Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1873-06-21

VersIty, June 4th, 1873.
Ladies, Gentlemen, and yJlmg
Brothers Of the Lao Graduating Class i:
After q lapse of more than twen-
ty years, / have returned to my
Alma Mater, to receive
again her kindly benedictien, and
to Join with her in bidding God
speed to others of her children,
whom she has armed for the lists,
and is about to send forth to do bat
tie in the grand tournament Of life.
And while return, not altogether
as a prodigal, having wasted the
substance with which she endowed
me, / come as a penitent, deeply re-
GREETING that l have improved so
little, the talent which was commit
ted to my keeping. Looking back,
through the eventful years that have
passed, | see long caravans of vast
ed hours, broken resolutions and
neglected opportunities but the
saddest spectacle in all the shadowy
vision is, that there is ever in the
van of the procession, held high ad-
Vaneed like the sacred host, the
lessons of wisdom, honor, truth and
virtue, taught me in this institu.
tion, which would have made life
purer and stronger, had they been
observed more closely. And if
can de or say anything that viii
assist one Of my young brothers tC
avoid the lions which he will find
chained in the road of his profes
sional career, or to point out to him
the places where the serpents liz
hid, ia his pathway through life,
shall feel that l have atoned, some
what, for nay own delinquencies.
Those of you, who have just ro
ceived the hOnors OF the University
and look forward so full of hope anC
with such eager confidence TO thu
realization of your ambition!
dreams of the future, can scarcely
appreciate the desire of one whC
wishes to go back to where you ar,
now standing, and for short tim,
dream over the illusions of hi
Young manhood-tO return from
that which is TO you, the fairy lanC
of the future, and place himself 10y
your side in the duh proSaic pres
ent. But | believe it is a natura
impulse of the human heart, whicl
grows stronger as we grow older
to revisit the scenes of our child
hood and mingle once more will
the friends of our youth. For theru
was time when, on occasions hkt
this, the scene, and all those wh'
peoeled il, was as familiar to me q
this is TO you now. But when
look around me for the faces of thos
l once knew so well, and loved $,
much, how very few of them find
they are nearly all gone,
-"scattered, like roses IN June,
Some % the bridal, some to the TOMB.
First, find myself looking i
vain for the face of him, who wa
then the venerable and distinguish
ed President OF the Law Depart
ment, the Hon. Abraham Caruther:
Those of you who never knew hiI
cannot tell what an aching void
made by the loss OF that honorable
noble-hearted, christian gentleman
Endowed by nature with intellectu
81 powers far beyond ordinary mel
he had, by close study, laborious ii
| Vestigation and methodical research
made himself one of the ablest an
most accomplished common-lal
lawyers of his day. As Doctor {
Laws, he had no superior in tn
country. AS a law writer his styl
was clear, cencIse, accurate an
terse there was in il just rhetori
sufficient TO make IL agreeable, bU
not enough TO impair its vigor.
was IN the professors chair, SOW
ever, that his great qualities sho1
the brightest. He could convey b.
ideas in the fewest words OF an
man l ever knew, and you alwaY
felt, when he had finished bis exp,
sition of = subject, that while MOI
might have been said, that En-,
another word was necessary. II
running commentaries upon Blacl
stone and Kent, as he delivered the
to his class, If published with Il
! text, would have made the very be
elementary work for the AmeriCs
/ student that has ever been write
There is one remarkable fact viii,
! have observed II relation TO hil