The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1858-06-09

mtlls - t"e alnic fhcIe. to Eght and
heat OF tho sunshine that through it,
countless breathing stomata that are 10 be.
il vii! draw within itself and transform
into its leafy tissue. A portion of our
property, It's true, lies fathoms deep be-.
meath us--is in youder Luminary-is 10
- hreezes that are to blow from Nova
IA and the tropics is in tho long
e,r that are to come, but It's our prop.
erty, Notwithstanding, ours. To US, too,
belong the joy and pride Of spectators
that in pointing out our elm will call us
to mind--the added beauty Of the park
the membranes and silent blessings Of
students who in the long, sultry afternoons
of the years Of the Hereafter will stretch
themselves in its frightening shade, aud
above all else there belongs 10 us the right
when we return to our Alma Mater, Of
sitting under our own vine aud elm tree
with none TO modest us or make us afraid"
My classmates, l look upon the deed Of
this hour as a deed big with consequences.
We are not met here " giving to an airy
nothing a local habitation and q name"
Through this tree, through this tree I re-
peat, we come to-day into partial posses
sion Of the real esta'e of Middlebury Col
lege-a possession we are not to ~relinquish
when We vacate College Halls and cast
our lots in other communities-through
this tree we make On investment Ia
College stock, through this tree in
some feyblo but ever-increasing measure
we virtually identify our own interests
with those Of College. This, our elm, is
a pledge living. growing witness Of the
relationship we here voluntarily assume,
In It's roofing we root ourselves here, in
our leaving, this is the only visible testi-
mcnial we shall leave behind US, of our
proprietorship-,be only material link that
will hold us fast to this classic spot. Let
us understand, then, its meaning and the
obligation we hereby take upon US. l said
a moment ago that this elm was the only
property we should leave here when we
graduate. 1 mistake 1t is not the grounds,
the buildings, the libraries, the ready
money, the bills receivable, nor the learned
Faculty-not one nor all of these Is it
that make up a College. A catalogue of
these things never constitutes its true in-
ventory. We do not go to College or grad
uate from it when we come into the pres
ence Of, or depart from, these its outward
manifestations. If you would find out
qch0t and ho1C n1uch is the College, seek
alter that unseen, yet not unfelt some
thing, embodied in these sensible phenom
ena l have mentioned When you shall
have comprised the associations that clus-
ter about what we call College, its name
and its prestigc-when you shall hare
brought together and weighed the exam.
pie, the influence, the power, the aggre-
gate moral and intellectual character, of
Faculty, Alumni and Students, then will
you have penetrated to, and measured the
life AMI essence, in a word, the tehoie, of
College. In reality, we shall never leave
College, but will bear it about with US in
epitome, transmitted into mind or trans
formed into heart. To this character we
furnish each his quantum and his is the
property belonging to us all, to you and
to me, that together with our elm will re-
main here when we are gone. NY class
mates, this is not the first nor the only
tree we have planted in the lustrum Of
years we have been here associated. I
hardly know why we signalize this in the
manner we do. Every thought We Gull
as we 60 along our way, make q part Of
our being and an element of our power, il
a tree we are planting. Every principle,
vicious or holy, we adopt and incorporate
with our nature, is a tree we are planting.
Terrible is the thought that every express
sion we make, every deed we do, every
sanction we give to good or bad practices,
is a tree we are planting, not iu ourselves
alone but in the bosoms of our associates
"A tree, too, that by the very law of its
nature must forever reproduce itself. In
planting this our elm we plant that which
will die, soon, perhaps, later, certainly /;
in planting a thought or a principle, we
plant that that is immortal; the former
may take hold in its life of the years that
are to come, but not, indeed, the centuries,
the latter has to do with tie cycles of
eternity. Alas! how many of these lat.
ter that should be comoly in shape, vigor.
Gus in life and in strength, and whoss
leaves should be for the healing of the
nations" are crooked and gnarled, puny
and p%itiaole, are, in a word, upas trees
whose secretions and malaria work blight
and desolation to everything about them.
But a truce to metaphors and to talk. In
closing, permit me to congratulate the
class on the beauty Of our selection, on the
appropriateness of the spot chosen for it.
and above all, on the union among Us, of
which it is both a type and an earnest.
Long may our lordly Elm live, mighty
may it grow, waxing stronger and more
beautiful as the years come and 20 over
tin its constant growth, its unity, and
its symmetry, at once an example to. and
an emblem Of, the class here met to name
and consecrate it.