Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1851-07-16

noble ancestry, the admiration OF the world
The Valley of Virginia, not hitherto il
the ascendant, is on the advance. You arr
in the van. Press on. Quicken your speed
"Incute vim ventis." Take the wings o
the wind, till you reach the eliminating
point, and look down on the old world
whose icarian wings are beginning to mel
in the sun, and flap lazily with the lassitudt
of age Hers is the polish that attenuate'
to weakness-ours is approaching the man
hood that unites strength with beauty. LIE
England rail. We can give them, any day
Webster for Pitt-a Prescott for Hume
"a Marshal, and Kent into the bargain
for Mansfeld-a Noah Webster for hel
Sam Johnson-and so on to the end of the
chapter in literature, science and the arts
in enterprise, labor and effective results
and if in any particular department, we fall
short in numbers, we have only to answer
give us time, and judging by the past, we
can show a superiority in advance. If al
the Worlds Fair she appears at home in the
Crystal Palace, we yet will stake our tai'
against the world.
The Valley of Virginia is taking her po-
stion. With our High Schools, our below.
ed College, our Military Institute each and
all doing good service in their respective
spheres, educating our youth for literary
professional and practical life, and sending
back to the fountains well qualified teach.
ers for the lower schools, we may hope tc
improve upon the past. With other Col
leges and Academies, too, all over the State
and our noble University, second to none
in this country or in any other country, Vir.
ginia may stand equal, if not the first among
equals with her sister States, or in the soci-
ETY. of nations.
With the rapid development of our agri-
cultural and mineral resources-the direc-
ton of our water-power to manufactures
and the facilities of trade by roads and ca
mails every where in progress, with liberal
system of internal Improvements prudently
prosecuted-we shall increase in wealth
and in power beyond all former history
The Blue Ridge will soon be levelled, or
tunnelled at its base, and the waters of the o.
cean connected with our great rivers at their
sources by boat navigation. We, and those
beyond the Alleghanies, shall be brought
into the vicinity of Richmond and the sea-
board. Richmond shall cease to be the
Capital and Norfolk our sea-ports IN the ex-
elusive sense they now are. The State will
be its own Capital, knowing no central and
overshadowing influence. We shall sup
ply the sea-board with garden vegetables
dripping with the fresh dew-drops of the
morning, and receive in return their fresh
fish and oysters, qulvering with life. You
are to live in an age of progress, developing
new Improvements with rapidity that in
your day will change the face of the world,
and turn into new channels the whole tide
of human affairs.
My painted visions of the future, young
gentlemen, present to my view your COM
ing course of life-by you indeed little heed
ed, unprovided for, but to the contemplations
of mind even partially experienced in the
conflicts and trials oflife, full of uncertainty
justifying the deepest anxiety. With good
capacities, liberal means, eminent opportu-
mites, respectable connections, and a coun-
try, which more than any other, takes hel
young men by the hand, makes them what.
ever they seek to make themselves, your
theatre of action is eminently privileged in
all that can excite your ambition, forward
your promotion, or increase the weight Of
your responsibilities. AS much is given tc
you, much will be required, and we hope tc
join your parents in presenting you, when
the Jewels of our country are called for
with the proud exclamation of the Roman
matron, "Hec ornamental sum-"
But these are anticipations-and 1t be-
longs to you to say whether they shall be
realized-not by word, for that is breath
but by action, that is body and life.
have lived to see my early schoolmate.
alas, many of them numbered with tn,
dead. Youth, talent, acquisition, mora
worth, and every quality that can adorn
have come, by the act of an all wise bu
mysterious providence, to an early grave
This is destiny, which lies at the disposa
of Father. But am obliged to say
what for the benefit of the living should b.
said-that with those who have lived ant
and do still live have seen deeper ant
wider grave open; and more extensive am
lamentable ruin of mind, talent, moral worth
and dignity. have seen talent buried ir
idleness and sloth-even learning, once at
tained covered and obscured in all it:
brightness by the rust of indolence-moral
qualities by nature exalted, and apparently
on the border ground ofpiety, and Just ready
to catch the flame of devotion itself, the
fondest hopes of parents, the expectations o.
country, the deepest interests of family, il
name, in happiness, for time and for eterni
ty, all plunged and overwhelmed and lost in
the gulph of intemperence and dissipation
Think not, therefore, that any present cir
cumstances can give you security of fu
ture usefulnes, honor or happiness, independ
ent ofpersonal exertion and personal worth.
1t lies with yourselves to say what you will
be. The dangers, let the voice of expert
ence tell you, the dangers which lie princi
pally in your way to obstruct your success
are few and very much at your own control
Incidence is one of them. This lies a
the threshold, and is besetting sin of youth
Without personal exertions all other advan.
tages will effect but little. Illustrious an,
ancestry will but confer a name, which
you will dishonor. Wealth, if you have
it, will but contribute to your brutisf
enjoyments, not to your real elevation.-
The means of education will only be
as the flashes of light upon precious
stone, which still lies dark, rude and con.
cealed. BY art and labor, the mind is
wrought, polished, and made to reflect the
lights of science F: by discipline and educa-
ton, it is brought to the use and exhibition
Of its own moral capacities and powers.
Education is not merely that labor and