,a ,,way ,,of ,,life      ,an ,address  
to ,yale ,students    ,sunday evening1  
,april #bjth1 #aiac        ,by          
,,william ,,osler        ,,london       
,,constable  ,,company ,,ltd4    #aiac  
,what each day needs that shall thou    
ask1    ,each day will set its proper   
task4                                   
,goethe4      ,,fellow ,,students--     
,every man has a philosophy of life in  
thought1 in word1 or in deed1  worked   
out in himself unconsciously4  ,in      
possession of the very best1  he may not
 know of its existence2 with the very   
worst he may pride  himself as a        
paragon4  ,as it grows with the growth  
it cannot be  taught to the young in    
formal lectures4  ,what have bright     
eyes1 red  blood1 quick breath and taut 
muscles to do with philosophy8  ,did not
  the great ,stagirite say that young   
men were unfit students of  it8--they   
will hear as though they heard not1 and 
to no profit4  ,why  then should ,i     
trouble you8  ,because ,i have a message

 that may be  helpful4  ,it is not      
philosophical1 nor is it strictly moral 
or  religious1 one or other of which ,i 
was told my address should be1 and  yet 
in a way it is all three4  ,it is the   
oldest and the freshest1 the  simplest  
and the most useful1 so simple indeed is
 it that some of you  may turn away     
disappointed as was ,naaman the ,syrian 
when told to go  wash in ,jordan and be 
clean4  ,you know those composite tools1
 to be  bought for #ej cents1 with one  
handle to fit a score or more of        
instruments4  ,the workmanship is       
usually bad1 so bad1 as a rule1 that    
you will not find an example in any good
 carpenter's shop2 but the  boy has one1
 the chauffeur slips one into his box1  
and the sailor  into his kit1 and there 
is one in the odds-and-ends drawer of   
the  pantry of every well-regulated     
family4  ,it is simply a handy thing    
about the house1 to help over the many  
little difficulties of the  day4  ,of   
this sort of philosophy ,i wish to make 

you a present--a  handle to fit your    
life tools4  ,whether the workmanship is
 ,sheffield  or shoddy1 this helve will 
fit anything from a hatchet to a        
corkscrew4    ,my message is but a word1
 a ,way1 an easy expression of the      
experience of a plain man whose life has
 never been worried by any  philosophy  
higher than that of the shepherd in ,as 
,you ,like ,it4  ,i  wish to point out a
 path in which the wayfaring man1 though
 a fool1  cannot err2 not a system to be
 worked out painfully only to be        
discarded1 not a formal scheme1 simply a
 habit as easy--or as  hard6--to adopt  
as any other habit1 good or bad4        
,i    ,a few years ago a ,xmas card went
 the rounds1 with the legend ,life is   
just one 'derned' thing after another1  
which1 in more refined  language1 is the
 same as saying ,life is a habit1 a     
succession of  actions that become more 
or less automatic4  ,this great truth1  
which  lies at the basis of all actions1
 muscular or psychic1 is the  keystone  

of the teaching of ,aristotle1 to whom  
the formation of  habits was the basis  
of moral excellence4  ,in a word1 habits
 of any  kind are the result of actions 
of the same kind2 and so what we have   
to do1 is to give a certain character to
 these particular actions  7,ethics74   
,lift a seven months old baby to his    
feet--see him tumble  on his nose4  ,do 
the same at twelve months--he walks4    
,at two years  he runs4  ,the muscles   
and the nervous system have acquired the
 habit4  ,one trial after another1 one  
failure after another1 has given him    
power4  ,put your finger in a baby's    
mouth1 and he sucks away in  blissful   
anticipation of a response to a         
mammalian habit millions of  years old4 
,and we can deliberately train parts of 
our body to  perform complicated actions
 with unerring accuracy4  ,watch that   
musician playing a difficult piece4     
,batteries1 commutators1  multipliers1  
switches1 wires innumerable control     
those nimble  fingers1 the machinery of 

