness1 and 
the fearlessness found in other lines of
  investigation1 afford a genuine       
ministry to the spiritual life4 ,many   
students who lose their ,christian faith
 in the colleges suffer this  loss      
because the mind has gone ahead in      
science1 in philosophy1 and  in history1
 but has lagged back in religion4 ,it   
has been belated in  the childish       
conceptions gained in early life4 ,such 
students sometimes  throw away their    
,christian faith and habits1 and then   

wonder that the  rest of us are so      
stupid and credulous4 ,as a matter of   
fact they have  simply failed to make   
the advance and readjustment which      
serious and  growing minds habitually   
make on their way from childhood to     
maturity4  ,the thorough study of       
religious truth1 then1 as an aid to a   
rational  restatement of one's personal 
faith1 becomes another worthy expression
  of religious life and a useful source 
of culture for the spiritual  nature4   
,the religious life of the student will 
also utter itself in a personal  quest  
for righteousness4 ,no life ever comes  
to have that which the  world really    
trusts and values until it can say in   
its whole purpose1  8,i do these certain
 things not because they are easy or    
common or funny  or politic2 ,i do them 
because they are right40 ,if religion is
 to enter  into its own in any          
educational institution it will be      
necessary to  have a great deal more    
downright honesty in college life than  

there  is in many institutions of       
learning at this time4 ,the sneer that  
8in  college and in the custom house0 it
 is all right to lie and to cheat  if   
one can do it without being caught1 has 
had much to justify it4 ,the  student   
who asks to be excused from a college   
engagement because he is  too sick to   
work1 but who will go to a ball and     
dance every number on  the program1 or  
to a football game and yell until his   
throat is raw1  is simply a liar6 ,the  
student who copies from another's       
examination  paper and signs his name to
 it as though it were his own1 is a     
cheat  and a forger4 ,the man who steals
 spoons from some hotel or restaurant   
in the town for his fraternity table is 
not funny2 he is simply a  thief and an 
outlaw6 ,the student who spends on vice 
or dissipation1  money furnished by his 
father for term bills1 entering them up 
in his  financial statement as          
8sundries0 or what not1 is a whelp and a
 cad1 no  matter how good looking he is 

or how well his dress suit fits him6    
,dirt  is dirt no matter how we may     
adorn it with lace2 a lie is a lie1 and 
theft is theft1 no matter how they are  
smoothed over with fine words6  ,there  
ought to be in all college life rigid1  
unsympathetic honesty1  like that of the
 bank or the counting-room4 ,the        
perpetual effort after  personal        
righteousness should stand as an abiding
 expression of the  religious life4     
,the genuinely religious spirit will    
show itself in mutual helpfulness4  ,the
 ,christian service rendered by students
 can best be rendered in  terms of      
student life4 ,the readiness to lend a  
hand to some fellow  working his way    
through2 the thoughtfulness and         
unselfishness shown  to a student who is
 sick2 the organized usefulness of the  
,christian  ,associations in meeting    
first-year students and aiding them in  
those  strange first days on the campus2
 the ability to exert steadily a        
wholesome influence on the side of what 

is right and wise1 without              
self-consciousness or ostentation--all  
these are forms of ,christian           
helpfulness natural and appropriate to  
student life4    ,during an epidemic of 
typhoid fever at ,stanford ,university  
some years  ago the students stood      
together and insisted that every patient
 unable  to provide himself with a      
trained nurse should have1 through their
  cooperation1 the best care which      
medical science could afford4 ,they     
gladly gave up the senior dance and     
other social entertainments and         
receptions1 in order to devote the money
 to this unselfish purpose4  ,they      
raised in various ways among themselves 
more than five thousand  dollars for    
this practical form of helpfulness4 8,by
 this shall all men  know that ye are my
 disciples1 if ye have love one to      
another40 ,this  was the original test  
of ,christian discipleship proposed by  
,christ  himself1 and none better has   
been found4    ,the nurture of the      

college man's religion will come mainly 
in two ways3  first1 through fellowship 
with a larger group of ,christian       
people4  8,gather two or three together 
in my name10 ,christ said1 8and there am
 ,i  in the midst40 ,he thus indicated  
the social character of the religion  he
 taught and suggested the help to be    
found in wholesome fellowship4  ,the    
actual experience of mankind has        
strongly endorsed his claim4    ,the    
best fellowship will naturally be found 
in some one of the churches  of the     
community4 ,the student will find there 
friends as well as  worship and         
instruction2 he may find also his place 
in some concrete  activity for the      
progress of the kingdom4 ,oliver        
,wendell ,holmes used  to say in        
explanation of his habit of church      
attendance1 8,there is a  little plant  
within me called reverence which needs  
watering at least  once a week40 ,he    
might also have added that it needed the
 warm southern  exposure of meeting in  

spiritual fellowship those who were     
similarly  bent on noble living1 and    
that it found wholesome expression      
through  some useful participation in   
the activities of a parish church4      
,each student needs the church even more
 than the church needs him4 ,he  will   
learn by its aid to more wisely and more
 conscientiously use the  opportunities 
which ,sunday offers4 ,the day of the   
,lord ought to be a  day of turning     
aside to see the bushes that burn with  
divine fire4 ,the  habit of ,sunday     
study is a mistake1 physically1         
mentally1 and morally4  ,the pioneers   
who crossed the plains in '#di1 driving 
six days in the  week and resting one1  
reached ,california ahead of those who  
drove  straight along day in and day    
out1 week in and week out2 and the      
cattle  of the men who observed the     
method of a regularly recurring rest    
day1  arrived in better condition4 ,the 
one who said1 8,labor six days and  do  
all thy work10 holding the seventh apart

 for rest and spiritual  opportunity1   
knew something about the muscles and the
 nerves as well as  about the souls of  
men4 ,sunday held apart from the        
ordinary grind of  college life and used
 as a time of privilege for the higher  
nature to  have its undisputed chance to
 grow1 becomes a useful factor in normal
  development4    ,the religious life of
 the student will be deepened and       
strengthened  most of all through       
personal fellowship with ,jesus ,christ4
 ,to know  him who stands revealed in   
brief on the pages of the four gospels  
and  revealed at large in the splendid  
history into which he has built  himself
 during the last nineteen hundred years1
 is to gain the utmost  help for        
character-building that the world has   
thus far found4    ,we know ,jesus      
,christ1 not only by the study of his   
life and teachings1  but by sharing in  
his purpose for the race and by         
participation in  his spirit4 ,it is    
this that enables us to see life whole1 

and to put  ourselves in the way of     
gaining a fuller measure of that life   
complete4  ,through our fellowship with 
him we come to the point where we see   
life  in its deeper1 hidden attitudes1  
as well as on its surface2 we see its   
upper1 unseen relations as well as those
 upon its own level2 we see  its        
ultimate future1 beyond the event we    
call death1 as well as the  pressing    
claims of the immediate present4 ,we see
 life whole through  ,christ and by our 
personal fellowship with him we are     
increasingly  enabled to possess that   
rounded life for ourselves4    ,there is
 one supreme reason why every college   
man should be a  ,christian--the final  
,christianity is not yet here4 ,it is   
waiting for  the contribution of        
thought1 of spiritual experience and of 
useful  activity1 which the generation  
to which you belong is in a position  to
 make4 ,jesus had1 and still has1 many  
things to say1 which the  world even yet
 is not able to bear4 ,it is for each   

man1 by personal  consecration and      
individual effort1 to so weave his      
activities into the  unfinished story of
 the world's redemption as to aid in    
bringing about  the true attitude toward
 those unseen things which are eternal4 
,college men are eager to make personal 
experiment of other unseen  forces4     
,they love to lay bare hidden secrets by
 the use of the ,roentgen  ray2 they    
rejoice in sending and receiving        
messages by wireless  telegraphy2 they  
cluster around an experiment which      
displays the  mysterious attributes of  
that strange substance called radium2   
they  show themselves eager to witness  
the wonders of liquid air4 ,they should 
be no less eager to know by genuine     
personal experience the efficacy  of    
prayer1 the power of faith1 the joy of  
spiritual renewal through  divine grace4
 ,they should be no less eager to send  
and receive those  messages which come  
and go between ,god and man1 when the   
heavens are  open and the angels are    

ascending and descending upon the sons  
of  men4 ,you have1 each one of you1 a  
clear responsibility and obligation  in 
this matter4 ,gain for yourself an      
intelligent faith2 show to the  world   
one more consistent ,christian life2    
render to his cause your own  personal  
quota of competent service1 and in doing
 this you will not  only be spiritually 
enriched yourself1 you will aid in      
bringing in that  greater ,christianity 
which is yet to be4          ,v    ,,the
 ,,choice ,,of ,a ,,life-,,work         
,the man who said1 8,i am doing a great 
work1 ,i cannot come down10 was  laying 
bricks4 ,but the bricks went into a     
wall1 and the wall surrounded  the      
capital city of his country as its main 
defense1 and the city was  ,jerusalem1  
the headquarters of the ,hebrew people6 
,the moral history of  that people has  
woven itself into the story of the      
world's redemption1  as has no other    
history on earth4 ,its writings furnish 
us the best  book we have3 its ,messiah1

 born in ,bethlehem of ,judea1 has      
become the  world's ,saviour2 and the   
high claim that 8,salvation is of the   
,jews10 is  well sustained by the facts4
 ,simple deeds are sometimes            
far-reaching  in their divine           
significance4 ,laying bricks in a wall  
which protected  the city out of which  
came the world's ,messiah1 was surely a 
splendid  occupation4 ,the man was well 
within the facts1 when he cried to those
  who tried to interrupt him1 8,i am    
doing a great work1 ,i cannot come      
down40    ,i quote these words as       
indicating the sense of vocation1 the   
honest  pride in his work1 the personal 
appreciation of its wider meanings1  the
 safeguard it affords against unworthy  
ideals1 the means of culture  it opens  
for moral character1 which ought to be  
found in every one's  attitude toward   
his life-work4 ,alas for you1 if you    
cannot all say1 by  and by1 what the    
bricklayer said6    ,some college men   
unfortunately allow themselves to be    

driven into  this or that occupation by 
force of circumstances4 ,they forget    
that  college training ought to fit us  
to oppose circumstances if need be and  
resolutely work out some splendid       
purpose in the teeth of opposition4     
,some college men drift into anything   
that offers--they must do  something to 
earn their bread and they catch the     
nearest way4 ,this  puts them on a level
 with the hungry dog looking for a bone 
and facing  in whatever direction he    
smells meat4 ,such men are opportunists 
all  their lives1 taking whatever       
offers1 even though on the face of it a 
temporary makeshift1 trusting that when 
one job is finished another may  turn   
up4 ,they are like so many fleas1       
jumping from job to job1 wherever  they 
see a chance for a good bite4 ,they fail
 to exercise that power of  choice and  
determination which ought to prevail in 
the selection of  that which is to claim
 six-sevenths of one's time and interest
 during  all his working years4         

,there is spiritual value in any        
legitimate calling1 and this  satisfying
 return is open and possible to every   
college man bent on  doing square work4 
8,to every man his work02 his by        
personal  fitness2 his by the sense of  
fulfilling a divine purpose in          
selecting it2 his in the feeling that it
 belongs to him6 ,some  men are called  
of ,god to the ,christian ministry and  
others are no less  called of ,god to   
teach or to heal or to build4 ,god's    
calls announce  themselves in a variety 
of ways4 ,the shining vision that came  
to ,paul  on the ,damascus road or the  
mighty spiritual impulse which visited  
the heart of ,president ,finney of      
,oberlin as he struggled in the woods   
alone1 are forms of the divine call1 but
 there are other forms equally  valid4  
,the call of the world's need for some  
special work and your  own consciousness
 of power to render that service will   
bring you a  genuine sense of vocation  
as you gird yourself for it4 ,there are 

many  intimations as to the place one   
should take and hold1 which may have    
all the compelling force of a vision    
from on high4    ,but to speak more     
closely of the matter in hand1 let me   
name some of  the considerations which  
must enter into the choice of a         
life-work4 ,i  can only speak in the    
most general way1 addressing as ,i do   
young men of  varying abilities and     
temperaments4 ,if one should discuss the
 value or  attractiveness of any        
particular vocation1 the personal       
element and the  question of individual 
fitness would instantly come in4 ,some  
general  considerations however may     
prove suggestive4    ,it is best not to 
make one's decision too early or too    
rigidly4 ,the  average young man is not 
sufficiently acquainted either with     
himself  or with the vocations to make  
his final decision during his last year 
in high school1 or during his first year
 in college4 ,one of the chief  values  
of college training is that it discovers

 the man to himself4  ,you have scarcely
 a bowing acquaintance with yourself    
when you only  know yourself as a       
freshman--wait and meet this same fellow
 within1  as a sophomore1 as a junior1  
as a senior4 ,there are unsuspected     
capabilities in him which training and  
experience will bring out4    ,wait also
 until you learn more about the         
vocations themselves4 ,in  making choice
 of a wife it is well to become         
acquainted with a number  of young      
ladies before you settle down to an     
exclusive intimacy with  one4 ,there are
 other girls who can look sweet and say 
pleasant things  too2 it is not wise to 
fall so completely in love with the     
first  dainty bit of white muslin you   
see as to exclude other delightful      
associations4 ,the law has its          
attractions1 so has medicine1 so has    
the ministry1 so has the work of        
education1 or the business career1  or  
the work of an architect1 a chemist1 or 
a forester4 ,it is wise not  to conclude

 too early in life that the attractions 
of this particular  vocation shut out   
all the rest from consideration4 ,look  
yourself over  and look the field over  
with great care at least a hundred times
 before  making a final choice4 ,it will
 be a sorry thing if you start out to   
unlock the door of your future with the 
wrong key4    ,consider the whole man in
 your choice4 ,it is not simply what you
 carry  home in your pocket1 as a result
 of your day's work and of all the days 
of work1 but what you carry away in mind
 and heart as well2 what you  carry away
 in the gratitude and appreciation of   
your fellow men2 what  you gain in the  
beneficent influence you may exert upon 
the community  through your calling4    
,ten thousand a year is a splendid      
return from  the investment of one's    
personal ability1 but there are other   
returns  which may be added to the      
figures named in your contract in such a
 way  as to make the money consideration
 seem the small end of it4 ,and there   

are other returns which may make it seem
 as if the man who received  the ten    
thousand a year had worked all his life 
for meager pay4 ,many a  saloon-keeper  
has made ten times as much money out of 
his calling as  the college professor or
 the clergyman makes out of his1 but    
when the  books are opened1 other books 
as well as the cash book1 the           
comparative  values of the vocations    
will stand revealed4    ,the young man  
may be doing some honest and useful     
work1 but without the  sense of joy or  
pride in it4 ,in such event it fails to 
render him back  a full return4 ,the    
culture of one's own best life must come
 with his  ordinary work or else the man
 is sacrificed to the profession4 ,we   
are  not here to be effective machines  
for grinding out sermons or briefs1     
operations or lectures1 bargains or     
manufactured products3 we are  here to  
be men1 strong1 fine1 aspiring1 and     
useful men4 ,the whole man  therefore   
must be considered1 his body1 his brain1

 his heart1 and his  soul1 as well as   
his purse when you make selection of his
 life-work4  ,what you make out of your 
vocation is an important question1 but  
what  it makes out of you is tenfold    
more important6    ,make up your mind   
that in the long run your work will be  
estimated  by its genuine utility4      
,success comes not by luck1 but by law4 
,the  apparent exceptions1 like         
four-leaf clovers1 are not sufficiently 
numerous to disturb the principle4 ,it  
is three-leaf clover that feeds  the    
cows and fills the haymows4 ,it is      
ordinary industry1 fidelity1            
persistence1 and efficiency that bring  
the largest measure of abiding  success4
 ,your work will be estimated by its    
utility in satisfying human  need4      
,this principle well understood1        
thoroughly believed1 and constantly     
acted upon1 will be of untold value to  
you4 ,canfield says to the  young men at
 ,columbia1 8,measure your daily work by
 the efficiency and  completeness with  

which it meets the needs of your fellow 
men40 ,you  must measure it thus1 for   
that is the way the world will estimate 
it4  ,you will not be able to live by   
your wits2 you must live by your work   
and your worth4 ,therefore1 in making   
selection1 consider carefully the       
usefulness of the work you choose1 for  
men are like medicines1 when  they show 
themselves useful1 they will be used4   
,the idea that success comes by luck or 
pull1 or chance1 is a fool's  idea4     
,some such instances occur1 but they are
 not even so common as  four-leaf       
clover--the man who starts out in life  
depending upon them is  more foolish    
than the farmer who would rely upon     
four-leaf clover for  his hay crop4 ,and
 you will find as you come to live with 
him on close  terms that the world is a 
very sagacious old fellow in his        
estimate of  values4 ,he has wonderful  
ability in discerning the real thing and
 in  putting away shoddy4 ,you cannot   
sell him gold bricks straight along--if 

now and then one is palmed off on the   
unwary1 still they never become  a      
staple quoted in the market reports4    
,good clay bricks in the long  run are  
more profitable4 ,your work will be     
estimated1 and estimated  accurately1 by
 its utility in satisfying genuine human
 need4 ,the  intelligent observance of  
this principle in making your selection 
will  introduce that spirit of service  
which ennobles the whole effort4    ,may
 your choice of vocation be so wise and 
right that you will be  content to have 
it dominate all minor matters in your   
life6 ,horace  ,bushnell used to speak  
to ,yale men about 8the expulsive power 
of a new  affection40 ,the love for a   
pure woman making all impurity hateful  
and  disgusting2 the love for some man  
of integrity making all lying and       
dishonesty seem foul and mean2 the love 
for ,god making all wrong-doing         
repulsive6 ,so there comes into the     
life1 by the right choice of  vocation1 
a supreme interest and delight in one's 

work1 which drives  out all the low1    
cheap1 mean things that would hinder it4
 8,i am doing  a great work10 the man   
cries2 8,i am content to be absorbed in 
it and it  is morally impossible for me 
to come down to the trivial or the      
base40    ,the famous ,vienna surgeon1  
,dr4 ,lorenz1 at a banquet during his   
visit  to this country1 drank nothing   
but water4 ,the man who sat next him at 
table1 knowing the love which so many   
,germans have for wine and beer1  asked 
the doctor if he were a teetotaler4 ,the
 reply was3 8,i do not  know that ,i    
could be called that2 ,i am not in any  
sense a temperance  agitator4 ,but ,i am
 a surgeon and must keep my brain clear1
 my nerves  steady1 my muscles tense40  
,here spoke the voice of science on one 
of  its higher levels as to the effect  
of stimulants6 ,here spoke also  the    
voice of one who finds splendid moral   
culture in his devotion to  his         
life-work4 8,i am doing a great work1   
known on two continents and  beyond10 he

 seemed to say2 8therefore ,i cannot1   
for the sake of an  abnormal sensation1 
come down to tickle my stomach1 or      
tamper with my  nerves or drug my brain 
by the use of stimulants40    ,make such
 a selection of your life-work as will  
enable you to regard it  as the main    
expression of your spiritual life4      
,every man1 no matter  what the special 
form of his employment may be1 can so   
relate himself  to it and so strive to  
relate it and the results which flow    
from it1  to the life of the community  
as to make his ordinary work the main   
utterance of his deeper nature4 ,there  
will be the expression of his           
spirituality in worship1 in directly    
religious activity1 in other forms  of  
effort1 but the main expression should  
lie in that useful work which  claims   
six-sevenths of his time and strength4  
8,give us this day our daily bread10 the
 ,master said in the model  prayer4 ,it 
ought to be the daily utterance of every
 serious man's life4  ,utter it with    

