The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-06-26
GLstgklGI1lt!lelLiaEntaG: & q
Commencement, Literature.

tle VAleQIctOElAu ~ hAeSout SVheboSoAh'
mencement The valedictory oration d
generally awarded to the first honor mar
Of q graduating class, and we presume Il
was % In this instance. Unlocking oyei
tive are reminded Of the Country Par.
sons essay on "vesl.n BE defined Veal
10 be Immature beef'-something very
Juicy and very indigestlble-the type in
literature Of The fwordy period Of Q
studenps lie, wherein the dearth Of ideas d
invetsely as the superabundance Of words
to express them. The speech before us d
not only "vealy" in this respect but also
In the peculiar manner In which tho au'
thor expresses himself. Take, Tor in.
stance sentence, likethis; "4
"The undoubted prerogatives Of thought,
speech and action, the tripod Of civil and
religious liberty, faithfully asserted have
emancipAted the minds Of men, and TO-
day iree opinion 10 the undispated char
acteristic Of the age"
We had supposed until reading this
sentence that q tripod was three.legged
stool Of some sort, Whereon priest sat
In ancient days and received the answers
Of an oracle, and whereon, in modern
times, editors sit and incubate their
heavy leaders. But this young man has
given The word new departure alto.
gether., 1fhO could only have contented
himself TO say triad instead Of tripod, peo-
pie would have had some dim idea Of
what he was driving at 3
The sentence Immediately following Is
a good companion piece to the one
quoted. It reads thus; t e.
"In the wake of religious emancipation
civil liberty has followed as Q lated &c,
quence" sss6 IA
Why civil liberty should be regarded
as a "iatsd sequence" Is more than we
can understand. What, we inquire, did
civil liberty ever do 20 be disparaged in
such a mAnnerH We have heard Of Q
pestllence following . famine in this
style, but the application OF the term
to beneacent event like civil liberty Is
something decidedly new. - =
The next sentence forms a "tripod'
with the two just quoted. 1t reads thus +:
"The strongholds Of despotism that
once aourished in the rankness ofiniquity
are only remembered as monuments Of o
departed curse" mos. g.I
The first half Of this sentence would
seem to indicate that the strongholds
having once flourished had passed away,
but in the latter half they seem 10 remain
as monuments. The special popularity
Of the business Is that they are remember.
ed as monuments. Monuments are gen.
orally supposed to be themselves remind
ers OF something, and not something TO
be remembered. s ~,
But speaking Of monuments calls our
attention to this sentence
"Too many lone monuments Of q once
happy family (meaniDg the human race)
loiter along the confines Of time"
Our valedictorian has certainly invest
ed monuments with an unusual attribute
when he makes them loiter. Men lolter
along the journey Of life; boys loiter on the
way to school; Grant according to the
late Senator suMNER) was a loiterer by
the sea, bit the idea Of monuments loiter.
ing iS.a discovery that might be patented
III could be put to any possible use. The
nearest approach TO lettering monument
that we can think of Is the Washington
monument at Washington City. Perhaps
1t suggested the idea:
There are several other gems Of one
kind and another that We might Gull from
this valedictory Grafton. For instance
here Is one Of the lackadaisical kind, thai
Is real college veal and no mistake:
"There comes to US now the remem.
brance oI the past. We revert to the early
days Of college lite. In those happy dAys
seemingly half fiction, half truth, when
care to US was yet stranger, ere llie't
stern realities began to rise in appalling
significance before our gaze, We knew
naught ol times ravages; We scarcely
realized our situation" S-s
The young orator should have explain
ed in his speech what was the nature o.
those stern realities in the career Of hi
class that had risen with such appalling
significance before their gaze. "Appalllug'
hahetty sort Of word, and is not to b
used lightly even by o Sophomore vale
dIctorisn. It Is calculated to work on thC
nerves Of excitable people who may reat
the Grafton from which we quote. W,
infer, however, that nothing very dread
iul happened 70 the Glass, from the lac
that their career Is alluded to in the fol
lowing regulation phraseology for Com
mencement occasions: as5o : ~ 'li.i
"Luna, pale Empress oil, the night, ha
retired. Fiery Apollo, having driven hi
impetuous steeds through the golden poI
tails Of the orient, Is fast ascending th
vaulted blue"
How sweet this beautiful language A
BuTIER said about BNGHAMFs speech Il
Congress, We always did like it, A Col
lege Commencement would be a fall
ure without it There Is but on
way 10 have q College Commence
menl Just aS . clown once tol,
CHARLES Dickens that there was but on
way to have . circus, There must, c
course, be speeches about Luna an
Apollo, about the orient and the occiden
about the "yaulted blue" and the "col