The Twenty-fourth

Ou Friday last occorred the 24th ;mnual commencement excroises of the Ann Arbor High School, at the chapel. The Btage was handsomely decorated with potted planta, and the elasa and Bchoo) colora were abundant all about the auditorium. Muaic was furnished by the Chcquamegon orchestra, inl the hall waa ïilled to overflowing with parenta and irienda of the pupila and the school. Prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. Colwcil, a choice selection rendered by the irchestra, and then the essays and orationS Were given The firet speaker was .Meile il. Denison, oi Rochester, N. Y., who said : As we study the lives of the great men of the past we constantly observe that each has some peculiar trait in his character, a particular attribute of his nature whlch has made him master of the age in which he lived. There are special constituents embodied in his well developed intellect which cannot be inculcated by the curriculum of any college or unlversily. But you say, "Do we need to receive lessons apart from our school training to render us capable of carrying plans of paramount significance into execution or of performing heroic deeds?" The testimonies of countless men of note assert that in a limited sense the school education which one acquires by the mere study and parrot-like recitation of lessons day by day is but a machine. What did Shakespeare gain from a school training? He, like all eminent writers and great men only discovered of how little avail a college education is without a thorough development of the more practical part of one's nature. Let us consider for a moment the effect of other educators. Did any knowledge imparted to Luther or Melanchthon from their school teachers serve to pave the way for the reformation, or was the success of their efforts in the establishment of those great reforms due to their search for learning in the realms of experience of men and nature? Newton says, "I achieved my discoveries by intending my mind." Is not concentration a great factor in education? Was it not subsequent to a protracted period of thorough application to the profound study of nature and its properties that Watt and Stevenson whlspered to the world their secret that one ounce of coal will draw two tons one mile? Emerson asserts that, "Plato, Plautinus, Archimides, Newton, Milton and Wordsworth did not live in a crowd, but came as benefactors from time to time when their services were needed." Here solitude is seen to perform her momentous office in education by allowing time for a man's ideas to unfold and time for him to weigh accurately in the balance of discretion all the circumstances that environ him, remembering that "no honest seeking gees unrewarded." Thus it is by solitude, by living for a time apart from the activities of worldly life that reforms origínate. The altars whereon the fires of genius burn are seldom kindled by the gay and restless multitude, who throng the vast amphitheater'a of our great cities; but the few men in the world's history remarkable for their grand achievements found the most fertile soil for developing the talents they possessed in the obscurity of the rural sections of the country. To understand the inestimable valué of grood literature, is it necessary that we should more than mention the bearing which one book, "The Life of Washington," had upon the career of Abraham Lincoln, the most noble of America's sons? From its perusal our model president gained the lofty aspiration and ardent desire for knowledge which transformed him from a "rail sputter" to one of the most noted and beloved characters in the history of the United States. Did not Napoleon owe most of his success to a teacher named Manual Labor? Was it not from this skilied instructor that he learned the endurance, perseverance and confldence which made him able to say, "I have the ability to form with my own hands all the equipment of an army"? To this schoolmaster was due the fact that his soldiers called him "Old Thousand," and if, by enduring trials, he had been taught honesty he would have excelled a thousand men in efficiency. Napoleon believed "there is no royal road to learning." Porphyry says, "Steep and craggy is the path of the gods," and do we not find that the path to knowledge leads up an extended and gradual ascent which must be climbed before we reach and reap the better fruits of life's harvest? As in our travels over the long passage ways. forming strong bonds of union between the distant parts of our beautiful land we meet men whose duty it is to direct us, so when we ascend and reach out longingly for the goal of perfect knowledgre, various agents touch the delicate electric bells of our consciences and say, "Stop and learn of me; I am deputized to guide you on your way." Among the watchful conductora who stand at the numerous intelligence offices along the route we find the many passions of the mind - and temptation, resistance, enthusiasm, danger, bravery, prlde, wonder "the seed of science" and virtue besides many others; the course we pursue in life determining, for the most part, which guide shall lead us to enlightenment. Thus nature has prepared the system of education which has been the most effective element in bringing about the civilization of the world. She has indelibly established