The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-06-18
RICHMOND COLLEGE.
Alu.nni Anniversary Celebration.
INTERFERING CEREMONIES AT THE FIRST
BAPTIsT cHURCH-ADDkEss OF DIR. HEN.
son, OF PHILADELPHIA-BANQ AT
FoRD:s HOTEL, &C., &C.

l.
son. OF NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. AT
FoRp:s HOTEL, &C., &C.
A large and brilliant audience assembled
at the First Baptist church last nigtt on the
occasion Of the anniversary OF the Aluuin
Of Richmond College.
Rev. DR.. j. 3. Jeter made most appro
pirate Introductory prayer.
Rev. Or. W. D. Thomas. president OF tht
Alumni Society, said that the Alumni always
hailed with joy the season OF the return Of
their anniversary gatherings, but that they
hailed this one with peculiar 10y, because il
brought back to the feet Of his loved Mother
one who was wont to thrill them in their
boyhood, and whose eloquent voice had not
been silent or heard in vain since those sunny
days.
He had great pleasure in introducing his
old friend, Rev. DR.. Henson, Of Philadel-
Dhia. DR.. Henson was one OF the first
graduates ever sent out from Richmond
College. He had afterwards brilliant ca
reer at the University of Virginia, and has
won q reputation as pulpit orator, plat.
form speaker, and popular lecturer second
to few in the country.
I-45His address, last night, delivered in his
peculiarly happy style, made q profoun
impression, and frequently convulsed the
audience with laughter at his felctous hits,
or thrilled them with his eloquence.
The following abstract conveys but an
| imperfect idea OF his splendid effort:
Address OF Rev. DIR. p. s. Henson.
If you allow me to substitute the name
OF my Alma Mater in the place Of A. Ii
cinlus ] could not more gracefully COM
merce this address than in the words which
Cicero uses in the eXordium OF his magnif-
cent defence OF his friend and prcceptor,
Archias, the poet, in which he says: "If
there be aught OF talent in me, o, Judges,
and how scanty that is l am well aware, or
any skill in public speaking derived from
the prosecution Of liberal studies, my friend
A. Licinius has prominently the right to
claim the fruit" In no more fitting language
could | express my glowing gratitude to
the noble institution within whose walls my
young ambition received its first direction
and its noblest inspiration. My only regret
is that, beginning with Cicero's magnificent
words, my unfortunate Grafton is only too
likely to resemble the image which rose be-
fore old Nebuchadnezzar, whose head, in-
deed, was Of solid gold, but which terml-
mated ANONYMOUSLY in iron and brass.
count it high distinction to have been
member of the very first graduating class
that ever left these walls, and bore Off tfcertain-
" nothing less than the second honors, see
| ing there were only two Of us. My venerable
yoke-fellow, Josiah Ryland, and myself may
well be proud to be the leaders Of the long
illustrious line that now comes cleaning
on. We may also we'll be happy that our
lot was cast in those primeval days when
honors were somewhat more easily won,
for the "novi hOmineS" somewhat boast
ingly affirm that graduation then was like
the :" fdcilis diSce7asus Auerno," while noU
the "opus" and the "labor" is like unto
that required 'reUocare gradu1n SuperaSqae
eUodere dd auras."
Thanks to gracious Providence that de-
liGered us from the evil to come.
am previously embarrassed by the fact
that one who looks back through nearly
three decades to his graduation.day might
be expected. after all these years OF toll and
opportunity, to tower like Colossus among
the men Of later growth and the conscious
ness that any such expectation is doomed to
dismal disappointment is the thing that
troubles me. can only plead in mitigation
that the most Of these years have been spent
amid the riSors OF hyperborean latitude,
and, therefore, have had lcss genial foster
ing than il had breathed Dalmier air and
dwet meath SUMMER skies.
I have been greatly exercised to find a
theme, for sermon would be out or sea-
son, and an ambitious literary venture
would be to perpctrate the folly Of " carrying
Goals to Newcastle" l shall not expose the
poverty OF my resources, or tax your pa
tience with any hgll-strung and pcdautlc
discourse, but shall treat OF an humber
theme. which trust may, nevertheless, be
not devoid Of interest and profit. shall
speak TO you OF
| GCNNERY-
not in its lower range, but in that higher
sense which we unWittingly convey when
we somewhat facetiously say that education
Is designed to teach "the young low to
shoot.'' And mindful am that stand with
IN the walls OF one of our great foundries,
where guns are cast of very various calibre,
some of which have made some noise in
the world, and many have done no little
execution. Accustomed long to homiletlcal
methods, / shall treat OF gunnery under
several divisions.
7. And first OF g,l', metal, by which l
mean, OF course, the stuff q man is made OF.
There are no doubt original and ineradica-
bic differences. There is such thing as
native genius. There are natures that spon-
taneously cIothe themselves with beauty and
strength; natures so charged with fire that
though weighted down by mountains will
break out even through forced volcanic
rents.
| And, on the other hand, there are men
who have no iron in their blood, no fibre in
their muscle, no phosphorus in their brain,
and no fire in their bones. You can make
nothing OF them, for eI nihito niha It.
These original differences must he taken
into the account in estimating the work OF
colleges. The faculty ought not to be CEN
sured for failing to accomplish the lmpoSsl-
bic.
But, while all this is true, it is also true
that very much depends OIL proper pro-
cesses OF preparation. To return to our anal
ogy, two guns May be Of equal weight and
Of the same material, but OF very different
value. Iron is iron, indeed, but it varies
nightly in the tenacity Of its fibre and the
fineness Of its .temper from Barlow knife
to Damascus blade-from child's toy
pistol to one of Krupp's steel guns. Very
wonderful is it how by the cunning pro
cesses OF metallurgy such transformations
can be wrought in the rough, black
ore; yet far more wonderful are the
transformations possible and actual IN
the metal that goes TO make up =
man. Under proper regimen the BODY that
was frai in its frame and t1accld IN Its mus
Gle takes on type of rugged strength that
even Ajax Sillman might have enyled, and
so the mind that had nothing to distinguish
its possessor above the common herd, when
properly heated in the furnace-and every
classroom is 4 furnace-when deity draao'
0ut-and every examination is draUang'
out-when passed all glowing beneath the
stroke of the ponderous trip-hammer-an
| Sc frfr hor M n