The mountain Democrat., 1864-02-13
From the Detroit Frss Pressl
THE PATRIOT AND SCHOLAR.
Address OF Hon. G. L. VallandIEham
80 the students OF the Universtty
Of Michigan, Nov. IA, 1868.

80 the Students OF the University
of Michigan, Nov. IL, 1s63.
Notwithstanding the very inclemcnt
weather on Saturday, large body Of S:A-
dents OF the University of Michigan came
down on the morning train for a formal
visit to Mr.. Vallandiehan. They pro-
ceeded to Windsor ct eleven o'clock, where
the large dining hall of the Hirons House
had been set apart for the meeting. The
hall was crowded, there being present, in
addition to the students, several prcmi-
nent citizens Of Detroit.
Mr.. Vallandieham was addressed on be-
half Of the students by Mr.. c. A. Buskirk.
This address was eloquent and patriotic.
We regret that want Of space prevents its
publication. At the conclusion of the ad-
dress Mr.. A. S. McAlister, Chairman of
* T. y 222tL g<tio0, introduced Hon. C. l..
Vallandigham who, thanking the students
for the compliment Of visit, addressed
them as follows:
thank you, young gentlemen, for this
:isit. | thank you, sir, especially, Mr..
BdSkirk, for the compliments so hand
somcly expressed on behalf of your fel.
lows. The applause Of the young is the
highest praise. They speak the language
of the coming generation and anticipate
the judgment Of posterity. To that jndg-
ment. If it so be that my name shall chance
to live in the record Of these times, | long
since appealed; and. meantime, am willing
to abide the scrutiny which must prece1e
it. Without further personal alluSion,
therefore, in reply, allow me to pass to
another subject; ard, il it be in my power,
TINS to change a visit of ceremony into
one perhaps not altogether without profit.
You are students. Some of you still
pursue your classical and scientific stu
dies; others prepare yourselves for pro-
feSsional pursuits; all Of you are eager to
rush into the great world, and be men,
Yet, in little while, when you have borne
its buffetingS with lu>ty sinews, not one
Of you but will exclaim with a sigh,
"Ah! happy years, who would not be boy again
But in the battle Of life there is no re-
treat; and the brave spirits among you
will press forward, and the weak falter
and perish you now but prepare your
selves for life of action, ana just in pro.
portion as you are disciplined every way,
you will be ready to meet whatever for
tune may bctide you. Redeem the
time" There is no injunction more sug'
gcstive. SO many days and years you
have in pawn to the Almighty Maker o.
Heaven and earth; and those only are
rcckoncd redeemed, which are spent pro
ftabiy either to the body OF the mind. -
Youth is not the season for ease or peas
ure; but for labor and sell,denial. Who
ever has practiced these hardy virtue.
! when boy and IN early manhood, viii
at forty, sound in mind and body. find tn,
lawful and virtues pleasures of life full 0
sweetness. Horace was right
Multa .aIit fectque puer.
The more ingenious among you incu
another and widely differing hazard. Yol
have endured heat and cold; have refrain
cd from lust and wine have adjured plea
sure, or rather have found it in labor ant
study. Your viGils have outwatched
the bear" But youthful ambition is
eager ard inpatient. 1t sees nothing bu
Farne's Proud Temple, and forgets that il
shines alar. 1t sees not the long anC
wcarisome leagues Of hill and valley, o
forest and rock, of thicket and jungle
which lie between the goddess and hel
! worshipers. 1t counts every moment o.
delay and difficulty or tire way, as a mo
mrnt lost. There is, indeed, false god
desS whose fame is near and easy Of ac
cess Hard by Is the alter of Mammon
LN,.,,J EaI.ohnod or1 V;oln,,.o ora tbor.
joint SihylS and priests. A tumnltuous
crowd Of idolatrous aud ahject wOrshipers
throng around. But Nutoriety is not
Fame, and her devotees soon perish Not
such let your ambition be; but rather
that which Pope and after him, Lord
Mansfield, proclaimed ";he pursuit Of no
bic ends b. noble means" and yours, too
that popularity which follows not that
which is run after. But TO obtain this
YOU must learn early that most difficulty
Of all lc>Sons-T0 LABOR AiD TO WAIT. Al
twenty you think forty m OH age. Al
forty. If you have disciplined your minds
and not abused your bodies, you will find
yourselves younger but far wiser than
you are TO day; and the hour Of your
death will seem more distant and give
yoH less concern You will tee! that there
is lifetime ye; before you; ard if you are
Of a strong will and brave spirit and
worthy Of name to live, your past fail
ureS and defeats you will regard then as
but probation and discipline, and, indeed,
as SO many assurances of final triumph
Press on but not IN haste The Master
of RavcnSWood chose wise motto ard
not inapt coat Of arms-s bulls head, land,
:" | bide my time"
In one other thing be not mistaken -
You are not about TO finish your studies.
When you take leave of the University.
you but begin them. No man ever at
tanned great aud enduring eminence, with
out Study-not always of books. Men OF
hooks. But they are students, ncvprthc
less, Of the men and things around them;
and books are but the written records or
things and men remote or Of the past
But they have this advantage, that what,
ever they record, had passed through the
alchemy of the great minds bv whom they
were written. And, moreover. in them
we study men and things diveSted OF the
prcjudircS, the bigotrieS, and the Sclf.in-
tcrcsted influences Of that which is pres
ent in time or near in space. Especially
is this true of history the most amplify
ing, liberalizing in its effect upon the. mind
and soul, of all studies. lie who remains
a bigot in anything has read history to
little purpose. And he who would com
prehrnd the present and discern the fu.
ture. must give his days and nights to this
study. Prophesy uninSpired, is but his
tory anticipated. Read history, and learn
that the patriot, the hero, the statesman,
the orator whom you reverence or admire
in the pages of PIutarch and Livy, or of
Hume. Gibbon and MacanlaY, was reyiled