Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1866-07-12
ADDRESS BY MR.. TRAvERs.

School, u
graduating class at the late 90 Commencement"
which it is our pleasure now to lay before our read
ers:
I cannot hope, Young Ladies, in the few mo-
ments which / feel justified in employing, at
the conclusion of your most interesting eXercl-
SEES to do anything more than to extend to you
the congratulations of those who have been the
gratified witnesses of your performances, upon
the abundant evidence which you have fur
nished us of your advancement and progreSsin
fine Grand work of Education. You have as
sured Us that the precious hours of youth, pos
sessing so many capabilities for a rapid prepa-
ration for the great duties that lie beyond the
portals of the school-room, have not been mis-
employed. but that with earnest diligence, pa
tient toll and great success, you have approprl-
ated the rich opportunities, here afforded you,
to garner those fruits Of knowledge which, in
the future are to sustain and strengthen you
for the labors of life. You have been silently,
and perhaps unconsciously, engaged in the for
nation of character; and the tone 1T has re-
ceived in these school-days will not only be VS.
IDLE throughout the term of your own existence,
but will contribute largely to mould and shape
the lives of others with whom, in the sociala and
necessary relations of life you will, from time
to time, be brought in contact.
You are about practically to experience the
value of those lessons and the efficiency ofthat
discipline which you have received from those,
to whom it has been not less apleasure than
duty to impart instruction to you. The inter-
esting DAYS of schoolgirl life, chequered With
their alterations of childish joys and childish
sorrows. are aboutto close withsome OF you and
YOU are going forth to take your places upon the
great stage of the worlds theatre to perform,
trust. no unimportant parts in its various roles.
Thesuccess, with which you will meet the requi-
sitionsthere made upon you, willlargely depend
upon the diligence with which you have attend
ed to the unobserved rehearsals here, which
were designed to fit you for the characters which
you are there to sustain.
1t is said that Napoleon once asked the cele-
brated Madame De Stael how, in her judgment,
he could best subserve the interests of his
country? Educate the women of France"
was the prompt and wise reply. And If, in
nation where the concerns of government were
controlled by the absolute will of one man, 1t
was thought that the ennobling and elevating
! influence of educated woman, though far re-
moved from theunapproachable sources OF pow
err, would ben6cially affect even imperial dest-
MES, how much more salutary, weghty and
! important must be the same influence upon
those, who not only rightly WELD, but largely
! compose, the government of free people.
Admitted here to all the privileges that legit-
| imatey belong to it, there is no country on the
| face of the globe where the true value of your
sex is more accurately estimated, or its all-per-
meatng usefulness is more extensively felt than
in our own. And hence the intense anxiety
| everywhere felt and which has always been
manifested in America to prepare woman for
| the prominent and honorable station which, by
! common consent, has always been assigned to
! her here. And conspicuous among the means
that have been devised to accomplish this high
purpose are the facilities Of education that eve
rywhere plenteously abound. Wherever we
! look, whether upon the crowded city, noisy
with the hum of trade and resounding with the
| ruIubliuSs Of the wheels Of Conlnorco, upon
| the more placid wales and cloud-kissing hills
Of our far-stretching country, are seen the d.
versifed temples of instruction, in which are
gathered the fair and rising generation who are
| to discharge the grave duties and responsible
| ties Of those who in the order of nature, are
rapidly passing to the shadow-land. And let
me tell you, young Ladies, that under the cir
cumstances, with which an Inscrutible Proyi-
dence hassurrounded you thoSeresponslbllities
will be of no ordinary character.
But few hours since your mothers and elder
sisters gathered from these beautiful fields,
where the swift messenger of Death summoned
them to Immortality the Wondering remains
of many Of your natural protectors, and laid
them upon the Scared and throbbing bosom
of our common Mother, there sweetly to repoSe
until that appointed time when they shall 80
to their happy reckoning. Many a stout heart.
that was won't to rush, with the instinct Of in
born manhood, to your support, is now cold
and inanmate many a strong hand that was
ready to clear the thorny path of life for your
buoyant and unimpeded footsteps Is now nerve
less and pulseless in death. Life to you,
with your new surroundings, is to be no Fairy
dream. The solemn voice of duty calls YOU TO
unpleasant tasks; but it is unwomanly not to
meet them. Around you are the desolations
of war; homes once happy, ruined; fresides
once radiant with the sunshine of prosperity,
cherries, and the gaunt form of Poverty throw
inc its cold shadow athwart them children.
once rocked in the lap of luxury and the off
spring of those who offered up their lives in
your defense, pennilesS, uneducated, naked UNI
needed waits on the troubled sea of life-hable
to be stranded upon the rocks of vice-these
are your great States new inheritance
In the face of the esponsibilities which these
thoughts have indicated, trust that for that
unfortunately too numerous class who are dis
posed to regard your mission on the earth as
one of amusement to society, and yourselves
mere play things, with which the leisure mo-
mentS, distracted from the stern requirements
of business, areto be made tolerable and agree
able, you have no other feeling than that of
scorn and unutterable contempt Within
those inner homeand domestic circles, especial
| ly, where the most beneficial acts of your lives
arc to be performed more useful cmployments
await you. To uphold the arms and encour-
age the hearts, and strengthen and confirm
the resolutions of those, who are, with YOU. in
diminished Misunderstanding the fierce con-
ficts of life, are the great duties you will have
/ to encounter.
The minds, too, of those who are to take
your place, will receive their bent and direc-
ton from the force of your example and the
words of instruction that shall fall from your
/ live ,,ro,,oro N-Cr, for +l,oeo &c..