your lips alone and your body will      
starve to death6 ,utter  it with hands  
and brain alone1 and your soul will     
famish6 ,but utter  it with your entire 
nature1 hands1 brain1 heart1 and soul1  
addressing  themselves to ,god1 to the  
resources ,god has placed at your call1 
and to  the need of the community for   
the service you can render1 and then    
your  prayer will bring the bread which 
feeds the total nature up to its full   
strength6 ,industry1 intelligence and   
moral purpose1 cooperating with  the    
divine bounty and with the needs of men1
 will work out the highest  type of     
character and make one's daily          
employment sacramental in its  influence
 upon his own heart and upon the lives  
of others4    ,i have not spoken of the 
claims of the various vocations1 but let
 me  utter one last word1 as strong as  
,i can make it1 for the ,christian      
ministry4 ,there are splendid rewards   
and honors to be won today at  the bar1 
in medicine1 in the work of education1  

in commerce1 in  manufacture1 in        
engineering4 ,into all these callings   
strong and useful  men are going in such
 numbers that there is no cry of need   
coming back4  ,it is not so in the      
ministry4 ,there is in every branch of  
the ,church  and in all the states of   
the ,union1 a loud and a sore cry for   
young men  of sound health1 good sense1 
trained intelligence1 social sympathy1  
and genuine character1 to enter the     
ministry and furnish the moral and      
spiritual leadership the country craves4
 ,like the man of ,macedonia the  modern
 pulpit stands up and cries1 8,come over
 into ,macedonia1 and help  us40    ,if 
,i can read my ,church history aright   
there never was a time when  the        
opportunities and the rewards of the    
ministry were so great4 ,a  man will    
earn less money in the ministry than the
 same degree of  ability would command  
in other fields of labor1 though        
congregations1  especially in cities1   
were never so generous with their       

pastors as  now4 ,what he carries away  
in his purse1 however1 is only one of   
many  rewards the vocation brings4 ,in  
the ,church today there is liberty of   
thought2 in some branch of it every man 
desiring to aid his fellows in  doing   
justly1 in loving mercy and in walking  
humbly with ,god1 can find  a hearty    
welcome and a place to work4 ,there is a
 wide-spread hunger  on the part of the 
people for a competent and helpful      
interpretation  of this literature in   
the ,bible4 ,there is a call for men who
 can  intelligently and effectively     
apply ,christian principles to modern   
conditions and problems4 ,there is an   
abiding demand for men who can  bring   
the eternal verities of the ,spirit     
before their congregations  with power1 
and offer strength1 cheer1 courage1 and 
comfort to those  who come up weary and 
heavy-laden out of the work of the week4
    ,and in return for this highest form
 of service any one can hope to  render 
to his fellows1 there is a mighty tide  

of appreciation and  gratitude waiting  
to flow in upon the heart of the man who
 has been  doing genuine1 helpful       
service as a minister of ,jesus ,christ4
 ,the field  is wide1 the rewards are   
rich and perpetual1 the opportunities   
are like  wide-open and effectual doors1
 but the strong1 wise1 devoted laborers 
are all too few6 ,you cannot anywhere on
 earth invest your life with  more      
satisfaction to yourself1 with a greater
 sense of serviceableness  to your      
brother men1 with a warmer sense of     
,god's own approving favor1  than in the
 ministry of the modern ,church4    ,in 
selecting your life-work1 you wish to   
consider the whole man1 to  estimate    
possible success by the utility of the  
service rendered1  to have a vocation to
 which all minor interests shall bow in 
glad  obedience1 and to make it the     
supreme expression of your spiritual    
life6 ,does any work on earth so meet   
these requirements as does the          
,christian ministry8 ,in your individual

 case1 if the call of ,god1 the         
recognized needs of the world1 and the  
sense of spiritual obligation  should   
bear you into that vocation1 you would  
forever thank him that  among all the   
good things in life he had given you the
 best6 ,you  would gladly put away all  
the allurements which might defeat your 
spiritual effectiveness6 ,you would say1
 to all beholders1 by sincere  and      
whole-hearted devotion to your calling1 
8,i am doing a great work2  ,i cannot   
come down40          ,,vi    ,,moral    
,,ventures      ,the old saw1 8,nothing 
venture1 nothing have10 is true in      
mining2 the  miner who is unwilling to  
risk his money on a hole in the ground  
without knowing what may lie at the     
other end of it never grows rich4  ,it  
is true in farming1 for the man who is  
not willing to throw his seed  wheat    
away on an uncertainty will never reap a
 harvest4 ,it is true in  business1 for 
if no man had been willing to invest a  
dollar until he  had something as sure  

as a government bond1 we would not have 
reached  first base yet in our          
commercial development4 ,it is true in  
all the  finer forms of outdoor sport4  
,the plaintive cry goes up now and then 
from certain quarters against the idea  
of having any element of risk or  danger
 in college athletics--such people had  
better stick to ping-pong  or croquet1  
leaving the other games to those of us  
who still have a  sprinkling of red     
corpuscles in our veins4 ,nothing       
venture1 nothing  have6    ,the same    
principle holds on the higher levels of 
moral life1 for in  all the more heroic 
forms of duty there is an element of    
risk4 ,there  are those who hold that   
right is nothing more than expediency   
and that  wrong is simply a bad blunder4
 ,they can make quite a showing on      
paper4  8,honesty is the best policy0 in
 the long run1 but it is a great deal   
more than that4 ,genuine honesty1       
financial1 physical1 intellectual1      
moral1 the sort of honesty that adds two

 and two and gets four every  time with 
never a fraction more nor less1 is      
something more than good  policy4 ,it   
reaches down and takes hold of things   
fundamental in a way  that mere policy  
never does1 never can4 ,and the fact    
stands that the  saints and the seers1  
the heroes and the martyrs1 the poets   
and the  singers who have furnished     
inspiration and leadership1 who have    
kindled  the fire of moral passion in   
other breasts because it burned hot in  
their own1 have been men to whom right  
was more than good policy4 ,the  moral  
leaders have been men who were ready to 
take risks in doing  certain things     
because they believed those things to be
 right4    ,there is a certain short    
story which brings this point out in    
telling  fashion4 ,there was a king who 
lived 8somewhere east of ,suez1 where   
there ain't no ,ten ,commandments and   
the best is like the worst40 ,he  was   
the fortunate possessor of a big stick  
and he wielded it with  striking        

success4 ,to celebrate one of his       
notable victories he caused  to be made 
a huge1 gold-plated image ninety feet   
high and eighteen feet  broad4 ,he set  
it up out on the campus and called upon 
the people of his  realm to bow down and
 worship it4 ,he coupled that invitation
 with the  stimulating announcement that
 if any man refused he would be cast    
into  a furnace of fire4    ,now with   
that alternative in plain sight1 the    
popular1 the politic1  the expedient    
thing was to get down and worship the   
image1 or at least  to go through the   
form4 8,in ,rome you must do as the     
,romans do0--so the  moral jelly-fish   
who have never reached the vertebrate   
level are ever  saying4 ,with a golden  
image ninety feet high and eighteen feet
 broad1  with the king leading off in   
the worship and all his captains and    
counselors1 his rulers and his governors
 backing him up1 what could any         
ordinary man do but conform6    ,but    
there in that same country east of ,suez

 there were three young  fellows who    
knew about the ,ten ,commandments4 ,they
 had learned them 8by  heart0 as we say1
 which means much more than the mere    
ability to reel  them off the tongue as 
one might repeat the multiplication     
table4 ,it  was a matter of principle   
with them not to worship images of any  
sort4  ,when the multitude flopped down 
on its knees before the ,thing that was 
ninety feet high the three young men    
stood erect4    ,their defiant action   
was promptly reported to the king1 and  
with all  the fury of an oriental despot
 he caused them to be brought before    
him and again threatened with the fiery 
furnace4 ,then there came from  the lips
 of uncalculating youth those ringing   
words of moral defiance  which cause the
 heart of every man under forty to leap1
 8,our ,god whom  we serve is able to   
deliver us from the fiery furnace6 ,we  
believe that  he will deliver us out of 
thine hand1 ,o king6 ,but if not0--there
  is the nub of the statement and there 

,i want to rest my whole weight in  this
 address--8but if not1 be it known unto 
thee1 ,o king1 we will not  serve thy   
gods60 ,no matter what might come1 they 
stood ready to take  the risk of        
obedience to the highest they saw4      
,the men who are really putting the     
world ahead in its business methods  and
 in its civic affairs1 in the quality of
 the ideals which dominate  the work of 
education and in the standards which    
obtain in society at  large1 are not men
 who are always making shrewd           
calculations as to  what will be most   
expedient4 ,these royal leaders of the  
race sitting  upon their respective     
thrones of spiritual usefulness endeavor
 to  shape means to ends4 ,they indulge 
in no sort of bluster or heroics4  ,they
 seek as far as may be to avoid open    
disaster4 ,they say frankly1  8,we      
believe that this course of action will 
bring us out all right1  vindicating    
itself here and now1 but if not10--even 
though  personal loss1 popular          

opposition and apparent defeat seem to  
be the  immediate result--8we will stand
 for the right as we see the right40    
,these men ready to take risks in doing 
their duty in the face of heavy  odds1  
ready to make the moral venture of      
fidelity to the highest ideals  in      
sight1 are the only men who are really  
worth while4    ,yonder on the coast at 
a life-saving station a group of        
determined  men see a wreck off shore4  
,they know all about the peril of the   
sea2  it has been their major study for 
years4 ,they quietly put on their  storm
 clothes and their helmets1 equipping   
themselves with all those  appliances   
which experience has indicated as having
 value4 ,they push  their life-boat     
through the angry surf and are off4 8,we
 hope to bring  those imperiled         
passengers and sailors safe to land and 
to get back  ourselves10 they say2 8but1
 if not1 we go just the same4 ,it is our
  duty40    ,here in the crowded city a 
fireman climbs up the longest ladder    

available on the side of a burning      
building4 ,through a window on the      
fourth floor he catches a glimpse of the
 body of a woman who has been  overcome 
by heat and smoke4 ,he has been         
thoroughly trained by years  of stern   
experience with city fires4 ,he knows   
that the floor of that  room may drop at
 any moment1 that1 if he ventures in1   
he1 too1 may be  overcome by heat and   
smoke2 that if he leaves his ladder for 
one moment  it may mean certain death4  
,in the face of everything he climbs    
right in  to rescue the woman4 8,i hope 
to get out all right10 he says2 8but if 
not1 here goes just the same4 ,it's my  
duty40    ,now the world will never be  
saved from its sin and shame until the  
rest  of us who wear no uniforms of any 
kind are ready for that same sort of    
moral venture in the realms of business 
and politics1 in educational  and in    
social life4 ,here and there are small  
groups of men entering  actively into   
the political life of the city1 the     

state1 the nation1  ready to know       
machine politicians from the inside     
rather than from the  outside1 willing  
to get down and be muddied with their   
mud1 in order  that better men and      
better methods may prevail4 ,here and   
there are  small groups of men who know 
that some of the methods in the world   
of business are fatal to that larger    
prosperity in which all classes  may    
equitably share and fatal to the human  
values at stake4 ,they are  not sitting 
on the bleachers idly criticizing the   
players--they are  in the game1 but     
intent upon playing it according to     
finer rules  and nobler methods4 ,they  
are standing oftentimes at great cost to
  themselves for ideals which were not  
born in the counting-room1 which  do not
 receive their most accurate            
appraisement from the entries in the    
cash-book4 ,these groups of idealists   
are not large as yet1 but they  are     
significant--they are the hope of the   
nation4 ,they are the saving  remnant in

 our modern ,israel4    ,only as men are
 ready to lash themselves like ,ulysses 
of old to those  enduring principles of 
righteousness and honor which stand     
erect  like masts and sail on1 no matter
 what alluring sirens of temporary      
expediency sing along the course1 shall 
we make moral headway or at  last make  
port4    ,you have read the history of  
those brave ,dutchmen at the siege of   
,leyden4 ,they were besieged by the     
powerful army of ,spain4 ,they  were    
fighting for the safety of their city1  
for the freedom of the  ,netherlands1   
and for those principles of civil and   
religious liberty  which they held dear4
 ,unable to carry the place by assault  
the  ,spaniards undertook to starve the 
,dutchmen out4 ,the ,spanish commander  
demanded the surrender of the place     
coupled with the threat that if  his    
demand were refused he would starve them
 all to death1 men1 women1  and         
children4    ,the sturdy ,hollanders    
sent back this reply--8,tell the        

,spanish commander  we will eat our left
 arms first and fight on with the       
right40 ,but as  the siege went on some 
of the less heroic souls finally        
suggested to  the governor that the food
 supply was very low and that it might  
be  well to make some compromise4       
8,never10 he cried2 8eat me first1 but  
do  not surrender40 ,they held on until 
finally in their desperation a few  of  
them stole out at night and opened the  
dikes to let in the ,atlantic  ,ocean4  
,it might mean death to them1 but it    
would also mean death to  their enemies4
 ,in the confusion which ensued when the
 enemy's camp was  flooded1 the         
,dutchmen had their opportunity--they   
rushed forth and from  apparent defeat  
wrested a splendid victory4 ,the great  
victories by  land or by sea1 in the    
stirring times of war or in the slower1 
harder  battles of peace1 are won by men
 who stand ready for that sort of moral 
venture4    ,the people of any state    
have the right--they have paid for it in

  honest money--to look to the          
university not only for mental insight  
and efficiency1 but for moral energy and
 spiritual passion4 ,if the  university 
is worthy to bear that high name it     
ought to be a place  where moral        
idealism can breathe and grow as upon   
its native heath4  ,this is thoroughly  
understood by all those who know the    
full meaning of  8higher education40    
,if any of you have come up to this     
place of privilege merely with the  idea
 of being trained so that you can more  
successfully compete with  your fellows 
in feathering your own nests1 making    
them thick and warm  and soft as        
untrained men might be unable to do1 you
 would better go  home4 ,if your        
associates knew that fact they would be 
ashamed of you4  ,the members of the    
faculty1 as soon as they discover that  
spirit in  you1 are ashamed of you4 ,the
 people of the state would be ashamed of
  you did they know that you were here  
using the privileges they have  provided

 in that mood4 ,you are here to be made 
ready and competent to  take more       
steadily and more largely the risks     
which public service  involves4         
,hundreds of people1 many of them good  
and respectable people  too1 confess    
themselves unable to stand up against   
the spirit of  self-indulgence1 the     
worship of luxury1 the fierce pursuit of
 things  material which are today       
dwarfing the souls of men in countless  
homes4  ,all the more honor to those    
university men and women who stand out  
and  bear witness to their firm         
confidence in the beauty of simplicity1 
in  the value of sincerity of soul1 in  
the vital importance of directing  the  
ultimate aspirations to things          
spiritual6    ,hundreds of men in       
commercial and political life are       
hanging out the  flag of distress4 8,we 
are caught in a system10 they say4 8,we 
cannot  help ourselves4 ,we must play   
the game in the same ruthless way our   
competitors are playing it40 ,all the   

more honor to those men who  are ready  
to face defeat if need be1 that they may
 stand clearly  for unflinching         
integrity1 for genuine consideration for
 the higher  interests involved in      
industry1 and for all those sacred      
ideals which  ought to shine in the     
secular sky every day in the week as    
well as  through the stained glass      
windows on the first day4    ,in the    
face of the insistent demand for moral  
leadership it would be a  downright     
shame if the university men should be   
found skulking in the  rear1 choosing   
the lower because it is the easier and  
in their weak  attempts at moral advance
 following the line of least resistance4
 ,the  persistent refusal of the call to
 high and responsible service becomes   
in these exacting days the act of a     
scoundrel4 ,it is for every college  man
 to stand ready to make the moral       
venture of fidelity to the highest  in  
sight and to share in the honor of the  
ultimate victory4          ,,vii        

,,the ,,law ,,of ,,returns      ,it was 
a well-seasoned parson who once remarked
 that he made it a point  never to speak
 in public without taking a text4 ,it   
mattered not whether  it was an         
after-dinner speech1 a ,fourth of ,july 
oration or a sermon1  he always took a  
text1 that he might be sure1 as he said1
 to 8give the  people something worth   
remembering40    ,in imitation of his   
pious example ,i will take a text4 ,you 
will find my  text in the book of       
,numbers1 the first chapter and the     
second verse4  ,it reads like           
this--8,two and two make four40 ,that   
particular statement  does not happen to
 be in the ,bible1 but it is as true as 
anything which  is found there1 and it  
will serve as a basis for what ,i wish  
to say  regarding the law of returns4   
,two and two make four4 ,never by any   
sort of bad luck or ill chance  only    
three and a half2 never by any amount of
 pulling or stretching  or coaxing four 
and a half1 but always and everywhere   

just four and no  more6 ,it is a        
definite1 absolute statement of fact4   
,it always has been  so and it always   
will be so4 ,no one can imagine a world 
where two and  two will not make four4  
,if a man deposits two dollars in the   
bank today and two tomorrow1 he  can    
draw out four the third day4 ,in forty  
years from that time he  can still draw 
out exactly four dollars and whatever   
interest upon  his original deposit the 
bank may allow4 ,life is like that4     
,with  what measure we mete1 it is      
measured back to us again4 ,we get out  
of  life what we put in1 by a law as    
definite and as unyielding as the       
statement about two and two4 ,there are 
no ,santa ,clauses lurking in the       
shadow--each individual takes out of the
 big stocking what has been  previously 
put in1 not by magic1 but by solid and  
verifiable effort4    ,once for all     
dismiss the idea that success in life is
 the result  of luck or pull or any such
 artificial thing4 ,there was a man in  

