The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1874-06-15
COLLEGE CUMMENCE8ESgS.

This is the week OF the college
Commensurate" with their accosl-
psnying literary exercises. Com
mencement day il, in the opinion OF the
student, that day for which all other
DAYS were made" During alI OF the
usual iour years OF his cole
giate career he looks forward with
both longing and dread to the day
when, his Grafton having been pro-
nouncel, the President o; the College
shall say, per amhorjs0tem, miht delt'
qatam," &C., dc, "honc chaTtom h''
trade :" or words 10 that effect. This
is the Initiating point in his coilegl-
ate career, the supreme moment, and
he tender}y rolls up his diploma and
when he nfxl writes his name appends
to it the initials "A. B" just to see
how it looks.
Young gentlemen leaving college as
graduates are apt to attach too
much importance to the mere fact
OF graduation. We have seen students
who seemed 10 imagine that, if they
could only manage TO obtain diploma
from some reputable institution OF learn
ing, they could sit down upon their
"sheepskin" and float serenely and sue
cessfully out upon the ocean OF lie, re-
ceiving honor and adulation from all
around them. But the student who
thinks that his diploma is q passport
to any position OF honor or profit TO
which he may aspire, is destined to
very rude awakening when he COM
mences for himself the actual struggle
of manhood. He will find that his treas
ured parchment, setting forth the duly
attested fact that ne has pursued the
prescribed course Of acsiemical study
at this or that College or University
and is regularly admitted to the grade
of Bachelor OF Arts is about as use
less piece OF furniture as he can lie
possessed OF. The questions be will
have to answer are not, Where and
when were you graduated? but What
do you know ard What can you DO ?
And there is another thing which
the young gentlemen who 90 out from
our colleges this week will be somew hat
surprised TO learn. 1t is that the
Information they have acquired from
their text books will not OF Itself prove
nearly so valuable as they now sup-
pose it 10 be. Except in the teacher S
profession, familiarity with the school
books is OF little direct or practical
value TO the man who goes forth from
college to make his msrk. He may
translate nuently Latin and Greek, aud
may be fully versed in the principles
and nodes OF differental and integral
calculus, but in practical lie lie Will
find little occasion !or his knowledge Of
mathematics and the classics, and after
few years OF hard and earnest work
in making his living and his way
through the world, no matter how sue
cessiul he may be, will he surprised to
lind how rusty he has become in those
branches OF study which he once
thought contained all the elements OF
o brilliant and useful career. He will
at length learn that the value OF aca-
demical culture consists mainly in the
mental training it affords The con.
tents Of the text books may be forgot
ten, but the mind has been
disciplined and strengthened
and, by collegiate training,
fitted for uses not dreamed OF while the
student awaited the coming of COM
mencement day.
However, we have no doubt these
truths will he among those duly i'm
pressed upon the graduates hy the
Presidents and Professors Of the colleges
this week. We hope to give our readers
reports, Of the exercises at Bethany
College, at the University, and at the