Glasgow weekly times. (Glasgow, Mo.) 1848-1861, 1854-08-10
VA TORY,
READ by
MISS FLORENCE FENTIE CHILEs,
AT The close of The Examination of Glasgow
Female .fcddemy, June 24th, 1854.

the dust and anxietes Of professional pur-
suits, from the wasting labors of the stu
dents seclusion, and the quiet retreats Of
home, you have come mp hither to-day, to
renew in the present the enioyments cher
ished in the recolections Of the past--to
tread once again the consecrated halls Of
learning, and TO taste, as in years past Of
those waters which make glad the garden
of the heart. You have come up here
prompted not solely by curiosity, but as low
ers of learning, to spend pleasant hour or
two in happy "reminiscences you have come
from the weary ways of life to rest for a
short season beneath the little bower we
have entwned around the altar of science.
To all such we extend the hand and bid YOU
welcome. And may you depart from these
scenes, not with sad and heavy hearts, but
delighted and refreshed with the happy re-
membranes they awake Of earlier years,
and The innocent pleasures of the present.
Nor is this meeting an ordinary one. 1t is
common. indeed, for few Of us TO assemble
in this hal, to sit under the droppines Of
wisdom from the lips of our revered in
structors. But this occasion involves an
importance aside from the prescribed rou-
tine of daily duties 1t concerns not mere
" the interests Of ourselves, individually,
Of our institution or vicinity, but in some
degree the interests of mankind. We are
here for the encouragement and promotion
Of science, as favorers of the general difu-
sion of knowledge, and, Of consequence, for
the ameliornton of the moral condition Of
our race. We are here as the advocates
and countenancers of female education. The
education of those whom christianity has
taught us to believe to be not merely dust
and ashes, but partallers of the Divine ma
ture; tending to holier and purer world,
where the more richly developed and beau
tifui in nature is compassed by the perfec-
ton of angelic superiority. Woman has
her sphere allotted her by the wisdom and
intelligence of God and she is endowed
with those faculties which, if properly di-
rected, make her the most beautiful and per-
feet Of her species: but which when per-
ver;ed become the prolific parents Of count
less crimes and unmitigated misery. Then
it there is period when we are more sus-
ceptible Of improvement than at any other,
it is during infancy, when the mind is young
and tender, ere associations have been
formed or the conclusions drawn. Then it
is that we should guide, direct and employ
to proper account those powers winch the
God of nature has given us. This great
responsibility rests npon every individual
Of society. The good and great Of every
age have acted upon it and that Divine
form which appeared among men eighteen
centuries ago, and who presented in his
humanity the realised ideal of all human
perfection, inculcated ii il his teachings and
illustrated it in his life.
To my classmates would say that it is
natural for the human heart 10 fix upon
some period as the turning point of its des-
iny-as the time from whence it is to at
tain the iruiion Of those hopes, and enjoy
the realization of those dreams Of happ-
ness which it is our nature TO indulge
And perhaps there are few moments better
calculated to latter lis into this delusion than
The present. We are standing upon the
! threshold Of another existence. We have
come up here to exchange, perhaps, the
last sad Offices of kindness; to unwind with
gentle touch and careful hand those endear-
ing ties that have so long bound us together,
and TO bid farewell 10 the scenes of our lit
ernry childhood. To-day we depart, each
in her respective career in life, like those
leaving the home OF kind mother, and the
friends Of their youthful days. We go
! forth into the WIDE, wide world to encounter
difficulties, dangers and temptations. To
times appear tiresome place. and tasks as
irksoine restraints; but when the hour of
separation draws nigh and the ties of friend
ship are about to be sundcred, how like a
sanctuary seems the Old schooireoms; like
the labors of loYe. thnse tasks. II there is
one who pines 10 be loosed from the chains
of professional authority, she is a dreamer
who will be roughly wakened by the drum
beat that calls to action in the stern realities
Of life. There YOU will have no friendly
hand, no sympathisng heart TO cheer you on
your way; emulation and rivalry will no
longer be incentives TO exertion, but love Of
science and Humanity must nerve your arm
and fire your spirit, if you would walk in
footsteps of genius Of the nineteenth CEN
tury. . .......
We gofor'h togcshsr, but We shall never