"By misery unrepelled, unawed By pomp or power, thou seest a Man "Through all disguise, form, place, or name, "On man as man, retaining yet, Howe'er debased, and soiled, and dim, Whittier sang that to the democratic spirit in his day. We naturally take up and prolong the strain in ours. Sirth. Considertions of Race. We should strive in vain. to blind ourselves to the reassertion of the race spirit in our own country after many years in which it has seemed to some degree at least extinct. Even many of the old anti-slavery people are changing somewhat their attitude toward the negro race because of most unfortunate experiences with the ignorant and vicious of that race in various portions of the country. Here at Longwood we must keep our loyalty to the brotherhood of man, we must take the larger view which passes beyond the immediate fact to the realm of causes and effects, and includes in its observations not only one manifestation but all manifestations. We must not forget the background of slave labor, we must not forget the immoralities of our own race in its connection with the black race in bondage, we must not forget that after the war we sent to the newly enfranchised people, politicians and politics, when we ought to have sent to them the schoolmaster and the public school. I am sure that while Longwood will condemn crime of every kind it will never tolerate distinctions between human beings on account of race or color. I am sure we shall consider it a vital part of our work to hold up the standard of equal justice to all, of the opening of opportunities to all, while we hail with special delight as a move in the right direction the work which is being done under the peerless leadership of Booker T. Washington and the group of brave, devoted, clear headed, and eloquent men who gather about him. Those men and others like them throughout the country, the men and women of their race everywhere who try to live honest, clean, upright lives will always be welcome here as members with ourselves of one great family in whom as the old Roman said, "Nature has implanted mutual love." Nor can we forget in this connection the Chinaman, and the Japanese, and the American Indian. There is no "yellow peril," no "red peril," no "black peril," there is the peril of ignorance, the peril of debauchery, the peril of passion and crime in whatever race found, but no peril of nationality or color. "Of a truth God is no respecter of persons," and we are all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free." "A man's a man for all that." Our fathers and forefathers carried that sentiment in their hearts and on their lips. It will be the glory of their children and grand children if they shall do likewise. Seventh, public education. In common with thoughtful people everywhere, we are coming to see that a vital necessity in the development of individual character and a vital means of security of public order, and public administration, is general intelligence. No man can be a good citizen without the kind of discipline which the public school represents, be he black or yellow or red or white. Universal suffrage and universal elementary education must go together. And more and more, not less for the white than for the rest, the manual element must be introduced, not first because it fits for a trade, but first because it provides another and natural channel of personal expression;-directly discipline to the eye and to the hand, indirectly discipline to mind and conscience. In view of the tendency to place children of tender years in factories and mines, to employ them in various ways in productive processes, compulsory education must commend itself as a necessity of American development and life. Such education should be provided and enforced by the community, if not by the community then by the state, if not by the state then by the nation in all possible ways. To keep any class ignorant in this repub lic ought to be a crime; and when it can be done in no other way, the nation itself, for its own preservation, ought to insist that for all its citizens compulsory, elementary teaching and the sovereignty of the ballot shall go hand hand. The word education in its best sense means a calling out, an evolution of the individual, it means putting him upon his own feet, making him the master of his own capacities and of the tools with which those capacities are to work. There is nothing which Longwood holds dear, or ever has held dear, the leadership of truth, the maintenance of personal rights, free discussion, the spirit of toleration, but presupposes the diffusion among all classes of intelligence. Therefore among those who emphasize most strongly the thought that no human being must be permitted to grow to manhood or womanhood without the opportunity for public schooling or its equivalent, it seems to me Longwood must ever be found. Eighth, the attitude of mankind toward womankind has ever been one of the great questions here. It was early seen that every principle which demanded equality of rights as between men, also demanded equality of rights as between men and women. So over and over again on this spot the different phases of what has been known as the woman's right agitation have received full attention, culminating with the demand for the ballot for woman. It seems to me that in the best twentieth century thought it is now seen that all the different branches of the great movement which first took organized form in this country in 1848, are but fractional parts of a reform which affects the entire attitude of men and women toward each other. And here at Longwood certainly we must see that woman is rightly the owner of herself just as man is the owner of himself; that man cannot rightfully assume to control woman in any respect whatsoever; that mutuality must be the spirit of their attitude toward each other; and that the relation of woman to man as dependent and subordinate in any phase of life or to any degree, is to be superseded by that finer achievement in which men and women shall set themselves to each other "like perfect music unto noble words." Here we must see that the time is coming when personal chastity shall be the law of man's life; and children shall come into the world because they are intelligently desired. If I mistake not, the most beautiful picture of human progress; the most beautiful ideal of human relations in the time to be; will be evolved as we learn to refine and exalt the relations between men and women. The movement in which from the first, men and women have worked together, side by side; in whose meetings the appeal for the noblest dreams of womanly freedom has always been welcomed; must surely become sensitive to the higher reaches of the new thought. Especially does it seem to me that the young people of Longwood may here lift up an ideal in this respect, such as shall bless and help to bless, the lives of future generations. With their American manhood and American womanhood, while the dreams of youth and maidenhood are still upon them, they may together unfold a future which shall eclipse all the old conditions with the new faith and the new practice. Let them remember that the day is before us, not behind us, when, "Comes the statelier Eden back to men, When reign the world's great bridals chaste and calm, Ninth, and finally, the larger religion,-We are facing that. Religion is becoming the business of how to live, and help others to live in this life. It does not belong exclusively to a sect, a race, a system. In its germ at least it is the natural inheritance of all humankind. It is the relation o fthe individual soul to the infinite power, we hardly dare name, looking up, to a world of souls just like itself, looking out and around. Religion has in this view little to do with profession, little to do with form and ceremony. Its supreme concern is with what a man does and is. Worship and sympathy,―these make religion. The leadership of truth and the sovereignty of love these make religion. Ah what a work there is for Longwood to do in this field. "To-day in full accord we meet, With loving hearts and free; In loving charity. "Come hither all, the great, the least, Come Christian, Moslem, layman, priest, "Leave out no hope: who enter here Leave scornful laugh and bigot's fear; "Come one, come all, who come in love; Free as God's glorious heaven above, Singers and prophets of the church of the spirit, the church of humanity are we; its revelation everywhere, where trees grow, and flowers blossom, and stars shine; where minds think, and hearts love, and souls aspire. Its saints, all good men and women who ever were, or ever shall be; its faith, eternal goodness everywhere supreme, above, around, within. What a religion this is, knowing only man and the ideal. Surely Longwood must see and feel this thrice charmed faith as it comes marching up the steeps of time. Well what an outlook it all is! Advance everywhere, inspiration everywhere, a summons everywhere. The world all alive in every direction with issues for us, and we by all the memories of our past, by all high resolves in our present, by all bright hopes for our future, we ready to plead for justice, equity, purity, peace, opportunity all along the line. May we all feel that we stand upon the mount to-day to catch the vision of a strong, sweet, gentle, beautiful humanity, which we are to help actualize in all the highways and byways of life. This is an hour of high consecration for us all, if we will it so. You remember Seneca's Pilot, in the storm, says: "O Neptune, you may save me if you will; you may sink me if you will; but whatever happens, I shall keep my rudder true." May it be that we shall receive here some new baptism of the spirit to exalt our sensibilities and keep us true. The meeting closed with a hymn by the choir, immediately after this address. |