world's improvement by arousing in the individual habits of thrift and sentiments of honor. Regeneration must come from within. Merit, ever rising from among its fellows, grumbling at their unjust fates, teaches over and over the les

son:

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

But hear the voice of those who are wearied of the hopeless task of urging weak humanity to a better life while leaving it surrounded by temptations. They cry: "It is society, not man, that needs regeneration. Society exists for the welfare of its members. How can it best serve them?" Free public schools, the ever-widening postal service, public enterprises extensively undertaken, the increasing claim of the law to control the great natural monopolies, mark a radical change of public sentiment as to the proper functions of government. That sentiment looks to a wider and wider diffusion among the masses of the benefits of society.

The individualist and the socialist! May not both be the servants of progress? A higher society and a purer manhood must go together. Time may condemn their methods, but not their motives. They are inspired by that spirit of brotherhood which is pervading all society. That spirit is giving to the man that labors, happier thoughts and kindlier feelings. It is forcing upon the rich a sense of their duty to their fellow-men. It has placed among the radical reformers of so

ciety some who were born to wealth. It has made impossible in America a social revolution by ranging with the elements of conservatism the men who labor for their daily bread. Not revolution, but evolution, must be the process of social change.

Who can turn history's page and find no hope? Suffering and wrong have hung like darkness over the world, but brighter has grown the spark divine within the hearts of men. Self! Self! self! It is the axiom of evolution, the postulate of political economy, the rule, we are told, of human action. Yet the mother perishes to save her child, some unsung pilot dies daily at the helm of duty, a million men march amid blood and flame to battle for a principle. He who sees in such devotion but another form of selfishness, pays an unwilling tribute to the wisdom which rewards with higher joys the pangs of sacrifice. The present does not, must not, lack for noble souls like those who, in self-forgetfulness, wrought every work of progress.

These are the moral forces which seem to a hopeful American adequate to the work of our day. They promise victory to labor; to capital, peace; to humanity, happiness. There is cause in society for sorrow, but not for despair.

"Well roars the storm to those that hear

A deeper voice across the storm,

Proclaiming social truth shall spread,
And justice."

The achievements of to-day tell us that not in

vain have been the labors of the past. Not in vain the alchemist burnt his lamp, the wan inventor builded in his brain, the sailor sought through many sorrows the continent that rose in his imagination. Not in vain the oppressed have dared the unequal fight. Not in vain has philosophy quaffed the hemlock cup, and dying, lived immortal in the thoughts of men. Not in vain the flame-wrapped saint breathed a last prayer to heaven. Glorious is the page they wrote in the story of man's struggle to enslave the elements and free himself. It will not all be written till what they have done takes on a meaning in the life of every human being, till savagery no longer lingers in the midst of civilization, till every child is born to true equality, gained not by leveling down abilities but by leveling up conditions.

What of the world's tomorrow? The power of prophecy dwells no more with men; still the straining eye strives to pierce the secrets of the future. Look forward, and though they be yet dreams, shapes of great events to be rise before the vision: Banished earth's great armaments, a vine at every door, roses on childhood's cheeks, a song on woman's lips, no heart without its home, no soul without its hope. The bounties of nature, the thoughts of sages, the martyrdoms of saints, the hopes of the present, are all your heritage, O universal man, heir apparent of the ages.

CHARLES SUMNER AS A PHILANTHROPIST.

By GUY EVERETT MAXWELL, of Hamline University.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

Guy Everett Maxwell was born in Illinois, in 1870, and moved with his parents to western Minnesota in 1879. He entered Hamline University in 1889, after having completed the State high school of his own town. In addition to close attention to the work of the classical course which he had chosen, Mr. Maxwell took an active part in other college interests, the glee club, the college paper and annual, etc., and was a member and during his junior year captain of the football and baseball teams. He represented his State twice in the interstate contests, securing second place with the oration printed herewith, and fourth place in 1892 with an oration on Shylock.

After graduation in 1893 he entered public-school work in Minnesota, and two years later took the high-school principalship at Marinette, Wis. In 1895 he married Miss Jeanette R. Evans, of St. Paul, a college classmate. After three years in Wisconsin he entered upon graduate work at Teachers' College, in Columbia University, remaining until 1900, when he was chosen principal of the elementary department of the State Normal School at Winona, Minn., becoming four years later the president of the institution, a position which he now holds. Mr. Maxwell is a member of the National Society for the Scientific Study of Education, and an active member of the National Education Association.

THE ORATION.

Delivered at the Inter-State Oratorical Contest at Des Moines, Iowa, May 7, 1891, taking second prize. Judges: President HENRY WADE ROGERS, Professor WALTER C. BIONSON, President G. A. GATES, President JOSEPH CARHART, Professor J. H. WILKERSON, and Professor H. M. WHITNEY.

He approaches nearest the Divine character whose life is filled with noble deeds. He has