which may be set in motion as           
automatically  as in a pianola1 the     
player all the time chatting as if he   
had  nothing to do in controlling the   
apparatus--habit again1 the gradual     
acquisition of power by long practice   
and at the expense of many  mistakes4   
,the same great law reaches through     
mental and moral  states4  ,character1  
which partakes of both1 in ,plutarch's  
words1 is  long-standing habit4    ,now 
the way of life that ,i preach is a     
habit to be acquired gradually  by long 
and steady repetition4  ,it is the      
practice of living for the  day only1   
and for the day's work1 ,life in        
day-tight compartments4  ,ah1 ,i hear   
you say1 that is an easy matter1 simple 
as ,elisha's  advice6  ,not as ,i shall 
urge it1 in words which fail to express 
the  depth of my feelings as to its     
value4  ,i started life in the best of  
all environments--in a parsonage1 one of
 nine children4  ,a man who  has filled 
,chairs in four universities1 has       

written a successful  book1 and has been
 asked to lecture at ,yale1 is supposed 
popularly to  have brains of a special  
quality4  ,a few of my intimate friends 
really know the truth about me1 as ,i   
know it6  ,mine1 in good faith ,i  say  
it1 are of the most mediocre character4 
,but what about those  professorships1  
etc48  ,just habit1 a way of life1 an   
outcome of the  day's work1 the vital   
importance of which ,i wish to impress  
upon you  with all the force at my      
command4    ,dr4 ,johnson remarked upon 
the trifling circumstances by which     
men's  lives are influenced1 not by an  
ascendant planet1 a predominating       
humour1 but by the first book which they
 read1 some early  conversation which   
they have heard1 or some accident which 
excited  ardour and enthusiasm4  ,this  
was my case in two particulars4  ,i was 
diverted to the ,trinity ,college       
,school1 then at ,weston1 ,ontario1 by a
  paragraph in the circular stating that
 the senior boys would go into  the     

drawing-room in the evenings1 and learn 
to sing and dance--vocal  and pedal     
accomplishments for which ,i was never  
designed2 but like  ,saul seeking his   
asses1 ,i found something more valuable1
 a man of the  ,white of ,selborne type1
 who knew nature1 and who knew how to   
get boys  interested in it4#a  ,the     
other happened in the summer of #ahga1  
when  ,i was attending the ,montreal    
,general ,hospital4  ,much worried as to
  the future1 partly about the final    
examination1 partly as to what ,i       
should do afterwards1 ,i picked up a    
volume of ,carlyle1 and on the  page ,i 
opened there was the familiar           
sentence--,our main business is  not to 
see what lies dimly at a distance1 but  
to do what lies clearly  at hand4  ,a   
commonplace sentiment enough1 but it hit
 and stuck and  helped1 and was the     
starting-point of a habit that has      
enabled me to  utilize to the full the  
single talent entrusted to me4      #a  
,the ,rev4 ,w4 ,a4 ,johnson1 the founder

 of the school4          ,,ii    ,the   
workers in ,christ's vineyard were hired
 by the day2 only for this  day are we  
to ask for our daily bread1 and we are  
expressly bidden to  take no thought for
 the morrow4  ,to the modern world these
 commands  have an ,oriental savour1    
counsels of perfection akin to certain  
of  the ,beatitudes1 stimuli to         
aspiration1 not to action4  ,i am       
prepared  on the contrary to urge the   
literal acceptance of the advice1 not in
  the mood of ,ecclesiastes--,go to now1
 ye that say to-day or to-morrow  we    
will go into such a city1 and continue  
there a year1 and buy and  sell and get 
gain2 whereas ye know not what shall be 
on the morrow2  not in the ,epicurean   
spirit of ,omar with his jug of wine and
 ,thou1  but in the modernist spirit1 as
 a way of life1 a habit1 a strong       
enchantment1 at once against the        
mysticism of the ,east and the          
pessimism that too easily besets us4    
,change that hard saying  ,sufficient   

