a people; unknown this mighty humanity, shrouded in a dream,-in a night without a star! Accept the basic principle of the new civilization and the race awakes to action. In it lies the hope of the world. Actuated by its spirit the patriot forever sacrifices himself to the common good. Those who checked the Turk's advance against it; those who won for it the sovereignty of the oceans; the conquerors at Yorktown and Appomattox; the heroes who, upon the heights of the Antilles, wrote in characters of blood the doom of the last despot on the Western Continent, call upon the coming generations to transmit with undying devotion the heritage they fought so hard to preserve.

The new, then, will dominate because it is active; it lives for the future, it is fitted for an universal civilization. The story will not all be written until this system has a meaning in the life of every nation. For all, not for the few, has its genius burned, its machinery multiplied, its territory expanded. In the world's life one part is dependent upon another, injury to one race affects all. The duty of the new is not "splendid isolation," but splendid sacrifice, splendid service. Society should advance, not by a revolutionary leveling down; but by an evolutionary leveling up of unequal conditions. This progress will come under the sunshine of peace if possible, but under the leveling storm-cloud of war if necessary. The mustering of the Powers in China rendered futile

the efforts of resistance to the influence of Western thought and taught the Eastern empire respect for the principles of law and order that constitute the worth of Western government and institutions. Why the hovering of war-clouds over dark Africa and dead Asia-those lands where once centered the world's culture? It marks an epoch in the world's betterment; it presages a new order of society; it augurs an universal sharing of the blessings of modern civilization. It means that society must grow, changes come, the good prevail; that distinction by birth must give way to distinction by merit; that every opportunity belongs to the masses; it means that a world force shall be loosed in the East which will lead its multitudes out into the realities of modern life.

Almost forty years ago, John Bright declared in the British Parliament: "Forty years hence not a gun will be fired on this planet without the consent of the American Republic." Today the Saxon race practically fulfills this prophecy. Its powers are the most potent of all in shaping the destiny of the world. The Saxon speech is becoming universal, not so much because of the special merit in the tongue itself, as because of the unequaled energy and might of the race that speaks the language. This race which first burst into silent nature to utilize her latest forces; which has swept the islands of the sea with the conquests of her sword; which has taught the continents the meaning of the arts of peace, this race stands

today the most powerful factor of the new civilization. The Magna Charta and the Declaration of Independence shall not be for one race or one nation, but the right which brought charters and parliaments, caucuses and congresses to one race shall bring them to all. Side by side England's and America's fleets sail the sea; side by side their armies penetrate the lands and the world comes to know the common Anglo-Saxon spirit and institutions. Not to one people is this mission intrusted, for today Latin, German, Slav and Saxon are races into which has been fused the energy of the Occident. These races are thrilled. with the "increasing purpose" that runs through the ages, and their progress assures their final victory. Wars may come, thrones may totter, but wrongs will be overthrown in this strife for the better, the merging of the old into the new. It is the strife of centuries, and ere it is finished the shapes that we now cherish may have passed away, but still, enduring as humanity itself, will be the immutable principles upon which a lasting civilization must rest. God rules history, and just so sure as he is a God of justice, that civilization which has the most of good and least of evil will triumph. The Occident is that system-the system of the world; for across the shining fabric of our dreams there falls the dawning of a coming day when the world shall own but one civilization and one humanity.

HAMLET.

By WILLIAM REES DAVIS, of Ripon College.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

Mr. William Rees Davis was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in 1877. He received his early education in the grammar school of Randolph, Wis., his parents having settled on a farm near this village. In 1894 he entered Ripon Academy, and three years later, Ripon College, where he was graduated in 1901. Since graduation he has been pursuing graduate studies in English Literature in the University of Chicago, and has been teaching English in secondary schools connected with the University, first in the Chicago Manual Training School, and since 1903 in the University High School. In college, Mr. Davis took great interest in oratory and debate. The oration " Hamlet," was delivered in his senior year. Previous to this time he had taken part in one inter-collegiate debate, had won two class essay contests, and in his junior year had been awarded second honors in the State Inter-Collegiate Contest, with an oration entitled, "British Rule in South Africa." In his senior year he was president of the college Young Men's Christian Association, editor-in-chief of the College Days, and played Bassanio in a class presentation of "The Merchant of Venice."

THE ORATION.

Delivered at the Inter-State Oratorical Contest, at Des Moines, Iowa, May 2, 1901, taking second prize. Judges: W. H. H. BEADLE, Judge FRANCIS E. BAKER, Hon. WILLIAM S. SUMMERS, W. N. HARTMAN, and others.

The magnetism of mystery has made Hamlet "one of the very few immortal figures in art and poetry." He is enwrapped in mystery. From the weird and ominous brooding that forms the prelude for his appearance, to the overwhelming dis