Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-06-09
the good wishes andhigh esteem Of

The ceremony of presenting them
was performed by the Rev. T. A.
Hoyt, and he prefaced it with pc /
culiarIy genial and sympathetic adj
dress, in which he showed himself /
capable of entering thoroughly into
all the feelings and aspirations of |
student life.
We have never seen an audience |
better conducted or more thoroughly |
en- rapport with the speakers, and |
they were dismissed in an excellent |
bumor by President Shearer.
ADDRESS OF THE HON. PROCTOR |
KNOTT TO THE TWO LITERARY |
SOCIETIES.
After prayer by the Rev. r. K.
Brown, this eminent statesman and
orator was introduced to the audi
ence in tone of graceful pleasantly
by the Hon. G. A. Henry.
He commenced his address in a
most unassuming manner, premis-
ing that hewas addressing students,
and should make it his exclusive
purpose to offer them such encour-
agement as he, was able now they
were preparing to enter upon life's
conflict, and suggest to them such
principles of action as he believed
to be the condition of success. Wei
wish it distinctly understood that
the abstract we are now about to at
tempt isnot to be taken as many de-
gree representing the character of the
address its great merit was the
wealth of illustration poured over
the whole field of investigation and
derived from all sources of litera-
ture, art and science; and these gath
cred treasures of thought issued forth
in such rapid succession and such eX-
uberant abundance that only stem
ographer could do justice to their
richness.
Not having that accomplishment
we are compelled to limit ourselves
to reinstatement of his leading topics
in their due order, leaving the rest
to the recollection of his hearers.
He began by assuming a noble
ambition in the breasts of his hear
ers, a yearning for the esteem of
their fellow men; he contended that,
without this universally implanted
principle of action, man would
sink to the level of squirrels and
beavers, whose whole plan of life
was limited to accommodating the
means of subsistence. And Of its
existence he had no doubt as this
was Omnipresent as a constituent of
humanity. Ambition, he contend
ed, and love of fame was the inspira-
ton OfthesOldier, thepOet, the estates
man, and the philosopher, neither
prince nor peasant were without it
and unless it stimulated the art of
the sculptor and the painter we
should lack the breathing marble
and the glowing canvass, the stu
dent would slumber over his mid
night lamp and the artisan work
heedlessly and neglectfully at his
sighted work; the very pick-pocket
he said was stimulated to skill in his
calling by the admiration of his fell
lOw-thieves. Nor was this passion
for mems esteem limited by death;
the sculptured tombstone and the
rhymed epitaph were witnesses of
| its survival.
He inferred that the author of our
being would never have implanted
this universal principle without
also supplying the faculties for car
rylng 1t out; and he seriously warn
ed his young hearers against relying
on anything but the culture of these
faculties for its qualification the
ambition which was content with
fiattery could never rise above the
vulgar herd.
To encourage this self-culture, he
remarked that the difference be-
tween the mental powers of differ
ent individuals was much less than
was generally supposed, and that
varying degrees of culture and eX-
ertiOn had much more to do with
the unequal success achieved than
any difference in original endOw-
ment. The greatest mathematician
did not probably devote more in
tellectual vigOr to his last and most
abstruse calculations that he had
given in his childhood to the mast
cry of the four fundamental rules of
arithmetic.
LABOR he maintained was the true
condition of success, labor constant |
and well directed. bespoke Ofthein-
cessant improvements, corrections
and finishing touches, through four
OIympiads by which IsOcrates had |
rendered his leading speech model |
of Oratory for all succeeding years
of the six years incessant remodel |
ling expended by Gray on his cele-
brated elegy before he rendered it |
satisfactory to his own fastidiOus
taste &c.
He now mentioned the two lead
ing obstacles to success, these being
the contempt for routine and detail
cherished by some, the dread offail-
ure which Expresses others. De-
mosthenes, Cicero, Clay and Web
ster he said all recorded the indefati-
gable labor by which they attained
their excellence; and even the i'm
mortal works of Shakespeare were |
not the result of mOmentary in
spiratiOn, but the increased in
sight into human nature man.
ifested in later works, shows that
his supremacy in literature due
is to a life long observation of
human character and motive. New
toms favorite expression again in
describing his mental efforts is that