,san ,francisco who once picked up a    
five dollar gold piece in the           
street-car4 ,he was a poor man and it   
was a great find for him4 ,he           
thenceforth spent a large part of his   
time studying the floor of the          
street-car1 peering in and out among the
 feet of the passengers1 to  find       
another gold piece4 ,he never found     
another one1 but the time  wasted1 if it
 had been given to thought and effort   
touching his own  trade1 would have     
earned for him many an extra gold piece4
 ,now and  then something may occur     
which men call 8luck10 but it offers    
nothing  reliable by which one may      
safely shape his course4    ,young men  
and maidens look for four-leaf clovers  
on the lawn4 ,they are  commonly intent 
upon something else besides the clover  
as they creep  about on their hands and 
knees--something sweeter and more       
satisfying  than clover1 and they find  
this too4 ,occasionally they do find a  
four-leaf clover1 but the clover which  

makes the lawn green1 feeds the  cows1  
supplies the bees with honey and fills  
the haymow1 is three-leaf  clover--the  
ordinary1 every-day sort of clover4 ,the
 farmer1 the  dairyman1 and the bee all 
know that the reliable and satisfying   
returns  in life come not by some happy 
chance1 but in those common and usual   
events which are according to law4      
,when the blood is warm1 the heart      
beating high and fast1 the nerves  eager
 to yield their thrills1 young people   
see visions and dream  dreams4 ,it ought
 to be so4 ,the girl who does not have  
her day-dreams is  no girl at all4 ,the 
boy who does not see ahead of him shapes
 and forms  of activity1 achievement1   
advance1 higher and more commanding than
  the ,sierra1 if not quite so solid1   
does not deserve to be young4 ,the      
loftier1 the richer1 the rosier these   
day-dreams1 the better6    ,but those   
visions will have to be worked out and  
realized1 in so far  as they come to    
have a definite1 ascertainable value1 in

 a world of  plain1 hard fact4 ,the girl
 will marry a man with feet and hands   
like  the rest of us2 and the home she  
has1 the place she makes for herself  in
 society1 the record of useful service  
she writes opposite her name1  will be  
determined according to law4 ,and the   
place in the world's life  which the boy
 carves out for himself as he climbs    
toward maturity1  the size of it1 the   
location of it1 the comfort of it1 will 
be the  inevitable reaction from wise   
and useful effort4 ,the law of returns  
is  as sure as the statement about two  
and two making four4    ,we find this   
made plain in several directions--first 
of all in the  gaining and maintenance  
of sound health4 ,genuine achievement in
 many  lines becomes in the last        
analysis largely a question of nerves1  
digestion1 physical stamina4 ,in the    
busy1 hurried city life the  question   
is1 8,can this man stand up to it as    
long and as effectively  as any other   
man--and then just that much longer     

which gives him  preeminence80 ,the     
lawyer must be able to go into court day
 after day  clear-headed1 so that he    
will have all the law he knows at his   
command1  patient and smooth with       
blundering witnesses1 wise and          
self-controlled  in the face of the     
nagging of the opposing counsel2 he must
 be able to  do this all day long for   
weeks together1 looking up his          
authorities at  night oftentimes1 and   
not break down4 ,the physician must do  
something  more than ride around in an  
automobile and look wise2 he must be    
able  to carry upon his mind and heart  
the anxieties of a hundred households   
at once1 work all day1 frequently half  
the night1 eating and sleeping  as he   
can1 and do all this without resorting  
to stimulants or drugs  to keep himself 
up to the mark4 ,the teacher bent not on
 imparting  information or on merely    
keeping the wheels of a pedagogical     
machine  turning1 but upon the high task
 of forming1 developing1 enriching      

personality in fifty or sixty restless  
lives there in plain view1 needs  a     
sound physique4 ,the minister of        
religion if he is to stand up before    
the same congregation for a score of    
years or more and put faith1 hope1      
courage1 heart1 and resolution into them
 and not become fagged out and  stale1  
must be a man who can sleep nights1     
digest his meals1 maintain  his poise1  
rise early1 and go all day without      
losing his head or his  health--and for 
all this he needs a prime body4 ,the    
same is true in the  life of the        
merchant or the mechanic1 in the work of
 the manufacturer  or the farmer4       
,henry ,ward ,beecher used to say that  
there were three kinds of people in  the
 world--the sick people who must be     
taken care of with sympathetic          
tenderness2 the people who are not sick1
 able to be up and to take  their       
nourishment2 and the people who are     
positively1 radiantly1  and joyously    
well4 ,if the young man has not been    

handicapped by some  accident or by an  
unfortunate heredity1 it lies easily    
within his power  to be enrolled in this
 third class4 ,he ought to hold himself 
resolutely  unwilling to accept anything
 less4    ,it is much more than a matter
 of personal prudence or of             
self-interest4  ,up to the limit of his 
powers each man owes it to his family1  
to  his friends1 and to the world about 
him to furnish it one more  healthy1    
vigorous life4 ,the world is defrauded  
if by his foolishness1  dissipation1 or 
laziness it is put off with a whining1  
grumbling1  irritable caricature of what
 the man might have been4 ,he owes it to
  the members of his family not to      
burden them with unnecessary doctor's   
bills1 nursing1 and anxiety4 ,he owes it
 to them not to break down and  die     
before his time1 leaving them to        
struggle on alone4 ,good1 sound  health1
 clear up to the limit of what          
intelligence1 conscience1 and  that     
resolution which will not take 8no0 for 

an answer may achieve1  becomes a moral 
obligation6 ,the man who shirks this    
physical duty  becomes to that extent a 
scamp4    ,such physical efficiency     
comes not as a piece of good luck2 nor  
is disease to be regarded always as a   
misfortune or 8a mysterious             
dispensation of providence40 ,the man   
careless about the drainage or          
thoughtlessly allowing decaying         
vegetables to lie in the cellar of his  
home need not prate about 8providence0  
if fever attacks some member  of his    
household4 ,the man who eats hot        
biscuits three times a day and  drinks  
coffee by the quart until he is as      
yellow as a ,chinaman has no  right to  
shake his head over 8the mysterious ways
 of ,god10 when he  becomes ill4 ,the   
young fellow who inhales whole fog-banks
 of cigarette  smoke until his lungs are
 weak and his heart action defective1   
who  tampers with his nerves by the use 
of stimulants or narcotics1 need  not be
 surprised that in the hard contests of 

life sounder men walk on  ahead1 leaving
 him in the rear4 ,in each case the man 
forgot that two  and two make four1 that
 we must settle by the books1 that      
according to  the law of returns we take
 out what we put in4    ,physical       
efficiency cannot be hastily bought in  
the drug store at a  dollar a bottle any
 more than women can buy good           
complexions there  for fifty cents a    
box4 ,beauty is more than skin deep2 it 
roots all  the way down into those vital
 processes which give the fair woman the
  appearance and the reality of joyous1 
engaging health4 ,and the physical      
efficiency which stands the strain of   
modern life cannot be rapidly  gained by
 the use of drugs2 it comes according to
 the law of definite  returns4 ,it comes
 only as men eat good food1 enough and  
not too much1  drink that which slakes  
rather than creates thirst1 sleep a     
sufficient  number of hours1 some of    
them before midnight1 breathe their full
 share  of the outdoor air where there  

is plenty for everybody1 and exercise   
themselves sanely in some wholesome     
industry4 ,it all comes according to    
method and not by magic4    ,the        
newspapers on the morning after the     
presidential election of  nineteen      
hundred brought us an interesting       
picture4 ,one of the  candidates for    
vice-president that year had been       
traveling for weeks  together1 speaking 
ten or fifteen times a day to great     
audiences  eager to drain him of his    
last drop of vitality4 ,he had been     
meeting  influential citizens by the    
hundreds1 shaking hands with them  until
 his right arm might have felt like the 
handle of some outworn  town pump4 ,he  
had been doing all this under the       
constant strain of  tremendous          
excitement and personal interest4 ,a man
 who had wasted his  strength in vicious
 indulgences would have lasted about as 
long in  such a situation as an old lady
 would last in a football game4 ,this   
man went through it without breaking    

down1 without losing his head  or making
 foolish1 damaging statements4 ,and when
 the reporters went  to call on him the 
night of the election they found him in 
evening  dress1 rejoicing in the        
companionship of his family1 from whom  
he had  been separated for those weeks1 
calmly awaiting the returns4 ,theodore  
,roosevelt--whether we agree with all   
his policies or not1 we admire  a       
vigorous1 intelligent1 public-spirited  
,american citizen wherever  found6 ,he  
entered college a delicate lad4 ,he     
gained and maintained that  splendid    
efficiency by remembering that two and  
two make four4 ,he was  willing to pay  
the full price for virility by his      
steady attention to  the law of returns4
    ,the same rule holds in the mental  
field4 ,there are men who fall  into the
 way of relying upon what they are      
pleased to call 8genius40  ,a bad case  
of 8genius0 in a young man is almost as 
fatal to his  highest success as        
smallpox4 ,there are a few men in each  

generation  exceptionally endowed1 just 
as there are a few four-leaf clovers in 
every field1 but the work of the world  
is done mainly by men of average  build4
    ,and even men of undeniable genius  
attribute their success mainly to       
persistent effort4 ,agassiz used to say1
 8,i seem to have formed the  habit of  
observing more closely than many of my  
associates40 ,darwin1  whose work was   
epoch making1 made that famous trip for 
observation on  ,h4 ,m4 ,s4 ,beagle in  
#ahcg4 ,in #ahdd he ventured to show a  
few of  his notes to some intimate      
friends4 ,in #ahei1 twenty-two years    
after  he had collected the first data  
for the theory finally announced1  he   
published 8,the ,origin of ,species10   
and the world of science1 of            
philosophy1 of religion1 underwent a    
radical change as a result of his       
thorough work4    ,ask ninety-nine men  
out of a hundred how they succeeded and 
the answer  will come back--8,hard      
work40 ,inspiration is all very well1   

but for the  mass of us perspiration is 
a surer pathway to achievement4         
,wellington1  ,newton1 ,lord ,clive1    
,napoleon1 ,walter ,scott1 ,daniel      
,webster were all  regarded as dull     
boys--in each case advancement came by  
persistent  effort4 ,the capacity was   
there1 but it was brought out not by    
magic nor  by some sudden burst of      
inspiration1 but by hard work4          
,knowledge is power1 where the knowledge
 is not a mere mass of  information4    
,the mere accumulation of facts has     
little worth1 for all  this lies ready  
to our hand in the encyclopedia whenever
 it is needed4  ,the knowledge which    
brings power lies in the ability to read
 and to  know what it is all about and  
how it bears on other things we have    
read2 in the ability to think and when  
one thinks to produce something  with   
the look and taste of his own mind upon 
it2 in the ability to see  three things1
 sharply distinguishing them1 and then  
to see them in  their relations1 and    

then to see another group of three and  
another1  organizing the whole nine into
 some sort of system4 ,the knowledge    
which  is power means insight1 grasp1   
discrimination1 productiveness4 ,it is  
not the sole property of genius1 but    
rather the natural return for a  long   
life of consistent1 intellectual effort4
    ,each man owes it to society to make
 his utmost effort to furnish it  one   
more such well-equipped member4 ,this   
purpose includes much more  than the    
desire for that individual success and  
preeminence which might  prompt the     
effort--it indicates a wish to be       
capable and serviceable to  those larger
 interests which lag for lack of        
competent service4    ,when ,booker     
,washington addresses the students      
gathered at ,tuskegee1  it is after this
 fashion4 8,you have not come here to   
receive training  in order that you may 
go back and compete more successfully   
with your  untrained associates1 in     
earning higher wages to feather your own

 nests  quickly and warmly4 ,you have   
not come here to become intelligent and 
cultivated that you may go back and     
proudly establish better homes  and     
higher types of family life than the    
untutored negroes maintain4  ,you are   
here that being trained you may feel    
more heavily and capably  responsible   
for the welfare of your race in the     
several communities  where you are to   
live and work40 ,if this is the splendid
 ideal in the  green tree of a black    
man's school1 what shall we expect in   
the dry  tree of the white man's school6
 ,the high office of all mental drill   
should be to send men out 8more heavily 
and capably responsible0 for  the       
general good1 and this high quality of  
competency comes only by  strict        
attention to the law of returns4    ,the
 same method holds in moral values      
although many people feel that  here we 
enter a region of hocus-pocus1 a realm  
of magic and sleight of  hand where two 
and two may possibly1 upon occasion1    

make five or even  fifty4 ,there is an  
impression in some quarters that a young
 fellow  may sow an abundant crop of    
wild oats1 that he may wallow in the    
mire  of vicious indulgence1 that he may
 for years disregard his spiritual      
interests with flat indifference1 and   
then by some sudden spasm of  moral     
feeling begin anew1 as fine and as sound
 a man as if he had never  been in the  
far country with the harlots and the    
swine4    ,the standard books on ethics 
give us no hint that such is the fact4  
,the ,bible says nothing in support of  
such a notion4 ,there is not a  land the
 sun shines on where two and two do not 
make four in morals as  well as in      
mathematics4 ,there are no short cuts to
 spiritual soundness4  ,the ,almighty is
 a careful bookkeeper and the teaching  
of reason1  experience1 and conscience  
is to the effect that here1 as          
everywhere1  we must accept those       
reactions which come inevitably by this 
great law  of returns4    ,there was a  

missionary to the ,indians who1 in      
seeking to induce habits  of ,sabbath   
observance1 told them that if they      
planted their corn on  ,sunday it would 
not grow4 ,in that spirit of human      
perversity which we  all understand and 
share1 they immediately went out and    
planted an acre  of corn on ,sunday6    
,they hoed it and tended it always on   
,sunday4 ,and  because they took        
especial pains with it1 when autumn came
 it yielded  more corn than any other   
acre on the reservation4 ,then the      
,indians  laughed at the good missionary
 and would not go to church4    ,there  
is a penalty for planting and hoeing    
corn on ,sunday1 but it does  not show  
in the corn--it shows in the men4 ,the  
corn may grow to its  full size1 but the
 men will not grow to their full size1  
nor yield  the full return appropriate  
to the cultivation of human values4 ,the
  missionary was sound in his main      
purpose1 but faulty in his method1      
because in the moral world as elsewhere1

 we find the reign of law and  not the  
operation of magic4 ,the neglect of the 
higher values for which  the ,sabbath   
stands will not at once affect the      
cornfield1 but it will  show in the     
spiritual deficiencies of the men who   
have no place in the  week for the      
cultivation of reverence1 aspiration1   
and the sense of  fellowship with the   
,unseen4    ,there is no shuffling nor  
chance in the moral world4 ,impulses    
lead to  choices2 choices readily become
 habits2 habits harden speedily into    
character1 and character determines     
destiny4 ,two and two make four all  the
 way up1 all the way down1 and all the  
way in4    ,in a ,new ,york hotel the   
chambermaid one morning discovered the  
dead  body of a young man and at his    
side1 scrawled on a piece of paper1 she 
found this last will and testament3 8,i 
leave to society a bad example4  ,i     
leave to my father and mother all the   
sorrow they can bear in their  old age4 
,i leave to my brothers and sisters the 

memory of a misspent  life4 ,i leave to 
my wife a broken heart and to my        
children the name of  a drunkard and a  
suicide4 ,i leave to ,god a lost soul   
which has defied  and insulted his      
loving mercy40    ,he wrote it all out1 
signed it1 and then shot himself4 ,his  
appetites  had gotten away with him1 his
 habits were no longer under his        
control4  ,he began as many an          
enthusiastic1 generous young fellow     
begins by  simply having a succession of
 8good times0 and they grew on him until
  the habits he had developed were no   
longer his--he was theirs4 ,he  forgot  
that two and two make four1 and the     
gruesome legacy he was  compelled to    
leave issued as inevitably from his     
course of life as the  sum total at the 
foot of a column of figures4    ,the    
sound health which serves as the        
physical basis of enlarging and         
enduring efficiency2 the trained        
intelligence which knows what to do     
next and finds itself competent for the 

task2 the type of character  which is   
reliable and profitable for the life    
that now is and for  that which is to   
come1 all come to us as splendid        
reactions from that  stable1 definite1  
methodical order1 seen and unseen1 which
 enfolds us  ever4 ,what you receive as 
the natural rebound from your mode of   
life  will be like in quality and       
proportionate in amount to that which   
you  express in effort1 for the law of  
returns1 like the law of gravitation1   
is always on duty4          ,,viii      
,,the ,,highest ,,form ,,of ,,reward    
,the ,scriptures show their good sense  
by frankly facing and accepting  the    
hope of reward as a legitimate source of
 motive4 ,there are fine  people who    
almost go into spasms over the idea of  
working for a reward4  8,do right10 they
 say1 8because it is right1 not because 
you will gain  something by it40 8,live 
nobly1 because it is the highest duty   
there  is1 with no thought of what may  
come to you in consequence40 8,do your  

work well for the sheer joy of it1 not  
because you will be paid well  for good 
work40 ,all this is very pretty and does
 credit to the lovely  dispositions of  
those who utter these sentiments1 but it
 is just a  little too good for this    
common earth4    ,it was just a little  
too good for the men who wrote the      
,bible4 ,jesus  himself did not hesitate
 to say1 8,do this1 and great shall be  
your  reward in heaven40 ,he said1 8,if 
any man shall give a cup of cold water  
in my name10 that is to say1 in the     
right spirit1 8he shall in no wise  lose
 his reward40 ,he built squarely upon   
the foundation laid by that  singer of  
old1 8,the statutes of the ,lord are    
right2 the commandments  of the ,lord   
are pure2 the judgments of the ,lord are
 true and righteous  altogether1 and in 
keeping of them there is great reward40 
,the hope of  reward according to the   
,scriptures is a legitimate source of   
motive4    ,but what form should the    
reward take8 ,what is the highest form  

of  reward8 ,one finds all manner of    
answers to this question strung along   
in an ascending series4 ,we find those  
who always think of reward in  terms of 
material success4 8,it pays to be good10
 these men say--to  be good1 at any     
rate1 up to a certain point4 8,honesty  
is the best  policy0--in the long run as
 a method of business procedure it can  
show  more dividends than dishonesty    
can4 8,the way of the transgressor is   
hard10 now in one way1 now in another1  
but always hard at the end4             
,transgression does not pay when the    
returns are all in4 ,the main theme  of 
the book of ,deuteronomy is that        
obedience to ,jehovah will bring        
blessings wrought out in terms of       
material prosperity4 8,if thou shalt    
hearken unto the voice of the ,lord thy 
,god1 blessed shalt thou be in  basket  
and in store2 blessed shalt thou be in  
the city and in the  field2 blessed     
shalt thou be when thou goest out and   
when thou comest  in40 ,reckoned up in  

terms of visible success1 righteousness 
would be  the best asset a nation could 
possess4    ,we have here a great truth2
 it is not the whole truth1 but it is a 
fragment of truth not to be despised4   
,the young man in ,new ,york1 whose     
main interest is material success1      
setting out to achieve his ambition  by 
dishonesty is trying to make the ,hudson
 ,river turn round and flow  back to    
,albany4 ,it cannot be done4 ,he will   
get wet and muddy and be  drowned1      
perhaps1 for his pains and1 when he is  
all through with his  experiment1 the   
,hudson will be flowing right along just
 the same4    ,in like manner1 the big1 
strong1 moral order which enfolds us    
whether  we like it or not1 whether we  
think about it or believe in it or not1 
the big1 strong1 moral order cannot be  
defied nor ignored4 ,here and  there    
some young fellow thinks he has found a 
way of turning it round  in what he     
supposes to be his own interest4 ,he1   
too1 simply gets wet  and muddy1 and    

drowned1 perhaps1 in his foolish efforts
 while the  great1 eternal verities of  
right and wrong are still there as they 
were  before he pitted his puny strength
 against them4 ,the fact stands that    
righteousness exalts a nation or an     
individual as nothing else can4    ,but 
this fragment of truth is only a        
fragment4 ,a man who is righteous  to a 
certain extent because it pays is not a 
high type4 ,the one who  is honest      
because honesty is the best policy is   
not very honest--put  him in a situation
 where honesty involves personal        
sacrifice and one  could not bank on his
 honesty4 ,the man who is intent upon   
furnishing  the world so much           
uprightness in exchange for a certain   
amount of  advancement which he hopes to
 gain can scarcely be said to be in the 
moral field at all4 ,he is merely doing 
a little business with the  ,lord1--so  
much character for so much success4 ,it 
may all be as purely  a commercial      
transaction1 when analyzed down to its  

roots1 as the  buying of a suit of      
clothes4 ,his gifts to benevolence when 
scrutinized  are seen to be only shrewd 
8investments40 ,increased material      
prosperity  is a form of reward1 but it 
is not the highest form1 and it does not
  furnish a praiseworthy source of      
motive4    ,we find those who look for  
their reward in the appreciation of     
others4  ,we all like to have the esteem
 of our fellows and we ought to like it4
  ,that queer stick who is always       
flinging out sneers about popularity1   
who insists that he does not care a     
straw what people think about him1      
cares more than any of us4 ,he has an   
idea that by this strange course  he    
will be talked about more and be        
regarded more highly for his oddity     
than he would be if he shaped up his    
life in a more rational way4            
,reputation is not character2 it may be 
only the uncertain shadow cast  by      
character1 but it can be1 for all that1 
a pleasant and a healing  shadow4 ,one  

of the wisest of men said1 8,a good name
 is rather to be  chosen than great     
riches40 ,a good name is simply what    
people say about  a man4 ,the           
appreciation and the esteem which right 
living wins is a  legitimate form of    
reward4    ,but this also is liable to  
be distorted4 ,jesus saw certain people 
making this form of reward the object of
 supreme desire4 ,he warned his         
disciples against that course4 8,take   
heed that you do not your alms  before  
men to be seen of them4 ,when thou doest
 thine alms sound not a  trumpet before 
thee as the hypocrites do1 that they may
 have glory of  men4 ,verily ,i say unto
 you1 they have their reward40 ,these   
men rendered  their generous service    
with showy ostentation1 blowing their   
horns as  they went4 ,they did it that  
they might have glory of men and they   
had  glory of men--they got the         
dividends they desired4    8,and when   
thou prayest thou shalt not be as the   
hypocrites3 they love  to pray standing 

