Sei>tember 20, 1912.
THE ELON COLLEGE WEKKLY.
3
THE WEEKLY BIEECTOaY
Burlington (N. C.) Business Houses.
Buy Dry Goods from B. A. Sellars & Sons.
See Burlin^on Htu Jware Co. for Plumb
ing.
B. A. Sellars & Sons for Clothing and
Gents’ Furuishiugs.
Set Dr. Morrow when in need of Dental
Work.
Barber Shop, Brannock & Matkins.
Dr. J. H. Brooks, Dental Surgeon.
See Freeman Drug Co. for Drugs.
See Holt-Cates Company for shoes.
See Murrow, iiasiu ana iur iiiiiluic-
ry goods.
B. Goodman, the Home of good clothing.
Elon College, N C.
For an Education go to Elon College.
Gibsonville, N. C.
Dr. G. E. Jordan, M. D.
High Point, N. C.
People ’» House Furnishing Co... .. ....
Greensboro, N. C.
Hotel Hufliiii.
Charles A. Hines, Attorney.
The American Cafe.
and there are special schools which for the
paltry consideration of the added dollars
it will bring them stand ready to Jecoy
unwitting youths into putting the belief
into practice with them. They will promise
glowing prospects for wealth-production
after six months in their school. Anybody
knows that six months is not time enough
to develop a man into anything but—a
squash. It takes time to make an oak, but
a sapling can come forth in a brief sum
mer. There are no short-cuts to life-prepa-
ration. God has ordained that the develop
ment of the higher orders of His creation
should be slow, but mushrooms grow up
over night. Not how long will it take me
to get ready for my calling, but what
does it require for me to become thor
oughly proficient in it should be utmost
in every young man’s mind, in evry young
woman’s mind. We are not designed so
much to make a living as we are to live
a life. The world does not owe me r liv
ing, but 1 owe the world to live a life
worthy of my gifts, uplifting to my fel
lows, and so adequate in assisting in the
world’s progress and elevation.
Others feel that, when the High
School Course is completed, we are then
ready for the Special or Technical School.
They do not see any need for the College
—the literary College, and regard the four
years spent therein as wasted time. What
a blunder! ^Ve need a foundation before
we erect onr house. To build the roof
first would display gross ignorance of
the builder’s art. It is equally as dis
astrous in life preparation to begin with
the end. The end of life-preparation is
master of our specialty. To begin with
it first is to stand a pyramid on its apex—
it may stand poised in mid-air, an ungain
ly spectacle and quite different from its
makers design, but the chances are that
it will topple over to one side. The Col
lege furnishes that broad, thorough, stable
foundation that is so fundamentally need
ful in order to keep our specialty from
narrowing us and emptying us of all ca
pacity for sympathetic communion with
our fellows and from contributing our
due proportion of service to the world's
uplift. We need special and technical
schools and must have them, but they do
not propose to give broad foundation to
life and should not be sought till our Col
lege Course, which undertakes this very
thing, has been completed. It takes a long
time to graduate from College and then
spend three or four years in the special
or technical school, but the experience of
all who have done it is so satisfactory that
no possible sacrifice needful to this end
should be begrudged by the young person
who aims at the ripest fruitage of life’s
endeavor. The special and technical school
should follow the Colloge and cannot be
thought of by discriminating educators as
capable of taking its place..
But where shall we lay our foundation?
What sort of College shall we choose? A
State College? A- privately endowed or
owned institution? Or a Christian Col
lege? To raise this question is to answer
it. Why have you come to Elon College
this fall rather than to some other Col
lege? It is because you value Christian
character above intellectuality and con
sider it the most priceless possession in
the world. State institutions cannot em
phasize the religious life. The State and
the Church are to he kept forever seperate
in this country. Privately endowed or
privately owned institutions are not nec
essarily irreligious, but they frequently
are, and also are fast becoming sporting
resorts where habits of lavishness and
high-living are inculcated or at least im
bibed. But the College, such as this of
your choice is, which is thoroughly Chris
tian, tho free from all sectarianism, the
College where every possible effort is put
forth to create a wholesome, healthful,
inspiring Christian atmosphere, is certain
ly the )>roper scene for the unfolding in
to flower and the ripening into fruit of
Christian character. The spirit of the Col
lege you attend in the formative period of
life, wherein decisions alTecting the atti
tude toward the things of the spirit are
unconsciously aimed at, cannot but have
a tremeuduous infilucnce in shaping your
life’s ideals and principles. The atmos
phere of the genuinely Christian College
has saved to the world, to the Church, and
to himself many a promising youth, who
under different environment would have
gone down in dissipation to an untimely
death. Your State school should be for
those who are maturely developed in char
acter, whose standards of conduct are so
determined that looseness in moral life,
laxness in Christian living, and insidi
ous temptations of every kind can exert
no compelling attraction for them. W e
run too large a risk, an irreparable risk
too, in seeking our fundamental develop
ment, while yet immature, in any other
than a distinctly Christian environment.
The Elon spirit has been styled “most
genuinely Christian” by one of the age’s
most distinguished Christian workers, and
of this we are pardonably proud, but our
endeavor should be to keep it up to that
high standard. To this end we invite the
fullest, completest cooperation between
students, citizens, and Faculty. We shall
differ at times in respect to what should
be done, but let us differ in Christ’s spirit,
tolerantly, forgivingly, and let us do all
in our power to contribute to the growth
of the Elon spirit and not to take from it
any item of its distinctively Christian cha
racteristics.
