best interests as to expend large
sums for punishing and reforming
men, rather than in so educating
them that punishment and reform
would be unnecessary.
Since then, the State has had an
awakening. Then the annual appro
priation to normal and common
schools was $1,100,000; now the
magnificient sum of $5,500,000 is
annually appropriated and wisely
expended. Then the influence of
State College was limited. Now
you reach out into practically every
county in the Commonwealth. Your
influence is widespread and you
stand for all that is vigorous and
progressive in this great and mighty
Commonwealth.
Nor is this accidental. Your trus
tees in 1882 builded better than they
knew. They saw the field, they
measured the possibilities and in the
selection of a president they secured
to the College and the Commonwealth
the services of one who has wrought
an influence upon education through
out the State second to none.
In congratulating you upon your
rapid growth and splendid develop
ment, as well as upon the creditable
showing and successful work of
your students who have entered
upon the activities of life, let me ex
press the hope that the success
which you have achieved, may be
but the forerunner of greater success,
and that your beloved Doctor Ath
erton may long be with you. (Ap
plause )
It is eminently fitting that a free
people should set apart memorial
days upon which tc remind itself of
the lives and characters and guiding
principles of the men who have rep
resented great crises in the history
of their development.
It is pre-eminently fitting that young
men who are just looking forward to
the great responsibility of participa
ting in guiding that development,
should nerve their purpose and in
spire their patriotism by the con
templation of heroic examples of
life and duty.
We have met to-day to draw in
spiration from the life and charac
ter of one of the most impiessive
the most commanding, the most
widely acknowledged and the most
beloved figures in the nation’s his
tory. Four years from yesterday
will occur the hundredth anniversary
of his birth. ' Already the press, al
ways active and alert to catch the
trend of pub.ic thought is suggest
ing a proper commemoration or the
event. Mo thing could be more ap
propriate. While such a celebration
would probably and properly be
under the direction of ttie Govern
ment, it should be upon such broad
and popular lines as to call out the
spontaneous activities of all those
who love their country, regardless
of color, race or creed. Such a
celebration would give an impetus to
the things he stood for and would
tend to deepen and intensify the
regard in which he is held by a
grateful people, but such an event,
as well as me gathering this day ot
the thousands upon thousands
throughout the length and breadth of
Hie land would oe purpose-ess in
deed, un.ess m it were caught some
v.tal, some upiitting thought which
might build up and strengthen and
renovate the nation he did so much
to save.
To dwell upon his greatness, or
to tell ot his services would be need
less m this pamoac presence ; to re
count the b.essings which have come
to the naticn ihiough him would up
on this occasion be impracticable
if not indeed impossible. Ihere
tore it you will peunit me I shall, in
the tew words 1 have to say, ad
dress myself not to the great and
mighty events in which he was such
an acave and important factor, nor
to the detai.s ot the great conflict
which tried nis own and all men’s
souls but ra.her to the little things
which titled and equipped him tor
tne unpieceaented burdens, the
awful conflicts and the great victor
ies which weie his lot. By little
things I mean the things which in
uns busy, bustling and material age,
aie thought by some to be lithe, but
which when viewed in iinal aiialj s.s
are among the greatest m the wond.
Une of the little things of which I
speak was his reverence for his
mother. Of a.l the things he ever
said or did, none struck a truer note,
none came more directly from the
innermost receses of his gieat and
lender heart than when he said,
‘ ‘ All that I am or hope to be, I owe
to my aged molher. " The world
owes the memory of that mother a
debt of lasting gratitude that in the
nine short years she was spared to
him she impressed upon his heart
and soul, the large trustfulness, the
loving unselfishness, the firm faith in
Divine Providence with which she
herself was so giaciousiy endowed.
In accounting tor the greatness of
the man, his mother and things she
taught him must not be left out of
the reckoning.
Then, too, in his humble environ
ment he was not handicapped by
wealth. Wealth to any young man
is a menace and to many an utter
ruin. Statistics show that only one
young man in seventeen knows
enough to use wisely money that is
inherited. Very few men, young
or old, do things unless impelled by
necessity —and necessity is not bom
ot luxury.
Lincoln little dreamed of the great
part he was to p.ay in human aitairs
and m the wond’s history. But he
knew that he needed to be properly
equipped for life’s duties and baities,
whatever the battles might be and
wherever the duties might lead.
tie knew that to be thus equipped,
knowledge and mental discipline
must be gained and that knowledge
and pow er couid not be separate and
apart fiom righteousness —God’s law
iiom whence it alone can come.
He knew that God’s law must be
written upon the heart and slamped
upon the toiehead. He thoroughly
believed in the Fatherhood of God
and the brotheihoodof man. Truth
and candor in every phase of his life
stood out in bold relief. J.iis love
of justice and fair play, in which he
is so closely followed by our present
chief executive,formed a conspicuous
part in his mighty make up. He
be.ieved in the simple li.e, and 1m
was untainted by the degrading pas
sions of envy, malice or hatred. He
well knew that some things which
were legally right, were moiaily
wrong and he was morally great
enough to say so, though m uomg
so he should star.d a'or.e. His
rnagr.ar.in.i.y—his soberness and
tempeiance are known and read of
ah men. His heroic devotion to
duty and .principle, stamped him
and sated him from many a tall.
But it i were to point out ihe one
most striking feature in the life oi
Lincoln, the one which seems to in
clude a.l the lest and the one which
is the sure lesult of the spirit’s power,
it would be his great usefulness. It
is an ennobling trait and it is this alone
that develops true greatness. There