unto the day is the evil thereof into   
the goodness  thereof1 since the chief  
worries of life arise from the foolish  
habit of looking before and after4  ,as 
a patient with double vision  from some 
transient unequal action of the muscles 
of the eye finds  magical relief from   
well-adjusted glasses1 so1 returning to 
the clear  binocular vision of to-day1  
the over-anxious student finds peace    
when  he looks neither backward to the  
past nor forward to the future4    ,i   
stood on the bridge of one of the great 
liners1 ploughing the ocean  at #be     
knots4  ,she is alive1 said my          
companion1 in every plate2 a  huge      
monster with brain and nerves1 an       
immense stomach1 a wonderful  heart and 
lungs1 and a splendid system of         
locomotion4  ,just at that  moment a    
signal sounded1 and all over the ship   
the water-tight  compartments were      
closed4  ,our chief factor of safety1   
said the  ,captain4  ,in spite of the   
,titanic1 ,i said4  ,yes1 he replied1   

in spite of the ,titanic4  ,now each one
 of you is a much more  marvellous      
organization than the great liner1 and  
bound on a longer  voyage4  ,what ,i    
urge is that you so learn to control the
 machinery as  to live with day-tight   
compartments as the most certain way to 
ensure safety on the voyage4  ,get on   
the bridge1 and see that at  least the  
great bulkheads are in working order4   
,touch a button and  hear1 at every     
level of your life1 the iron doors      
shutting out the  ,past--the dead       
yesterdays4  ,touch another and shut    
off1 with a metal  curtain1 the         
,future--the unborn to-morrows4  ,then  
you are safe1--safe  for to-day6  ,read 
the old story in the ,chambered         
,nautilus1 so  beautifully sung by      
,oliver ,wendell ,holmes1 only change   
one line to  ,day after day beheld the  
silent toil4  ,shut off the past6  ,let 
the  dead past bury its dead4  ,so easy 
to say1 so hard to realize6  ,the  truth
 is1 the past haunts us like a shadow4  

,to disregard it is not  easy4  ,those  
blue eyes of your grandmother1 that weak
 chin of your  grandfather1 have mental 
and moral counterparts in your make-up4 
,generations of ancestors1 brooding over
 ,providence1 ,foreknowledge1  ,will and
 ,fate--,fixed fate1 free will1         
foreknowledge1 absolute1 may  have bred 
a ,new ,england conscience1 morbidly    
sensitive1 to heal which  some of you   
had rather sing the #east ,psalm than   
follow ,christ into  the slums4  ,shut  
out the yesterdays1 which have lighted  
fools the way  to dusty death1 and have 
no concern for you personally1 that is1 
consciously4  ,they are there all right1
 working daily in us1 but so  are our   
livers and our stomachs4  ,and the past1
 in its unconscious  action on our      
lives1 should bother us as little as    
they do4  ,the  petty annoyances1 the   
real and fancied slights1 the trivial   
mistakes1  the disappointments1 the     
sins1 the sorrows1 even the joys--bury  
them  deep in the oblivion of each      

night4  ,ah6 but it is just then that to
  so many of us the ghosts of the past1 
,night-riding ,incubi    ,troubling the 
fantasy1    come in troops1 and pry open
 the eyelids1 each one presenting a sin1
  a sorrow1 a regret4  ,bad enough in   
the old and seasoned1 in the young      
these demons of past sins may be a      
terrible affliction1 and in  bitterness 
of heart many a one cries with ,eugene  
,aram1 ,oh ,god6  ,could ,i so close my 
mind1 and clasp it with a clasp4  ,as a 
vaccine  against all morbid poisons left
 in the system by the infections of     
yesterday1 ,i offer a way of life4      
,undress1 as ,george ,herbert  says1    
your soul at night1 not by              
self-examination1 but by shedding1  as  
you do your garments1 the daily sins    
whether of omission or of  commission1  
and you will wake a free man1 with a new
 life4  ,to look  back1 except on rare  
occasions for stock-taking1 is to risk  
the fate  of ,lot's wife4  ,many a man  
is handicapped in his course by a cursed

