but design is everywhere manifested, revealing the presence
of a supreme Intelligence and immeasurable love in fitting out for man a
perfect habitation. Whatever of wretchedness the world holds is
man-made. It is proof positive of a purpose to make man happy that so
many instruments of pleasure are placed at his hand. Each sense and
organ has its objects of exercise and enjoyment. Every natural
instinct, desire, and appetite is recognized, and its proper, legitimate
indulgence provided for. Blessed are they who find life joyous and who
choose it, not from a fear of death, but for what there is in life--who
can say: "I find death perfectly desirable, but I find life perfectly
beautiful."

You have life and you have youth. You live in life's morn; the
spring-time of your existence is upon you. Quick perceptions, swift and
keen intelligence, strong limbs, rich, pure blood, and a hope that
"springs eternal," are a portion of the heritage of youth. With
faculties unimpaired by age or excesses, you awake to an existence which
shall never end, and begin a destiny which shall be whatever you, by the
use or abuse of those faculties, shall determine.

Hereditary influences count for something. Environment has much to do
with the shaping of a life. Yet a responsibility without evasion rests
upon each individual soul. Not one is saved or lost without his own
voluntary contribution toward that end. It is an awful responsibility,
commensurate with the rewards offered to integrity and fidelity. The
thought that you must stand at the judgment-seat and answer for this
life should impress the most thoughtless with the importance of
seed-time.

Young people are the life-blood of the nation, the pillars of the state.
The future of the world is wrapped up in the lives of its youth. As
these unfold, the pages of history will tell the story of deeds noble
and base. Characters resplendent with jewels and ornaments of virtue
will be held up for the admiration of the world and the emulation of
generations not yet born. Others, thoughtlessly or wilfully ignoring the
plain path of duty, dwarfed, blighted, rejected of God and man, will be
sign-posts marking the road to ruin.

Think not that moderation will escape notice; you cannot slip by with
the crowd. Exceptional instances of vice or virtue attract more
temporary notice; but the thought, tone, and general sentiment of a
community give the inspiration and the impulse to those who outstrip t