Goshen College - Maple Leaf Yearbook (Goshen, IN)

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160 GOSHEN COLLEGE RECORD. JUNE dividual efforts unfolds personality and brings man a long way towards his highest destinly and end. By ori- ginality is not meant to be able to produce somethingg absolutely new. NYhat we call new is but a different combination of the old. Every dis- covery, invention, book, speech, thought, law, organization however new is like every object of creation but a recombination of old material, methods and principles. But this comlbination and recombination is the great saving and purging progress of life and humanity. Bly this process the error and evil of society is burned away and truth is disseminated and human ipersonalities are forced into the image of God. He who never thinks and feels for himself can not even appreciate and interpret the originality of others. To appreciate VVordsworth,s picture of a sweet lonely maid as: A violet by a mossy stone Half hidden from the eye Fair as a star when only one Is shining in the skyu one must see with the inward eye and love the virtuous lonely child that resembles the violet by a mossy stone modestly drinking in the dew drops of heaven and smiling in the dancing sunbeam. To feel the truth of Shakes'peare's words about the uni- versality of good that We find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks. sermons in stones and good i-n every- thing , one must have been personal- ly enticed by the hold charm of na- ture's symphony and grand orchestra and her sublime gallery adorned with pictures that blend earth and heaven in one surpassing panorama of beauty and granduer. To live in a consum- ing conviction that love is the pearl ci great price, the crowning character- istic of any personality one must feel the sweetness andlight of love and that infinite nobility it ,bestows upon the possesslor. 'To appreciate any his- toric event, masterpiece of art, theory of life or worthy ideal one must enter into its signifiance by perslonal ability and personal effort. But with the present apiportunitfy for dissemination of knowledge we are in grave danger of living, acting and thinking vwhlolly on the suggestions of others. VVe be- come bookish .and imitators, actors but not lprodiucers. VVe hide in the cloak of cronventionality and t-hus our individuality is crushed and ground in the cogs of popular opinion. Seoimetimes we detest ecicentricities. but 'eccentricities when seasoned with intelligence, and smoothed bly reason are fruitful sources of truth, knowl- edge and life. Thomas A. Edison, the Menlo Park wizard, has peculiar habits, but he is also a Hercules in the field of invention. Socrates was brand- ed fby some as mad and corrupt, but his teachings were so full oif truth and inspiration that they were not written on perishable parchment but in t-he hearts and minds of his disciples. Abraham Lincoln was once the object ef ridicule and scorn because his soul was too great for his awkward and homely body. But he thought for himself, he was original and thus he became able to solve the slavery pro- bleim, defeat Douglas and feel the great heart throbs of the nation which he inoarnated in his Gettysburg speech and which today pulsates with those immortal verities. Pestalozzi was al- most illiterate, ill-dressed, a poor speaker and a poor disciiplinariang but