  combination of retro- and             
intro-spection1 the mistakes of         
yesterday  paralysing the efforts of    
to-day1 the worries of the past hugged  
to  his destruction1 and the worm       
,regret allowed to canker the very heart
  of his life4  ,to die daily1 after the
 manner of ,st4 ,paul1 ensures the      
resurrection of a new man1 who makes    
each day the epitome of a life4         
,,iii    ,the load of to-morrow1 added  
to that of yesterday1 carried to-day    
makes the strongest falter4  ,shut off  
the future as tightly as the  past4  ,no
 dreams1 no visions1 no delicious       
fantasies1 no castles in  the air1 with 
which1 as the old song so truly says1   
hearts are  broken1 heads are turned4   
,to youth1 we are told1 belongs the     
future1 but the wretched to-morrow that 
so plagues some of us has no  certainty1
 except through to-day4  ,who can tell  
what a day may bring  forth8  ,though   
its uncertainty is a proverb1 a man may 
carry its  secret in the hollow of his  

hand4  ,make a pilgrimage to ,hades with
  ,ulysses1 draw the magic circle1      
perform the rites1 and then ask         
,tiresias the question4  ,i have had the
 answer from his own lips4  ,the  future
 is to-day1--there is no to-morrow6     
,the day of a man's  salvation is       
now--the life of the present1 of to-day1
 lived  earnestly1 intently1 without a  
forward-looking thought1 is the only    
insurance for the future4  ,let the     
limit of your horizon be a  twenty-four 
hour circle4  ,on the title page of one 
of the great books  of science1 the     
,discours de la ,mthode of ,descartes   
7#afcg7 is a  vignette showing a man    
digging in a garden with his face       
towards the  earth1 on which rays of    
light are streaming from the heavens2   
beneath  is the legend ,fac et ,spera4  
',tis a good attitude and a good  motto4
  ,look heavenward1 if you wish1 but    
never to the horizon--that  way danger  
lies4  ,truth is not there1 happiness is
 not there1  certainty is not there1 but

 the falsehoods1 the frauds1 the        
quackeries1 the ignes fatui which have  
deceived each  generation--all beckon   
from the horizon1 and lure the men not  
content  to look for the truth and      
happiness that tumble out at their feet4
  ,once while at ,college climb a       
mountain-top1 and get a general outlook 
of the land1 and make it the occasion   
perhaps of that careful  examination of 
yourself1 that inquisition which        
,descartes urges every  man to hold once
 in a lifetime1--not oftener4    ,waste 
of energy1 mental distress1 nervous     
worries dog the steps of a  man who is  
anxious about the future4  ,shut close1 
then1 the great  fore and aft bulkheads1
 and prepare to cultivate the habit of a
 life  of ,day-,tight ,compartments4    
,do not be discouraged1--like every     
other  habit1 the acquisition takes     
time1 and the way is one you must find  
for yourselves4  ,i can only give       
general directions and  encouragement1  
in the hope that while the green years  

are on your  heads1 you may have the    
courage to persist4          ,,iv       
,now1 for the day itself6  ,what first8 
,be your own daysman6 and sigh  not with
 ,job for any mysterious intermediary1  
but prepare to lay your  own firm hand  
upon the helm4  ,get into touch with the
 finite1 and  grasp in full enjoyment   
that sense of capacity in a machine     
working  smoothly4  ,join the whole     
creation of animate things in a deep1   
heartfelt joy that you are alive1 that  
you see the sun1 that you are  in this  
glorious earth which nature has made so 
beautiful1 and which  is yours to       
conquer and to enjoy4  ,realise1 in the 
words of ,browning1  that ,there's a    
world of capability for joy spread round
 about us1  meant for us1 inviting us4  
,what are the morning sensations8--for  
they control the day4  ,some of us are  
congenitally unhappy during the  early  
hours2 but the young man who feels on   
awakening that life is a  burden or a   
bore has been neglecting his machine1   

driving it too  hard1 stoking the       
engines too much1 or not cleaning out   
the ashes and  clinkers4  ,or he has    
been too much with the ,lady ,nicotine1 
or fooling  with ,bacchus1 or1 worst of 
all1 with the younger ,aphrodite--all   
messengers of strong prevailment in     
unhardened youth4  ,to have a  sweet    
outlook on life you must have a clean   
body4  ,as ,i look on the  clear-cut1   
alert1 earnest features1 and the lithe1 
active forms of  our college men1 ,i    
sometimes wonder whether or not         
,socrates and ,plato  would find the    
race improved4  ,i am sure they would   
love to look on  such a gathering as    
this4  ,make their ideal yours--the fair
 mind in  the fair body4  ,the one      
cannot be sweet and clean without the   
other1  and you must realise1 with      
,rabbi ,ben ,ezra1 the great truth that 
flesh  and soul are mutually helpful4   
,the morning outlook--which really      
makes the day--is largely a question of 
a clean machine--of physical  morality  

