University of Maryland Baltimore Dental School - Mirror Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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All of us have a part to perform in the drama of life, and whether our role shall be applauded or derided depends almost entirely upon each individual. The whole library of the chronicles of progress contains but one story — that men worth while, men who have worked, have lived, and have understood the human necessity for their efforts ; and they have devoted their energy, their ability and their determination to the attainment of some great object, and they have, by sheer force of will-power, attained it. Yes, there have been, there are, and there will continue to be some exceptions to this rule. Luck has played some part. Fortune has occasionally assisted in the achievements of a few of this world ' s characters. But luck is usually such a negligible quantity ; fortune is so notoriously fickle that he who may depend upon one or both of these auxiliaries will generally find them leading him so far astray that when at last his vain regrets shall recall him to a sense of his own shame and dishonor, he will be in the midst of the quicksand of disaster and hopelessly lost. Work, then, honest, earnest endeavor, is the sole medium that has yet produced lasting results and will ever enable a man to count his full tally in the final summing-up of the many acts of his existence. It is idle, it is foolish, it is cowardly for any man to say that he is unable to do thus and so. It is a lamentable confession of weakness for any man to admit that the buffetings of the world have disheart- ened and defeated him. It is eternally shameful for any man to confess that that derivative of the Almighty, the transcendent power of the brain, has been misused, abused or not recognized and utilized. The man who buries his talents, who refuses to do his best, who is faint-hearted and fearful, who is prone to live a purposeless life, who is captivated by and enamored of the wiles of Tyre and Sodom, is he whom everlasting confusion overtakes. Centuries upon centuries ago man struggled and toiled in darkness, the darkness of uncertainty, the darkness of ignorance, and sometimes of despair. He toiled and struggled because it was the eternal purpose of Creation that he should do so. He strived after better things, not knowing why he strived, because he was a part in the great evo- lutionary process of mankind. A force within him impelled him and urged him to seek to better his con- dition, and the world has advanced to its present stage because he did strive and did accomplish his purposes. And, down through all the centuries since, men have been striving in response to that same force, 25

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But civilization was marching on ! We have sailed the unknown and trackless seas ; have braved the storms and perils of the ocean, and, after weeks and months of unrecounted hardships and dangers, have seen, by the lightning flash, the shores of that land to which we had come but had hardly hoped to find. Well-nigh famished, we have tottered over the wastes of the desert. Fever-ridden, we have stumbled through the jungles of the tropics. Benumbed with cold, weak with hunger, we have struggled amid the blinding snow, have forded the icy streams, and, with comrades falling all around us, their prayers for help ringing unheeded in our brains, we have pressed on, borne by a diabolical and an unreasoning energy, to a country where we have witnessed the death throes of an inordinately ambitious emperor and the crumbling of an empire. But civilization was marching on ! We have watched the progress of the years. We have seen the amazing advance of learning, of science, of things worth while, and we have stood in open-mouthed wonderment and have marveled. We have dreamed of accomplishments, and have awakened to face their realization. We have thought of the chaining of mighty and often unknown forces, and have discovered the per- fection of the thought. We have stood aghast at the amazing consummations of men, disbelieving even while we saw. Some of our kindred have dived deep down among the scurrying fishes, and, within a frail shell which their genius has evolved, they have breathed the breath of life, a fellow-prisoner with them. Others have climbed the clouds, and, soaring far above the dizzy heights of the eagle, have distanced the jealous flights of the birds of the air. All of these things, and more, have we seen as civilization was marching on ! We have viewed the progress of the centuries. We have learned the lessons of time. More fortu- nate than those of our brethren who have gone before, we have seen the weaknesses of humanity and we have attended the birth of humanity ' s triumphs. We know the needs of the world ; we are able to realize the true hope of mankind. Tonight we are walking in the van of the onward march of civilization, and if we shall prove false or timorous of the trust that evolution has reposed in us, posterity will adjudge us unworthy of our place in the ranks, and we shall go down to oblivion unwept, unhonored and unsung. 24

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which has been driving them and compelling them, until tonight the whole world is made up of many thousands of men of effort, each the possessor of an undying and enthusiastic desire to do something worth while for humanity, and they are achieving these things and know why they labor in the achieve- ment of them. There is no longer any doubt, any uncertainty ; no longerany darkness of ignorance or despair ; man has emerged from the ancient gloom. Man is now hopeful and eager. The training and experience of the years have demonstrated and exhibited unto him his own power, the power of his mind, the in- vincible strength of his intellect. The human brain is master ! Fear not for your personal success. Learn and realize that a singleness of purpose unwaveringly pursued, with tireless energy and growing and ever-recurrent enthusiasm, must and will guide your foot- steps into the pathway and support and sustain you unto the gate that opens upon the promised land where flows the milk and honey. This success you cannot fail to attain if you devote your minds and your whole desires to it as your life ' s one objective point. The history of men has abundantly proved the truth and the possibility of this. You have within you the power to make or mar your own careers. I do not mean this in the ordinarily accepted sense of that idea. I mean it in its fullest and most extensive sense. A vigorous, unalloyed, continuous, concen- tration of the mind upon the acquisition of any given object or result will almost invariably bring a per- fect realization of it. This concentration, however, must be the kind that remains sleepless and undaunted. It must be fearless in the face of defeat and supreme in the hour of adversity. The experience of humanity has been that men contain within themselves the ability to work out their own salvation, and if, whatsoever your hands find to do you shall do with all your might, the very mightiness of your labor will bring its reward, and you will not be disappointed in the end. There is no doubt about the truth of this statement. It is not a new nor an experimental doctrine. It is recent only in that it has but just begun to be recognized and understood. It has existed since man first began to develop, and the development and perfection of it, even without man ' s knowledge, has kept pace with all of his advances. The great within all of us has the power of becoming omnipotent, and some day, in the era of the 20