The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-07-12

Yon have requested me, gentlemen OF the
graduating class, to give you lew Fafilhs
words of advice. Considering the people to
which YOU belong the Christian principles
and mora virtues which have been instlileo
into YOU ut home; the precents that have
been taught you here and the examples
that have been set before you by your teach
ers and professors in the daily walks OF life
| might content myself by simply readlnc
the advice given by Burns to a youngfrlend'
from which have snatched couplet 10 At
tract your attention, with the hope that You
will read it at leisure, and profit by ltaiso.
But YOU desire something fresher than
that. and I agree with you in this Tor
think that the time, the occasion, and the
circumstances by which weare Surrounueu'
all call for something special.
You are about to turn over new leal III
life's history. and to commence, each one OF
YOU. upon stage rs wide as the "oriu, 10
enact your part in the great drama. Nha'
that part shall be depends MAINLY upon
vour own choice. As to the brlillancy OF
the performance, that depends not niue
upon opportunity but Tor lts reIi lcii.S !,
will dcpend chiefly upon the resolves whlcn
Won NAV write upon that newly-tulned leaf,
and upon the fidelity with which you may
carry them out. What these resolves should
be are suggested by the cardinal virtues and
dictated bv the golden rule. Ii Is needless
for me to repeat them to you
The course of training through which you
have lust passed is peculiar and cmlnently
practical. 1t is admirably adapted to mt you,
for the duties Of life, and, like men III real
earnest, YOU want to know how best TO turn
Il to account ana reap 10 tlte luii "ii 'iie
advantages Of it.
First. then, that you may have proper
conception of those advantages. and know
exactly where YOU are, let me ask you, my
Young friends, what have you been DONG
here these three or four years!
I fancy the answer is instinctivcly upon
the Hps of some, to be SententlouSly cN-
pressed in three words: Diminishing our
education"
Pardon me, gentlemen, you have been no
more finishing your education here than
YOU have been fighting battles on dress
parade. You have been laying the founda-
lions for education. and 50 far, like those
solderly bearings, drills, and exercises,
which have so much excited our admiration,
and won our kindest sympathy for you, and
which rebound so much to your credit ana
the honor of your Alma Mater, your work
has been done well. Your educational
foundations have been laid broad and deep,
and under the supervision and the guiding
hand of skilful masters. They have cost
Won much labor, time, and study, ana unless
YOU build upon them they will surely, IN
few wears, be like other foundations that
have been neglected. They will be filled
with the rubbish Of time, and choked, aS
the garden of the sluggard, with the weeds
of idleness; so that in few years the mate
rials-the very principleS-and even the
names of the textbooks and the fashion OF
the aualries from which you gathered them
will be lost to memory. rms VIII surely
hammer unless YOU continue to work ana To
l,,;Itl ,,,,o, ,,but have done here.
What, then. some may be ready to ask,
care our studies never to end? We were
disposed to do with our books as Macbeth
would do with the physic."
Are the labors of the husbandman ut al
end when he puts his seed into the ground
or the builders when the cornerstone OF
the house is laid? And why should you
cypcct, after planting or placing corner
stones, to be exempt from the laborS OF
superstructurc. or of culture and tllla@e
Because you have laid Il cornerstone OF po-
lishcd marble, is your task done: VIII tnc
supcrstructurc grow! On the contrary, II
i inst ready for the real work. The cha
ractcr of your studies as you engage III the
battle of life will be changed but you Will
be learners still therefore there must be no
relaxation as to intensity Of application
for whatever be the specially You may fancy
most. Won can neither excel nor shine III
YOUR calling, or even win tho respect oil the
GOOD. unless YOU master 1t in all It's details
for remember, that the mental activity
OF the world is such that all tho arts,
all the departments of human know
ledge, all the avOcationS OF human life.
in which the forces of matter are
brought to bear upon practical affairs.
all, all are progressive. Among the indus
trial pursuits of man there is not single
calling that has not, since the date OF re-
corded history, received from the hand OF
progress the marks of improvement. The
crow builds her nest, the beaver his dam,
and the elk its yard, nor, precisely as they
did when Adam first called them ny name
But, saving only the potter ut his wheel,
there is no human art or calling that is prac-
ticed now as it was in the days of old. The
pottcr's wheel of the present day Is the pot
tcr's wheel of Biblical times. The eNcep-
ton proves the rule. The potter's art has
improved, though his simple wheel has not ;
and SO it is with evcrythins-all other inn
PIGMENTS and machinery employed III the
affairs of men, from the nail tci the ship
from the pot to the steam boiler and engine,
show improvement and indicate progress.
These improvements and this progress
are simply the results of an increase
of mans knowledge rs to the forces of ma
turo and the properties Of matter. That
sort of knowledge Is accommodating daily,
for the discovery OF every new fact In
physics, the developments Of every new
principle in nature, the detection OF every
new property in matter, is Il lfcSh clue
placed in our hands. 1T leads into cham
bcrs Of knowlcdge; it guides us through
iabyrinths into which our fathers coult :.ot
lind their way, and about the doors Of which
they gropcd in the dark but it brings as
out into the presence of everlasting trutl
What slender thread was that simple fac'
that was first observed in the kicthen: the
touch of a knife impaired muscular aclion
To dead muscles. Here was Il new l;tct-i
clue-more attenuatcd than the fineSt COS
samer but, being once observed, noticed
aud placed in the hands of the student, ant
followed up, into what glorious chamber!
and splendid mansions of light and trutl
and everlasting knowledge has ii not hrough
us 1t has compelled the lightninSs to wai
Oh mortal man; to 60 and say 10 MN
"Here we are-we, the 1iery-footcd mes
sengers of heaven, ready to plunge through
the depths of ocean, to leap over noun
tains, to fly through air, and compass Ses
and land, to do thy bidding, so II IS VIII
steam and its powers with the polarization
of light the daguerreotype; the spectrum
ANALYSIS and al the great human inren
tionS and improvements, both ancient ant
modern.
so far as we know, and with the single
exception Of the alphabet, all the great i'll
ventions, discoveries, and improvements
that have marked the progress of the hll
man family in Its march upward and on
ward, have been trst suggested by nature
herself, and caught up seemingly by chance
and when developed they have been found
TO consist merely i'll the application of some
physical force or other-in itself the mos
Simple--to the practical affairs OF life. rh'
falling OF an apple was clue to the laws o
erayitation. The absence of a single ray il
the spectrum was, with its suggestions,