on the street corners that they may be  
seen of men4  ,verily ,i say unto you1  
they have their reward40 ,they prayed on
 the  street corners that they might be 
seen of men and they were seen of       
men--they got what they prayed for4     
,the desire for esteem is not a         
satisfactory source of motive4 ,the boy 
who cannot do his duty unless he is     
praised and petted for it afterward  is 
a poor specimen--he is likely to become 
a vain1 self-conscious  little prig4    
,the man who cannot perform unless he is
 in the lime-light1  hearing the        
plaudits of the many1 is made of poor   
stuff--he is lath  and plaster1 where   
there should be sound material4 ,all    
such speedily  lose the finer qualities 
out of whatever measure of righteousness
 they  seem to possess4 ,when a man goes
 straight along about his business1     
intent upon doing his own piece of work 
well and succeeds in such  a way that   
the gratitude1 esteem1 and appreciation 
of his fellows  come1 he scarcely knows 

how1 he finds this a beautiful and      
enduring  source of satisfaction4 ,but  
here as everywhere the law of           
indirection  operates--he that saves his
 popularity by aiming for it loses it2  
he  that loses all thought of it by     
investing his life in useful service    
finds it4    ,there are men who think of
 the highest form of reward as standing 
in the approval of one's own conscience 
and in the sense of having  the favor of
 ,god4 ,the throne of judgment where ,i 
must stand and give  account is not away
 yonder among the clouds--it is in here 
where ,i am4  ,it is within my own heart
 where ,god is--where my ,god is4 ,it is
 here  that ,i meet him now and must    
meet and face him ever4    ,and no      
quantity of outward success1 no full1   
warm tide of popular  esteem will supply
 the lack of moral self-respect within4 
,if any man  knows that his heart is not
 right before ,god1 that his purposes   
are  not true1 that his aspirations are 
low1 then no amount of material  success

 or popular applause will give him      
tranquillity of spirit4 ,and1           
conversely1 where there is honesty of   
purpose1 where a man may look  himself  
in the face with unsparing candor and   
know that he is entitled  to respect1   
this fact of itself brings a peace which
 passeth all  understanding4 ,this inner
 sense of worth and peace is from on    
high and  it becomes a fine form of     
reward4    ,there are ugly distortions  
of it4 ,the ,pharisee who went into the 
temple to pray felt very comfortable in 
his own mind4 ,we saw it in  his strut  
as he walked down the aisle4 ,we noticed
 it in the way he  stood1 when he prayed
 thus with himself1 8,god1 ,i thank     
thee1 that ,i  am not as other men are1 
extortioners1 unjust1 adulterers40 ,he  
named  the lowest1 meanest men he could 
think of4 ,it would not be hard to      
outrun such men morally1 but such a race
 as it was the ,pharisee had  won it4   
8,i thank thee that ,i am not as other  
men are1 or even as this  publican40 ,it

 was fortunate that the publican chanced
 to be there2 it  added a cubit of      
self-complacency to the ,pharisee to    
have the publican  present4 8,i fast    
twice in the week2 ,i give a tenth of   
all that ,i  possess10 the ,pharisee    
continued4 ,he had been doing right for 
the sake  of the self-satisfaction which
 would result--and he had his reward4 ,i
  do not know of a man in history who   
seemed to have more of it4 ,he was      
comfortable to 8the thirty-third and    
last degree0 in that feeling of         
self-approval which clothed him as with 
a garment4    ,but what a narrow1       
self-centered life it produces where    
this becomes  the chief form of reward  
for which a man strives6 8,i will speak 
this  kind word and do this generous    
deed and stand firm in the path of duty1
  because of the warm feelings of       
self-approval which will steal upon my  
heart10 such a man cries4 ,it is better 
to have the approval of one's           
conscience than not to have it2 it is   

better to strive for inner peace  and   
satisfaction than to have one's eye     
constantly on material success  or      
popular applause4 ,but where this       
becomes the object of supreme  interest 
it is a disappointing and a narrowing   
form of reward4    ,what shall we say1  
then1 is the highest form1 if neither   
material  success nor popular esteem nor
 the approval of one's own conscience   
is worthy to stand in that holy place8  
,i find the highest form of  reward     
named by the ,master in the parable of  
the ,good ,samaritan1 8,this  do and    
thou shalt live40 ,the reward for right 
living1 for loving ,god  and loving     
one's neighbor after the manner         
indicated in the parable1  lies in the  
increased power we gain to live4 ,this  
do and thou shalt  live--live more      
abundantly1 more effectively1 more      
serviceably4 ,the  reward of right life 
is a larger life4    ,the man in the    
parable who had been faithful and       
diligent with the one  pound entrusted  

to him received this reward3 8,well     
done1 thou good and  faithful servant2  
thou hast been faithful over a few      
things1 ,i will  make thee ruler over   
many things6 ,have thou authority over  
ten cities40  ,the reward for good      
conduct was enlarged capacity and       
enlarged  opportunity for more good     
conduct4 ,the man's powers were         
increased by  what he had been doing and
 his chance for the exercise of them was
  greater2 now1 in place of the single  
pound to be used in trading1 he  had    
authority over ten cities4 ,in this     
sense of increased capacity to  meet the
 increasing obligations of life lies the
 highest form of reward4    ,in one of  
his little books1 ,henry van ,dyke      
speaks of three ideals of  education4   
,the man with 8the decorative ideal0    
thinks it is a fine  thing to go through
 college4 ,it gives one an air of       
distinction4 ,it  enables him to belong 
to the ,university ,club in the city    
where he  lives4 ,it enables him to     

refer to 8my class10 and to the 8good   
old  days0 at ,harvard or ,yale1 at     
,cornell or ,princeton1 at ,stanford or 
,california4 ,he may even be prompted to
 become a 8dig0 in the hope that  a ,phi
 ,beta ,kappa key will unlock doors     
closed to other men4 ,and because  he is
 a university man he feels that he      
possesses a rare and cultivated  taste  
in poetry and in philosophy1 in music   
and in art4 ,he thinks of  his education
 as a highly decorative appendage to his
 personal life4    ,the second man has  
no use for all this2 he has 8the        
marketable ideal0  of education4 ,he is 
one of those 8no-nonsense-about-me0     
fellows4 ,in  selecting his courses he  
has a thoroughly practical eye to the   
main  chance4 ,he is very contemptuous  
in his attitude toward the study of     
dead languages or of metaphysics4 8,what
 good would all that do me1 when  ,i got
 out into the world80 he says4 ,he      
thinks of himself as a tool to  be      
ground and sharpened so that in the     

world of business it will cut  where    
other tools fail4 ,he is intent upon    
gaining an education not for  the       
purpose of living but for the purpose of
 making a living1 which is  a very      
different thing4    ,the true ideal of  
education is 8the creative ideal40 ,the 
work of the  school is not to enable the
 shoemaker to stick to his last and make
  more money out of it than uneducated  
men are making out of their lasts4      
8,education is to lift the shoemaker    
above his last1 and to carry the        
merchant beyond his store1 the lawyer   
beyond his brief1 the minister  beyond  
his sermon40 ,the supreme reward for    
being educated lies in  the enlarged    
capacity one gains for life4 ,the reward
 for physical  exercise1 for mental     
drill1 for hard study1 for the steady   
effort to  do one's duty1 is to be found
 in that increased power to live4 ,this 
do  and thou shalt live a larger1 freer1
 finer life4 ,this do and thou shalt  be
 alive at more points1 on higher levels1

 and in more efficient and  serviceable 
ways4    ,we cannot possibly stop short 
of that4 ,if a man thinks of his        
education  as only making him more      
marketable1 he has his mind fixed upon  
material  success as the highest form of
 reward4 ,if he thinks of it mainly as a
  thing that will win the admiration of 
his less cultured associates1 he  is    
still in the clutches of that decorative
 idea4 ,if he thinks of it  mainly as   
having value in giving him the          
consciousness of intelligence  and      
culture1 he is still on an              
unsatisfactory level of thought and     
purpose4    8,come on up to the head of 
the stairs10 the great educational      
processes  of the world call to us6     
8,come on up where you can see and      
breathe  and grow40 ,this do and thou   
shalt live2 this alone indicates the    
great end in view4 ,enlarged capacity   
for real life is the goal of all        
serious endeavor4 ,we may or may not    
gain material success2 we may or  may   

not secure a large measure of popular   
applause2 we will beyond a  peradventure
 have a deep1 sweet feeling of peace    
within as we face that  way1 but the    
main result will be that1 by doing all  
these things well1  we shall gain       
increased power and capacity for living 
the life4 ,here  we reach that which is 
ultimate4 8,this do and thou shalt live0
 is the  final word on the subject of   
reward4    ,the highest return for doing
 anything lies in the power one gains to
 do  it better and to do more of it4    
,the reward for reading is not in the   
information gained or in the ideas      
acquired so much as in the mental       
stimulus which comes1 enabling one to   
read more books and better ones  and in 
time to produce ideas of his own4 ,the  
artist goes out into the  world to see  
the beauty of it in tree and flower1 in 
landscape and  mountain1 in the quiet   
lake1 and in the restless sea4 ,his     
reward comes  in increased power to see 
more beauty there than other people see 

and  to transfer what he sees to canvas4
 8,i never saw anything like that  in   
nature10 a woman once said to ,turner as
 she looked at one of his  pictures4    
8,very likely10 replied the artist2 8how
 much would you give1  madam1 if you    
could80 ,turn your face any way you     
choose and the great  statement of the  
,master about reward holds true1--this  
do and thou  shalt live4    ,carry it up
 to the moral level4 ,the reward for    
doing your duty lies in  the increased  
power you gain to keep on doing it and  
to do it better4  ,the reward for loving
 lies in the increased power to love and
 to love  more worthily4 ,the reward for
 meeting and mastering some hard        
situation  in life1 temptation1         
disappointment1 struggle1 sorrow1 lies  
in the  added strength you gain to      
master still harder situations which may
  arise4 ,in your spiritual pilgrimage  
you go 8from strength to strength10     
from one form of strength to another and
 a higher form1 from one  measure of    

strength to another and a fuller        
measure1 until at last you  reach the   
fulness of the stature of ,christ4      
,you may recall that great promise made 
in the last book of the ,bible6  8,be   
thou faithful unto death1 and ,i will   
give thee0--what8 ,what form  will the  
ultimate reward take8 8,i will give thee
 a crown10 not of  gold with diamonds in
 it larger than the ,kohinoor1 not the  
crown  of material success4 8,i will    
give thee a crown10 not of laurel such  
as the ,greeks placed upon the brow of  
the victors in the games1 the  crown of 
popular applause4 8,i will give thee a  
crown10 not of personal  satisfaction   
such as men of honest purpose may be    
entitled to wear4 8,be  thou faithful   
unto death1 and ,i will give thee a     
crown of life60  ,the ultimate reward   
for living right lies in the increased  
power and  the increased opportunity    
which will be ours to live on and to    
live  more abundantly4          ,,ix    
,,the ,,use ,,of ,,the ,,incomplete     

8,we know in part40 ,this is not the    
statement of some indifferent  agnostic1
 who1 because religious questions are   
difficult1 insists that  he does not    
know anything about them4 ,it is not the
 statement of a  defiant infidel1 who1  
because he does not understand          
everything about  religion1 declares    
that neither he nor any one knows       
anything about  it4 ,it is not the      
statement of one of those hesitating    
individuals who  are always trying to   
steer a safe course somewhere between   
yes and  no1 between the right of it and
 the wrong of it2 who are never quite   
sure whether there is or is not a ,god1 
but think that the truth lies1  perhaps1
 about halfway between the two claims4  
,this man ,paul was not an agnostic1 nor
 an infidel1 nor a hesitator4 ,he  knew 
certain things1 he was sure of them4 ,he
 was ready to say so right  out loud1   
and to stand up and be cut in two for   
them if need be4 8,i  know whom ,i have 
believed10 he cries2 there was no       

uncertainty in his  mind on that point4 
8,i know the grace of our ,lord ,jesus  
,christ0--and  it had changed him from a
 narrow1 bigoted1 persecuting ,pharisee 
into  one who wrote the best hymn on    
love to be found in print and who       
embodied the spirit of it in his daily  
conduct4 8,i know that all things  work 
together for good to them that love     
,god0--and in ,paul's case  8all things0
 included a great deal of hardship and  
persecution1 of  disappointment and     
sorrow1 but he never wavered in his     
confidence that  some wise purpose was  
being furthered by it all4 ,these and   
many other  things he knew4 8,in part we
 know10 was the way he would have placed
 his  emphasis and the actual content of
 his knowledge was large indeed4    ,he 
makes this statement as an honest1      
modest1 reasonable man face to  face    
with spiritual realities too great for  
perfect comprehension or  final         
statement4 ,his knowledge of them was   
large1 but they were still  larger4 ,he 

must have known when he wrote those     
words that he was a  man of no mean     
attainments4 ,he wrote a third of the   
,new ,testament with  his own hand4 ,he 
did more to shape ,christian thought    
than any one save  ,christ himself4 ,he 
had been 8caught up into the third      
heaven10 whatever  that may mean4 ,he   
was the most effective missionary of the
 new faith  the world has ever seen4 ,he
 was a man of marvelous reach and grasp1
 but  face to face with these great     
spiritual realities1 ,god and           
redemption1  prayer and duty1           
immortality and the final judgment1 he  
frankly  confesses that the returns are 
not all in2 the last words have not been
  said and cannot be said2 the full     
appreciation of these high values has   
not been reached4 ,we know in part4     
,we are glad to find these words on the 
lips of the world's greatest  apostle4  
,they are reassuring to those of us who 
are troubled by the  limitations of our 
own religious knowledge4 ,they match the

 mood of this  modern time of           
questioning and unrest which is so much 
in evidence  on the college campus and  
in university circles4 ,they suggest    
that  finality is much more difficult   
than some of the earlier generations  in
 their simplicity supposed4 ,one does   
not find those familiar words1  8,finis0
 or 8,the ,end10 printed on the last    
page of a book so commonly  as in other 
days4 ,even where the author has said   
his say in several  volumes1 each one as
 bulky as a volume of the 8,britannica10
 he knows  that there is more to be     
said4 ,he leaves the way open without   
trying to  block it by writing1 8,the   
,end40    ,we are conscious that we have
 not reached the terminus on any of the 
great trunk lines of religious inquiry4 
,we are scattered along at  various way 
stations1 thankful for the part we know1
 grateful for  progress made1 but       
confessing with ,paul that we have not  
attained1 that  we are not made perfect 
either in theory or in practise4 ,but   

whatever  headway we have made we are   
determined in the spirit of ,paul to use
  the part we know and press forward    
toward the mark of the prize of  the    
high calling of ,god4 ,this is the      
dominant mood of the serious but        
cautious1 inquiring element in modern   
life4 ,we are1 therefore1 grateful  for 
the word of this modest1 reasonable man1
 who with all his store of  spiritual   
experience said quietly1 8,we know in   
part40    ,we might carry these words in
 many directions and find them helpful4 
,some of us have been greatly disturbed 
as to the doctrine of  ,providence4 ,we 
have been told on high authority that   
,god reigns and  that 8,he doeth all    
things well40 ,when times are good we   
really believe  it4 ,we see that the way
 of the transgressor is hard1 as it     
ought to be1  and that on the whole the 
way of righteousness is the way of peace
 and  honor4 ,we have a comfortable     
persuasion that all things taken in     
their  completeness and final outcome   

are working together for good to those  
whose purposes are right4    ,but just  
when we have gotten our doctrine of     
,providence all snug we  witness        
something like this3 ,yonder a young    
,christian mother dies4 ,she  was an    
ideal daughter1 a devoted wife1 and the 
beautiful mother of  children who loved 
her and needed her more than they did   
anything else  on earth4 ,but with a    
whole community of people1 perhaps1     
praying for  her recovery she dies1     
while just around the corner a group of 
scamps1  who are making the world worse1
 rather than better1 live on1 fat and   
hearty4 ,and then somehow our doctrine  
of ,providence1 our belief as to  the   
reign of a wise and good ,god1 receives 
a hard shock4    ,but we know in part4  
,we know the usefulness of that life    
here2 we do  not know to what further   
and1 perhaps1 higher service it has been
  called there4 ,we see what has been   
interrupted here2 we do not see what    
has been taken up further on4 ,we do not

 know the ultimate effect of  this stern
 sorrow upon that household1 the result 
of this necessity for  the regirding of 
all their powers as they walk now in the
 shadow of a  great bereavement4 ,we do 
not even know ,god's ultimate purpose   
for those  scamps who live on2 the      
returns are not all in for them either4 
,we know  in part1 and what we know1    
taking human life broadly1 is so        
reassuring  that we are willing to trust
 ,god and walk on by faith4    ,ships in
 ,norway1 entering the great fiords1    
sometimes sail so close to  the cliffs  
that one can stand on deck and almost   
lay his hand upon the  face of the rock4
 ,when one captain was asked about it1  
he said1 8,that  which is in sight      
indicates what is out of sight4 ,the    
slant above the  water-line indicates   
the slant below and we are perfectly    
safe40 ,the  general slant of ,god's    
dealings with us1 taking the facts we   
know in  the total impression they make 
as to his wisdom and justice1 is such   

that we are prepared to trust him below 
the water-line4 ,therefore when  ,i     
cannot in some difficult situation make 
out his ultimate purpose with  the naked
 eye1 ,i fall back upon my confidence in
 his moral character4    ,as to this    
faith in the divine integrity no        
serious1 observant man  should remain in
 doubt4 ,it is a faith which rests upon 
a wide induction  of fact1 vaster by far
 than my own experience of his dealings 
with me4  ,it is like repeating an axiom
 to say that the creature does not rise 
above the ,creator4 ,if men at any time1
 anywhere are good1 there must be       
goodness in the ,creator of those men1  
goodness in the force or forces  lying  
back of them1 call those forces by what 
name we may4 ,and if the  stream of     
human goodness has been widening1       
deepening1 flowing more  strongly as the
 ages have come and gone1 it points back
 to character  and purpose in the ,one  
who created the stream itself4 ,that    
goodness  in man argues goodness in     