in the mind of man a craving for the improvement of his intellectual powers, a desire for nobler, purer character, and all about him she has located the means of satisfying these longings, placing largely in a man's own hands the sources of inspiration which are destined to uplift him to that higher plane of spiritual development, the attainment of which brings him into closer communion with his Creator. "Music in 2,000," by Emilie H. Eberbach, was a dream of the future somewhat after Bellamy's plan, and brought out some curious thoughts to be reaüzed, of course, in a thousand years or more from now. "Crises," by J. Russell Heneuger, of Algonac, was an excellent paper and well delivered. His reasoning was excellent, and conclusions s;ood. The next speaker was J. Harold Montgomery, of Ann Arbor, who told about "The Man in Office," as follows : It has been said that America is a nation of presidents. Of course, this is not to be taken literally. It is only meant to imply that in this country there are more offices to every man, and more men to every office, than in any other. Notwithstanding the apparently strong desire of most Americans to boss, it seems strange that men should wish to place themselves where every act is criticlsed, and every corner of their lives is brought to light. So that in these times of scrambling for office it is rare and refreshing to see a man who even appears to retire from public position to' private life. In fact, it is elaimed that there was once one man who did not care for oftice particularly. Cincinnatus was at one time appointed dictator of Rome. He lead forth his army, defeated the enemy, returned to the city, and in seven days laid down his power, although he had the rlght to rule absolutely over Rome for six miinths. How differently most modern men would act. The primary reason for the exisi OÍ poeltiona was that leaders might do the work of the people. From this, the noblest outgrowth has been that spirit of loyalty to one's country which we cali patriotism, that spirit which enables one, when entrusted with the duties and responsibilities of a public position to rise above the levcl of his ordinary life, and to show abilities hitherto dormant and unsuspected. In a little town in Illinois there lived at the time when the rebellion broke out, a retired colonel of the Mexican war. At school his record, while good, was never brilliant. In mathematics, his favorite study, he stood twentyfirst in his class. His neighbors called him a slow, plodding man, and said he had second-rate business capacity. But in the country's danger came his opportunity. Responding to the first cali for troops, by raising a regiment, he rose, step by step, until at last, to honor him sufficiently, congress created for him an office greater than any which ever before had existed. This man, almost unnoticed, was he to whom President Lincoln wrote: "You were right, and I was wrong." La Fontaine says that this man had the best brain to plan, and the best heart to dare, among the generáis of the republic. And never will it be forgotten, whether amid the small duties of life, or in the din of battle; whether visiting the monarchs of other countries, or administering the government of the United States, that Ulysses S. Grant was always the same, calmly self-possessed, unimpeachable in judgment, and unswerving in the discharge of duty. Another class of office-holders, and it seems at times as though it were the most numerous one, is that of persons, who, on getting up where the world can see them, at once begin to give it something to look at. We notice this particularly in officers whose duty it is to preside over meetings of different kinds. Too often the chairman is chosen for his money, influence, good looks, voice, or perhaps his dignity, irrespective of his qualifications, or rather lack of qualifications. Sometimes it is the slow man whose wit comes along about four hours behind time. He calis the meeting to order ftve minutes late, takes ten more to flnd out what the program has down for the first flve minutes, fifteen more to do it, and twenty to do the things he forgot. Some men on being elected to any office, however small, immediately assume more dignity than the head waiter in a hotel. It really seems, sometimes, as though the smaller the office the more the holder inflates himself, until we feel like saying, with the old college president: "I wish I could buy that man for what he is worth and sell him for what he thinks he is worth." Then again some little man gets into a place miles too big for him, and presents a ludicrous and pitiable sight trying to fill it, until at last, like the frog in the fable, when almost the size of the official ox. he bursts. It must increase our respect for mankind to see so many men fitted for posts of responsibility. But when we see the actions of some, we feel that a eertain minister spoke more truth than poetry when he said: "The higher a monkey climbs, the more you can see his tail." Miss Louise Thompson, of Ann Arbor, tulil about "Nuremburg in Art and Sona : Quaint old Nuremberg! There rises before us a visión of pointed gables, dormer Windows, carved balconies and mighty towers. The words of Longfellcw's beautlful poem come to our minds and we seem to be transferred to the middle ages, moving