THE HESPERIAN.
I
.
Although the subject is not new, yet It is one that is com
manding the profoundest attention of many of the best citi
zens of the republic.
"So far the prohibition fight has been confined to counties
and states. The people have been educated. The subject
has assumed so great importance that a broader basis of ac
tion is now demanded. The liquor men arc organized in
national associalion. Shall not the opponents of their busi
ness take equal vantage ground? The times arc now ripe for
a division of the votes upon this grand moral issue. Politics
arc corrupt. In such a state of affairs there is need of a great
moral issue."
The next number on the program was an essay, "The
Needed Statesman," by Miss May Guild. Miss Guild came
upon the stage in a very graceful manner and read in 11 clear,
earnest tone. Her essay was long.
Again the quartet sang and again they received an encore.
After this Mr. E. P. Drown delivered nn oration upon "The
Hammer." Mr. Brown's voice was excellent. His gestures
were not graceful, but they were forceablc.
I ask you tonight, that your sense of justice judge a man
who lived and died so long ago that he has nearly been forgot
ten. Forgotten, did I say? God forbid. For when oblivion
covers him, then may Cromwell and Washington, Lee and
Lincoln be buried in the same dark fleva of years. No a
great deed and a horoic soul will never die.
The kingofthc East issued his royal proclamation, that in
a place, on a certain day the tubes should assemble to do hom
age to the God their king had chosen. The thousands rallied
at the call. At once a crowd of men, each eager to be first to
comply with their monarchs demand, rushed forward to
the altar. The first one that knelt, knelt to rise no morc
for the old man had all alone, watched the traitors, and with
a blow of his naked fist laid him on the ground a corpse.
That old man was the father of Judas Maccabacus; Judas the
saviour of his country, Judas whose name is u synomyn for
patriot and martyrs, Judas who wins from all ages the name of
Judas the Hammer.
He put to flight the mighty host of Syria, each time with
only a handful of followers. Judas knew h'ur.self to be invin
cible by anything like equal force. He raised his nation to a
place of importance to renewed power and to an alliance with
the rising power of Rome.
Compare him with any of the world's gteat men. He had
the same insignificant means that Alexander had and won
victories as great; he had Caesar's inborn genius for war; he
was as devout as Gustavus Adolphus. He was morp. Unlike
any of them Judas the Hammer lived and struck and died for
his country and for God Almighty.
To him belongs the debt the world will always owe to gen
iusadmiration. Admire him for his statesmanship, for his
inborn genius for war for what he did. Hut more than all
admire him for what he was. He fought a dozen battles and
never lost one. He died like the hero that he was, on the
field of battle, at the head of victorious legions with a sword
stabbed through his heart.
The program was closed with music by the quartet.
' UNION.
The fourth annual oratorical contest and the fourteenth
annual exhibition of the Union society was given in the
chapel on the evening of June 5. The program was one of
the best of the season. The first number on the pro
gram was a piano solo by Miss Louise Pound. Following the
music was the oration, "What Shall be Done with the Nc'
gro?" by A. M. Troyer. Mr. Troyer spoke in a rapid, nerv
ous manner. His gestures were few and his voice indistinct.
Had his delivery been as good as the subject matter of his
oration, he would have stood very near the winner. Below
is a synopsis of the oration.
Everyone admits that socially and politically the negro is
denied equality with the whites. Many claim that this is en
tirely due to prejudice and antipathy; but men who make an
tluopology a study say that intellectually the black race is
the inferior of all other races, and is not capable of attaining
to Anglo-Saxon civilization. In solving the race problem,
not only must the bitter prejudice and the mutual antipathy
of both blacks and whites, be considered, but also the mental
inferiority of the blacks. It is impossible to change the ne
gro's constitution, anil while education may do away with
the prejudices of the whites it will have no effect on their in
born antipathy, nor will it have any cficct on the nature of
the blacks. The negro, to be granted equality by the whites
must prove to them his fitness for equality. He will have to
combat their prejudice and his own weak nature. Why
should not the negro go where there will be no prejudice or
antipathy and with the aid of his friends work out his own
salvation?
The next number was a recitation, "The Bride's Fare
well," by Miss Ruliffson. Her gestures were graceful but
her enunciation was not free from faults. Mr. T. E. Chap
pell came next with his oration, 'What Shall be Done with
the Negro?" Mr. Chappcll was more at ease than the gent
leman who spoke before him. He was also much more earn
est, but at the ends of long sentences he sometimes lacked
force. Following is the oration in full:
WHAT SHALL HE HONE WITH THE NKC.Ro!
In tho colonization of thin country, two antagonize principle!
wcro planted aide by side, democracy and aristocracy. Tho ono
holds tli at llfo, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are tho Inullon
ablo rights of ovory man, and thnt tho ond of all good government
Is to secure to each citizen tho onjoymont of theso God-given privi
leges. Tho othor, founding Its civilization on canto, maintains thnt
tho blessings of govornmont and socloty, property, education, social
distinction, porHonnl, and political liberty aro tho oxcluslvo Inhori
t nn co of the oloct.
The principles of domocrncy llouriBh In tho North, where tho
sturdy Puritan, 'born of freedom of thought and action,' and
schooled In tho iniquities of class distinction and domination, early
plantod the seeds of Individual liberty In church nnd In stato. Tho
principles of aristocracy took deep root In tho South, whoro tho Cur
aller, blinded by his (also notions of government and socloty, sought
to transplant upon tho freo soil of America those foudal institutions
so congenlnl to bin chlvalric nature
Previous to tho "American Involution" no serious conflict be
tweon these principles wus approhondod. Hut, In the sotttomont of
tho government, at the end of that horoic struggle, tholr Incompati
bility was plainly manifested. Tho struggle that followed all but
plunged tho Infant republic into a stato of anarchy, Finally, a con
stitution was adopted as a compromise, embodying as It does tho
essential prlnclplesof both. Then began that bitter strugglo for su
premacy In the nntlon. For nearly a hundred yours tho conflict
raged, growing more and more vohemout, until it finally culmlnatod
In iho most bloody of civil wars. Hero tho principles of democracy
won u glorious victory, and rocelvcd unlimited recognition In the
constitution.
Many wise statesmen bolloved that this war would ond tho Strug
glo. But not so. Although tho South was conquered, sho was not
convinced. The principles of aristocracy had tnkon too deep root
in her civilization to bo thus easily destroyed. Tho change from tho
old to tho now has roquirod long years of todlous dovolopmont, but
it Is now nearly accomplished. Wo aro to-day, It Is to be hopod,
witnessing tho final conflict botween theso principles.
Tho question, what shall bo dono with tho Negro, now dlvldos the
nntlon. On tho ono hand aro thoso dovotod td democratic Ideas,
who, at whatovor sacrifice aro determined to fulfil tho pledgos made
to tho Nogro ; whllo, on tho othor, aro thoso, still actuated by social
pride and ruco projudlco, who would drlvo him from the country to
seok his fortunes whore he may,
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