Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades - Mechanic Yearbook (Media, PA)

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Baath of Zllirustees ALFRED C. 'HARRISON ISAAC H. CLOTHIER GEORGE H. MCFADDIQN CHARLES S. DAY

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Baath uf Trustees JOHN NVANAMAKER JOHN' STORY JENKS IOI-IN M, SQHRIGLEY CHAIRMAN TREASURER

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. Q message tn the Glass uf 1917 Ep the ifannurahle isbn wanamakzr, fiijairman nf the Baath of Ulirustzes OR twenty-five years the Wfilliamson School has been trying to build the character of its students as well as to educate them. If there is one thing above another that the world values today it is character. I have always believed a man's character was something in a Way sacred to that man himself, and I find on looking it up in the dictionary that the word character exists with practically the same meaning in nearly all lan- guages, and that it is a very old word that in the earliest times meant a mark engraved or cut into stone or a plate of metal or some other enduring substance, so that it would remain there and could not be rubbed out. And this is the way with the character of a man. His reputation may be this or that or what people think of him, or what people say about him 5 his repu- tation may change from good to bad and from bad to good, and his reputation may be an altogether mistaken estimate-but his character is different. His character is the mark, the impress, the absolute individuality engraven into his life which does not change and cannot be rubbed out. I think there have been a great many innocent errors niade with regard to the meaning of the word character, An employe going from one master to another used to be said to take with him a good character, when what was meant was that he was taking a good reputation. The difference is that the character of a man is what he makes of him self, and the reputation is what other people make about him. ' A man's character is generally made in the first twenty years of his life. To some degree it is iniiuenced by his associations and environments, to some degree perhaps by heredityg to some degree by education. But all of these are only small influences compared with the measure that a man's own definite purpose, his own will, his own clear sight of right and wrong, his own physical, and especially his own moral courage have in the determina- tion of what his character is to be. Let a young man come finally to accept, and realize, and estimate at its true value the fact that his life is bound to be of his own making and that it can be, in spite of all doubters and objectors, just as great a life as any life, if he is determined enough about it-then he has formed for himself a character that will carry him far. The first thing in his business life is probityg the first thing in his domestic life is sound. affection, the first thing in his spiritual life is an unswerving belief in the inspired XN7ord of God and the value of his own soul. JOHN WANAMAKER ro A