among spirits of the past. For were we to study the customs and manners of that most interestlng period in the history of the world, we could find no city more typical than ancient Nuremberg. Around the town still lies the doublé moat and old wall, guarded by 70 sentinel towers. On a slight elevation in the northwest part of the city stands the grim old castle which hints of emperor and kaiser, of councils and diets, of dungeons and prisoners, and of tales and legends of the old heroic days. There 3 little beauty in its huge towers, thick walls and massive 'draw-bridges, but great strength and security. In the courtyard below a great linden, planted by Queen Cunigunde the Fair, has stood for seven centuries. To this castle Henry III gave permission to add a market town in 1050, and this is fhp first authentic mention we have of tne old town. Some two centuries later Frederick II made it a free, imperial city, and from this time began that extensive commerce, which justified the boast of her burghers that "Nuremberg's hand is in every land." Situated between the Rhine and the Danube and commanding by these two great rivers the commerce of northern Europe on the one side and of Italy and the Oriënt on the other, it is not strange that we hear of the exchange of Flanders lace for vel vet from Genoa and glass from Venice. Today it stands as the first city of South Germany in commercial lmportance. But this great activity of the old city did not crowd out the passion for beautiful buildings so characteristic of the Middle Ages. The travelier in Nuremberg today studies with great interest the church of St. Lawrence, cathedral like in its grandeur and magnificently beautiful in architecture of pillar and balcony. Less grand, but perhaps more intefesting to the traveller, is the old church of St. Sebald standing on the opposite side of the river Pignitz. The interior is filled with curious altars and monuments, but the stranger's attention lingers longest on the tomb of St. Sebald, which stands in the center of the cholr. Slender pillars uphold the bronze canopy above the coffer, around which are brackets containing figures of the apostles. The sides of the coffer are covered with delicate bas-reliefs. But Nuremberg, with all its picturesqueness, its old cathedrals and mighty castle would represent nothing more to us than a typical city of the Middle Ages, if there were not linked with it in our minds the immortal ñames of Albrecht Duerer and Hans Sachs. Truly was Albrecht Duerer the "prince of Germán artists," as his countrymen loved to cali him. He came forth during the period of transition between the Middle Ages and our own, the most critical and important in the whole history of the Germán nation. We find interpreted in his works the true qualities of the Germán spirit the sincerity, the simplicity, the rude passions and uncultivated feeling so characteristic of his people. He was indeed a true representative of the art of his country, a Germán among Germans, an artist amidst art. His childhood was passed in a lawabiding, devout and simple community. His parents, of whom he always speaks with the greatest affection and reverence, were humble, virtuous citizens. This simple childhood left its impress upon his entire career and character. II is Ufe was free from all jealousy and rivalry, and his whole career stands forth as one of ideal dignity, modesty and true worth. It is with fitness indeed that the poet sines of him: "Falrer seems the ancient city, and the snnshlne seema more fair, That he once hath imil pavamente, that be once liuili breathed Us air." It would seem but natural that this father of artists should have left followers to continue and improve the work so grandly begun. But art and poetry alike were declining in Germany. Albrecht Duerer was the last of the Franconian school of art and the Meiatersingers alone were left of the noble old poets who, in former years, had sung the adventures of the Germán héroes. Hans Sachs, the cobbler poet of Nuremberg, was the greatest of them all. True, that their songs and rhymes are often rude and coarse, but we must prize them as the preservers of Germán literature, until such men as Goethe, Schiller and Heine should come forth to build up for Germany a monument of literature which shall nevcr fail. It is in the relies of the past that the stranger in Nurembergis especially interested and he regrets that in future years these will all be changed and destroyed. For already a new trade and a different eommerce are springing up. The old wall is being torn down and new and handsome residences are taking the places of the quaint old houses. But the hand of the destróyer cannot take from us the memory of ancient Nuremberg and we thank the poet who has indelibly stamped her name upon all time, and echo his words: "Not thy counctls, not thy Kaise r's, win for the the world's regard, But tliy painter, Albrecht Puree, and Hans Sachs tliy cobfoler-liard." Eugene E. Osenberg, of Prescott, Arizona, received ijuite a cheer from his companions when lie carne upon the stage, showing that he was one of the popular members of his class. He gave souie thoughts upon England and Egypt, and what lie said was not as complimentary to Englanl as it was sympathetic for Egypt. Miss Mabel E. Tenny, of Higliland, took the