Salem High School - Clarion Annual Yearbook (Salem, OR)

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6 THE CLARION escape What the poet Ocalls ttThe mighty maelstrom of d1v1ne unrest. It were as rational to seek to quench the life germ that is in the seed. The only way to stop that life germ from restlessness and. growth is to put it Where it Will die. For, ttWhen life begins to throb and stir, - The tiniest seed will find the day; One germ of life is mightier Than a Whole universe of clay? i And What germ of life, we may ask, is more mighty than that Which the Eternal Love and Power has planted in man,s immortal nature? Will you put that germ of life un- der a mountain of clay and imagine it shall keep quiet? Some day you shall see that mountain crumble. Will you seek to quench that struggl- ing light under a seared and hard- ened conscience? -Some day it Will break forth to illuminate the un- speakable horrors of the darkest abode of sin in Which you can hide. To appreciate the force of the word ttdesires as it occurs in the text, we need to realize to some ex- tent, the range of mants activity in nature. The plant that has Within itself the energies of a growing life is more than a clod. The animal, endowed With sensation and a de- gree of reasoning power, is more than a plant. Man, into Whose nostrils the Creator breathed the breath of life, is more than an ani- mal. The higher you rise in the scale of being the Wider you find the range of activities. The plant grows and bears its fruit, but cannot move from place to place. The animal may move from place to place, but can- not enter the realms of scientific or imaginative thought. In man you not only find the higher grade of devel- opment and the higher range of ac- tivities, but that in a sense he carries all grades and moves through every range of activity that nature knows. He vegetates With the plant; he breathes and moves about and hun- gers and thirsts and feels physical pain with the animals; he reasons, thinks, chooses, loves and hates as man; he grovels, dissembles, deceives and associates in all Vileness With the spirits of darkness; he soars in holy meditation, salutes the eternal throne With psalms of praise, and rejoices in all purity and beauty With the angels of light. All extremes meet in manaall beauty and all ugli- ness, all joy and all sorrow, all sin and all virtue. No place in heaven is so high that he may not rejoice in its light, While the nether depths are not so black but he Will dare to face their horror and despair. He walks Without fear Where angels veil their faces, and doubts and questions Where devils believe and tremble. How fittingly does the poet speak of this strange creature, man: tiMan, man, thou poor antithesis of power, Child of all time yet creature of an hour; By times chameleon of a thousand forms, . The lord of empires and the food of worms? This word, tidesires, then, must have various meanings When applied to man. We may say, speaking broadly, that there are bodily desires, mental desires, spiritual desires. We have here a clear reference to the higher line of desires, desires, of the heart, the spirit, the moral nature. They are not mere appetites that may be appeased With meats and drinks. They are not carnal passions that may be stilled by indulgence to- day only to be aroused again tomor- row. They are not mere intellectual longings for the treasures of the schools and libraries. Neither are they the outreachings of the esthetic nature for Visions of external beauty and harmony. They certainly include all that is pure and worthy along all these lines, but theylare the longings of the im- mortal nature for Whatever is immor- tal in nature or over nature. They are as real in the child as in man .or womanaperhaps even more real. The soul is not always conscious of their meaning in either child or man. In a sense you may say they are blind desires. And the blind are ever leading the blind With the proverbial results. Many mls- takes are made .in attempts to satisfy these immortal longings. Altars are built, temples are erected, idols are carved. ,Creeds, dogmas and formu- las multiply. Sacrifices and forms of worship are invented. But from any znzzniaittitnninxr-ks a .- x tan. a. Q m 1.th Th. Q - V A 33 l!t!21'5-1 11g 1E!!!