in the wide sense of the term4  ,c'est  
l'estomac qui fait  les heureux1 as     
,voltaire says2 no dyspeptic can have a 
sane outlook  on life2 and a man whose  
bodily functions are impaired has a     
lowered  moral resistance4  ,to keep the
 body fit is a help in keeping the mind 
pure1 and the sensations of the first   
few hours of the day are the  best test 
of its normal state4  ,the clean tongue1
 the clear head1 and  the bright eye are
 birth-rights of each day4  ,just as the
 late  ,professor ,marsh would diagnose 
an unknown animal from a single bone1   
so can the day be predicted from the    
first waking hour4  ,the start is       
everything1 as you well know1 and to    
make a good start you must feel  fit4   
,in the young1 sensations of morning    
slackness come most often  from lack of 
control of the two primal               
instincts--biologic  habits--the one    
concerned with the preservation of the  
individual1  the other with the         
continuance of the species4  ,yale      

students should  by this time be models 
of dietetic propriety1 but youth does   
not  always reck the rede of the        
teacher2 and ,i dare say that here1 as  
elsewhere1 careless habits of eating are
 responsible for much mental            
disability4  ,my own rule of life has   
been to cut out unsparingly any  article
 of diet that had the bad taste to      
disagree with me1 or to  indicate in any
 way that it had abused the temporary   
hospitality of  the lodging which ,i had
 provided4  ,to drink1 nowadays1 but few
  students become addicted1 but in every
 large body of men a few are to  be     
found whose incapacity for the day      
results from the morning  clogging of   
nocturnally-flushed tissues4  ,as       
moderation is very hard  to reach1 and  
as it has been abundantly shown that the
 best of mental  and physical work may  
be done without alcohol in any form1 the
 safest  rule for the young man is that 
which ,i am sure most of you            
follow--abstinence4  ,a bitter enemy to 

the bright eye and the clear  brain of  
the early morning is tobacco when smoked
 to excess1 as it is  now by a large    
majority of students4  ,watch it1 test  
it1 and if need  be1 control it4  ,that 
befogged1 woolly sensation reaching from
 the  forehead to the occiput1 that     
haziness of memory1 that cold fish-like 
eye1 that furred tongue1 and last week's
 taste in the mouth--too many  of you   
know them--,i know them--they often come
 from too much tobacco4  ,the other     
primal instinct is the heavy burden of  
the flesh which  ,nature puts on all of 
us to ensure a continuation of the      
species4  ,to  drive ,plato's team taxes
 the energies of the best of us4  ,one  
of the  horses is a raging1 untamed     
devil1 who can only be brought into     
subjection by hard fighting and severe  
training4  ,this much you all  know as  
men3 once the bit is between his teeth  
the black steed  ,passion will take the 
white horse ,reason with you and the    
chariot  rattling over the rocks to     

perdition4    ,with a fresh1 sweet body 
you can start aright without those      
feelings  of inertia that so often1 as  
,goethe says1 make the morning's lazy   
leisure usher in a useless day4         
,control of the mind as a working       
machine1 the adaptation in it of habit1 
so that its action becomes  almost as   
automatic as walking1 is the end of     
education--and yet how  rarely reached6 
,it can be accomplished with            
deliberation and repose1  never with    
hurry and worry4  ,realise how much time
 there is1 how long  the day is4        
,realise that you have sixteen waking   
hours1 three or  four of which at least 
should be devoted to making a silent    
conquest  of your mental machinery4     
,concentration1 by which is grown       
gradually  the power to wrestle         
successfully with any subject1 is the   
secret of  successful study4  ,no mind  
however dull can escape the brightness  
that comes from steady application4     
,there is an old saying1 ,youth         

