The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-12-03
Shakespeare club.

4
/ Club, of this town, to let us have for publica-
| tiOn it's addresses, essays, ect., and at last on
/ request has been granted. The inaugural ad
| dresses, essays, ect., are the property of TIT
| Club. The following Inaugural Address by
| the present President-whOSe modesty is a.
| great as his intellect-has been the theme o
| praise and comment by literary people sine,
| its delivery; we therefore meet public de-
| mand in publishing IL:
| TeHtlemeR:-I don't know whether to say
| you have been kind enough to elect me you
president, OF cruel enough to put that Office
upon me.
It is kind in you, to place me at your
| head with power to rule and give me your
cooperation, but cruel in you to create two
factions TO put me against you, and force me
there to stand tul YOU have cut and bruised
me to your satisfaction.
lit is through kindness 1 am here, 1 feel
| the gratitude that every honest heart must
feel at receiving a mark of honor or respect
| at the hands ofhis fellows. And If through
the hardness of your hearts, have been sin
gled out, l will try to bear your cruelty with
the patience and dignity of man.
There is a foolish weakness called modesty,
that clamors and fights against my distin-
ton, and IL is now trying to pale my cheek,
and make my tongue to stammer; but shall
have to cut il down and cast ii out, for
mOdesty and president of this club, must
be strangers l fear; besides too much mod
esty makes silly, and to be silly is contempt
tible; IL was the fear of this, that made me
rush blindly over mOdeSty and the sense OF
my incompetency; hug impudence to my
bosom, and stand up as your president.
am your president, and with your aid /
fail in performing the duties Ofthis office.
Remember don't imagine myself frown-
ing Judge, whose mighty look strikes ter
ror to your hearts, aud this assembly, q
grave and austere court, where hard Justice
scowls. We area social band, and here for
the pleasant interchange of thought; we
come once a week, Invested of the dull facts
and realities we have to deal with in actual
life, to spend an hour IN another world,
created and peOpled by the wonderful geni-
us of one man; tits here we feast with TinOn;
pass by the dark Moor of Venice ARE fright
hr-f r.f lot Tnflnl
Caesar; fall at the smoking point of Brutus'
sword; have to contend with the mean and
subtle hate of the Jew Shylock and are en-
ragged by the bold and bloody Macbeth; or
we love the passionate Juliet; admire the
the intelligence OF Portia; weep over the
dead form of the fair Desdemona, and quiet
ly careSs modest Ophelia. These are our
companions, and how interesting il is to see
the different motives, and know the feelings
that agitate them. We are engaged in the
study of human nature, as faithfully por-
trayed by this authOr-and what can be
| more fascinating than trying 10 understand
ourselves? Man is strange thing, and
strangely gifted-he is placed awkwardly up
ON two legs, and made physically uncouth
| in every respect; but he is filled with power
the world cannot cOntatn-thOught, under
standing, and Imagination are hiS-thOught
| to pierce the heavens, dissolve the earth, or
/ grasp the Iightniug's MISUNDERSTANDING
! 20 understand all things, but himself-and
Imagination to create impOSSibilitieS. I'm
Rgination is the strangest of these strange
gifts. We can see why he would think, and
reflect upon things around him; and how
upon reflection he understands them; but
why he is given the power TO create things
that have no existence, Is a mystery we can
not solve. With Imagination, he can he
himself, but a tiny insect to crawl among the
leaves. and dwell with spiders; or he can be
come powerful, bloody giant, with double
head and ponderOus moving jaws-he can
divide this earth, and let the confined fires
burst upward, terrifying heaven-hec can roll
back the awful sea and find within its hOr-
| rid bed monsters more hideous than God
would create to frighten man. He can
break the chain that holds the stars in their
accustomed place, and witness the noisy
will see them clash, and be amazed at the
suTging mass Oftwinkling beauty, created
| by his own imaginatiOn-he can enter heav-
| en- and stand before his God a pure, bright
| and happy angel; or he can visit hell, a lean,
! gaunt, shade of a soul, and brave the Devil
He can do all these, which are but the pro-
| ducts of his imagination, and feel just as
| keenly the joy, pain, fear or surprise as he
/ would We're IL usual. 1t is a way of living
| and NOT hiring. We tire of common facts, OF
| seeing only what Others see; knowing what
| they know, and living what they live. We
| long for something else, and II we have a
| from this, that entertains, strengthens
| and rests the mind. This is our only cfea-
| tive POwer-then let us cultivate it with
| which TO make life beautiful.
| Shakespeare has surrounded us with world
| of the loftiest imagination, where every in
| telligent man loves to revel. All is beautiful
and each one finds something peculiarly at
| tractiVe, for he has distinctly sounded q
| familiar chord in every mans heartiSand tC
4 Nnluk NuaN one llilll COuAu NItdNG Il NOElu -
| men-One brain COn1ain so much-Ont
| heart feel SO much-One soul divine SO much
| makes us eNclaim with the deepest rever
[ ence, How near a God is mani
| II IL useless for me to define our different
| duties as members and officers of this club
| IL would be tedious, tiresome, and will no
| attempt IL. We have adopted laws, as every
| society must do, by which we have mutual
| ly agreed to be governed, but we do not COM
| here Ia amuse ourselves by seeing who cal
| do right, and who will have to be fined, IA
| some seem to think; If that was the case, W,
| had better come and play game of "clul
fist" where the fun is, in PinchiRg the on
/ who smiles.
Our object is our enjoyment, and every
thing that is pleasant should meet with on
| approval.
| 0fering again my thanks for your kind
ness, l viii commence the duties of my OF
hce.