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3': L756 Gldflbll Great Results Cannot be Expected W here Uprz'gbtness and Industry are Dz'scarded.--T.T.Geer. VOL. 11. Salem, Oregon, June, 1906 No. 9. Gonzmencemeizf gzercises. The Senior class of ,06 being the first graduating class of the Salem High School, decided to set as a precedent for succeeding graduating classes the idea of a commencement week. Commencement week is usually in- augurated by the baccalaureate ser- mon. The following program was finally decided upon for the week be- ginning Sunday, June 10, and ending Saturday, June 16. Sunday, June 10, 10:30 a. m.eBac- calaureate Sermon at the First Congregational church, corner of Center and Liberty streets, by the Rev. P. S. Knight. Tuesday, June 12.--Benefit Program for Athletics at 8:15 p. m., Assem- bly Room of the High School. Wednesday, June 13.eCIass Play, iiThe Princessii tTennysoni, As- sembly Room, 8:15 p. m. Thursday, June 14eClass Day, With class party in the evening. Friday, June 15eCommencement ex- ercises and presentation of di- plomas by Board of Directors. Saturday, Junell6w0rganization of Alumni Association. $accalaurea fe Sermon. Sunday, June 10, at 10:30, the Rev. P. S. Knight preached the Bacca- laureate Sermon t0 the class. The pulpit and rostrum had been taste- fully decorated for the occasion. Six Junior boys acted as ushers. As the last echoes of the bell in the belfry were dying away the class marched in and took seats appropri- ated for them. The sermon of Rev. Knight was as follows: Texte-Psalm 37:4: iiDelight thy- self also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart? There are many things in Which the young heart delights. Yes, many pure, beautiful and worthy things. But after a list is made of all the delightful things that the eyes can see or the hands can handleeeven of all that the uninspired mind can fathom or comprehendethere is an iiAlsoP It is suggested by the text: ilDelight thyself also in Jehovah? And What a great promise follows: itHe shall give thee the desires of i thine heart? Aspiration is the first result of in- spiration. And by inspiration I mean the spiritual stirring that may come to every soul. The soul once, breathed upon cannot rest. It is: filled With desireseaspirations. The. soul moved by the Spirit desires to be something nobler. to do something- more worthy. At first it may be a blind desire. The soul is conscious. of a want, but knows not Where nor by What it may be satisfied. It is a condition of spiritual unrest. In sheer self-defense the troubled soul may seek to quiet and quench these rest-destroying aspirations-eto administer anodynes to a troubled conscience-in hope that peace may be secured. It is a vain hope. Not, thus may an immortal soul hope tq

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THE CLARION 7 and all of these the soul maye-finally musteturn away with its sense of longing unsatisfied. We say it must be so, and it is a sign of hope that it is so. Immortal man is too great to be hnally and forever satisfied with the toys of his babyhood, or even With the best that can. be done or said or thought in the most progres- sive age. iiThou hast made us for thyself, said Augustine, iiand we are restless till we find our rest in Thee? The real desires of our hearts, our deeper hearts, are not for iithings -for mere trappings and external condi- tions. The living heart must find a living heart. You want a companion, a friend, a lover, a mutual Sharer of your weal and woe, some one to love who can with love respond. You want the Father whose heart is the fountain of all love, the Father whose own best name is Love. It is a want, not merely a whimea real want, not a fictitious one. It is a want that must be satisfied if I am to remain or ever come to be in any high, true sense a man. Without it I take my place with the beast of the field and with every creeping thing. Now, I am not here to say that the Father responds to these desires in human hearts. But I am here to say that these desires are respon- ses to the original desire in the Fatherls own heart. Fifteen hundred years before the birth of our Lord a far-seeing wise man gave expres- sion to this thought: Job, 14:15, iiThou shalt call, and I will answer thee; thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands? How can it be otherwise? Man is more than a creature of God. He is a child of God. Can the Infinite Father regard his own children as the dust of his chariot wheels? It cannot be so. In some wayein the highest and best way-the Father must delight in his own children. Surely, then, His heart is ever 'open to all who delight in Him. As a spiritual being manls natural place is with the Father, in the Father. Having once learned how to iideliqht thyself in the Lord? thou shalt fini all true delight to be included in that. My own unrest is a mystery to me until I lind it at once explained and quieted in that glorious presence where every longing is satisfied and every question is answered. To my mind this is a wonderful thought, the most exalted and exalt- ing thought that we can have con- cerning ourselves: The possibilities of, our nature are so great that we can be satisfied with nothing less than God. Not simply some a belief in God, some View of Him, some creed or dogma touching his nature; not some general sense of his for- bearance, forgiveness and Love, but God himself. We must find our de- light, and through that iithe desires of our hearts, in a joyful, fruitful, constant oneness with the Father. SIMILES. Silently flows the deep river, Little brooks babble and fret. The Lord as a deep river moveth, And I as the brooklet; and yet, The brooklet flows down to the river And finds a calm rest in its flood; And I, when my; journey is ended, May rest on the bosom of God. The sun shines in splendor forever, The dim candle glows for a night; The Lord lives in glory eternal, My life is a span in his sight. Yet the sun loaned his light to the candle, And He gave to me this brief flame; The candle gives back what it bor- rowed, My spirit returns whence it came. It is well: let the brook seek the river, And both find their home in thesea; It is well: they were set to deliver. A message to you and to me. It is well that the flame of the candle Die out in the blaze of the sun; All is well if our lives rise immortal When this little journey is done. Many valuable lessons were re- ceived from his sermon, which was the work of an artist, to say the least, and was rendered in the earn- est and pleasing manner characteris- tic of Rev. Knight. When the congregation left the church at the close of the services, they took with them many wholesome and hopeful thoughts.