,god1 while badness in man does not     
argue  badness in ,god is plain1 in that
 sane men everywhere regard goodness as 
normal1 while badness is abnormal4      
,and look at the swelling tide of human 
goodness down through the ages6  ,look  
at ,livingstone laying down his life to 
carry light into the dark  continent6   
,look at ,cromwell fearing ,god and none
 else1 neither king nor  pope1 neither  
nobles nor bishops1 and giving his life 
that he might win  constitutional and   
religious freedom for the               
,english-speaking race6  ,look at       
,lincoln counting not his life dear if  
he might serve the cause  of the ,union 
and the interests of his brothers in    
bonds6 ,look at the  vast array of human
 goodness massing itself in saints and  
seers1 in  heroes and martyrs1 in       
teachers and mothers1 going forth not to
 be  ministered unto1 but to minister1  
giving their lives for the betterment   
of the world6 ,look at it all and then  
ask yourself if you can believe  for one

 moment that all this goodness          
originated itself1 persisted1 and       
increased in opposition to the will of  
the ,creator or in the face of  his     
moral indifference or without creative  
goodness in him6 ,the claim  would be   
monstrous6 ,this wide induction of fact 
begets a profound  faith in the moral   
character of ,god and when we cannot see
 we trust1  because as to the final     
meaning of many strange experiences we  
know in  part4    ,take the matter of   
prayer and the way it enters into the   
formation of  character and the shaping 
of events4 ,we know that prayer         
registers  a definite and wholesome     
influence on many a life4 ,those who    
loudly  assert that virtue and vice are 
as purely physical products as sugar    
and vitriol1 that all right action and  
wrong action can be accounted  for on   
material grounds1 have not made out     
their case1 they have not  begun to make
 it out4 ,there is something unseen1    
mysterious1 but real  and powerful1     

which impels certain people to love the 
unlovely1 to  make sacrifices for the   
thoughtless and ungrateful1 to stand    
firm in  the path of duty when it is    
anything but the line of least          
resistance4  ,the love of right1 the    
sense of obligation1 the habit of       
adherence  to principle1 all these are  
as real as granite4 ,but the forces     
which  make them strong are spiritual1  
and these forces receive constant       
reenforcement from the habit of prayer4 
,this part we know4 ,we have seen the   
hearts of men turned from anger  to     
love1 from unholy to holy purpose1 from 
weakness to strong resolve  by prayer4  
,we have seen home life made sweeter    
because once at least  in every         
twenty-four hours the members of the    
household came together  and knelt      
before ,god1 confessing their faults1   
asking his guidance  and allowing that  
which was true and right within them to 
grow by its  communion with him who is  
altogether true and right4 ,any sensible

 man  would feel that his life1 his     
property1 his family were all safer in a
  community where men prayed1 than in   
one where they only used the name  of   
,god profanely4 ,this part we know about
 prayer4    ,but as to the ultimate     
effect of it1 the final philosophy of   
it1 the  precise way in which the finite
 spirit becomes a colaborer with the    
,infinite ,spirit in shaping events1 ,i 
freely confess that there is a  great   
deal which ,i do not understand4 ,i know
 in part1 but the part ,i  know is so   
full of blessed and beautiful results   
that ,i want my prayer  for the coming  
of ,god's kingdom1 for the doing of his 
will on earth1  for the gift of bread   
for the daily need1 for forgiveness1 and
 final  deliverance from evil--,i want  
that prayer to go up1 winging its way to
  the throne backed by all the faith and
 hope and love ,i can put into it4  ,and
 ,i am not troubled by the fact that ,i 
cannot explain all the grounds  of my   
confidence1 for1 like ,paul1 ,i know in 

part4    ,take the matter of the future 
life6 ,there is much here we would like 
to know4 ,what are our loved ones who   
have gone on doing now8 ,are they       
witnesses of the blunders and the       
failures we make here8 ,just how is     
right rewarded and wrong punished when  
the two are so intricately  interwoven8 
,no man is so white a sheep but that    
there are patches of  goat about him    
here and there4 ,no man is so bad but   
that there is some  good in him if we   
observingly distil it out4 ,and what of 
the final  outcome--can good people be  
happily content if the sinful souls they
  loved are in conscious pain or even if
 they have been remorselessly  wiped off
 the slate of existence8 ,is it too much
 to hope that ,god's  persuasions to    
righteousness being infinite may prove  
irresistible  and so at last successful 
in every case8 ,so men and women who    
have  loved and lost those who passed   
out of this world without a sign of     
genuine repentance or of saving faith   

have queried ever4 ,a child can  ask    
more questions here in five minutes than
 all the philosophers and  theologians  
on earth can answer in as many years4   
,we know in part6 ,we cannot measure off
 the streets of the new ,jerusalem  in  
kilometers4 ,we cannot describe its     
attractions in any kind of  ,baedeker4  
,we cannot lay out a detailed program of
 ,god's dealings with  the good and the 
bad people of earth in all the unending 
years4 ,nor is  there any obligation    
whatsoever upon us to undertake the     
construction  of such a program4    ,we 
know in part and the part we know is    
something like this3 ,i feel a  profound
 confidence that ,i shall live on after 
death4 ,the grounds of  my hope are     
many4 ,the mass of unreason and         
injustice ,i would have left  upon my   
hands unexplained and unexplainable if  
,i were to undertake  to deny the truth 
of immortality is one4 ,the all but     
universal and  persistent desire of men 
for future life is another4 ,somehow the

  integrity of the universe is such that
 it does not develop in men  normal1    
wide-spread1 and persistent desires     
unless there is somewhere  to be found a
 corresponding satisfaction for such    
desires standing over  against them4    
,the fact that the clear visions and the
 bright hopes of  the best poets and    
prophets the world has known have been  
on the side  of immortality means much4 
,the seers have sung and the prophets   
have  uttered their high anticipations  
by the power of an endless life4 ,the   
words of the supreme figure in history1 
,jesus ,christ1 as to the truth  of     
immortality mean still more4 ,he saw    
clearly1 spoke wisely1 lived  divinely1 
and ,i cannot believe that here he      
reared his expectations on  a           
fundamental mistake4    ,it ought to be 
remembered that for those who affirm and
 for those who  deny the truth of       
immortality1 it is alike a matter of    
moral faith  because no convincing      
demonstration has been made out either  

for or  against4 ,the men who deny      
immortality are not opposing knowledge  
to  faith2 they are only meeting a      
positive faith with a negative one4 ,but
  inasmuch as reason and experience1 the
 best in literature and the ,one  who   
has taken the moral government of the   
world upon his shoulders as  none other 
ever did1 stand so strongly upon the    
side of the positive  faith1 ,i feel    
confident of an unbroken life4    ,as to
 the final judgment1 ,i know that       
righteousness and love which  are useful
 and beautiful here will be useful and  
beautiful always  and everywhere2 the   
clearer the light in which they stand   
the more  their glory will be revealed4 
,i know that sin and selfishness are    
mean and hateful here1 and they will be 
mean and hateful everywhere2  the       
clearer the light in which they stand   
the more their hatefulness  will be     
manifest4 ,what shall be their final    
fate ,i do not undertake  to say4 ,we   
know in part1 but the clear prospects of

 the life to come1  where righteousness 
and love shall have their freer chance  
to be and  to do1 where sin and         
selfishness shall meet with more awful  
rebuke1  are sufficient to stimulate    
right action and to give warning to     
those  who would identify their         
destinies with evil4 ,as to the rest1 in
 the  incompleteness of our knowledge1  
we may safely leave it to the wisdom    
and the justice of ,god4    ,i might    
carry this idea in other directions1 but
 let me turn at once to  the other phase
 of the topic4 ,in part we know1 and the
 part we know  is naturally the part we 
use4 ,we wish that we knew more4 ,we    
hope to  know more some time4 ,in the   
meantime we recognize that the way to   
make  progress along that line is to use
 the part we already know4    ,in almost
 any direction1 unless it be pure       
mathematics or formal logic1  our       
knowledge1 even in the sophomore year1  
stops a long way this  side of complete 
understanding4 ,no man knows the length 

and breadth1  the height and depth of   
his wife's love for him1 if she is a    
good  woman4 ,some part of it he knows1 
but the love she might show in some     
emergency1 nursing him through a long   
illness1 sharing with him some  painful 
experience1 bearing with him some heavy 
burden--that fuller  love he does not   
know and cannot know until the time     
comes for its  manifestation4 ,but the  
part he knows about his wife's love for 
him is  the part he uses and the very   
thought of how beautiful it is and of   
the  unrevealed capacity it may contain 
for willing and joyous sacrifice  on his
 behalf1 makes him feel that he ought to
 be a better man to be  deserving of it4
 ,thus he moves along in that part of   
the strength and  beauty of a woman's   
love which he knows1 allowing the fuller
 knowledge  of it to come as it may4    
,and this is precisely the attitude of  
the  reasonably religious man--those    
realities with which he deals1 ,god and 
redemption1 prayer and duty1 immortality

 and the final judgment1 are            
confessedly too great for final         
statement1 but he knows something about 
them and the part he knows is the part  
he uses4    ,next door to my home ,i    
have two little neighbors1 boys of three
 and  five4 ,they are close friends of  
mine and they have taught me much4      
,their father is a physician1 a busy1   
useful1 ,christian man4 ,the boys       
understand their father's life 8in      
part40 ,they know that he is a doctor   
and that he goes to see sick people and 
make them well4 ,but as to the  methods 
he employs and the remedies he uses they
 know nothing at all4  ,they know in a  
dim sort of way that he makes the money 
which pays the  bills and keeps them in 
a home full of comfort and beauty4 ,but 
as to  his financial standing1 his      
investments1 and his prospects1 they    
know  nothing4 ,they know that along    
with the hearty good-will which he feels
  for everybody1 he loves their mother  
and them supremely2 but how he  came to 

love that particular woman rather than  
some other one1 and how  they were born 
of that love1 or how far that love might
 go in defending  and providing for     
them1 they do not concern themselves for
 one moment4  ,they know their father's 
love in part4    ,but the part they know
 is the part they use4 ,they live in    
their  father's house2 they sit at his  
table2 they greet him with a shout when 
he comes in from his practise4 ,they    
obey him and trust him and think he  is 
the best man in the world4 ,they climb  
up into his lap and talk to  him1 not   
about his practise1 but about their own 
small affairs1 their  tops1 their       
marbles1 their little wagon--as he wants
 them to do4 ,he  meets them always on  
their own ground and deals with them in 
the terms  and interests of their own   
lives4 ,thus my two little friends live 
and  grow1 knowing their father's life  
in part4    8,except we become as little
 children0 in the house of our ,father1 
whose  total life exceeds our present   

comprehension1 whose plans and purposes 
for us are too high for complete        
understanding1 whose outlook for us  is 
vaster every way than our own           
outlook--8except we become as little    
children we shall in no wise enter his  
kingdom40 ,but if we take the  part we  
know and use it1 acting on it and living
 by it1 we will be  treading the way    
which leads to a fuller and more blessed
 experience  of the ,father's wisdom and
 love as surely as my two small friends 
are  doing as they grow up toward their 
manhood in their father's house4    ,in 
how many ways ,jesus made plain this    
duty of utilizing the near and  the     
familiar when we would learn the remote6
 ,he seemed to realize that  religion   
would be crusted over with              
misconceptions so that ordinary  people 
would find it hard to get at2 that some 
men would write big dull  books about   
it1 which no one would want to read2    
that other men in  talking about it     
would use words which would not go into 

a suit-case  without being folded twice1
 thus confusing the people4 ,for that   
reason1  perhaps1 he made his own       
teaching simpler than that of any one   
whose  words stand recorded in ,holy    
,writ4    ,he stood once at midnight    
among the trees talking with a          
thoughtful man  as to certain aspects of
 the religious life4 8,how can these    
things  be80 the man asked4 8,how can a 
man be born when he is old80 ,just then 
the wind rustled the leaves at his side 
and ,jesus remarked3 8,the wind  bloweth
 where it listeth4 ,you hear the sound  
thereof1 but you cannot  tell whence it 
cometh or whither it goeth40 ,we cannot 
tell why the wind  blows one day from   
the north and we have cold1 another day 
from the  south and we have heat1       
another day from the east and we have   
rain4 ,we  cannot explain satisfactorily
 many of the mysteries connected with   
the  wind4 ,but a man who is a fisherman
 can put up his sail and fill it with   
this wind which is such a mystery4 ,he  

can sail out through the ,golden  ,gate 
and come back in the evening with a     
boatload of fish for the needs  of his  
family and for other hungry men4 ,the   
wind that fills his sail he  knows1 but 
the origin1 the ultimate destiny1 and   
all the relationships  it sustains to   
the other forces in the universe he does
 not know4 ,the  part he knows1 however1
 is the part he uses by relating it to  
his own  life4 ,and this is the act of a
 man of sense in matters spiritual as   
well4 ,he knows the life of the         
,infinite ,spirit in part1 but he uses  
the  part he knows by relating it       
helpfully to his own life4    ,when we  
start in after that fashion it is a     
straight course4 ,the boy  begins his   
study of mathematics by learning to     
count ten--one1 two1  three1 four1 five1
 six1 seven1 eight1 nine1 ten4 ,he moves
 straight  along by that path until1    
with these same ten figures1 he is      
computing  the courses the planets take 
and measuring the distances of the fixed

  stars4 ,he begins his study of        
literature by learning his letters1 a1  
b1  c1 etc4 ,by and by1 using these same
 familiar letters1 he is making his  way
 through the intricacies of 8,hamlet0   
and 8,macbeth02 he is walking  with     
,emerson and ,hegel across the fields of
 philosophy4 ,he begins his  study of   
music by learning the elementary sounds1
 do1 re1 mi1 fa1  sol1 la1 si1 do4      
,presently1 with these same tones1 he is
 singing in a  great chorus which       
renders 8,the ,messiah0 or playing his  
instrument in  some orchestra which is  
producing the ,fifth ,symphony of       
,beethoven4 ,in  every situation in life
 progress is made not by being appalled 
over  the amount we do not know1 or by  
vainly wishing we knew more1 but by     
taking the part we know1 relating it to 
our lives1 and making it the  instrument
 of gaining that fuller knowledge4      
,god is greater than any wise and good  
father but not different4 ,carry  the   
love of a wise and good father up to the

 nth degree and you  have the love of   
,god for his people4 ,the life of the   
spirit is nobler  than the life of the  
flesh1 but it stands closely related2 it
 is a  life which hungers after         
righteousness1 thirsts for the living   
,god1  and grows strong by exercising   
itself in useful service4 ,heaven is    
finer and purer than earth1 but not     
unlike4 ,it was for the ,jew a 8,new    
,jerusalem10 and it is for every man a  
8new --0 whatever may be the  name of   
the city where he dwells4 ,it is the    
ordinary life ennobled and  glorified by
 the infusion of a finer spirit4 ,the   
glorious fulfilment  comes through the  
richer combinations and the fuller      
development of the  simpler parts we    
know already4    ,i wish ,i could       
persuade the college man who has never  
entered into an  open1 joyous1          
,christian life to just begin4 ,there   
are many things which  he does not      
understand nor1 perhaps1 believe4 ,we   
will put them aside  for the moment1 not

 ignoring them1 but postponing their    
consideration4  ,let him take the part  
he knows1 the moral imperative of living
 the  best life one sees1 and no finer  
life than that of the ,christian can  be
 named2 the necessity for some competent
 guide1 and none better  than ,jesus of 
,nazareth has thus far appeared2 the    
clearly ascertained  benefits to be     
gained by trust and obedience2 the      
helpful reactions  which come through   
prayer and the reading of the ,bible2   
the manifest  advantage of cherishing   
the hope of a future life and of facing 
squarely upon the fact that what we sow 
we reap4 ,all this he knows6 ,let  the  
part he knows be the part he uses4 ,if  
he will only act upon it1  building it  
into his own life and following where it
 leads1 he will be  on his way toward   
the place where he will know even as he 
is known4          ,x    ,,fighting     
,,the ,,stars      ,in an ancient song  
we find this striking statement1 8,the  
stars in their  courses fought against  

,sisera40 ,this is poetry4 ,it must be  
dealt with  according to the rules which
 govern poetical expression4 ,the plain 
prose facts underlying the statement    
were these3 ,the northern tribes of     
,israel were being oppressed by the     
warlike ,canaanites of that region4     
,israelites living on the outskirts were
 frequently slaughtered until  certain  
villages had been entirely destroyed4   
,the oppression became so  bitter that  
it was not safe for an ,israelite to    
travel the ordinary  roads4 8,in the    
days of ,shamgar the highways were      
unoccupied1 and the  people walked      
through by-paths40 ,they were in        
constant fear for their  lives and the  
situation at length became unendurable4 
,then there came an armed revolt of the 
,israelites against their  oppressors4  
,ten thousand men under the leadership  
of ,deborah and ,barak  went out to give
 battle in the plain of ,esdraelon4 ,the
 commander of the  opposing army was    
,sisera4 ,he had been uniformly         

victorious over the  ,israelites chiefly
 by his use of chariots and war-horses1 
riding his  enemies down before they    
could accomplish anything with their    
slings  and arrows4 ,and into the famous
 battle referred to in the song the     
author says1 8,sisera brought nine      
hundred chariots of iron0 to fight      
against the army of ,israel4    ,but    
just as the battle opened there came a  
fierce storm converting the  black loam 
of that fertile field into a morass4    
,the heavy war-horses  and huge chariots
 were unable to charge4 ,the song       
pictures them as  floundering1 helpless1
 in the deep mud4 ,the cold rain turned 
gradually  into sleet and the sleet     
driven by a fierce wind directly into   
the  faces of the advancing ,canaanites 
made their use of sling and spear       
comparatively ineffective4 ,on the other
 hand1 the ,israelites1 with the  storm 
at their backs and with their courage   
heightened by the feeling  that all the 
circumstances of the situation were in  

their favor1  fought splendidly and     
successfully4 ,they slaughtered the     
helpless men  who were trying in vain to
 use the heavy chariots2 they put to    
flight  the foot soldiers who could not 
properly defend themselves with the     
storm beating in their faces1 and thus  
they won a notable victory over  the    
army of ,sisera4    ,when the           
,israelites came to add up the forces   
which entered into the  result1 they    
were not so short-sighted as to fancy   
that their own right  arms had gotten   
them the victory4 ,they saw that certain
 other forces  which they had not       
created1 which they did not in any wise 
control1  had entered decisively into   
the determination of the issue4 8,the   
,lord  discomfited ,sisera1 and all his 
chariots10 they said4 8,the stars in    
their courses fought against ,sisera40  
,the wind and the rain1 the hail  and   
the sleet1 coming down out of the skies 
by no act of theirs1 had  lined up with 
them as effective allies2 and as their  

eyes ran over  the complete muster roll1
 the forces from above combining with   
their  own determined valor1 they knew  
that ,sisera was foredoomed to defeat   
because he had been fighting against the
 stars4    ,the stars in their courses  
fought against ,sisera--this is poetry6 
,it  is a bold literary statement of a  
splendid moral truth4 ,in the long  run 
the forces of earth and sky are alike   
hostile to the low type of  life which  
,sisera represents4 ,cruelty1           
oppression1 inhumanity1 are  doomed to  
defeat4 ,individuals or nations         
cultivating those qualities  are        
fighting the stars1 and the stars will  
be too much for them4 ,as it  was with  
,sisera1 so it is now and ever shall be1
 world without end6  ,those evils are   
sometimes victorious in a skirmish2 now 
and then they  win a battle1 but the war
 goes always against them4 ,when the end
 comes  and the articles of capitulation
 are signed1 they are to be found with  
,sisera1 biting the dust4 ,forces1 human

 and divine1 seen and unseen1 are       
perpetually at war with wrong-doing and 
the combination of all these  mighty    
energies makes the outcome inevitable4  
,the man who1 in any wise1  undertakes  
to live a wrong life is undertaking to  
fight the stars4    ,the presence of    
universal moral forces is here          
symbolized4 ,all about  us are familiar 
forces which we did not originate1 which
 we do not  control--the light and the  
heat of the sun1 the power of           
gravitation1  the movements of the      
winds1 and the pulsating tides4 ,we     
cannot control  them2 we can only adjust
 ourselves to their movements and wisely
  cooperate with them for certain ends4 
,even while ,i am speaking this  huge   
mass under our feet is whirling us      
swiftly onward1 covering  the whole     
twenty-five thousand miles in a single  
twenty-four hours4  ,scientific men thus
 far have nothing to offer as to how it 
gained its  initial velocity2 we find it
 moving and it carries us with it       

whether  we will or no4    ,this is a   
symbol6 ,there are other forces1 unseen 
but mighty1 moving the  race up out of  
darkness into great and ever greater    
light4 ,with all  its groping and       
stumbling the race has never been       
allowed to lose its  way altogether4    
,yesterday it thought as a child and    
understood as a  child2 today it puts   
away childish things and knows in part2 
tomorrow  it will know still 8in part10 
but a larger part4 ,and it is the       
sublime  conviction of serious men that 
it is on its way to know even as it is  
known4 ,this movement is as resistless  
as the motion of the planets4    ,the   
race is also making headway in          
righteousness4 ,certain forms of  evil  
which once stood out naked and unashamed
 have been driven into  rat-holes4      
,presently these holes will be stopped  
up from the top and  those forms of evil
 will be seen no more4 ,the power of    
conscience grows  and its dominion      
widens4 ,matthew ,arnold1 speaking as a 

