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Y. M. C. A. Building at University of Georgia. After a very thorough investigation extending over some months and involving the careful consideration of all interests involved, the committee of the Alum ni iSociety, the trustees, members of faculty and other friends of t_he University of Georgia, decided that it will be wise to have erected in connection with the other buildings of the university campus, a thoroughly equipped building for the Student Young Men’s Christian Association that shall be adequate to meet the requirements of their work, and that shall cost not less than $75,000. The most important item in connection with this fact is that students comprise the dominating force of young manhood. In a very able address of the late Chancellor Walter B. Hill, delivered before the Georgia Bar Association, he said: ‘‘ One college grad uate for every forty graduates has reach ed distinction, while the proportion in those not colleges graduates is one out of every 10,000. These figures show that the chances in favor of the college graduate are 250 to 1.” The late Dr. P. D. Pollock well said that 11 Civili zation comprieses the scientific ,the literary, the es thetic, the institutional and the religious sides of hfe. If education omits one of the five, it cannot be found complete, sound or liberal.” Dr. W. W. Lan drum has stated that the people of Georgia believe in religion; and when it is understood that no sec tarian body can be allowed to propagate its form of religion in connection with the State University, the importance of having the Young Men’s Chris tian Association, the only institution to which this religious work can be intrusted because of its non sectarian character, so thoroughly equipped as to be able to do effective work, cannot be over-estimated. Dr. Charles W. Dabney, President of University of Tennessee, said that"- considering the interests of the students as a who! ~ l e regard d the Young Men’s Christi in Association as tie rrost important single department of the work of the University. Now, whatever truth there may be in the old say ing that it takes a good mechanic to work without tools, it is the incontestible fact that no good me chanic of the present day would undertake an im portant task without good tools, and whatever good may have been accomplished in the days of inade quate equipments the associations that are to-day being well equipped are surpassing the results of the old methods as the modern steam plow surpasses the old-time crooked stick drawn by the ox or mule as a method of preparing the soil for our crops. Dr. Henry Louis Smith, President of Davidson Col lege, has said that since moving into its new build ing, the association of that college comprises six seventh of the students among its members; and the testimony of College Presidents and instructors throughout the country has been in the same direc tion. The morale of student life has been transform ed in most of our great universities through the care ful and systematic work put forth by the Young Men’s Christian Association among the students, and no investment of money by the citizens of Georgia will bring so great returns as that which will make it possible for her largest educational institutions to be thoroughly permeated with the religious spirit of this association. It may be stated that the trustees have endorsed this movement with great heartiness, and granted that a place should be provided upon the campus for the location of tM» building, _ MMMub''' WKI TIME WfflW ||p WgMy JIB. The Golden Age for March 22,190<£ The members of the faculty have also gone on record with the strongest possible statements of their opinion that such a building will meet not only the needs suggested above for the stimulation of the religious life of the students, but also meet the needs for the gymnasium, bath-rooms, study-hall, social rooms and first-class dormitories, which are greatly recognized by all the members of the faculty, one of whom well said, “It will very largely increase the religious activity of the university. It will revolution ize the present dormitory system.” And the late Chancellor Hill trenchantly stated his opinion in these words, “The Young Men’s Christian Associa tion building is undoubtedly the greatest present need of the university.” J. V. Read. Prayer For Colleges. Abstract of a Sermon By W. H. Young, Ph.D. It has remained for our boasted Twentieth Cen tury to develop the first serious skepticism about prayer. Every race and religion has practiced prayer. The Greeks and Romans with all that culture which re mains the model for all time, so far from making that an excuse from prayer, industriously prayed to what they deemed to be divinities. Homer called prayers the daughters of Jove; ■wrinkled - , slant-eyed, lame and weak in their persons, but mighty as messengers and mediators. Socrates, whose teachings are made an excuse from prayer to day, rebuked those of his time who set up their puny knowledge and power above those of Diety. Men are bound together by myriad