Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1876-06-29
ST. JOHNS COLLEGE
Fifth Annual Commencement OF st
Johns College at Prairie du Chen.
Address 20 the Graduating Class by Hon
Geo e. Hazelton.


Geo. e. Hazelton.
The fifth annual commencement
exercises at St. Johns College,
Prairie du Chen, was conducted in
the College Hall on Tuesday by Presi-
dent Oliver. The attendance of clti-
zens and patrons of the Institution
was larger than ever convened on a
similar occasion in that city. The
literary efforts of the several members
of the graduating class were very
creditable both in quality of produc-
ton and III uer of delivery. We
would be glad to publish the brief OF
each sent by our reporter, but the
lateness of the hour and lack of space
prevents their appearance. The adj
dress of Ex-senator Geo. e. Hazelton
to the graduating class we give in
full. 1t is one of Mr.. Hazelton's
usual fine efforts and is well worth
the attention Of reading. 1t is as fol
lows:
Gentlemen Of the Graduating Glass !;
Tonight, the silver chord which
has bound you willingly to the privil-
EGGS and benefits of this institution
of learning, during the period of time
required for honorable graduating, is
loosed, and you pass over its well
defined duties-from its present
blessings-from its hallowed associa-
tions-trom the lecture room and the
play ground, to the broader theatre
of active, busy life. How rapidly
the college days have passed away.
How quickly youth merges into man
hood But yesterday, pouring over
books within college walls to-mor-
row, grasping the issues of active
life and plunging onward in the fierce
race for wealth and fame. Our very
existence brings with it natural re-
sponsibilities, reciprocal duties and
obligations, from which, living, we
cannot divest ourselves, aud which
death alone can shake off. From the
cradle to the grave we are the pro
pertv of Him in whose hands our
breath is-dedicated by Him and the
gift of life itself to the noble work Of
answering in our own individual de-
velopement the just demands made
upon us by the Government under
which we live, the Church by which
we are blessed, and Society part o.
which we are. Whether we are OF
not, we are conscripts in the worlds
great army, compelled to make it,
marches, contend in its battles, enjoy
its successes, endure its defeats anC
share in its victories.
1t is for the purpose of fitting yot
for active life in the busy world out
side these halls, that the lessons of th'
various classes through which yoI
Fave passed are to be made instru
mental or only in the development
of the faculties or germs of power il
man, and in training them in the wis
dom, and by and through the ex
perience of the past into harmoniou
action in obedience to the laws o
God and morality, can education b.
made to observe the true interest o
society and to benefit the races
that your education is not only indi
yidual in its character and training
but has reference to the economy o
society in its practical results. /
places in your hands the attainment'
Of preceding ages and renders yor
capable Embarrassing and improving
the Inheritance in proportion to the
development of your faculties. Ii
this respect, education becomes your
capital in life, your stock in trade
upon which you commence and build
up the great business of your lives ii
relation to their higher aims anC
purposes. And what is this capital
Is it not richer than the choicest
rubies and the finest gold !? Can i
be impaired in value by any of the
fluctuations of commerce or the
chances of speculation ? Can the
monied kings Of the worlds grea'
centers manipulate it =? 1t has come
to you, not from the rich mines of the
earth or the depths of ocean, but
from the "enduring products of the
immortal mind;'' from that science
which evolves the nature and
chemical analysis of the elements Of
earth and air from that philosophy
which defines those Jaws traced to
the "utmost barrier of creation, >
which govern the universe and hold
its orbes fixed or in motion from
the science OF mathematics in its wide
and difficult range, more intricate,
exact and beneficial, than all others,
the corner stone upon which the
commercial relations of the civilized
world rest that which measures
life and the ages, and numbers the
generations of men, by the aid Of
which the natural obstacles in the
way of the demands of material pro.
gress are overcome and levelled
from all the resources of wisdom and
learning which, by the accumulations
of time make full the cyclopedia
of knowledge in this age, have you
made up your capital as well as from
the treasured wisdom of those who
thought and wrote far back in the
gray old centuries of time, whose
classic language, long since unspoken
by man, has unfolded to your minds
those ideas by which communities
were then influenced to noble or ig-
noble action how armies marched
and fought, and how conquests were
made, how governments arose and
fell, how Art fourished and faded
away, how orators spoke and poets
sang what laws were enacted and
how administered among men the
great events of history-aH
"Choicely planned with cycles Of the human tale,
OF the wide world, the times of every land
SO wrought they will not fail"
Some one asked the late A. L. Stew
to what he attributed his marvellous
success in business projects, and he
replied: 'Iargely to the liberal edu-