enjoyeth not1 for haste2 but worse than 
this1 the failure to  cultivate the     
power of peaceful concentration is the  
greatest single  cause of mental        
breakdown4  ,plato pities the young man 
who started at  such a pace that he     
never reached the goal4  ,one of the    
saddest of  life's tragedies is the     
wreckage of the career of the young     
collegian  by hurry1 hustle1 bustle and 
tension--the human machine driven day   
and night1 as no sensible fellow would  
use his motor4  ,listen to the  words of
 a master in ,israel1 ,william ,james3  
,neither the nature nor  the amount of  
our work is accountable for the         
frequency and severity  of our          
breakdowns1 but their cause lies rather 
in those absurd  feelings of hurry and  
having no time1 in that breathlessness  
and  tension1 that anxiety of feature   
and that solicitude of results1 that    
lack of inner harmony and ease1 in      
short1 by which the work with us  is apt
 to be accompanied1 and from which a    

,european who would do the  same work   
would1 nine out of ten times1 be free4  
,es bildet ein  ,talent sich in der     
,stille1 but it need not be for all day4
  ,a few  hours out of the sixteen will 
suffice1 only let them be hours of      
daily dedication--in routine1 in order  
and in system1 and day by day  you will 
gain in power over the mental mechanism1
 just as the child  does over the spinal
 marrow in walking1 or the musician over
 the  nerve centres4  ,aristotle        
somewhere says that the student who wins
  out in the fight must be slow in his  
movements1 with voice deep1 and  slow   
speech1 and he will not be worried over 
trifles which make  people speak in     
shrill tones and use rapid movements4   
,shut close in  hour-tight compartments1
 with the mind directed intensely upon  
the  subject in hand1 you will acquire  
the capacity to do more and more1  you  
will get into training2 and once the    
mental habit is established1  you are   
safe for life4    ,concentration is an  

art of slow acquisition1 but little by  
little the  mind is accustomed to habits
 of slow eating and careful digestion1  
by  which alone you escape the mental   
dyspepsy so graphically described  by   
,lowell in the ,fable for ,critics4  ,do
 not worry your brains about  that      
bugbear ,efficiency1 which1 sought      
consciously and with effort1  is just   
one of those elusive qualities very apt 
to be missed4  ,the  man's college      
output is never to be gauged at sight2  
all the world's  coarse thumb and finger
 may fail to plumb his most effective   
work1  the casting of the mental        
machinery of self-education1 the true   
preparation for a field larger than the 
college campus4  ,four or five  hours   
daily--it is not much to ask2 but one   
day must tell another1  one week certify
 another1 one month bear witness to     
another of the  same story1 and you will
 acquire a habit by which the one-talent
 man  will earn a high interest1 and by 
which the ten-talent man may at  least  

save his capital4    ,steady work of    
this sort gives a man a sane outlook on 
the world4  ,no  corrective so valuable 
to the weariness1 the fever and the fret
 that  are so apt to wring the heart of 
the young4  ,this is the talisman1 as   
,george ,herbert says1      ,the famous 
stone    ,that turneth all to gold1     
and with which1 to the eternally        
recurring question1 ,what is ,life8  you
 answer1 ,i do not think--,i act it2 the
 only philosophy that brings  you in    
contact with its real values and enables
 you to grasp its  hidden meaning4      
,over the ,slough of ,despond1 past     
,doubting ,castle and  ,giant ,despair1 
with this talisman you may reach the    
,delectable  ,mountains1 and those      
,shepherds of the ,mind--,knowledge1    
,experience1  ,watchful and ,sincere4   
,some of you may think this to be a     
miserable  ,epicurean doctrine--no      
better than that so sweetly sung by     
,horace3--      ,happy the man--and     
,happy he alone1    ,he who can call    

to-day his own1    ,he who secure within
 can say1    ,to-morrow1 do thy         
worst--for ,i have lived to-day4      ,i
 do not care what you think1 ,i am      
simply giving you a philosophy of  life 
that ,i have found helpful in my work1  
useful in my play4  ,walt  ,whitman1    
whose physician ,i was for some years1  
never spoke to me much  of his poems1   
though occasionally he would make a     
quotation2 but ,i  remember late one    
summer afternoon as we sat in the window
 of his  little house in ,camden there  
passed a group of workmen whom he       
greeted in his usual friendly way4  ,and
 then he said3 ,ah1 the glory  of the   
day's work1 whether with hand or brain6 
,i have tried      ,to exalt the present
 and the real1    ,to teach the average 
man the glory of        his daily work  
or trade4      ,in this way of life each
 one of you may learn to drive the      
straight  furrow and so come to the true
 measure of a man4          ,v    ,with 
body and mind in training1 what remains8

