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HE very frequency with which
some things are done often de
stroys their meaning, and detracts
from their usefulness. The man who
takes his meals, as we do, at regular in
tervals, and of a more or less uniform
character and composition, too often
loses sight of the proper meaning of a
meal; he gulps it down so hurriedly, so
much as a matter of habit only, that all
real enjoyment is eliminated, and the
true intention—physical nourishment—-
is thwarted, because the mind is not on
the process. Exercise, taken without
any mental sympathy, is not recreation.
Unless the mind is enjoying the process
with the body, and, to a large extent,
directing the movements, you might
swing the Indian clubs or exert your
muscles in the trapeze all day without
any great benefit resulting. The fact
is, whatever a man engages in can be
made permanently beneficial only when
his whole man is interested and ap
proves. Let him play languidly, and
there is no recreation in it; let him try
to study or recite when mind is care
less, and there is no gain; let him em
ploy himself in anything when hi® con
science is not clear or ready to approve
and he is doing himself an injury. I do
not know a routine through which you
young men pass, or which you repeat
more fequently through the day than
the simple one which I have chosen
this morning as my theme—I mean the
routine of answering to your names at
roll call. I imagine the first thing
many of you do these chilly mornings
is to jump, at the last moment, from
your beds, throw on a few pieces of
clothing, and hurry down the stairs and
out of barracks to answer to your
names. Suppose one comes thus, hair
uncombed, shoes unpolished, the last
dream unfinished, mind half asleep,
shivering from too sudden exposure to
the frosty air, to the first roll call of
the day, is the man, I w'ant to know,
really and truly there, though he shout
“here,” in a voice that can be heard
all over the campus? The first roll call
of the day! Ought it nat to mean some
thing? The reveille of waking human
ity! The resurrection to life and activ
ity after a slumber usually as uncon
scious as death! The resumption of all
the responsibilities that life brings; the
putting on again of manhood; the
standing forth again in one’s own per
sonality! What think you did the rev
eille roll call mean this morning to
those brave men of ours exposing their
lives in the Philippines to hostile bul
lets from every bush and brake? It
meant, “we are all here,” save those
whose yesterday’s skirmishes sent to
the rear on stretchers, dead or wounded.
We are again ready to expose life and
limb for the honor of the flag and the
service to which country has) Called us.
But, you say, that is quite different.
With those men things are real, things
are earnest. Not one whit more so,
young men, than with you when you
stood out there this morning to answer
“here,” as your individual names were
called. You meant, or ought to have
meant, “We are all here,” and I am
here as a unit in that all, to meet the
obligations my parents, my friends, my
State, my own self, my God, have im
posed on us by sending me here. I am
here armed, equipped, bodily, in mind,
and, by the grace of God, in heart, to
face the duties, the experiences of a
new day, the tests of my manhood, the
College laws, the temptations growing