ties traceable to limitless combinations of complex faculties and relationships. Each human being represents a micro cosm as vast and unexplored as the universe; but God sees their every secret thought, together with all their possibilities. State, nation, race compose a chain of fathomless hearts all stretching up to God. as the starry con stellation of “The Bard,” which holds both the fishes of “Pisces,” and touches the collar of the “Whale,” also passes beneath the watchful feet of “Aries,” that Lamb of God who shall one day ap pear as all conquering “Leo,” the lion of the tribe of Judah. Must not men be worse than common fools who enter upon the simplest concerns of life, in things secular or social, without prayer to that One who alone sees all men, and holds their destinies in the hollow of His mighty hand? Pericles, like Demosthenes, always began his ora tions with prayer, heathen though he was. Our very speech, too, bewrayeth us when we say “good-bye,” which is a prayer that “God be with ye.” But if temporal matters deserve our prayers, how much more do the moral and spiritual welfare of eternal souls! Observe these grand, heroic, Patriarchs, mighty in every human element of greatness, yet greatest as they wrestled with Cod in all-prevailing prayer. Look, again, at the Prophets, inspired of God as they were, yet drawing down the powers of Heav en by simple prayer. Jesus not merely left us that precious model prayer, but a far greater heritage in his tireless example of praying while others slept. The Apostles, when told to tarry at Jerusalem, in stinctively gathered in a ten days’ meeting for earnest prayer, And the converts at the resulting Pentecost were said, by Luke, thirty years after to have I ‘continued in the Apostle's doctrine and in prayers” all the time. What is this potent force? A breath, an exhala tion, a wish “uttered, or unexpressed.” Who would withhold the breath of his mouth to secure what cost our Savior the blood of his life! And besides what this simple means can accom plish in those we pray for, its reflex influence is happy upon ourselves. To paraphrase Shakespeare: “Prayer blesses him that gives and him that takes; ’lis mightiest in the mightiest, it becomes the crown ed monarch better than his crown.” But reflex influences are impossible without di rect power also. Action and reaction are equal but one cannot exist without the other. We hear too much about the reflex influence of prayer as its chief if not sole effect. Whereas there cannot be any reflex cff ct without true faith. To the Christian who believes sincerely that God is, and that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him, there comes a calm reaction that is more to be desired than gold. But what reflex effect can be possible in the mind that doubts the possibility of direct results? Imagine Elijah praying for tire to come from Heaven only for some reflex influence! Or Peter sinking in the waves and asking Jesus to help him merely for its reflex effect! Or John Knox spending whole nights wrestling with God for the salvation of Scotland just to enjoy the psychological reaction! And yet this is the modern doctrine of prayer that is taught in many pulpits, and involved in all recent religious thought. A lunatic or idiot might make such assertions, but sensible man and women calmly adopt the like fallacy. Tn our day of materialism, when God is made subservient to matter, the Bible reduced to a col lection of myths, prayer finds no place in the deli cate machinery of nature. But we know that prayer has interfered with this mechanism, and has accomplished tangible, visible and ponderous results. Prayer saved shipwrecked men from what seemed an inevitable death; prayer brought real fire, not lightning, from the sky; prayer created a drought and brought again the refreshing showers; prayer destroyed an entire army in a night; prayer over turned the solid walls of Jeric ho without mechanical means; prayer stopped the mouth of lions; prayer quenched the violence of fire for the three brave boys in that Babylonian furnace; prayer drove devils from a youth possessed; prayer opened the iron gates of a Roman prison, as it unloosed iron shackles from the prisoner’s limbs. And such physical results, unmatched as they are by modern mechanical and scientific skill, were all accomplished by the faithful breath of men of like passions with ourselves, so that we can as confidently pray and as surely find grace to help in every time of need. But why do schools and colleges demand the exer cise of this mighty force in their behalf? Have they not trustees and officers, as well as teachers and pious students, whose brain and skill and example can accomplish all that might be wished? e find that the religious am!, to a great extent, the moral welfare of students gets little attention from these local centers of influence. Among the very few special objects for prayer that Jesus named, was that we should pray the Lord of the harvest that He send forth laborers into His vineyard, which involves our schools, since from them such laborers com& 0 & ML 9