June 6, 1897

President Taylor drew the theme of his baccalaureate sermon for the Class of 1897 from I Timothy, vi, 20, “Keep that which is committed to thy trust,” telling the class to go forth from the College simply and modestly, shunning sensationalism and the so-call new womanhood. “Our age,” he said, “radical in its tendencies, calls for restraint. The state, marriage, home, religion, have all been attacked during the past twenty years. ‘Away with the old’ has been the cry, but nothing new has been offered. It is the duty of educated men and women to work continually for a healthful conservatism.” Taylor condemned the pulpit and the press alike for catering to a rising taste for the sensational.

In concluding remarks to the class, he said, “You will find temptations to low ideals in social life and in personal life, tendencies to publicity and to notoriety, false ideas of a new womanhood. Keep the trust of high endeavor, of faith in human nature, of a noble purpose, of a simple, pure, and honorable life, and may God be with you.”

—The New York Times