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1910 GOSHEN COLLEGE RECORD. 159 verence for the old because it contains the condensed wealth oif 'th-ought, wis- dom and .experience of man with in- stitutions to propagate his ideals and happiness. But whenever the anci- ent and the usual block the Wheels of progress and thwart individual asser- tion they have missed their real 'func- tion and usurped the sublime right of personal freedom and self-realizatilon. Look at China shackeled in ignorance and superstition and almost ready to gasp her last breath of national ex- istence as a penalty of holding insensi- bly to the tradition of the elders for thousands o-f years. There she lay bound and helpless in customs and cruel deadening ancestral ritualism when a breeze of western civilization anfd christianity swept over her and made her cfonscious off a country which bloomed unprecedently rapid from a weak unnoticed republic to a recognized leading, stirring, world power as a result of independence and originality, To obey the outward, the external of the past is not reverence but slav- ery. If you would respect the old seek its heart, its fundamental pur- pose and apply it freshly to the pres- ent and specific conditions. No insti- tution, tradition, theory. creed, ideal or custom, however old, has the right to demand suppfort and attention be- cause it is old. The question is not age but truth and validity. To justly claim our loyalty a thing must show its credentials of truth and helpfulness. lt must aid man tfo realize his highest destiny or else be condemned and dis- carded. All things. past or present. should be placed in the great seive of truth and reason not of time. And in this respect the last century has been the most exceptional century of the past. X It was a period of marvel- ous originalityg and progress was as a logical result commensurate with with that originality. Countless in- ventions of endless kinds and classes were wrought, industrial reforms and social regeneration were instituted, political administration miade demo- cratic and representative, and there- fore 'prosperous and peaceful- hostile national policies substituted largely bly arbitration and friendly diplomacy, educational methods and standards greatly renovated, religious tolerance and personal sacrifice for world-wide dissemination of Christian holiness in- augurated. There were cihanges and combination innumerable, complex and unparalleled in all time. VVhy? Because humanity as a whole, and not only a few individuals, asserted its likes and dislikes, its wisdom and ignorance, because men and women everywhere in the occident and in parts of the orient contrirbuted in their own way, their individual thoughts, skill and experience. The world al- wa-ys needs if not immediately recog- nized the persons who can say, think. vwork, lead. suggest and direct in their own peculiar manner. Both for the sake of self-realization then and so- cial progress originality is indepensi- b-lc. ingenuity that is used constructive- ly and fror moral ends is a vital ex- pression of life and makes for happi- ness and improvement. But custom is conservative and tends towards stagnation and death. Mere imitation pnoduces human parrots, parasites and machines. Wliile self-reliance and in-

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1910 GOSHEN COLLEGE RECORD. 151 his work, How Gertrude Educates Her Children , became and still is a guiding star for educational ideals and principles. Milton too had peculiari- ties but he exercised his native im- agination and the harvest was the im- mortal 'fParadise Lost . John the Baptist came dressed in camel's hair but his soul in Godis spirit and he was entrusted with the greatest proclama- tion known to all time. So history contains an infinite numsber of illus- trations showing that men and wo- men who dared to be themselves and original in their work miade perma- nent and valuable contributions to hu- man welfare. Be yourself, even if- that self is small. It is better to say your own thoughts in a homely tongue and inspire one listener than quote an- other's flowers or rhetoric and charm a thousand, for original work and effort increases the producer like the increasing momentum of a mountain avalanche and grows in volume like a river fed bfy streams from a thous- and watery slopes. He who never dioes anything, think or feel for him- self has never tasted the purest wat- ers of life and enjoyed the great free- dom of self-realization, that God of- fers tio mankind. Healtihful self-re- liance is not eigoism but manliness and self-respect. To live independently and work out vour own salvation does not implzy disregard for the feelings, convictions and opinions of others or they counsel of the masters and wise of the ages, but it is a respectful response of their message. And what is that message? Tfhe great thought and message of all great men, of all great ages is the story of hope and inspira- tion to every man and woman in spur- ring them to realize their highest and truest being. But no man can make another, other than he is without his wish and permission. Even, God can not make a man ,good against his will. Every person must act for himself. whether in industry, business, social affairs, education or religion, if he would develop. And that self-action is originality, He who will lean not on others but on himself will find the un- seen powers cooperating in myster- ious ways and he will knaow the truth of Franklin's statement that, Heaven helps those that help themselves . Originality and self-effort does not only richly compensate the individual with stronger volition, deeper insight and holier emotions, but society is purified and benefiitted materially, in- tellectually and morally. Almost from everywhere comes the cry, Give us men and women who can lead and di- rectv. Coimimerclial and mantffacitur- ing interesfts seek men and women wiho -can save human energy, time, raw material and money. Shorter de- livery of finished articles better ma- chines wtith less friction and greater productive capacity, nsovel advertise- ments and other means of securing greater patronage furnish opiportuni- ties for living, growing, aimibitious men and wo-men. The state and na- tion demand men who can cope with presentievils. It needs leaders who can prevent unwise action and suggest proper legislation. The school-room is seriously needing teachers who are original enough to aplply the theory to practical and specific conditions. VVe want teachers with tact to disci- pline and with enough individual in- sight to assimulate the curricula and thus becomea fresh fountain of truth Continued next month.