The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-05-05
COMMENCEMENT DAY.
YEsTERDAY's EXERCISES OF THE LAW
DEPARTMENT., UNIVERSITY
OF LOUISIANA.

| threshold Of their profession, and it. was most
interesting 10 notice the ripples OF excitement
that ran every little while through the au-
dience as familiar faces were recognized IN
the class At the appointed hour the faculty
of tho Law Department. followed by the
graduates, tlod in, us the orchestra played an
exquisite march The ceremonies were then
opened by an eloquent prayer by the Rev. }
| r. j. Wilmer, y. u. Tho president Of the Uni
yersity, Randel Hunt LII. d., thcn address,
ing the seven graduates in a most impressive
manner, conferred upon them the degree OF
Batcbelor of Laws. The graduates were
George Donegre, Thomas Woodruff Dyer,
John Carroll Payne, Alphonse Phillips, Henry
Fisher Sewell Isaac Hall Staulfer Jr, and
George Henry Theard.
AS soon as tho last strain Of the music had
died away, Walter G. Flower, LII. -, ad-
dressed the newly made lawyers on behalf Of
the alumni in the following happy rhetorical
effort
Ladies' md Gentlemen. Gentlemen Of tho Fac
ul and Of tho Graduating Class:
Time has placed his sickle in among the
DAYS Another scholastic year has rolled
around and the University Of Louisiana, ever
faithful to her purpose, again presents TO So
her walls for the civic duties Of life.
AS the pioneer and prOspectOr returns to
tell his companions Of the scenes he has Wis
itod to speak of the cheer offered or the hard
ships encountered in the wilds OF that hth-
ei to unexpIored realm, so the university calls
upon some one of tho many sent forth by her
to that m ystie beyond, called the world, to
pause for q moment to bid welcome to those
lust about to pass her portals. Her choice
usually gives that privilege to some tyro in
h,,l la WI n hng not gtrlVpI far bIIt
that he can glance back and see the gateway
through which he passed in the near distance.
Short as may have been my measure Of ex-
pcrence, trust that have not been 50 heed
less Of the lessons which 1t teaches as TO have
failed in observing and noting the true causes
of mans success, not 50 needless as to have
overlooked his vicissitudes and struggle for
fortune and for fame, and marked the causes
which alone exait him above GODS other
creations or hands down his name to pos
terity, privileged in its defiance OF all devour-
ing time.
Tho misanthrope and cynic philosopher are
| wont to hold up to our gaze gloomy picture
showing only the dark shades Of human life
Such u picture is but reflex of their diseased
minds, and il not true There are more joys
tnan chickering's and hcart-burnings and we
have to look no further than ourselves and
our own agency to find the one or the other
All Of u.s. with the freedom Of our will, which
is our title deed to supremacy over the IRA
tonal creation, have inherited tho same re-
sources and possess the same means to meet
the trial OF existence and bear off the palm OF
victory in our struggle for supremacy.
Our brothers Of the medical profession, after
examination and minute diagnosis, have ex-
claimed, 'tWhat q wonderful thing IS man.
How perfectly do all the tissues, the bone and
sinew harmonizo to make up this competrst
perfection, look at him as the moral and intel
fectual being, and as thus formed, what II
fund of strength and power dwells within
him No wonder that Horace, when consld-
ering the possibilities of that power, should
Isl .fras'hs Mobater cribs imparidum J"ie"t
| 7'1tmlT'
At mans behest swift commerce spreads her
wings
Tanning the solitude from cline to cline.
Smoke-crcsted cities rise beueath his hand
And roar through ages with the din OF trade.
Steam Is the feet winged herald OF his Will,
Joining the angle of the Apocalypse,
Mid sound and smoke and wondrous circum
And with one foot upon the conquered sea,
The other on hs subject land prOclaims
That space shall be no moro.
The ightn ings veil their fiery forms
To wait upon mans ought and give it wing.
8 unseen spirits pause to boar to God
| The burden Of bis prayer.
God crowns him with the gift Of elorucnce,
Ana puts u harp into his tuneful hands
And makes him both His prophet and His
priest
The nature of his studies AMI the exalted
purposes Of his life make the lawyer the self
apSouted afbiter between man and man, the
| iudge and discriminatOr Of the just from the
| unjust.
The vocation of the student and disciple Of
| Thets tends to place him upon plane above
| his fellows 1t has been said that the lawyer
is the conservator of right, the advocate of
truth, the upholder Of the law, and IN all the
relations of life dependence is placed in his
knowledge his genius and his virtue. When
property Is invaded his protection is invoked
against the fraud which would tilch the earn
ings of a weary life When liberty is Illegally
r strained, he opens with the key Of the law
the gates that shut out freedom. When
calumny hurs its shaft at mans good name,
the lawyer interpoSeS, receives the missiles
| on his shield, and wipes away the stain from
wounded honor When the sweet relations OF
society are invaded by the evil passions of
man, he checks the sway Of cupidity and
fraud, of malice and revenge, and restores
which they seem to have fled forever. The
troubled take him into their most sacred con
fdence, and breathe into his ears the whispers
Of woe whose accents are heard by no other
III w more than culpable and unfaithful,
then, Is the man who fOrgetS the true pur-
poses OF his profession, the duties Of his sol
emn mission and the pledges he facility makes
when vested with the badge and authority OF
lawyer, to sink the profession into q craft, OF
actuated by motives Of policy or self interest
f
course which leads to the sanctury where
truth, justice and virtue dwell.
Without these with all of mans boosted
power, what is the history of his simple ma
terial influences alone? History is but phil
osophv, teaching by example, and mark the
lessons which we find penned in these writer
experiences of other days. The books Of sa
pirnt sages, brought forth to serve the pur
poses and convenlen"es Of their day and hour
have run their little course and arr
now entombed in the store-house Of for
gotten things. The cities man has built
the dynasties he has established, all disappear
in the onward march OF time, and ye
for hooking centuries had these things riser
under the fiat of human power directed By
human vanity Whatever he may have con
ceived or fancird, may have been carried GU
under the law Of his lawless will; but watcf
the coming Of the day which reaches human
authority, human hopes, and mans pride
It comes and the authority, and the hope
and the pride irrevocably disappear, There il
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