Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes Co., O. [Ohio]) 1870-1895, 1871-11-02
REUNION AT CANAAN.
A few weeks ago, announcement

was made through the papers, and
by circulars, that there would be
reunion of the old teachers and stu
dents of Canaan Academy, on
Thursday, October 26th, 1871. Hav-
ing spent one year as teacher in said
school, we answered the call by put
ting in an appearance on that morn
ing, where some seventy-fve to one
hundred old scholars, representing
classes as far back as I843, had as
sembled. The little town of Canaan,
usually SO quiet and unassuming,
was that day all hurry and hustle.
Many who had never attended school
there, came to see and hear, until
the Academy building was full to
overlooking. The old and the young
were there. Many who had been
pupils at the opening of the school.
twenty-eight years ago, were now in
the middle of life, even gray hair
covered the heads of some. Others
were in the full vigor of life, repre-
senting nearly all trades and profes-
sions. The yonng were there
those who had just begun to bottle
manfully with the cares of life.
Greetings were given, recognitions
made Of faces and names long since
forgotten. At two o'clock the ex-
ercises were opened by prayer by
Rev. T. H. Barr, after which follow
ed music and an address of welcome
by Prof. John S. Weaver.
ADDRESS OF PROF. WEAVER:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: 1t is
with feelings of reluctance that l ad-
dress a welcome to those here to-
day,-not that am reluctant to tell
you you are welcome, but that l am
utterly unable to express in words
the gladness with which your pres
ence inspires us. There are times
within the experience of every per-
son, when words are wholly made
quate for expression,-when the
hackneyed terms of conventional
phrase serve only to bring down our
sentiments from the pinnacle upon
which the true sublimity of feeling
has placed them,-and when even
the most livid streams from the
burning lips of eloquence fail to
convey the intensity of the emotions
within us. To simply say "you are
welcome" in the words of our plain,
inexpensive English language,
would be to show GOODNESS toward
you. Yet as the index only points
to more glorious truths contained
within, so take our words as the in
dex of our hearts, and know that we
bid you true, a thrice hearty wei
come. We are glad you have come,
glad that in these days when our
minds and hearts and sympathies
are wrapped up with the suffering,
and woe and misery of our fellow
beings, there still remains with you
some love for your "Alma Mater"
that your interest in her welfare and
success is not yet dead, although it
has long been sleeping.
In the name of the citizens and
resident students of Canaan, l bid
you welcome and assure you that
with them there ever remains the
tenderest remembrance of tile days
of "Lang Syne." Time cannot
break those ties that bind the past
to the present, nor can distance sew
er them. We take you by the hand
with the same degree of interest and
friendship we felt for you years ago
in your student life.
For the present students of Ca
naan Academy say welcome! Not
as strangers do we greet you, but
as the younger members of the same
household would welcome back to
our common fireside our elder broth
ers and sisters. We are as yet in
our infancy, nursed by the same
mother who gave to you your educa-
tional nourishment, but we would
stretch out our feeble, puny hands
across the abyss of time which sep
arates us, and grasping yours, meet
on the same level as children of one
family. Within the common thresh-
hold of our mothers house we will
renew our fidelity to her interest and
pledge again our zeal in her success.
We are young but you are old in
the experience of the world. We
are weak but you are strong with
much active exercise in life. We
are but just putting on our armor,
yours has been battered in many a
conflict. We would welcome you as
our brethren returning from numer-
Gus battles with the enemies of truth
and humanity, and would ask you
to throw off the stateliness of years
and the dignity of parental feeling,
and be for to-day the boys and girls
of long ago. Whether your brows
have been furrowed with mental la
Dor, or your hands hardened with
honest toll, the same true feeling,
welcome is extended. We are glad
to see you TOO, because you have
given us, in the years you have been
gone, glimpses of that real nobility
of manhood, the true dignity of la
Dor. Your paths have widely di-
verged since you sat together at
these old desks. They have wan
dered hither and thither with tor
tuous windiugs and perhaps many
backward turnings upon themselves,
but you have shown us the true aim
of life, in that each of you in your
occupation or profession has brought
the gifts of his calling and laid them
at the feet of progress and improve
ment.
No one dare say that you have
not honored your vocation, however
humble it may seem to be. Some of
you stand to-day within the sacred
uncomfortable, have at last yielded
to the inevitable and bowed to their
master,-man. Some of you are
dispensing the principles and knowl-
edge inculcated here, while sitting
at the shrine of educational devo-
ton, and thus are spreading your in
fluence like ripping wavclets over