    ,do you remember that most touching 
of all incidents in ,christ's  ministry1
 when the anxious ruler ,nicodemus came 
by night1 worried  lest the things that 
pertained to his everlasting peace were 
not a  part of his busy and successful  
life8  ,christ's message to him is ,his 
message to the world--never more needed 
than at present3 ,ye must be  born of   
the spirit4  ,you wish to be with the   
leaders--as ,yale men it  is your       
birthright--know the great souls that   
make up the moral  radium of the world4 
,you must be born of their spirit1      
initiated  into their fraternity1       
whether of the spiritually-minded       
followers of  the ,nazarene or of that  
larger company1 elect from every nation1
 seen  by ,st4 ,john4    ,begin the day 
with ,christ and ,his prayer--you need  
no other4  ,creedless1 with it you have 
religion2 creed-stuffed1 it will leaven 
any theological dough in which you      
stick4  ,as the soul is dyed by the     
thoughts1 let no day pass without       

contact with the best literature of  the
 world4  ,learn to know your ,bible1    
though not perhaps as your  fathers did4
  ,in forming character and in shaping  
conduct1 its touch  has still its       
ancient power4  ,of the kindred of ,ram 
and sons of  ,elihu1 you should know its
 beauties and its strength4  ,fifteen or
  twenty minutes day by day will give   
you fellowship with the great  minds of 
the race1 and little by little as the   
years pass you extend  your friendship  
with the immortal dead4  ,they will give
 you faith in  your own day4  ,listen   
while they speak to you of the fathers4 
,but  each age has its own spirit and   
ideas1 just as it has its own manners   
and pleasures4  ,you are right to       
believe that yours is the best          
,university1 at its best period4  ,why  
should you look back to be  shocked at  
the frowsiness and dullness of the      
students of the  seventies or even of   
the nineties8  ,and cast no thought     
forward1 lest  you reach a period when  

you and yours will present to your      
successors  the same dowdiness of       
clothes and times4  ,but while change is
 the  law1 certain great ideas flow     
fresh through the ages1 and control us  
effectually as in the days of ,pericles4
  ,mankind1 it has been said1  is always
 advancing1 man is always the same4     
,the love1 hope1 fear  and faith that   
make humanity1 and the elemental        
passions of the human  heart1 remain    
unchanged1 and the secret of inspiration
 in any  literature is the capacity to  
touch the cord that vibrates in a       
sympathy that knows nor time nor place4 
,the quiet life in day-tight            
compartments will help you to bear your 
own and others' burdens with a light    
heart4  ,pay no heed to the             
,batrachians who sit croaking idly by   
the stream4  ,life is a straight1  plain
 business1 and the way is clear1 blazed 
for you by generations  of strong men1  
into whose labours you enter and whose  
ideals must be  your inspiration4  ,in  

my mind's eye ,i can see you twenty     
years  hence--resolute-eyed1            
broad-headed1 smooth-faced men who are  
in the  world to make a success of life2
 but to whichever of the two great      
types you belong1 whether controlled by 
emotion or by reason1 you  will need the
 leaven of their spirit1 the only leaven
 potent enough  to avert that only too  
common ,nemesis to which the ,psalmist  
refers3  ,he gave them their heart's    
desire1 but sent leanness withal into   
their souls4    ,i quoted ,dr4          
,johnson's remark about the trivial     
things that  influence4  ,perhaps this  
slight word of mine may help some of you
 so  to number your days that you may   
apply your hearts unto wisdom4          
,,william ,,brendon ,,and ,,son1 ,,ltd4 
,,printers1 ,,plymouth