Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1853-07-14
vALEDICTOHY ADDRESS.

matkeon Socieiy Of Richmond College.
LADIES' AND GESrLEnES-FELLow PmLoNA
THEoSs ~ am conscious in rising to address
you this evening, of my inability and incompe
tency either TO interest or to entertain Won bu
as | have received kind invitation TO delive
upon the occasion Of my departure, a valedic
tory address, | shall endeayor TO the best of nv
power, to perform the duty assigned me, and
humbly solicit your attention to the few remark,
which may make on this occasion. IT'S SAID
that the friendship Of those who together iour
Iney up the hill OF sclence-who feel in unison
the noble and sublime pleasures the lofty
hopes, and the elevated aspirations, which the
pursuit Of knowledge ever inspires in the hu.
man breast, is more firm and lasting than any
other. Time, that conquers all things else
that lays level with the dust the mightest mon.
uments Of human power, and laughs to scorn
the fancled Immortality of the noblest produc.
tions OF man, has no power to sever those gol.
den cords of love which bind together the
hearts of those who have been thus associated
IT'S true they may be separated asunder, but
though as exies they roam in distant lands, or
Ger the deep and surging waters of old ocean
take their course, still, ever and anon, memory
recalls the bright scenes Of the past, and fancy
pictures to their imaginations the pleasures of
the days of other years, and hope, celestial
hope, points to land of pure felicity and un-
fading happiness, where they shall again re-
new, in higher, nobler and a boiler sphere
the disnterested friendship of their youthful
days-which countless myriads of ages and
centuries equal in number to the stars Of the
heaven, or the the sands upon the oceans side,
or e'en duration inconceivable in extent, by the
limited faculties of the human mind, can never
suffice TO circumsCribe or limit, but which shall
endure as long as the right hand of Him who
rides upon the stormy winds, and the thunder
of whose voice shakes earth and heaven, re.
tains its power to create and to uphold For
why? Together they admire the genius and
sublimity of the noble minds of antiquity, as
evidenced in the lofty strains of Homer or a
Virgil or the gowing eloquence of Demos
themes or Cicero. Together they mark the
crafty schemes of the ambitious Caesar, or read
with sentiments of horror Of the dark and in
famous deeds, and the yet more dark and in
famous projects of the base Cataline and his
fellOw-cons nspirators; together they mourn over
the cruel fate of the pous Acneas, or admire
the noble patriotism of the stern Regulus, or
the unconquerable integrity of the virtuous
Cato; and together they receive the beams of
intellectual light, as each successive mathemat-
ical truth bursts upon their vision, bright and
clear as the radiant rays of the monday SUM-
Together they cherish the day-dreams of hope
and listen with enthusiastic rapture to the syren
song of ambition, whispering in their wonder.
ing ears strange bright thoughts future days,
and spired by her magic voice together they
gaze with prophetic eye far, far adown the
stream of time, and behold honors, and fame,
q riches, & glory, and power and above them
all inscribed in glowing letters of FURNISHED
gold their own fair names-hemselves the
great possessors Of them all Together, at the
pensive hour of eve, they dwell with delight
upon the peaceful beauties of the works of God,
and gaze with admiration on the soltening gra,
ces of the sky, as the last golden rays Of the
setting sun Hume and beautify the varied
scenes of nature. Yea, more j: together oft
their united orisons arise from peaceful vale, 1
or shady grove, to Him who rules on high and
directs by His sovereign power all things in
heaven above, or earth beneath, Thus all
things conspire together to promote the sacred
cause of friendship and thus it is that the
hearts Of those who have in this way been as
sociated are bound firmly together by the ire
have passed away as they journey in some far
foreign land, when they chance to meet with
one they thus have loved, how the deep
fountains Of The heart are stirred and how
pleasing are the recollections thus inspired
Or, il in their wandering course, they behold
where now the cypress bends, and the wild rose
blooms DER the grave of such friend howthe
bitter tears unbidden flow, and sadness takes
Of their hearts, as they behold reflect
ed on memory's bright mirror the record of the
hour of bliss which they have spent in the JOY
Gus days of yore, with that one whose body
now lies enshrined in the dark, chill sepulchre.
By all these causes, Fellow Phomatheons,
am induced to feel for each one of you senti-
ments of affection and of esteem therefore
deem it not strange that feelings of sorrow and
OF sadness, reign pre-eminent in my heart, when
| am called to part from those whom | thus SO
dearly love Many bright and joyous seasons
have we spent together, and if ere by mad ex-
citement led, feelings of anger or Of revenge
have been aroused within our breasts, let the
waves of oblivion DER them roll, and the dark
mantle of forgetfulness conceal them from our
view, that when in after life, we recall the mem
ory Of our friendship here, its pleasures may
not be shrouded by aught that could grieve or
pain, And now the warm life blood of youth
courses joyously through our veins, and health
& vigor impel us on to honor and to usefulness,
to glory and to fame. But be not deceived by
false ambitions power for alas, too oft her
promises illusory prove, but by sober reason
led advance with firm and steady course, in
that bright path which leads to certain victory
Go then, ye noble band, and as the genius of
hope with smiling aspect, beckons you onward
and fruition crowns the dazzling expectations
of your earlier years, remember there is one
whose humble prayers shall oft to heaven in
your behalf ascend, and who will ever dwell
with emotions of the most exquisite pleasure,
on the recollection of the joyous hours we have
,ran, toc.atbar | Nav nhoioact h1accinoc oroup