Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1871-08-01
COMMENCEMENT AT COLBY UNI.
VERSITY.
FROM Our REPORTER !:

It Roh OUR REPORTER:
Watervile, July 81. The exercises opened
last night with an address before the Board
man Missionary Society, by the Rev. DIR.
Ide of Springfield, Mass. The house was
filed, and the deep interest and attention
shown by the audience was conclusive evil
dence that all were highly pleased with the
easy and poetical manner in which the speak
er conveyed his ideas. His subject was the
''fecding of the five thousand"
ebay breakes on the Sea of Galilee. As
the darkness disappears and the night msts
float upward and melt into air, the deep, still
waters are revealed blue and clear as the
hills, whose green setting encircles this gem
of the Holy Land, look down upon it like
watching angels, and mirror themselves in
its placid bosom. And now the sun rising
upon the lake, and upon the whole emerald
basin in which it lies. At his touch what
panorama of loneliness bursts on the view !
The jocund waves leap into golden ripples !;
broad streaks Of light traverse their surface /;
and sea and shore, cliff and valley, hamlet
and town, late so hushed and silent. start
into life, and rejoice in the morning radience.
Smoke ascends from scattered cottages; the
hum of toll begins to be heard in the fields !;
sounds of activity come forth from the cities !;
while grain-clad plains and olive crowned
heights, famed by the soft breath of spring,
nestle their welcome to each other. Looking
down the western shore, you perceive a
company of thirteen men standing on the
beach near Capernaum. Nothing of outward
show distinguishes them. In garb and as
pect they appear to be only plain peasants /;
though thoughtful observer would notice in
them seriousness, look of spiritual in
telligence, indicating that they are more
than they seem. But it is to the central
figure of the groupe that your regards are
most powerfully drawn. He is as lowly and
as unadorned as the rest. Yet in His form
and countenanee there is grandeur, a
magesty, an out-shining heavenly glory,
such as earth never saw before, and will
never see again. Dignity and meekness,
justice and benignity, purity and love, blend
in that Divine face, and speak the incarnate
God"
In this poetical style he lead the audience
along the shore of the lake varied with pic
turesque beauty and granduer to the other
| side where Christ and the disciples had come.
In his imagination he painted the scene with
vivid colors; told how the vast throng had
collected all along the way and eager to hear
the man of miracles in their haste had neg
lected to take food with them; how, as the
shades of night were falling the hungry null
titude were fed by an fundamentally so in
significant. To the members of the society
he spoke in direct terms. "And at the close
of your preparatory course, may it be your
high vocation to bear the word of life to the
destitute in our own land, or to the still more
henighted jewellers on heather shores. Thus
you can carry your loaves to Jesus. And
when all are brought; when the wealth, and
talent, and heart, and working power of the
whole redeemed church are laid at his feet,
then He will put his much to your little, and
feed the famine stricken nations with the
mama of His salvation. He that eateth this
bread shall never die. But they who refuse
it will endure forever the cravings of a
hunger which no bread can quell, and the
agony of thirst which no water can allay."
Monday night at the Baptist church oc-
Cured the Prize Declarations of the Junior
class with the following programme:
PRAYER.
MUSIC.
/. The Scholar.
John Harris Barrows, East Sumner
2. Physical and Moral Culture.
Lewis Albert Wheeler, Waterville.
3. Christianity and Free Governments.
Alfred Swetser Stowell, Wakefield, Ms.
Music.
4. The Ocean.
Wilder Washington Perry, Camden.
D. Design in Nature.
Thomas Gould Lyons, Waterville.
6. Eloquence.
Horace Wayland Tilden, Lewiston.
Music.
I. History among the Ruins.
Elihu Burritt Haskell, Guilford.
s. The Eternity of Influence.
Howard Rogers Mitchell, Waterville.
Music.