Ann Arbor High School - Omega Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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1 Juqt as no ship can sail the sea in safety without a rudder, so we can- N sea of life without something by which not successfully traverse the great haracter. We may work hard -all our to steer, and that something is c . A h . . ' . . ' ' . a f o 1S lives, but if we have not character our labor is 111 vain In 11 VS . . . , 1 ' mb' ' onol-gotlo gnd mdustrious, but has no character, needs only alittle a ition to loooomo, not 3 greatman, but ,a-,devil-, incarnate. So we might form an- othor motto equally true, U Labor without' Character Is Nothingng for the only labor that will stand thetest of time, is that which is based upon and represents character. The work of Newton remains unchanged. Time, the great destroyer, may sink his name in oblivion, but his work will re- main forever.. Miltonls bones. have long since mouldered to dust, but the sublime lines which he wrote, the noble sentiments which he uttered, will remain as long as a love -for all that is grand and pure and noble survives in the minds of men. The fathers of our country who fought and died for liberty, at Lexington and Bunker Hill may be forgotten, but their noble deeds and heroic achievements will stand as imperishable monuments of patriotism. Martin Luther at his death left, No ready money, no treasure of coin of any descriptionfl and at one time was so straitened in circum- stances that he had to earn his daily bread by gardening and clock mak- ing, yet at the same time he was changing the character, not only of his own country,but of the world, and Luther lives to-day in the Protestantisin of modern Germany. - do Character is often confused with reputation, but there is a vast- differ- ence between the two. Every man is the architect of his own character, but his reputation is in the hands ofpthers. Slander may destroy reputa- tion, but character is impregnable. Lord Byron had reputation, but not a noble character 5 and, although he had wealth and fame, he made a failure of life, as his own words show: Nay, for myself, so dark my fate Through every turn of life hath been, I Man and the world so much 1 hate, T I care not when I quit the scene. Men of character represent the conscience of a. nation, men ot' wonius its int9u9Clt5' and While g911iUS'm2Ly be admired, it is elianietei' that wins respect. - IO '

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prison records show that over, half of the inmates have had a good edu- cation. Again there have been others, who without any college education became truly great. Patrick Henry, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin, George Vtfashington, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, and many other self-made men became great, not with the aid of a college education, but by struggling with poverty and ignorance. It makes no difference what advantages a man has, if he rises at all, he must do it by his own exertions. Every man is in one sense the maker of his own destiny. Labor is also happiness. The poor laboring man Who, whistling a merry tune, goes to and from his work with his dinner pail in his hand, is happier by far than the rich man who is idle. It is idleness thatis the curse of the world. An idle ,mind is the devil's workshop. I said a few moments ago that over half of the inmates of our prisons were 'educated men, it is a more .noticeable fact that the greater majority of them had no trade. They were 'idle men. We are accustomed to look at the rich man as the happy one and to covet riches, but wealth is not the hinge upon which happiness turns. It is labor. But if there are any here, who are going to make money their chief object in life-and I hope there are not-let me say labor is the only means by which you can gain-it. Labor is happiness because it is the means of escape from evil, and the open doorway of good. It is also a substitute for genius. Genius has been defined as the capability of laboring intensely. Genius differs from labor only in rapid- ity of execution. Labor ordinarily can do anything genius can: it ,accom- plishes by a succession of blows what genius does at one blow. And many strokes, though with a little axe, Hew down and fell the hardest tilnberedoakf' A genius is generally thought to be one who learns without study, is pro- found without meditation, and who can do anything without labor. Henry NVard Beecher says that such geniuses are usually found in schools and colleges and are known by being very conceited, very affected and very disagreeable. But a true genius is the man who has the power of intensity of labor. ' . - 9

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That man, whether rich or poor, black or white, whether a graduate from some renowned university, or educated in the school of poverty-that man, I say, whose labor is based upon a noble' character is truly great. I care not whether you find him working in a mine, or debating the great and momentous questions of the day in the halls of congress, whether you find him sawing wood, or sw-aying the minds and hearts of a vast audience with his eloquence, he is truly greatq But, as I have said before, no man in America 'with ambition and' energy and character needs to work in a mine, or saw Wood very' long, for he can become famous if he will. In our glorious motto we have the keyfwhich unlocks the door to fame. What lay back of all the success of Franklin? A pure and noble character. VVhat raised him from a poor tallow-chandler's son, to the great statesman and philosopher, and made, him one of the greatest benefactors of the human-race? i- Labor. Only-a marble-slab--marks his last resting place, but his life was a grand and impeishable monument of human greatness, purer than Parian marble, and grander thanthe mightiest monument the dews of heaven ever kissed. And now, classmates, I have said a great deal that I know you will forget,-but there are three things that.I wish to impress upon you, and if you will always remember these, I shall feel amply repaid. First, that there is nothing, absolutely nothing withontlabor. Second, that, work as hard as you can, if ,you have no character back of it, your labor will never amount to anything. And last, that if you have a noble character and Work, you are positive, of success, for labor under such conditions is im- mortality. A great many students graduate with a great regard for them- selves, but with a contempt for common laboring men. They despise small gains and hope to become millionaires in a day. If that is the result of our education, it has been a decided failure. But' if our education has .taught us to have due regard for character, to look upon labor as the lever by which--mankind 'is uplifted, and to have just -as much respect for the poorly clad Working man as for the millionaire, who has gained his money' by the sweat of other mens' brows, then our education has been a, grand success. II