The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1878-06-14

literature as poets and prose writers
the tendency of whose works is to III
| struct, to elevate, to purify? Tim
| would fail to enumerate all the grea
names, male and female, which stan
as landmarks in the progress of litera
ture, on both sides of the Atlantic
reaching down to the present day. S
that you can be at no loss in selecting
authors of the right stamp-standart
authors, known and recognized a
worthy of careful study. But let M,
remind you, while on this subject, tha
the world is literally filed with book
some good, some bad, and, i'll many
instances, the good and bad are 81
blended in the same author, that it i:
sometimes difficult to determine hi.
merits as to moral tone. In these lat
ter days bOok-making has grown to bt
a trade, and the legitimate sequence
is that, while here and there, you finC
one writer who is closely pursuing
truth and nature as a "labor of love-
you will find very many more en-
gagged in flooding our literary marts
with sensational trash, intended only
to sell. And if the time and money
spent in their purchase and perusal
were all, it would be a matter of less
moment, Though that were some
thing)but the truth becomes depraved,
the mind poisoned, and the attention
diverted from more useful and prOfita-
bic reading.
Readers" says fine author,
SHOULD recollect that time is religious
money, certain at future period to
be called in; and that a sleepless eye
is keeping the account. The column
of debt will show an alarming balance
when the Outrages OF Eugene Sue, and
the politer wickedness of the French
lady, who calls herself man, are seen
to have absorbed the hours or even
the leisure of the week"
Vice is too often tricked out in an
attractive garb, while the "native
hue" of Virtue is too often "sicklied
o'er,u with a few faint touches of the
pencil. In short, such writers are rO-
sy-hued in the delineation of vice
but pale in painting virtue. Their
works are often filled with rare beau
ties, but beneath the roses, may be
seen the f1ecked folds of the envenom-
ed serpent.
Like some fair, sunny cline, turn
ing in the full luxuriance of fruit and
flowers, rich foliage and clustering
bowers, haunted by birds of gay and
glossy plumage, bewildering the
senses; yet as the damps OF evening
come on, and the night dews distil,
disease and death-sO such
works intoXicate the senses, but at the
same time poison the mind, blunt the
nicer feelings and sensibilities, and
deaden the conscience.
In the wide range of English and
classical literature, you will
have ample scope for the selection of
works of a pure, elevated and health
full tone. Then let your selections be
wisely made.
Above all, as admirably adapted to
your improvement, intellectually, NOR
ally, and religiously, let me suggest
the Bible, the Book of books. Here is
a volume rich in information, varied
in style and dictiOn, and cOmprehen-
sive in thought. Here we find the
earliest history of our race-a history
which reaches far back of, and be
yOnd any merely human recOrd-a
simple, yet sublime, record
ing many of the most astounding
events in the dealings of God with
man. Here are found biographical
sketches ofprofOundest interest, strains
Of poetry, unsurpassed in beauty and
grandeur, by any that ever rung from
the harp of earth's lOftiest bards and
yrandest masters in the art. Here, in
the book of Job, we find the earliest
form of the drama, with well con-
ceived and well ordered plot running
the whole, we'll sustained by
appropriate parts, like thread of gold
strung with pearls. In this volume
yOu have the unfolding of religion,
which has brought light out of dark
out of barbarism-
ife out of death. Here you have one
7ast ocean of truth, in whose profound
II depths the LeviathanS of intellect
lTay founder and be lost; and yet
llong whose margin the simplest child
If faith may draw unfailing supplies.
It Is indeed an ocean glittering with
,ems. Its teachings, beginning with
he dawn of creation, reach through
III time to the final catastrophe of this
1t discloses the rela-
ion Of man to God-of time to eterni-
y. 1t is the only chart to guide
through this world to the portals of
he sky-the only lamp to light up the
pathway of life, and nlumine the
yloom of the grave. 1t furnishes the
soul which, grander than the vast
ime and death, and one day stand
above the "wreck of matter
md the crush of worlds" The undy-
ng spirit, partaker of the Divine ma
ure, a spark of Divinity itself, deriv-
ng from this inspired volume the
principles of its faith, after this NOR
al fabric shalt have marched the road
hat leads to "dusty DEATH" will live
brewer and flourish in immortal youth
will rise above all that Is material
md, on wing angelic, roam through
he boundleSs realms of space--tread
beneath its feet, as dust, stars andsys~
ems of stars until it shall bathe its
Fright wings in the smiles of the Om-
lipotent, ever approXimating yet
never attaining, that degree of per-
ectiOn and glory which belong alone |
o the great source of light and life |
md joy and love.
Let me detain you no longer. You |
ire about to sever your connection |
With this Institution and with each |
,ther. The breaking upOf the ATTACKS |
nents, formed and cherished here, |
will give you pain. But though you |
cave these shades, you will often re
vert to the scenes associated with your |
TINA Mater, and even when long
,ears shall have rolled away, mems |
,ry, faithful to her trust, will
hrow open the long vista of buried |
ears and busy thought, and will |
ravel through them all. Vividly will |
Use before you all the scenes through |
which you have passed, within and |
,rOIInd those Academic halls Non
will again see the forms and faces of |
owed companions, and hear their |
merry laugh and Joyous shouts. You |
will remember the kind and encOuTa-
ring words of those who watched over |
yOur progress and department. All
hese things will rise up before you. |
heir remembrance will color your |
ife with a soft and mellow tinge, like |
he soft sunlight streaming through |
he stained glass of some old Gothic |
But you must go. In |
he name of your kind teachers, in the
lame of your friends and relatives, |
,nce I bid you GQd-speed, And, clo- |
ing with an allusion to the figure |
with which / opened this address,
ct me says may your voyage through
ife be prosperous and happy-may the
ky above you be bright and un-
your sea be calm and
soft and spicy gales
attend you-may you, in your voyage,
ouch upon many lovely shores and
INVITING isles-and at last, as you near
he shores of the great hereafter, may
you find the signal lights brightly
,,1~Dina. and amid fha Glad SbOnts