New-York daily tribune., 1858-08-02

efp;sisree oi tie b,tts RS .atsst teen hs'e
wisdom. The ore cultivate. rs brass, 'sc1 instead
q h. books; a-d tie oiher propi.ast' passE' sad
spo.LecarJ BY admitting that The ali healns Pi'a'
killer is, in certain csses az excellent remedy.
Then b.ock-hesded iIiisa ab;s aie fH'eret, and cd
wives a,e proPitiated. The tees begin to come H.
snd the daw Of success TO brighten the horizon o.
the clever man Distinctors, tsG,N or oiflc!s, are
w:,.ly absudo.ed, and herceforth .ae work ol
litigation AID Of Erescipton is 20 more liberal Than
any fewinx of wood and drawing Of water. Tee
dream Of fame gradually fades away and he vho
started With az ambition utterly limtess lives aud
dies urheard cf By world wh;:h il the beginning
vas too small for so much talent sad valiani
purpose.
There is in tbs maximum Of ltentlo1 aud reso-
luioD, AID this minimum of performance, some
thing a. which lie humorous might smile, AMI
which is, indeed, fairly foresLadowed IN the exsr'
cises Of commencement. A mar .eed not De masy
years AWAY from the embraces Of bis Alma Mater,
to fnd out hat she had little nlatronly weakness
ard an oyerfoLdLs:s for her children. Else why
did she set him to the performance Of such hard
task. before such great company He though!
well enough Of the show at the tine, but it seems to
him very childish row. Whist did he know, for al
bis brave talking, Of these hshsounding subjects
of "The Comparative SuSImity Of Euripidts and
"of Slphocles of The Effect Of the Grafton
"De Corona upon the Democratic Element OF
Cicero, considered as an Orator, Statesman, a
"Philosopher ard Man of Burke, Fox,
"Sheridsn and Junius of Modern Ececticism
"coppaled with the D,smatism Of the Middle
ages of "Walpole in Office aud out of Office
of "Tle Effect of Philosophical Dis :oyeres upon
Democratic Elt melts in the Nineteenth Century"
There is ne college bred man who can real over his
commence ment oraiion without half blashing and
half laughing; or without! corgratua.iDg himself
upon the undenable fact that it was immediately
forgotten by tbose who listened to it, snd ths those
who listened to it we're very few indeed. AT the
some time We must in justice admit that young men,
upon such occasions, have little chance " show OF
what stuff they are made. They al speak 10 straight
Jackets, ard with the Demosthenean pebbles in
their mouths. They have been curried and combed
ard cropped they have been brid!ed aud sadded
ard mar!ngaled and reined, Until, with the Proies-
sor of Rhetorical Rsreyism upon their backs, they
would think sooner of giving up the ghost than OF
iDdulgiDg in one hearty aid natural gallop. We
should be badly of indeed if the annual show indl-
Gated with accuracy our future intellect and ability.
Friends as We are Of the most rigid decorum;
admirpg as we do youthful modesty restrained as
juvenile mpetuosty certainly should be, we cannot
help thinking that it would be better to let these
boys talk and write like the boys that they are.
ADything-crudeness ignorance vanity, the widest
and the wickedest bluuders-would be better than
this fiat and dead respectability and proprety OF
performance Then no deficiency could excite
ridicule unless it were one for which the speaker
had Only himself to blame, provided always-and
the provision is broad one-hs teachers had done
their duty. We should then get some just idea OF
what college and books and tutors had accomplished
for the neoPhyte Now the principal business is to
show what they have not done.
This, however, We should ssy for colleges that
upless a student be an ab.olute and unmitigated
Ounce, or a boy of hopeessly low instincts, bis
four years at the institution should give him taste
for books for intellectual labor or at least for the
best intellectual recreation. The student must be
kindly judged. Many graduates who are very low
upon the college books rise surprisingly in the more
inyieorstiDg atmosphere Of the world. Bad habits,
physical and intellectual, are abandoned with COM
mendable courage; and many student when he
turns his back upon his college, feels that the Sc
Iious labor of life is before him. He begins then,
and then only, to think as man aid to study as a
man. He advances at a pace which is curiosity
and an astoni.tment to all who have known him;
he contradicts all prognostcs; aud soon bis Alma
Mater is quite as anxious to acknowledge as she
was TO dsown hm-a distinction of which he is
not often ardently desrous.