class motto, "'ot Foliage, but Fruit," for her theme. She traced the rise and progress of the condition of womankiud from an early day to the present, and anticipated better things for the future. "Corruption in Politics" was told about bv George H. Paltridge, of Kalamazoo. He drew a not very entrancing picture of the politics of our country, and gave corruption a bigger sway than it possesses. When this youug man comes to enter the politieal arena to reform the politics of the nation, he will certiiinly be dissapointed in not flnding as mach to reform is he had antcipated. The closing essay was by Miss Mary E. Thompson, of Worden, the subject, "Faith in the Unseen," and the following is what she said : If you shoot at a star you'll not hit it, but your arrow will go farther than if your mark is the common target at which everyone else is aiming. So it is in life. Those who are seeking to fathom the hidden mysteries of the universe; those who have an ideal, I the attainment of which is as difficult as the piercing of a star with an arrow, may not reach the object of their ambition but they will far surpass the great multitudes who are content to vie with each other in the contest for worldly success. Was Galileo content to think that the sky, with its myriad of stars and everchanging wonders, was a great concave mirror suspended for the sole purpose of coneentrating all the glory of the universe upon Europe, Western Asia and a small portion of North África? No; he said as he watched the heavens there must be some reason for the different positions of those stars, some cause that other people have not seen. The earth must move. Instead of being at the focus of all splendor, it serves simply as one of the many reflectors which emit no light themselves, and partially reflect the light incident upon them from other spheres. Did he obtain ease, happiness or worldly approval? Yet who would prefer the reward of the wealthiest or most popuar man that ever lived to that of him, who died sad and blind, a prisoner in his own house at Arcetoi? Even now the greatest musicians can distinguish but few of the threads which Beethoven has woven into the marvellous tapestry of hls symphonies. Here and there is a thread which can be traced through the whole fabric, but with each hearing some new design, some delicate shading, enchants us. We sit spell-bound 'neath the power of a soul which, breaking the fetters of its environment, not only rose itself, but has the power of lifting others above themselves into the freedom and fullness of a new being. We sometimes imagine that, because we have the faults or eccentricities of great minds. that we must be like them. We dream, build castles in the air, or like to roam the flelds and imagine ourselves a Joan of Are or a Rosa Bonheur. If we are absent minded enough to allow the horse that we are about to raount to slip off his bridle and walk away while we are still holding the reins, we think that we may be following the footsteps of Xewton in more ways than one. We forget that the greatness of these minds lies not in the fact that they had these faults, but that they rose above them. Can we not see Luther as he goes along the highway leading to the Diet of Worms? How pale, yet determined, he looks. A tempting voice is saying: "Give it up. What will you gain? Simply defeat, disgrace, suffering, death. Retreat and be reconciled." Almost despairing he raises hls eyes to the trees gently wavlng their graceful branches in the morning air. They stretch out their sheltering arms to him, saying: "Disgraced! we are your friends; no storms of adversity can change us. The rocks are your refuge; the surges of public opinión dash unnoticed against their breasts. Then from his inmost soul comes the assurance sweeter than them all. In Just such a measure as the heart is emptied by suffering, in just that measure can it be fllled with the peace and Joy that passeth understanding. "Do thy duty that is best, leave unto thy God the rest." Did it not take faith to fulfll that decree, and to endure the suffering that followed? Yet how great was the reward. Faith in the unseen was Raphael's rr.axim, for he said: "We must not represent thinga as they are, but as they should be." Faith in the unseen drove Columbus across the sea as portrayed by Joaquín Miller, the poet of the Sierras: "Ueliiuci Mm laj t he ;iay Aiorea, behlnd him the gatea of Hercules. Before nlm nol the ghosi f shoresi before him only Bhoreleas seas. The l-ooiI maic crled: 'Now must we pray, for lo! the vers are trone. Speak, admira!, what -hall T sayf' 'Wliy say, sail onl sail on! and mi!' The; aalled, ml sailed, as winds mlght blow until al last the blanched mate said- liy now. nut even God wcillld klltiw, shOUld I and all my men f all dcad. Brave admira!, speak hut one good word- whai -liall do wlicn hope ín gone.' The words leaped a a leaping sword, 'Sall on! onl saC on I and ji," Then pale and wan he kipt hi deck, and peered througfa darknegg. Ah! that ntghi üf all clark nlshtsl and then a speek,- a llght! a Ughi : i lighi : b Ufrh : It grew.a Btarlft Bagunlurled! It gruw tobe Tlme'a bnrst nf dawo. He galned a world; gare that world lts grandes) leeson - On and on!" Tho ezercisea closed with i benediction by Kev. Mr. (iclst.in, and the 24th coramencement was no more forever.