poet1 said1  8,there is a power not     
ourselves which makes for               
righteousness40 ,herbert  ,spencer1     
speaking as a philosopher1 said1 8,there
 is an infinite and  eternal energy from
 which all things proceed10 and in his  
judgment it  was1 on the whole1 friendly
 to righteousness4 ,the ,psalmist1      
speaking  as a religious man1 said1     
8,the judgments of the ,lord are true   
and  righteous altogether1 and in       
keeping of them there is great reward40 
,it does not matter what words are used2
 it all amounts to the same  thing4 ,the
 very stars are symbols to us1 as they  
were to this writer of  old1 of forces  
unseen1 august1 cosmic1 which are       
insistently set upon  righteousness4    
,sisera and all the horde of wrong-doers
 are compelled to  look that fact in the
 face4    ,the antagonism of these      
universal forces spells defeat for those
 who  are willing to do wrong4          
,sometimes the letters which spell out  
defeat  are formally arranged in order2 

at other times the letters must be      
selected from a mass of confusing       
details1 but they are there1 and  they  
spell the same word1 8defeat40 ,the     
stars never tarry long in  bringing in  
their verdict upon the coarser sins of  
the flesh1 murder  and adultery1        
stealing and lying1 drunkenness and     
gluttony4 ,but the  operation of this   
law reaches all the way down to those   
subtler sins  of pride and envy1        
meanness and selfishness1 moral         
indifference and  spiritual neglect--all
 these in their final outcome make for  
misery and  discontent as surely as two 
and two make four4 ,no man ever         
outwitted  or vanquished the stars1 no  
man ever will4 ,the sun rises when it is
  due1 no matter how he chooses to set  
his individual clock1 no matter  what   
lies he may tell in his particular      
almanac4 ,no man ever outwitted  the    
moral order of the universe which is    
august and irresistible in  its         
ongoings4 ,he may have sought out many  

devices1 but at last he is  compelled to
 settle by the books4 ,he must reap what
 he has sown1 no  matter how terrible   
the harvest may be4    ,go through any  
modern city with your eyes open and you 
will find this  statement about ,sisera 
written out in a plain hand4 ,you will  
find  people1 some of them well-dressed1
 some in rags1 with their hearts  draped
 in wretchedness and despair4 ,poor     
deluded mortals1 they have  been butting
 their brains out against the moral     
corner-stones of the  universe in the   
vain hope that possibly the way of the  
transgressor  might not be hard for     
them4 ,some by intemperance and some by 
licentiousness1 some by sly dishonesty  
and some by cold-hearted                
selfishness--the roads to ruin are      
various1 and men travel them all6  ,here
 they come at last1 bruised1 battered1  
and broken6 ,they have been  fighting   
the stars with the usual result4 ,if    
here and there one keeps  his head up   
and his face like polished brass1       

thinking he may escape  the same ugly   
fate1 you have only to wait for a time  
to see him with  his face broken and his
 heart crushed like the rest4    ,here  
are two young men at college1 one of    
them living a true life1  maintaining   
good habits1 keeping himself hard at    
work1 cultivating the  right sort of    
friends6 ,the other young fellow keeps  
his lungs drenched  with cigarette      
smoke1 his brain drugged with alcohol2  
he seeks out  the shady places in the   
life of the city and cultivates the     
refuse2  he loafs when he ought to be at
 work4 ,you can tell at a glance which  
one will be sitting in the directors'   
meeting or in some similar place  of    
responsibility twenty years from now1   
and which one will be out  somewhere on 
a high stool or tramping the streets    
periodically in  search of a job1       
wondering why his luck has been against 
him4 ,there is  no luck about it4 ,he   
enlisted in the great army of fools who1
 under  the leadership of ,sisera1 are  

undertaking to fight the stars4 ,certain
  habits1 certain courses of action1    
certain aspirations bring honor1  joy1  
advancement2 certain other courses of   
action bring just the  reverse4 ,it is  
all as sure as the movement of the      
planets2 it comes  according to law     
equally unyielding4    ,the ultimate    
well-being of any life is secured       
through cooperation with  those forces  
symbolized by the stars4 ,i was on the  
,mediterranean once  on my way from     
,italy to ,egypt when off the coast of  
,crete our ship  ran into a terrible    
storm4 ,we were beaten and tossed1 for  
the wind  was contrary4 ,an accident    
made it necessary to lay to for several 
hours while the waves dashed over the   
highest decks4 ,in the absence of       
either sun or stars1 exact reckoning was
 lost1 but toward midnight of  the      
second day the storm broke and presently
 the stars shone out1 here  and there1  
in the irregular patches of the sky4    
,then the first officer  appeared on    

deck with his instruments and soon he   
knew exactly where we  were on the face 
of the troubled waters4 ,all uncertainty
 was over2 we  were sailing by the stars
 and the next day we were casting anchor
 off  the coast of ,egypt4 ,the motion  
of the ship and the tossing of the waves
  were uncertain1 but the movement of   
the stars was sure4    ,our safety in   
the whole cruise of life depends upon   
the adjustment of  our movements to     
those universal forces which enfold us4 
,my watch1  carried though it is in my  
individual pocket1 keeps step with the  
stars  so that ,i could show you where  
each hand will be tomorrow morning when 
the sun comes up over the horizon4 ,and 
our purposes1 our affections1  and our  
wills are to be similarly adjusted so   
that they shall keep step  with ,god's  
infinite will and purpose for us4 ,those
 universal forces of  love and grace1 of
 forgiveness and redemption1 of guidance
 and comfort1  to which in all ages men 
have learned to look1 they are all ours 

if we  will only use them4 ,and when we 
learn to use them aright they bring     
peace1 and strength1 and joy4    ,there 
was the sense of an adequate horizon1   
then1 in the words of this  ancient poet
 as he stood that night on the field of 
battle looking up  at the stars4 ,the   
wind and the rain1 the hail and the     
sleet had all  aided the ,israelites in 
winning the victory4 ,the very skies    
seemed to  be interested in that moral  
struggle there on the plain of          
,esdraelon4  ,and he was correct--the   
stars helped2 they always help2 they    
fight  perpetually in their own         
appointed way on the side of right4     
,you may trust the forces which they    
symbolize6 ,you may work out your  own  
highest well-being in joyous confidence1
 for ,god is working within  you toward 
the same great end6 ,you need have no   
doubt about it1 for  the evidence is    
plain4 ,heroes and martyrs lay down     
their lives for  a principle4 ,the      
mother cares for the sick child1        

counting not her  pleasure1 her comfort1
 or even her own life dear if she may   
save the  child4 ,the poor dog attached 
to his master goes to the spot where  he
 saw them lay the body and whines for   
the sound of a voice that  is still4    
,has the ,creator of such moral         
integrity in the heroes and  martyrs    
kept none of it for himself8 ,has he out
 of the ages gone  produced such        
devotion in the heart of the mother with
 no devotion  in his own heart toward   
his helpless child8 ,has he instilled   
such  faithful affection in the very    
dogs that perish1 but failed to share in
  that love himself8 ,serious men cannot
 bring themselves to believe in         
anything so absurd4 ,these forces which 
produce attachment to the right1        
devotion to the helpless1 faithful      
affection1 are universal forces4    8,o 
heart ,i made1 a heart beats here0--that
 was the word of ,god through  the lips 
of the poet6 ,these forces of love and  
grace are universal and  enduring as the

 stars4 ,to fight them spells defeat4   
,to coperate with  them1 bringing the   
scattered and aimless activities of the 
life into  harmony with the supreme     
purpose of ,god declared in ,jesus      
,christ1 means  life abundant and       
eternal4          ,,xi    ,,the ,,power 
,,of ,,vision      ,in an old school    
reader there was a sketch1 8,eyes or no 
eyes40 ,two  young men went for a walk  
in the same field4 ,one of them saw just
  the commonplace shapes and forms2 he  
saw nothing that a dog or a  kodak would
 not have seen4 ,he had eyes to see1 but
 he saw not4 ,the  other one saw the    
bumblebees appearing later in the season
 than do  the honey-bees1 and thought of
 the relation this fact sustains to  the
 production of red clover seed--a       
relation which every farmer  understands
 when he cuts the second crop in place  
of the first to get  seed4 ,he saw at   
one side of the field a great granite   
boulder deposited  there in the glacial 
period1 and although the day was hot his

 mind was  cool as it dwelt upon that   
age of ice4 ,he saw the imprint of the  
shell  of some water-breathing creature 
deep bedded as a fossil in a piece of   
stone4 ,his imagination went back to the
 time when that very field was  part of 
an inland sea1 and this bit of life was 
making its impress upon  the soft mud of
 some ancient seashore4 ,he saw a score 
of interesting  things which need not be
 named here2 they were all there to be  
seen1  but his friend had overlooked    
them4 ,it was a question of 8eyes or no 
eyes40 ,what any man sees in a field1 or
 in his fellow beings1 in his  college  
course1 or in life as a whole1 depends  
upon the power of vision  that he       
carries with him4    ,here in a         
well-known story was a man keeping sheep
 on the slopes of  ,horeb4 ,in reading  
the narrative it seems that the         
imagination of the  poet has blended    
with the plain prose facts of history4  
,we do not know  what kind of fire it   
was which burned in that mysterious and 

vocal  bush4 ,we may believe it was the 
same kind of fire which burns in the    
grate or we may conclude that it was an 
extraordinary bit of autumnal  splendor 
which at a certain season of the year is
 aflame on many  hillsides as if the    
glory and color of a thousand sunsets   
might have  lodged in the tree tops4    
,however that may be1 what ,moses       
actually saw  and heard that day is far 
more important than any conceivable     
amount of  literal fire or of autumn    
color4    8,i will now turn aside and   
see0--and what he saw his own subsequent
  career indicates6 ,he had the power of
 vision and he saw not merely  the      
shapes and colors present in that sheep 
pasture4 ,he saw things  absent1 things 
historic1 things possible as present and
 real4 ,he saw  away yonder on the banks
 of the ,nile where he formerly lived1  
the  life of his own fellows being      
crushed out of them by wrong industrial 
conditions4 ,he saw the capacity of that
 race1 burning but unconsumed  even by  

those years of oppression1 for moral    
idealism and spiritual  leadership among
 the nations of the earth4 ,he felt     
within his own  breast a fitness for    
service wider1 higher1 and more         
significant than  that of keeping sheep4
 ,he felt himself commissioned from on  
high for  that responsible service1 and 
he became dissatisfied with his own easy
  content there in the land of ,midian4 
,he saw the great divine heart  filled  
with sympathy for an enslaved and       
oppressed people4 ,he heard  the divine 
voice say1 8,i have seen the affliction 
of my people which  are in ,egypt2 ,i   
have heard their cry by reason of their 
taskmasters1  and ,i am come down to    
deliver them40 ,he saw the divine hand  
reach out  to employ mysterious agencies
 for the release of that people from the
  bondage of ,egypt4    ,he had the     
power of vision and this is what he saw 
when he led his  flock to the back side 
of the desert1 even to ,horeb1 the      
mountain of  ,god4 ,the sheep saw       

nothing of that burning bush or of those
 other  mysterious realities4 ,the dull 
,midianites watching their flocks a few 
hundred yards away on the same slope saw
 nothing of it4 ,a man standing  in     
,moses' own shoes1 his face turned in   
the same direction1 would have  seen    
nothing unless he had brought to the    
situation the insight of this  man of   
vision4    ,and ,moses himself saw and  
heard what he did in that high hour     
because  through long years he had      
cherished a profound sympathy for his   
brother  men and a great abiding faith  
in ,god as one who works on behalf of   
suffering people everywhere4 ,it was the
 whole mood and purpose of his  life    
which stood declared in those splendid  
words1 8,i will now turn  aside and     
see40 ,he was always saying just that6  
,he was never content  with the mere    
surface of reality4 ,he was never       
satisfied with that  which a hasty      
glance would bring in any given         
situation4 ,he must get  beneath the    

surface and know the deeper1 hidden     
meaning4    ,how much depends upon that 
power of vision6 ,what mighty issues are
 knit  up with it in this familiar      
scene6 ,if ,moses that day had seen and 
heard  nothing more than did the        
,midianites1 he would have gone on      
keeping his  sheep and would have died a
 comfortable and prosperous sheep       
grower4  ,if the ,israelites along the  
banks of the ,nile had been without the 
power of such leadership as he alone    
among the men of his generation  seemed 
to be able to furnish1 they would have  
gone on making bricks  without straw    
until all capacity for spiritual advance
 would have been  crushed out of them4  
,if that ,hebrew race1 first among      
,semitic peoples  in its ability to see 
and to impart spiritual truth1 had never
 had its  chance to develop in the free 
air of the steppes or within the        
pleasant  borders of that land of       
promise1 how different apparently would 
have  been the moral history of the     

race6 ,it is idle to speculate on what  
would have been the result had something
 never happened which did  happen1 but  
just this glance shows the momentous    
consequences which may  at any juncture 
attach to the ability of some man to    
see4 ,it is of the  utmost importance in
 every quarter that some man should be  
at hand who  can see the great sight4   
,your own life1 the richness of it1 the 
promise of it1 the successful  unfolding
 of it on higher levels1 is bound up    
with this power of  vision4 ,if the     
world about you is only a sheep pasture1
 if success in  life is to be measured  
solely or mainly in terms of wool and   
mutton1 if  the skilful avoidance of    
discomfort and the securing of easy     
content  for yourself and your family   
are the main considerations with you1   
then  by that limited outlook you are   
doomed4 ,if here in these days of high  
privilege on the campus no bushes burn  
for you with a strange fire1 if  no     
hillsides in life become vocal with a   

divine voice1 if no flames of  sympathy1
 of moral passion1 of aspiration burn   
within your breast1 then  alas for you6 
,you are not entering into the meaning  
of life6 ,you have  eyes1 but you see   
not1 ears1 but you hear not6    8,can ye
 not discern80 ,jesus said to those who 
regarded themselves as  the most        
exemplary people of his day4 ,they could
 look up at the sky  and from the fact  
that it was red or lowering make a      
fairly good guess  about tomorrow's     
weather1 but they could not discern the 
signs of the  times4 ,there they were in
 the presence of the beginnings of the  
most  important spiritual movement in   
history1 yet all they saw was the tired 
face of the ,man of ,nazareth1 whom they
 finally put to death because his       
claims confused them4 ,can ye not       
discern8 ,will you not take pains to    
cultivate the power of turning aside to 
see the great sights awaiting  you all  
in the sheep pastures of earth1 in all  
scenes of industry and  in all places of

 trade1 in all lines of civic effort and
 in all forms  of charitable intent1 in 
every schoolroom and in every home8     
,will you  not turn and with heightened 
power of vision see there the hidden1   
unrealized possibilities8    8,where    
there is no vision1 the people perish60 
,something lives  on--flesh and blood   
shapes which buy and sell1 walk the     
street and  talk small talk1 but the    
people created potentially in the       
likeness  and image of the ,most ,high  
are gone4 ,where there is no vision1 any
  life perishes4 ,what keeps alive the  
mother-love in the face of all the      
hardships1 sacrifices1 buffetings it is 
called upon to meet8 ,it is  the power  
of vision cherished and cultivated more 
actively1 perhaps1  by women than by    
men4 ,when her child is first laid in   
her arms it is  only a bit of red       
flesh--that is all the canary in the    
window or the  thoughtless observer who 
cares not for children would see4 ,this 
bit of  existence1 so undeveloped as to 

have nothing one could call moral life1 
no power to choose or to aspire2 so     
undeveloped as to have nothing  one     
could call mental life1 no power of     
recognition1 discrimination1  inference1
 has only the power to cry and to feed4 
,but the mother sees  in that tiny form 
another promise of a diviner day when   
the unsearched  possibilities of that   
new life shall have been trained and    
nurtured  by her love4 ,and throughout  
the years when she nurses the child in  
sickness1 bears with him in his         
ignorance1 woos and wins him back from  
his moral waywardness1 she is sustained 
by her maternal vision4    ,no one can  
live strongly1 effectively1 joyously in 
any other way4 ,the  dull1 dry1 prosaic 
man who never sees the deeper           
significance of any  given situation may
 be able to saw wood or add up columns  
of figures1  but when it comes to       
relating these ordinary details of life 
to some  over-arching1 underlying1      
far-reaching purpose which will bring   

out  the meaning and the beauty of      
existence1 he fails4 ,he has no power of
  vision and his real life goes down in 
defeat4    ,it might be illustrated in  
this way--read ,baedeker on ,mont ,blanc
 and  then read ,coleridge6 ,baedeker   
has the facts2 he tells the height of   
the mountain1 the exact distance from   
,chamounix to the summit in  kilometers2
 he describes every glacier and         
crevasse4 ,but ,coleridge's  8,ode0 to  
the mountain brings out the meaning and 
the beauty of it4  ,baedeker has facts1 
,coleridge has vision4    ,read         
,baedeker on ,edinburgh and then read   
,robert ,louis ,stevenson's  little book
 on the same city2 read ,baedeker on    
,northern ,italy1  including his        
description of the city without streets1
 and then read  ,ruskin's 8,stones of   
,venice40 ,read ,baedeker on ,belgium1  
including his  description of the field 
and of the ,battle of ,waterloo1 and    
then read  ,victor ,hugo's chapter on   
the same event in 8,les ,misrables40 ,in

 one  case you have the camera recording
 the outward1 visible1 prose facts2  in 
the other you have insight and vision   
interpreting the meaning of  them4 ,it  
is written1 man shall not live by       
,baedeker alone1 but by every  word     
which proceedeth out of the mind and    
heart of that higher power of  vision   
shall man live4    ,let me urge this    
habit upon every young man6 ,put your   
own personal life  under the power1 not 
of some lower mood or some ill-advised  
impulse1  but under the power of the    
best you have ever seen or heard or felt
 as  in any wise possible to you4 ,it   
was a man in a million1 measured by     
character and achievement1 who said1    
while he was still in the vigor  and    
promise of his youth1 8,wherefore ,i was
 not disobedient unto0--what8  ,i was   
not disobedient unto the rules and      
regulations posted on the  wall of my   
schoolroom or the door of the factory   
where ,i earned my  bread--that would   
have meant little6 ,no one can set up   

the way of life  in type and print it to
 be nailed on a door4 ,i was not        
disobedient to  the usages and customs  
of the society where ,i moved--that1    
too1 might  have meant only a weak1     
cheap mode of life4 8,i was not         
disobedient unto  the heavenly vision60 
,i was true to the best ,i saw and heard
 and felt  as possible to me6    ,that  
habit of putting the life deliberately  
and persistently under the  power of    
some noble vision caught in an hour of  
spiritual privilege  will mean advance4 
,you may1 if you will allow your        
attention to be  diverted by the        
underbrush around you and never see the 
bush that burns  with a strange fire1   
never see things absent1 things         
historic1 things  possible but          
unattained4 ,the small things1 the      
ant-hills1 and the  gopher mounds1 may1 
because they are near1 shut out your    
view of ,shasta  and ,whitney4 ,it is   
one of the tragedies of life that the   
insignificant1  the unimportant details 

have a way of crushing out the finer    
purposes1  thus bringing defeat to      
interests which are vital4    ,when     
,abraham ,lincoln had been unusually    
harassed by some professional           
politicians as to the bestowal of       
patronage1 he said one day1 half        
humorously and half sadly1 8,it is not  
the carrying on of the ,civil ,war      
which is killing me2 it is the work of  
deciding who shall be postmaster  at the
 ,four ,corners4 ,there is ,mr4         
,blank0--naming a very troublesome      
office-seeker--8,i never think of going 
to sleep at night without first  looking
 under the bed to see if ,blank is not  
there waiting to ask me  for some       
office40    ,it was one of the tragedies
 of those hard years in our history that
 the  great president of the republic1  
who himself had caught the vision and   
heard the voice--8,i have seen the      
affliction of my people which are in    
bondage2 ,i have heard their cry by     
reason of their taskmasters1 and  ,i am 

