Goshen College - Maple Leaf Yearbook (Goshen, IN)

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VVILLIAM H. HAARER, A.B. Major. Mathematics. Goshen, Ind. An enthusiastic and conscientious Hoosier ALBERT BRECHBILL, A.B. Major. Mathematics. Avilla, Ind. Albert Brechbill is a young Hoosier of noble characteristics. He is of medium height and build and has a slight defect in his gait. He has that frank, open expres- sion and genial disposition which will win the friendship of many. He is a man of conviction and faithfully performs his duties. With such qaulities we can predict for him a promising future. who has Won great renown as a school teacher, as chief secretary of the Emerson- ian Society in the formulating and carry- ing out plans for the intercollegiate de- bates, and in his personal associations with others. In his school work he has shown himself a lover and master of every line of Work. XVe believe his future will be no less successful than his school life. NORA E. COLBURN, ABF? Major. German Bangor, Mich. Nora Colburn is a graduate of Paw Paw, Mich., High School, 1907, and also of Kala- mazoo State Normal, 1909. Since then she has taught High School for three years in various states. Although she has been With us but one year she has succeeded in making herself felt and has admirably shown her intellectual qualities by the many hours of work she has carried. She is very bright, keen, 3161i and clever. One only need look at her to see that she is the bright head-light of her class. tWil1 receive degree in August,

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GOSI-IEN COLLEGE RECORD. 25 world without our free institutions and our system of national government U? lf Columbus had abandoned his decision, would another soon have undertaken such a voyage or would this most magnificent country be yet unknown to the civilized world? Columbus saw his star in the west and its gleam led to greater riches than he had anticipat- ed. Instead of finding a new route to an old country he opened up the way to a country whose discovery was destined to change the history of the world. Such an aim will help to concen- trate one's every effort to the accom- plishment of some definite value in life Not every man in the East was explor- ing the starry heavens and saw that glorious star, .and not every man that saw it followed its gleam. Only three of all the people of the East beheld the king. These three had caught the vis- ion and had followed it where it led. Many a man has wasted his life for want of a purpose, because he has either never had a vision of life or has failed to make it his great abiding pur- pose. ln this age of high centraliza- tion it is essential that one's energies be spent along some definite line. In fact this has always been necessary but this fact has never before been realized as in the present. Life is too short and too valuable to be aimlessly spent. tt'l'his one thing l do , said the great aspotle to the Gentiles. He had caught his vision and all his persecutions and personal difficulties could not turn him aside. There were also other apostles of Christ but this single aim of Saul of Tarsus led him to Hlabor more abund- antly than they alln. t'l3ut 'this one thing I do' led him to use all means for success, and to send for and make use of 'books and parchments' and himself 'give attention to reading' in order that such tprofiting might appear to men ', with the result that his influence over the thought of the Christian world today is greater than that of any other man that ever lived, save Christ, whom he served so gloriouslyw. A similar singleness of aim has put many a man in position of trust and honor even in spite of the most forbid- ding obstacles. One such eminent American citizen in one of his public addresses said of himself. HI was born in poverty, want sat by my cradle. I know what it is to ask a mother for bread when she had none to given. At the age of ten he became a bond boy to a farmer. He served until he was twenty-one years of age for food and raiment, one month 's school in the win- ter, and six sheep and a yoke of oxen. He was so poor that up to his twenty- first birthday a single dollar cover every penny he had ever spent. But from his childhood he had an in- spiration that did for him what a for- wo ul d tune could not l1ave done without it. lt was an inspiration for knowledge. After working all day he would read by the light of the kitchen fire, hour af- ter hour, often till morning, from books which he borrowed wherever he could, thus reading during his indenture nearly athousand volumes of the best American and English literature, works of history, philosophy, biography and general literature. He sold his sheep and oxen, tramped many a weary mile in search of work, hired out for a month for six dollars, became an apprentice to a shoemaker, later took up the trade for himself, working sixteen hours a day and often all night long, and by such unremitting toil saved by the end of two years sev- eral hundred dollars towards an educa- tion for the practice of law, when his

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GOSHEN COLLEGE RECORD. 27 health gave way. But with all his ups and downs Henry Wilson pressed steadily towards the goal he had set. During his wandering he had seen the evils of slavery and resolved that 'tiny voice and vote shall ever be given for the equality of all the children of men, before the laws of the common- wealth of Massachusetts, and of the United States . Massachusetts kept this man of single aim as her senator until he had seen the shackles removed from a million and a half of bondmen and had seen the institution of slavery fall to pieces, and, when General Grant was elected president of this glorious country, she gave him to preside, as vice president of the country, over the legislative body, where for a score of years he had been the bravest, most patriotic, most hardworking, and in- corruptible member . He had seen his star and faithfully followed the path of its gleam. Many a young man after catching his vision and making a noble start has been side-tracked by temptation and adverse influences. His clean pol- itical life has become corrupt by a de- sire for political fame, his sympathy and interest in humanity narrowed by a lust for gold, his religious aspirations killed by indifference, his character ruined by liquor, gambling and asso- ciate vices, and his courage lost by mis- fortune. Some retrace their steps and follow their higher aspirations after having irretrievably wasted time and energy. Others are hopelessly ruined. The Hebrew nation had caught a gleam of the true God, the one supreme, loving creator and Lord of the universe and Father of men. They started on their journey to Canaan in the light of that bright star. But soon their vis- ion was blurred with fear, discourage- ment. and idoltary. and losing their way they wandered about in the wil- derness for forty years. But on the other hand we find a few faithful men, who never wholly lost the light of that bright star and though dim as it ap- peared at times, were true to that faithful guide and through their faith- fulness saved the race and gave to the world its greatest principles of reli- gion and morality in the person of Christ. The gleam comes from a beacon light. We cannot see the whole of the way. VVe know not what surprises, what triumphs, what sorrows and mis- fortunes lie along that path. Step by step is the way revealed and often as we look into the distance we behold what appears to be our goal, but which proves to be only a division mark along the King's highway, and as we ap- proach it the light is seen in the dis- tance beyond. We, the graduating class of 1913 have caught the gleam. We have seen the star in the west, we started on our journey, but we could not see the whole of the way. We follow the light as the little boy follows the rain- bow. He sees it over against the woods, but as he approaches it keeps steadily advancing before him. For a time we could see only as far as the college, probably at first not even to the completion of the course, but we followed the gleam, and thought at times hindered by circumstances and the light appeared almost hopelessly in the distance and faint at times, we have faithfully kept our eyes upon that light and have now reached this landmark only to find the gleam still in the distance. As we have been ap- proaching we saw the light as if it were advancing, ever opening new vis-