What shall we do with our developed
gift? To what purpose shall we make it
subservient? Is it ours, to do as we
please with it? Or do our fellowmen have
an interest or a residuary right in it?
There are those who regard their gift as
their personal property. They use it to
advance their own interests: nay, they
use it to thwart the progress of their fel
lows. The world would be better off with
out such men. They are an insult to human
kind. Jacob-like they would in their pray
ers even make a bargain with God. They
do right because the law requires them to,
and if there is any way to violatae the
spirit of the law by taking refuge in its
letter or if it will cost less to violate it
than the j)rofit accruing from its viola
tion will yield, they are ready, anxious,
keen to violate it. They keep lawyers, as
honorable as they are, to teach them how
to do wrong without incurring the penal
ties of such wrong-doing. They regard
their fellowman as the legitimate object of
their prey and the public exchequer as a
private dispensary to be looted at will.
The proper place for such men is the pen
itentiary and the advent of College train
ed men of Christian charactcr into public
life will place them there or lead to their
abandonment of their nefarious practices.
Other men take the entirely opposite
view of their proprietary right in their
gift and the fruits of it. They do not re
gard themselves as proprietors at all, but
as trustees. Their fellowmen are, as they
see it, the rightful owners of their gift and
of its fruitage. They regard themselves as
entitled to the income of the exercise of
their gift sufficient to maintain themselves
in comfort, but beyond this their right
ceases. This was Christ’s view of His life
on earth—it was to benefit his fellowmen.
It is the view of His fellowmen today.
Here is a man who can make money. He
lives in comfort, gives employment to
many, accumulates property, provides for
his family, gives liberally to every cause,
and uses his wealth to advance the king
dom among men. A farmer, a doctor, a
lawyer, a mechanic, a teacher, a minister,
all do likewise. The kingdom flourishes.
Their souls also flourish. It is a benidic-
tion to be in their presence. The very at
mosphere they breathe lends inspiration
to
WHEN IN GREENSBORO VISIT
THE AMERICAN CATE
The Home of Good Things to Eat.
“Home-Like” Cooking.
J. N. Coe, Manager.
J50 S. Elm St.—Half block from Station.
Elegant Rooms, 50 cents and Up.
HUFFIV C
Near Fassi^nger Station
Greensboro, N. C.
Rates $2 up. Cafe in connection.
CALL ON
Burlington Hardware
Company
For First Class Plumbing, Builders
Hardware, Farm Implements,
Paints, Etc., Etc.
BURLINGTON, N. C.
the same Father and as brollierft and sis
ters ill thte great househoid of (.iod we
should live harmoniously, syir_i>ar,hetioally,
helpfully, and appretciativcly with refer
ence to each other’s gifts, remembering that
we are all one body in Christ, but mtin-
bers m particular.
A concluding thought full uf comfort
is the consideration that every m;'.n has
at least two gifts—the one earthly, tie
other heavenly—the one secular, the oili
er spiritual. God has given us a a
talent, whereby we may secuie for our
selves the means of subsistence aud jier-
haps of independence. We ha\e seen now
we should develop and use this giti not
selfishly wholly, but altruistically, for ihe
uplift of life and ideals round-about us.
God has aso given us a spiritual gitc and
this too should be developed and used. This
gift is as much more important than our
earthly gift as Heaven is more important
than the earth. He who neglects his earth
ly gift is a sluggard, but he who neglects
his spiritual gift is a fool. Pity him. Ihe
greatest man of all, the most successful
man of all, is the man who makes his
others. The Christian graces have their earthly gift to contribute to the develop
ment of his spiritual gift also. What doth
it profit a man to gain the whole world
and lose his own soul? The wise man will
gain the world and gain it in such way
that it will contribute to his growth in soul-
power, in spiritual force. Shall we not
}>resent our bodies and all our gifts fully
and properly employed as sacrifices to
God, which is our reasonable service?
completest representation in a life like
this and Christian education, through its
richest product. Christian character, con
tributes powerfully to this sort if life.
Herein are Christian Colleges justified and
herein do they render service most effec
tual and enduring.
But what should be my attitude toward
the gift of others? It should not be
that of the egotist. 1 should not re
gard my gift as the greatest gift in
the world and consider all other gifts
as inferior to it. Nor should I be
jealous of my fellowman’s gift. If he
is more gifted than I, if he has developed
his gift more completely than 1 have de
veloped mine, if he has u.^e l his gi^t after
(Icveicpment to ^r.iater ard )>elti;r advan-
'han I have used min.:, Umc is no
reason why he should incur my enmity, but
rather does it entitle him to my inaise :.r d
if I live by the golden rule, he will have
it. Our attitude toward tui: gifts of oth
ers should be that of sympathetic co-op
eration and sin.-ere appreciation We are
members one of another and 'lur interests
throughout are identical. Our ^ifts are
ours by virtue of the gen;rous bo inty of
y. w. C. A. RECEPTION
Saturday evening from eight till ten
o’clock the Y. W. C. A. gave a reception
in the dining hall and back porches of
West Dormitory in honor of the new girls.
\’arious games were indulged in to the
delight and entertainment of many. The
social committee was in attendance and
served delicious refreshments, which were
enjoyed. At ten o’clock the guests bade
the Committee good-night, and expressed
themselves as having enjoyed the evening
to the fullest extent.
Vir^e Beale.
Y. W. C. A.
The Y. W. C. A met Sunday after-
oon and held its first meeting. Miss