come down to deliver them0--it was one  
of the tragedies of that  period that   
his eyes should be turned away from the 
bush which burned  with fire to study   
the underbrush piled up round him by    
narrow-minded  politicians4 ,it is one  
of the tragedies of many lives in less  
exalted  station that the great things  
suffer defeat by the multiplicity and   
insistence of the small things4 ,busied 
here and there with a thousand  petty   
interests--what we shall eat1 what we   
shall drink1 what we  shall put on1 and1
 what other women will say about it when
 we get it  on--the vital things are    
left undone4 ,the whole wretched habit  
of life  comes from the lack of the     
power of vision1 the inability to put   
these  matters in right perspective1 the
 great things great and the small       
things small4    ,your real life does   
not consist in what you have4 ,your real
 life does  not consist in what you are 
actually able to do4 ,your real life    
does  not consist even1 as men often    

say1 in what you are4 ,your real life   
consists in what you see as possible and
 desirable for you1 and in  that        
capacity you feel stirring within you to
 gain all that sometime6  ,not your     
possessions1 not your outward           
achievements1 not your inner            
acquirements1 but your persistently     
cherished aspirations tell the  story of
 your real life4 ,it is what you hold in
 vision and steadily  strive for which  
marks you up or down4    ,but suppose   
one feels his lack of this power of     
vision1 how shall he  gain more of it8  
,how shall we cultivate our own meager  
share of this  fine ability8 ,you may   
recall that word of ,paul1 8,eye hath   
not seen1  nor ear heard1 neither hath  
it entered into the heart of man to     
conceive the things that ,god hath      
prepared for those that love him40      
,this does not mean merely that the     
things prepared for us are superior  to 
anything that eyes have seen or ears    
heard in this world2 it means  rather   

that they are discerned in another way4 
,they come to us through  the power of  
spiritual perception4 8,eye hath not    
seen10 not by physical  sensation2 8ear 
hath not heard10 not by hearsay or      
common report2 ,god  reveals them to us 
by his ,spirit4 ,it was not that ,moses 
had better eyes  or better ears than the
 ,midianite shepherds upon the          
hillsides2 he had  within him a soul of 
sympathy for his fellows1 a spirit of   
trust toward  ,god1 an attitude of      
personal aspiration for the highest1    
which enabled  him to see and to hear   
what they failed to detect4    ,this    
power of vision grows like other powers1
 by right use4 ,the soul  sees and sees 
more as the man obediently translates   
his visions into  deeds1 his insights   
into actions4 ,if any man1 gifted or    
humble1 will  do his will he shall know1
 for 8obedience10 as ,robertson said1   
8is the  organ of spiritual knowledge40 
,the power of vision grows through right
  use as each added insight becomes an  

effective impulse for noble action4     
,it is this power of vision which keeps 
men alive all the way up and  all the   
way in4 ,it is for you who stand on the 
slopes of ,horeb1 the  mountains of     
,god1 by reason of the higher education 
you have received  to cultivate this    
power by a spirit of obedient trust and 
by the habit  of loving service4 ,in    
every situation form the habit of       
turning aside  from the commonplace     
shapes which engage your eyes that you  
may see  some great and significant     
sight4 ,watch for the bush which burns  
with a  mysterious fire6 ,listen for the
 voice which issues out of it1 calling  
you to larger and higher service6       
,welcome these finer impulses which     
burn within your own breast1 for they   
will aid you in building your  personal 
life into that great1 divine plan of    
which you have caught a  far-off vision4
          ,,xii    8,,the ,,war         
,,against ,,war0      ,in my selection  
of a theme ,i have ventured to break    

away from the  conventional style of    
baccalaureate address4 ,i bring you no  
word of  counsel touching those moral   
values which are altogether private  and
 personal4 ,i would undertake rather to 
direct your minds to the  consideration 
of a certain problem1 vast and grave1   
whose scope is  national and            
international4    ,we live in a land    
governed by public opinion4 ,the seat of
 authority  is not at ,washington2 the  
seat of authority is to be found in     
those  prevailing sentiments and        
convictions which determine the real    
attitude  of the people themselves4 ,as 
college-trained men and women you are to
  be leaders in the work of forming that
 body of public opinion4 ,where it  is  
wise1 honest1 resolute1 it becomes the  
final source of safety for  the         
republic4 ,it is of vital importance1   
then1 that your contribution  to that   
section of public opinion which bears   
upon the problem ,i have  in mind be    
grounded in reason and conscience4      

,let me remind you of two sentences     
taken from ,holy ,writ1 one from the    
greatest book in the ,old ,testament1   
8,his name shall be called the  ,prince 
of ,peace02 the other from the last book
 in the ,new ,testament1  8,and he shall
 reign forever and ever40 ,his name     
shall be called the  ,prince of ,peace  
and he shall reign forever and ever6 ,we
 have here a  miniature picture of one  
of the sublime processes of the ages6   
,the  highest anticipation of the       
,hebrew looked toward the coming of ,one
 who  should establish a new line of    
succession4 ,he saw a new quality of    
life  winning its way to empire4 ,the   
heir to the throne of ,israel would be  
no more a man of war1 he would be the   
,prince of ,peace4 ,and the highest     
anticipation of the ,christian looked   
toward the complete success of  that    
finer method of sovereignty--that coming
 ,one would reign forever6    ,it is a  
splendid picture of that righteous and  
enduring conquest to  be accomplished   

not by force but by principle2 not by   
compulsion  through slaughter but by    
moral instruction1 persuasion1 and      
reasonable  agreement4 ,it is a picture 
which will furnish any man a worthy     
ideal  to hang in his sky and it will   
help him1 as he takes part in shaping   
the public opinion of his country1 to   
place the crown of his ultimate         
allegiance where it rightly belongs4    
,his name shall be called the ,prince of
 ,peace6 ,but what terrible mockery  has
 been offered to that name by his avowed
 followers6 ,it is one of  the ironies  
of history that the most costly and     
deadly armaments for  the killing of men
 in war are being wrought out in cold   
steel1 not by  the nations which owe    
their allegiance to ,mahomet1 the       
prophet of the  sword1 but by those     
nations which profess allegiance to the 
,prince of  ,peace4 8,put up thy sword10
 he said twenty centuries ago6 ,the     
command  has never been withdrawn nor   
revoked4 ,yet look out across the face  

of  what we call ,christendom and see   
the wicked and costly refusal6          
,christian ,germany1 where the          
,protestant ,reformation was ushered in 
by the preaching of ,martin ,luther1 has
 increased her national debt  in a      
single generation from eighteen millions
 of dollars to over one  thousand       
millions1 chiefly by expenditures upon  
her army and navy4  ,christian ,england1
 known to the ends of the earth as a    
center of  missionary impulse1 is almost
 beside herself in her mad desire to    
increase the number of ,dreadnoughts4   
,she is spending three  hundred millions
 of dollars a year on her army and navy 
as against  eighty-two millions all told
 on education1 science and art4         
,christian  ,russia1 professing in her  
orthodox ,greek ,church to have the only
 true  faith to be found upon the globe1
 is planning a billion dollar navy  and 
is actually spending two hundred        
millions a year upon armament  as       
against twenty-two millions a year upon 

education4 ,and our own  ,christian     
country has been making a strange       
departure from that policy  which has   
made us prosperous and happy1 honored   
and useful1 among the  nations of the   
earth for more than one hundred years4  
,the ,united ,states  in the last ten   
years has increased in population ten   
per cent1 and it  has increased its     
military expenditures during that period
 by three  hundred per cent4 ,and this  
is ,christendom6 ,these are the nations 
which  look up to the ,one whose name is
 called 8,the ,prince of ,peace0 and    
crown  him ,lord of all6 ,alas1 for the 
bitter irony of such a course6    ,and  
all this at a time when the bare problem
 of bread is becoming  more and more    
serious6 ,england1 spending her three   
hundred millions  of dollars a year on  
military outlay1 has little children in 
the  streets of ,london and ,glasgow    
eating refuse out of the garbage barrels
  because they are hungry4 ,the problem 
of poverty and unemployment  there is so

 grave that the ,british ,parliament    
sets aside whole days  for its          
consideration4 ,in ,germany a government
 expert said recently  that1 according  
to carefully prepared estimates based   
upon detailed  investigation1 there were
 two men applying for almost every job  
which  promised a living wage2 one-half 
of the skilled labor of the empire  was 
out of employment4 ,in ,russia1 people  
by the thousand die1 like  flies1 from  
malnutrition at the very hour when her  
military experts are  talking about that
 billion dollar navy4 ,it is criminal to
 take thus the  children's bread and    
fling it to the dogs of war6 ,how       
terrible all  this is for nations which 
profess to honor and follow the ,one who
 came  not to destroy men's lives1 but  
to save them6    ,in our own country1   
while the situation is less serious1    
there are men  enough out of work and   
unable to find bread to put into the    
mouths  of their families4 ,never a week
 passes when men do not come asking  me 

to use my influence with the employers  
in my congregation to find  them work4  
,our national leaders are looking in    
every direction to  discover how the    
revenue may be increased4 ,the present  
revenue is sadly  inadequate for the    
things which ought to be done4 ,there   
are millions of  acres of arid land to  
be irrigated by national enterprise and 
offered  for settlement to industrious  
families4 ,there are great areas of     
swamp  land to be drained which would   
support a busy1 happy population4 ,there
  are forests to be conserved and       
renewed in a way that would change  the 
whole face of the situation for the     
farmer and the fruit-grower  in great   
sections of our country4 ,there are     
inland waterways to be  improved and    
developed1 bringing producer and        
consumer nearer together  by better     
means of transportation1 thus reducing  
the cost of living4  ,there is a        
merchant marine sadly needing           
assistance1 for our flag  should fly on 

all seas and in every port1 in what     
could be a useful  and profitable trade4
 ,all these things ought to be done1 if 
only there  was money available to do   
them4 ,all these interests suffer for   
lack  of money in the very period when  
within ten years we are increasing  our 
military expenditure by three hundred   
per cent4 ,his name shall  be called    
8,the ,prince of ,peace10 and it is     
under his banner that we  profess to    
march6    ,what is it all for8 ,i know  
the scare-heads which sometimes fill the
  sillier type of newspaper4 ,i know how
 frightened some people are  when some  
8military expert10 as he calls himself1 
has the nightmare4  8,men who spend the 
best years of their lives looking at the
 world  through the bore of a gun get   
their vision distorted40 ,they cannot   
see straight2 they become sorry and     
unreliable leaders1 as ,europe1         
staggering under her grievous burden1   
knows to her sorrow4 ,sir ,edward       
,grey1 foreign secretary in the present 

,cabinet1 said recently in the  ,british
 ,parliament1 8,the vastness of the     
expenditure on armament is  a satire on 
modern civilization and if continued it 
must lead ,europe  into bankruptcy40    
,the real security of any nation depends
 upon its  schools and its churches1 its
 useful industries and its happy homes a
  thousand times more than upon its army
 and navy4 ,and the conceit of  these   
militarists who are throwing dust in the
 eyes of the people would  be funny1 if 
it were not so costly and so perilous to
 our national  well-being4    ,it is the
 duty of the church and of the          
university1 where men do  not live in   
that state of chronic hysteria which    
possesses many a  newspaper office1 to  
arraign this evil of militarism as the  
most  cruel and inexcusable burden1 as  
the most gigantic crime against  the    
toiling people1 as the nearest approach 
to the unpardonable sin  known to our   
twentieth century4 ,the men who watch   
the world from that  narrow station     

8behind the gun0 are not competent      
leaders of public  sentiment4 ,the      
merchant and the mechanic1 the wise     
lawyer and the  skilled physician1 the  
farmer1 the miner1 and the trained      
teacher1  engaged in peaceful1 useful   
industry1 are vastly more competent to  
see  things as they are and to aid in   
shaping a wholesome public sentiment4   
,international relationships are being  
formed today as never before in  the    
history of the race through community of
 interest in trade and by  those        
associations which come through labor   
organizations and through  literature1  
through the work of education and by    
religious affiliation4  ,it is for these
 men and women whose main interest lies 
in those  productive vocations to insist
 upon being heard4    ,what are the     
reasons urged for this cruel and costly 
outlay8 8,in time  of peace prepare for 
war60 ,this stupid sentiment is trotted 
out as if  it were a fragment from the  
wisdom of the ages4 ,history as well as 

common sense laughs it to scorn4 ,in    
time of peace prepare for peace6  ,we   
did just that with ,england along our   
northern border where for  four thousand
 miles only an imaginary line divides us
 from one of the  mightiest nations on  
earth4 ,we agreed with her that not a   
solitary  fort should mar that border1  
that not a single war-ship should       
trouble  the friendly waters of the     
,great ,lakes4 ,if these two nations can
 make  that treaty of disarmament for a 
frontier of four thousand miles and     
observe it faithfully for a century1    
what is there in the nature of the  case
 to prevent the extension of that noble 
line of friendly agreement              
indefinitely8    ,we prepared for peace 
and we have had peace4 ,the whole       
history of  our country has been1 in the
 main1 a history of peace4 ,since #aghi1
  a hundred and twenty-one years ago1   
only three foreign wars have            
interrupted our progress1 and they      
lasted1 all told1 less than eight       

years4 ,for the other one hundred and   
thirteen years our swords have  been    
plowshares1 our spears have been        
pruning-hooks1 the fine steel of  our   
young manhood has been devoted to those 
useful activities which  do not destroy1
 but feed and save4 ,if we can thus live
 and grow to  be one of the mightiest   
nations on earth by the policy of peace1
 why  this sudden spasm of military     
preparation now retarding our genuine   
development6    ,but we have become 8a  
world power0 men say1 and some of the   
nations  might attack us6 ,why should   
they8 ,never since we became a republic 
have we been attacked1 though for       
decades and decades our navy was  a     
negligible quantity4 8,but suppose      
,germany should land a hundred  thousand
 soldiers on our ,atlantic coast10 some 
man shrieked out  recently4 ,why should 
she8 ,sane people deal with             
probabilities1 not  with wild and       
imaginary possibilities4 ,if ,germany   
wanted to attack us1  why did she not do

 it in those years when we had no navy  
at all worth  mentioning8 ,we buy       
millions and millions of dollars worth  
of goods  every year 8made in ,germany40
 ,does ,germany wish to fight one of her
  best customers8 ,if some man who keeps
 a meat-market has a customer  who comes
 in every day to order chops or a steak 
for his lunch and a  roast of beef or a 
leg of lamb for his dinner1 does the    
butcher want  to beat that customer over
 the head with a musket8 ,any one can   
see  the absurdity of it6 ,is folly any 
the less folly when raised to the  nth  
power by being made international8      
,so much for ,germany6 ,as for ,england1
 she ruled the sea for all those        
decades when we had no navy worth       
considering and she never thought  of   
attacking us4 ,why should she fight the 
people of her own race and  language    
whose commercial interests are so       
closely interwoven with  her own        
economic life8 ,france is our           
traditional and hereditary  friend4 ,no 

other nation on that side of the globe  
need be taken into  our calculation4    
,what a nightmare it is which sets us to
 building ten  million dollar warships  
for fear some respectable neighbor might
 attack  us6    ,but there is ,japan6   
,at the very hour when ten thousand     
,japanese boys  and girls were singing  
songs of welcome along the streets to   
the  officers and men of the ,american  
fleet1 when the whole empire from the   
officials of high rank down to the      
jinrikisha men in the street was        
showing its cordial good-will to the    
representatives of our country1  an     
excitable young man1 who owes his fame  
to the fact that he did one  brave deed 
at ,santiago and was thenceforth        
miscellaneously kissed by a  lot of     
impressionable women--this excitable    
young man was rushing about  saying1    
8,war with ,japan is inevitable60 ,and  
here on the ,pacific coast  recently a  
tired1 sick1 disappointed old man1 an   
admiral in the navy1  said to a bunch of

 newspaper reporters who wanted         
something yellow to  fill up the front  
page1 8,japan could tear this coast to  
ribbons in  sixty days60 ,he made this  
thoughtless deliverance at the very time
 when  the ink on the notable agreement 
entered into by ,president ,roosevelt   
and the emperor of ,japan was scarcely  
dry6 ,the thoughtful people of  both    
nations smiled and then mourned over his
 foolish word4 ,germany1  ,england1     
,france1 ,japan1 these four are the only
 nations on the globe  that we need take
 into such a consideration6 ,how absurd 
to be imposing  upon the toiling people 
the useless burden of expensive armament
  against these neighbors4    ,but 8we  
have colonies now and we must defend    
them--there are the  ,philippines60 ,who
 wants the ,philippines8 ,nobody6 ,they 
have been1 as all  the world knows1 an  
expensive and troublesome burden4 ,we   
have already  spent several hundreds of 
millions of dollars upon that           
undertaking1  and the end is not yet4   

,we could well afford to pay any country
 fifty  millions of dollars to take them
 off our hands4 ,but this is not the    
way national business is transacted4 ,we
 found ourselves with the  ,philippines 
in our possession1 contrary to the wish 
and judgment of  many of us at the time1
 and now by an expenditure of these     
hundreds of  millions of dollars upon   
schools and churches1 upon better       
government1  public improvements1 and   
economic development1 we have been      
trying  to do our duty by that backward 
people4 ,but nobody wants to fight us   
to get the ,philippines4 8,they can be  
left out over night10 as ,dr4           
,jefferson said in ,new ,york1 8without 
the slightest anxiety on our  part40 ,we
 certainly do not need to increase our  
military expenditures  three hundred per
 cent to prevent some nation from       
robbing us of that  precious colony4    
,there are enemies against which we do  
need to arm ourselves6 ,not  ,england   
and ,germany1 not ,france and           

,japan--no1 the common enemies  of      
hunger and cold1 pain and disease1      
ignorance and vice1 greed and  graft1   
unemployment and inequitable            
distribution6 ,against these enemies  we
 do need to arm4 ,these alien elements  
are the dangerous foes of  the republic1
 and they have landed their devastating 
forces upon our  shores4 ,against them  
we must enlist2 against them we must    
build the  best armaments which         
statesmanship can devise and generous   
treasuries  provide4 ,and in that great 
and honorable warfare against the real  
enemies of human well-being the exalted 
,leader of our race1 the ,one  whose    
name written above every name is called 
the ,prince of ,peace1 will  march at   
the head of the advancing host4    ,not 
only the costliness1 but the futility of
 this burdensome armament  smites us in 
the face when we begin to think4 ,some  
years ago in  ,russia1 a man named ,jean
 ,bloch began to write about war4 ,he   
was not  a dreamy sentimentalist2 he was

 a banker and the administrator of a    
great railroad system4 ,he had been     
studying war upon its scientific  and   
economic side4 ,he advanced the argument
 that the introduction  of long-range1  
rapid-fire guns using smokeless powder  
made decisive  engagements between large
 bodies of troops impossible2 and thus  
made  useless the appeal to arms as a   
mode of settling international disputes4
    ,a small force of men securely      
entrenched can now hold at bay          
indefinitely a mighty army4 ,when men   
could safely march up within  two or    
three hundred yards of earthworks1      
fortified positions were  sometimes     
carried by the assault of a superior    
force4 ,all this is now  changed4 ,the  
zone of fire today extends for more than
 a mile4 ,across  that space the man    
behind the earthworks can shoot with    
marvelous  accuracy fifteen to          
twenty-five bullets per minute4         
,smokeless powder  keeps the zone of    
deadly fire clear1 so that he can see   

how to shoot4  ,the field is not        
obscured by smoke as it was when        
,longstreet made his  advance at        
,gettysburg4 ,smokeless powder and the  
recently invented  noiseless rifle make 
it impossible to locate the foe either  
by sight or  by sound--men simply drop  
dead as they undertake to advance across
 that  zone of fire which extends for a 
mile4 ,the effect of all this upon the  
morale of an army undertaking to carry a
 fortified position by assault  is      
instantly apparent4 ,such attempts are  
now things of the past4    ,jean ,bloch 
had scarcely published his argument when
 the ,south  ,african war came on to    
demonstrate the essential soundness of  
his  main conclusions4 ,the ,british    
empire was making war upon two little   
republics numbering all told1 men1      
women1 and children1 about eighty       
thousand people--less than enough to    
provide inhabitants for some  third-rate
 city4 ,imagine some unimportant city of
 eighty thousand  people undertaking to 

wage war with ,england6 ,yet with all   
the resources  of her army and navy1    
with the treasury drawn upon at the rate
 of a  million dollars a day1 with ,lord
 ,roberts in the field1 and with the    
splendid courage of her best troops     
matched against the scanty numbers  of  
the opposing forces1 the ,boers held out
 against ,great ,britain for  nearly    
three years4    ,it was a bitter        
experience for ,england4 ,it burdened   
her with an  increase of debt under     
which she staggers in her present       
industrial  depression4 ,it hastened the
 death of the good ,queen ,victoria4 ,it
 brings  an apologetic note into the    
voice of almost every ,englishman one   
meets  today when he refers to it1 and  
yet it was the ,british empire against  
eighty thousand people4 ,imagine what it
 would have been in costliness  and in  
futility had she been trying to overcome
 an equal6 ,picture the  folly of       
,england trying to overcome ,germany1 or
 of ,france trying to  conquer the      

