Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1876-06-29

profession or pursuit In lie 10 Whiou
by nature. taste and education you
are best adapted, upon that line oil
life the honor lies. Not alone IN
public position or in the professions
may you win proud distinction and
accomplish the most good by the
use of the faculties of the mind and
the culture of education every
avenue of life may be honored and
dignifed By the employment. All
work, whatever its character, may be
eunobled by the exercise Of the mind
in this operation, and by diligence IN
its execution No Chinese wall is, or
can be built up between citizens OF
this land as to honors in their respect
tive employments. The revolutions
of the ages have torn down the bar
ricrs erected by prejudice and have
let in the broad sunlight OF Gods
truth equally on all, and have blended
together common interest and COM
mon good.
Go, young gentleman, along the
line OF life where you will find the
largest individual development and
where you can be most useful in the
world in your day and generation
husband all the educational resources
already acquired and gain more in
the ratio of arithmetical progress
sion. You haye learned here the
proper methods of study, the process
of thought, discrimination, how to ac
quire knowledge and digest it /; carry
this discipline beyond the college,
into and throughout life, relying
always upon careful research and
patient labor as your weapon OF
progress. | have but little faith in
what the world calls genius and in
spiration, as a guarantee OF success
in life True, God has created stars
of greater magnitude than others to
burn in the heayens-so He has made
men to differ in the natural measures
Of intellectual power, while here and
there along the centuries this dis
parity is so widely marked in indi-
vidual instances, that men come up,
towering like mountain peaks above
the level of the race.
"a confirmation and form indeed
| Where every gold did seem to set his seal
| To give the world assurance OF a mar"
They who have been far wiser than
the age in which they lived, TO whom
the world is indebted for new light,
and to whose extraordinary intellect
ual power and achievements it pays
| lasting and well merited homage.
Such were Leonaedo de Vinci in
sacred art, Homer and Milton in Epic
poetry, Shakespeare in the drama,
Newton in natural philosophy, Burk
Sheridan, Gratten and O'Connell in
craftsmanship and oratory. But not
less than these our own great Web
ster, who left his mark upon the insti-
tuition. of under which we live, and
who adorned the literature which
we love and cherish. And yet, not
one of these achieved their superior
greatness outside the means which
others less gifted by nature must
employ.
| have in my minds eye distin-
guished lawyers of this day and
country, far up in the profession, deal
ing with intricate questions of consti-
tutional law. of the powers and rights
of corporations, private and mum.
cipal-of persons and property-and
trace the sources of their strength,
through the annotated pages of legal
authority founded within the library
of the profession, and in my own
humble experience, the keenest
blades | meet have been sharpened
and FURNISHED by unremitting mental
toll, and | conclude after all, that
genius is labor.
Perfect symmetry of character is
not fonnd within the economy of
human nature, and yet she furnishes
to man the distinctive elements Of
of character and true manhood by
the exercise and the development Of
which, with an education as an aux
Hilary, he makes his way, if at all, up
ward and onward to success and
honor in the career of life. And one
of these is ambiti0n-not the vaulting
ambition which "o'erleaps ITSELF"
or by which the "angels fel'-but
that which aims at true excellence in
the performance of all duty.
Such as characterized Washington
in his career of usefulness and glory,
wreathing "his brow with bay when
war was done"
Such as carried the black-eyed boy
of Dartmouth to the highest judicial
tribunal of the Nation, there to de-
| fend successfully, the chartered rights
of his alma mater.
Such as carried John Houghes from
the poverty of his youth, from the
circle Of the lowly to that sublime
christian eminence-the Archbish-
opric of the Church.
Another is courage not reckless
or brutal daring-but that courage
which arises from scene of duty,
which is influenced by discretion,
boldly attracting whatever obstacles
may interpose themselves in the way
of right, and holding its grasp with
answering energy until its work is
finished.
1t is illustrated in the Iron Duke, at
Waterloo. 1t is illustrated in the
long decisive battle of the Wilder
ness, wherein the General of the I'm
ion Armies proclaimed his purpose
from the blood and gore of wars
arena, "to fight it ont on that line if
it takes all summer
Another in personal integ:ity--em-
bracing broad and generous regard
for the rights of others, born and
nurtured, and consolidated in chris
tian culture, which no corruption in
fuence can tarnish, no bribery APP
proach, and which no evil temptation
can weaken or break asunder.
Take your Campbell's lives of the
Lord Chancellors and Chief Justice of
England, aud mark how, in the abb
sence of this sterling quality of char
acter, the mighty fell, ''like Lucifer,
never to rise again; !" how Jeffries |
made the Crown Court of England a |