,united ,states4 ,jean ,bloch was right1
 and many of ,europe's  wisest statesmen
 are openly endorsing his claim4 ,they  
are using the  sensible argument of this
 business man to stem this tide of      
militarism  now sweeping across the face
 of ,christendom4    ,artillery has     
become all but useless against modern   
fortifications4  ,plevna told us that1  
thirty years ago4 ,the ,russian general1
 ,todleben1  said of that campaign1 8,we
 would bombard ,plevna for a whole day  
and  kill perhaps a single ,turk40 ,the 
,south ,african war repeated the same   
sentiment with a loud 8amen40 ,the      
correspondents on the ,english side     
reported1 8,we bombarded ,cronje for a  
solid week and after the struggle  was  
over we found he had lost in all that   
time less than a hundred men40    ,the  
costly operations of modern warfare1    
when a fleet can fire away  fifty       
thousand dollars' worth of ammunition in
 a few minutes and when  armies in the  
field run up bills correspondingly      

great1 impose burdens  which lift the   
luxury of such performances out of the  
reach of all but  the well-to-do        
nations4 ,when the old-time fighters    
used battle-axes and  broadswords1 they 
could go out and hew ,agag in pieces    
before the ,lord  as long as the        
strength of their right arms and the    
supply of ,agags  held out--they could  
do this indefinitely without entailing  
any serious  expense upon their         
countries4 ,but the costly weapons now  
in vogue1 with  their voracious         
appetites for expensive ammunition1 make
 war another  matter4    ,even these    
terrible outlays might be borne by the  
powerful nations for  a brief period1   
but the inability of any large army to  
win a speedy and  decisive victory over 
another would cause the campaigns to    
drag along  until the economic resources
 of both parties to the struggle would  
be  taxed beyond limit and thus the     
futility of the appeal to arms would    
again be demonstrated4 ,all this has    

become so apparent that some of the     
wisest statesmen in ,europe are         
insisting that war between great nations
  of approximately equal strength has   
become1 on the face of it1 such an      
absurdity as to make such an event in   
the highest degree improbable4    ,in   
the city of ,lucerne1 on the shore of   
that lovely lake with the  ,rigi and    
,pilatus rising up in front1 ,jean      
,bloch caused to be erected  a 8,museum 
of ,peace and ,war40 ,he knew that      
abstract arguments are  sometimes weak  
where visible1 tangible facts are strong
 in their power  of appeal4 ,he provided
 for exhibits of the various forms of   
armament  from arrow-heads and primitive
 tomahawks down to ,mauser rifles and   
,krupp cannon4 ,he has shown how        
complete defenses may be made where     
barbed wire obstacles are stretched     
across that deadly zone which  extends  
for more than a mile in front of the    
fortified spot--obstacles  which men can
 neither cut nor pass under fire4 ,he   

has shown the  penetrative power of     
modern bullets4 ,napoleon used to say   
bluntly1 8,a  boy will serve to stop a  
bullet as well as a man40 ,but neither  
boy nor  man stops the bullet from one  
of these modern rifles1 it goes right on
  in its bloody career4 ,experts had    
calculated that a rifle bullet from  a  
,mauser gun would pierce fifteen        
thicknesses of cowhide1 a hardwood      
plank three inches thick1 and then go   
through a dozen more inch boards  placed
 at intervals4 ,i saw there in that     
museum the results of the  test--the    
bullet pierced the cowhide1 the         
three-inch plank1 and went  through     
sixteen inch boards1 lodging in the     
seventeenth4 ,army men say  that a      
bullet with force enough to pierce an   
inch board will kill a  man4 ,with such 
penetrative force any one can see the   
deadly effect of  these long-range1     
rapid-fire guns using smokeless powder4 
,it takes away  some of the glamour and 
romance from the terrible business of   

war to  have its appliances thus        
scientifically exhibited4    ,in that   
same museum at ,lucerne1 where the      
exhibits of deadly weapons  are         
educating thousands of tourists from all
 the nations of earth  as they come and 
go1 year by year1 other exhibits show   
the increase  of international          
arbitration as a means of determining   
differences4  ,within the last ten years
 eighty of these arbitration treaties   
have  been signed1 our own country being
 a party to more than a third of them   
all4 ,there is a growing and an         
insistent demand in all the enlightened 
nations of the earth for an             
international judiciary4 ,men have come 
to see that this costly international   
dueling does not really settle          
anything4 ,a few men have to sit down   
finally around a table somewhere  and   
determine what shall stand4 ,and as     
statesmen get their eyes open  they will
 more and more insist that this shall be
 done before the  costly and futile     

experiments in killing men take place   
rather than  afterward4    ,the great   
arbitrations of history might certainly 
be made as  conspicuous in our schools1 
in the press1 and in literature as the  
great battles4 ,beside that volume bound
 in red1 8,fifteen ,decisive  ,battles  
of the ,world10 there ought to stand    
another more significant  volume bound  
in white and gold1 8,fifty ,decisive    
,arbitrations of the  ,world40 ,let the 
church and the university join hands in 
helping the  people of our country to   
realize that when the final estimates   
are made  up1 it will not be 8,blessed  
are the warmakers10 but 8,blessed are   
the  peacemakers3 for they shall be     
called the children of ,god40 ,how      
mighty  would be the influence of the   
thirty millions of professing           
,christians  in our own land in shaping 
public opinion1 in determining our      
national  policy1 could their hearts be 
really fired with the magnificent       
principles and the passion for human    

well-being which possessed the  heart of
 the ,prince of ,peace6    ,there is a  
growing unwillingness among the nations 
to discount  their futures by killing   
off large numbers of their bravest and  
most patriotic young men in war4 ,david 
,starr ,jordan's two familiar           
principles are absolutely sound3 8,the  
blood of a nation determines  its       
history10 and 8,the history of a nation 
determines its blood40 ,the  truth of   
the first statement we see at a glance1 
for the blood1 the  inner life-quality1 
of any nation shapes its history4 ,and  
the second  statement is equally true2  
if the history of a nation is stained by
  incessant warfare1 if generation after
 generation consents to the  destruction
 of those courageous1 virile young men  
whose hearts respond  readily to the    
call for heroic sacrifice1 such a       
history eliminates  from the blood of   
that nation those very elements which it
 sorely needs4    ,it cost us the lives 
of half a million men to abolish slavery

 and to  keep our country whole4 ,if    
that result was to be secured in no     
other  way1 men who love liberty and    
love the ,union may say that the price  
was not too great for such unspeakable  
benefits4 ,but we know that the  nation 
today is less able to grapple with its  
present problems1 with  the greed and   
the graft1 with the fraud and the lust  
which confront us1  because of the loss 
of those brave men and of the children  
they might  have reared1 bequeathing to 
them their own heroic spirit1 had their 
lives been lived out in peaceful        
industry4 ,they went down cheerily to   
die at ,shiloh and ,chancellorsville1 at
 ,antietam and ,gettysburg1 but  the    
nation to this hour feels the loss of   
such a priceless heritage of  public    
spirit and uncalculating heroism4 ,the  
serious-minded nations are  becoming    
ever more reluctant to make such costly 
sacrifices for the  sake of the doubtful
 advantage of a great war4    ,in the   
growth of international agreements1 in  

the gradual advance  of what might be   
called international litigation before  
courts of  arbitration replacing the    
barbarous methods of slaughter and      
conquest1  in the steady increase of    
that good understanding and mutual      
good-will  promoted by travel and the   
interchange of products1 by fellowship  
in  the work of science and education   
and through the joys of sharing         
responsibility in the cause of          
philanthropy and religion--in these     
vast movements of thought and feeling   
lies the hope of that better  day when  
peace shall hold an undisputed sway4    
,the nineteenth century1  by steam and  
telegraph1 by increased travel and the  
ready exchange  of commodities1 made the
 whole world a neighborhood4 ,it is for 
the  twentieth century1 by the          
permeation of international intercourse 
with finer principles and a nobler      
spirit1 to make the whole world a       
brotherhood4    ,it is the duty of      
right-minded1 honest-hearted people     

everywhere to  use their utmost         
endeavors to maintain and increase that 
body of good  feeling out of which shall
 issue this higher type of international
  life4 ,to such proportions has this   
sentiment already grown1 that if  these 
four nations1 ,england1 ,germany1       
,france1 and the ,united ,states1  were 
to make arbitration before a properly   
constituted international  court the    
method of their dealing with one        
another1 the other ,latin1  ,slavic1 and
 ,oriental countries would find         
themselves powerless against  this      
mighty tide setting ever in the         
direction of the determination of  all  
differences by the more rational method4
    ,the outlook for arbitration as a   
means of settlement is altogether       
hopeful4 ,the convention creating a     
joint high commission to determine      
finally our ,canadian boundary2 the     
self-restraint shown by the nations  at 
large in not using force against the    
late ,castro government  in ,venezuela2 

the three great conventions among       
,european powers  neutralizing ,norway  
and agreeing to respect each other's    
territory on  the ,baltic2 the exchange 
of notes between ,japan and the ,united 
,states  relating to the ,far ,east2 the
 fact that the ,central ,american states
  have thus far kept their agreement of 
#aijg to refer all differences  to a    
court of their own creation2 the fact   
that the ,balkan crisis in  #aijh1 at   
one time fraught with possibilities     
frightful to contemplate1  occasioned no
 ,european war as would have been the   
result of such a  tangle twenty years   
ago--all these signs of the times are   
full of  promise4    ,we must confess   
that the churches of him whose name     
should be called  the ,prince of ,peace 
have oftentimes been inefficient in     
their  performance of an essential duty4
 ,the feeling between ,england and      
,germany1 for example1 at the present   
time is almost insanely acute4  ,germany
 has been jealous of the growing        

friendship between ,england and         
,france1 now happily replacing the ugly 
antagonism which harks back to  the time
 of ,napoleon4 ,england is jealous of   
,germany's growing supremacy  in the    
world of manufacture4 ,technical        
schools1 improved machinery1  and the   
rapid increase of skilled labor has     
enabled the ,german to carry  his wares 
into the markets of the world and to    
undersell the ,briton4  ,all this with  
certain other causes which make for ill 
feeling has  aroused a measure of       
hostility on both sides of the ,north   
,sea4    ,i spent four months in        
,england a year ago4 ,i attended church 
twice  or three times each ,sunday and  
never once in all that time from a      
,christian pulpit did ,i hear a minister
 of ,christ speak in deprecation  of    
that feeling of hostility or seek to    
allay that sentiment of  international  
jealousy4 ,aside from the               
8,international ,peace ,congress10      
which met in ,england that summer1 the  

only public effort of that  kind ,i     
witnessed or heard of was made at a     
socialist meeting in ,st4  ,james ,hall1
 ,london4 ,the ,international ,socialist
 ,party brought over  from ,berlin two  
well-known men1 ,kautsky1 the editor of 
a socialist  organ there1 and ,ledebour1
 the leader of the socialist party in   
the  ,reichstag1 to address this meeting
 side by side with ,hyndman1 a          
long-time leader of the ,english        
socialists1 and ,keir ,hardie1 labor    
member of the ,british ,parliament4     
,these men1 ,german and ,briton1 stood  
together and uttered their ringing words
 that night against the further         
increase of armament1 and in the        
interests of brotherhood4 ,has it come  
to this1 that titled bishop and         
archbishop of the ,church of ,christ1   
that learned scholars and teachers in   
,oxford and ,cambridge shall  hold their
 peace in the presence of threatened    
war1 while out of the  workshops of the 
poor and the weary ranks of organized   

labor shall come  the prophets of better
 things1 calling upon ,christendom in   
the name of  the ,carpenter of ,nazareth
 to put up its sword6    ,our own nation
 has been guilty of its full share of   
this gigantic  folly4 ,our ,congress    
faced a deficit last year of something  
like one  hundred and thirty five       
millions of dollars1 mainly because of  
the  enormous outlays upon the navy in  
building those ten million dollar       
warships4 ,if the present rate of       
expenditure is maintained for the next  
ten years1 with no increase whatever1 it
 means that we shall spend  upon our    
navy the vast sum of one billion1 three 
hundred and fifty  millions of dollars4 
,the reports show that for the fiscal   
year ending  ,june #cj1 #aiji1          
seventy-one per cent of our national    
revenue was spent  upon the result of   
war and the preparation for war1 upon   
pensions and  upon the army and navy4   
,what would you think of the            
housekeeping of a  family where         

seventy-one per cent of their income was
 spent on guns6  ,and because the       
government1 with these huge outlays upon
 armament1  cannot live upon its income1
 ,congress insists upon increased       
taxation  through these ingeniously     
devised tariffs1 which fall most heavily
 upon  the great consuming public4 ,the 
cost of living has increased until it   
has become cruel to all people in modest
 circumstances and actually  destructive
 to the struggling poor4    ,has not the
 time come for the plain people to call 
a halt6 ,has not the  time come for the 
indignant toilers in peaceful           
occupations to restrain  the unwise     
leaders who are responsible for this    
craze of militarism6  ,has not the      
solemn farce of seeing ,christian       
nations build ten million  dollar       
bulldogs in the remote possibility of   
being called upon to  match them against
 the costly bulldogs of their neighbors1
 unless1  perchance1 these expensive    
creations should1 before that1 have been

  relegated to the scrap-heap by some   
new device--has not that solemn1  ugly  
farce played itself out6 8,the welfare  
of the people is the supreme  law of the
 land40 ,it is the supreme law of all   
lands and any one who  has visited      
,europe1 where every third peasant      
carries a useless and  burdensome       
soldier on his back as he goes forth to 
his toil1 knows that  this modern evil  
of militarism is a mighty menace to the 
welfare of any  people4    ,the         
,chairman of the ,committee on          
,appropriations in our ,congress  last  
winter called the attention of the      
,house to the fact that1 in  pensions   
and in preparations for possible war1   
the ,united ,states was  spending more  
money than any other nation in the      
world4 ,he called  attention to the fact
 that the appropriations for military   
and naval  affairs for the coming year  
would exceed1 by twenty-nine millions of
  dollars1 all the money which the      
,united ,states government has spent    

from the beginning of the republic up to
 the present hour upon public           
buildings4 ,he spoke also of the fact   
that this nation1 which we like  to     
think of as a non-military nation1 is   
spending at the present time  more than 
two-thirds of the total national revenue
 on pensions and on  preparations for   
war4 ,what an abnormal condition for a  
republic whose  splendid history has    
been almost entirely a history of peace6
    ,would that our country might take  
higher ground in this whole matter6     
,would that there might go out from us a
 splendid endorsement of the  principle 
of arbitration1 a strong insistence upon
 the method of  international litigation
 before such tribunals as have been     
outlined at  the ,hague conferences and 
a stinging rebuke to the policy of      
increasing  these deadly and burdensome 
armaments6 ,would that our land might   
show  itself a leader and a messiah     
among the nations in achieving that     
magnificent fulfilment when the promised

 ,messiah1 the ,prince of ,peace1  shall
 reign in the affairs of men4    ,the   
claim is made that risk is involved in  
refusing to maintain these  costly      
armaments which are sapping the         
life-blood of the leading  nations of   
,europe4 ,risk is involved1 undoubtedly1
 but if we want peace1  why not take    
that risk in showing the nations that   
such is our desire8  ,it would be a     
magnificent form of moral venture4 ,risk
 is involved--so  be it6 ,a far greater 
risk to the general welfare and to the  
perpetuity  of our institutions is      
involved in the opposite course4 ,why   
should  not we1 as a land of high       
principles and shining ideals1 make the 
moral venture of staking our future upon
 a splendid obedience to the  appeal of 
the great ,messiah8 ,beat the swords    
into plowshares6 ,beat  the spears into 
pruning-hooks6 ,in peaceful1 joyous     
industry let not  this nation learn war 
any more6 ,let it place its reliance    
upon courts  of arbitration for the     

settlement of international disputes1   
and the  blessing of ,almighty ,god1    
which maketh rich and bringeth no sorrow
  therewith1 shall be ours6      8,if   
drunk with sight of power we loose      
,wild tongues that have not ,thee in    
awe1    ,such boastings as the ,gentiles
 use          ,or lesser breeds without 
the law1    ,lord ,god of ,hosts1 be    
with us yet1    ,lest we forget--lest we
 forget6      8,the tumult and the      
shouting dies2          ,the captains   
and the kings depart2    ,still stands  
thine ancient sacrifice          ,an    
humble and a contrite heart4    ,lord   
,god of ,hosts1 be with us yet1    ,lest
 we forget--lest we forget40    ,o thou 
land whose ,declaration of ,independence
 was made in ,philadelphia1  the city of
 brotherly love6 ,o thou land of        
,washington1 who prayed in  his farewell
 address that we might be kept from the 
scourge of war6 ,o  thou land of        
,general ,grant1 who declared1 8,though 
,i have been trained  as a soldier and  

have participated in many battles1 there
 never was a  time1 in my opinion1 when 
some way could not have been found to   
prevent  the drawing of the sword40 ,o  
thou land of ,lincoln1 who pleaded in   
his  second inaugural1 8,with malice    
toward none1 with charity for all1 with 
firmness in the right as ,god gives us  
to see the right1 let us bind up  the   
nation's wounds and strive to achieve   
and cherish among ourselves  and with   
all nations a just and lasting peace40  
,o thou land that we  love1 enter thou  
afresh into a nobler rivalry with all   
the nations of  earth in the cultivation
 of good-will1 in the reduction of      
burdensome  armament and in the         
maintenance of those policies which make
 for the  enduring welfare of the race6 
,transcriber's ,notes    ,page #e3 8go  
to college and tay0 changed to 8go to   
college and stay0    ,page #ad3 8your   
own impress on0 changed to 8your own    
impression0    ,page #cc3 ,a missing    
period was added at the end of a        

sentence4    ,page #hh3 8the ewards are 
rich0 changed to 8the rewards are rich0 
,page #aja3 8stirring times of war on in
 the slower0 changed to 8stirring  times
 of war or in the slower0    ,page #aab3
 8to stand up befor0 changed to 8to     
stand up before0    ,page #acj3 8simply 
gets wet and muddy1 and rowned0 changed 
to 8simply  gets wet and muddy1 and     
drowned0    ,page #agf3 8by intemperance
 and some fly0 changed to 8by           
intemperance  and some by0    ,page     
#bjb3 8his name shall be0 changed to    
8,his name shall be0    ,page #bah3     
8conquer the united ,states0 changed to 
8conquer the ,united  ,states0    ,page 
#bbe3 8,england ,germany1 ,france10     
changed to 8,england1 ,germany1         
,france10    ,page #bca3 8deadly and    
burdensone armaments60 changed to       
8deadly and  burdensome armaments60