The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1879-06-19

| BY JUDGE oIIRIsTiAN-MEETfSG Of TIL
! ALUMNI SOCIETY, &C, &C,
/ The College chapel was literally packed
| last night. After music by Kessnich't
band. and the pleasant ch:l-chat which rar
Through the crowd. Governor Holiday, th.
selected president OF the occasion, cum'
forward. and was greeted with loud ant
prolonged applause.
! Governor Holidays Address.
Governor Holiday said:
Young Gentlemen:
! am henorcd by your invitation to pre-.
side this evening. and it gives me pleasure
too. 1t is not hard to throw the memory
back over intervening years to the time
when the future looked just as it looks to
you. 1t would be wrong, and far from true,
for me to tell YOU tnat thc bright visions
sou now have are to be realized in the
events that await you.
! Do not misunderstood me. would not
L--.- S-->. tuav vSssst.r-f--:--.-~~ ~ CsrI
70 be your lot, aud the end a failure. BY
no means. But il will do you no harm to
know that the realization Of hope is not
always blessing. Life does not grew
strong, vigorous, and beautiful nthe midst
Of perpetual sunshine. 1t had better at
! times be shaken by storm and beat by rain
| and hail. .1..
i Remember, that we are in the midst of
i Law, about US by night rs we'll as by day,
governing soul as we'll as body. We can.
,Enot escape Il, though-G-we take the wings
OF the morning and dwell in the uuermost
|parts Of the sea.v Obedience alone ensures
viciory-not blind, but intelligent ohe-
dience. recognizing the restraining bonds
OF obligation, aud blooming out ut last
! from the profound of our beiug into an
abiding conviction of ,duty-the pole-star
Iof all noble lives. And yet not the mere
mechanism OF duty, but that enthusiasm
which takeS us along the line, OK duty, and
beyond, and prompts TO the deiDg OF heroic
deeds, in high and unselish endeavor, even
to the leading of s'forlorn hope" 81
/ Thus, hereafter. your pursuits, whatever
| their character. win be but incidents in LIES
growth. Temporary want OF success will
not dishearten-it will only nerve to greater
effort, with strength increased by the strlig-
gle. And, my J oupg friends, the time will
cnme when, in looking back, you will ad-
| init that the best-spent days were not those
when prosperity shed around you its shi-
ming charms; but rather those when ad-
rersity covered you with darkness that
could almost be fell.
| And this, too, believe me, is happiest
for you. Uniform prosperity is. apt to re-
suit in unrest, languor, apathy, death. Ad-
yers.y tends to arouse those energies
which are allied with the nob'est elements
Of mans nature, and which in the battle
OF life conquer Il peace, whose richest
prizes are the joys which spring from the
high aims and efforts Of an earnest, manly
heart. 49,. E.
Pardon me these few words. could not
helm speak them now and here-some Of
the incidents are so suggestive. It has been
many ycars-how many will not stop to
numbcr-Slnce the gentleman who viii! pre-
sentiy address you, and /, met upon the
platform on similar occasion at our State
! University. He then presided; I was the
speaker, and We were both young like your
Selves, and full OF the same emotions
which l doubt not now animate you.
Our callnss have been different, our homes
far = part, and we have grown gray since then.
Our country has gone through the throes OF
great and terrible civil war, and hence
strange and varied vicissitudes OF fortune.
have fallen upon us both. or myself need
not speak; that is Of no interest. OF him
it does me good to say that bis life has been
triumph, because he from the start looked
upon it as prssoundly real; and whilst he
walked bis onward, upward way, he did
bis daily work, whether great or small, in
sorrow or in Joy, with single eye, in all
/ humility, opening the windows OF his soul
that it's chambers might be filed with celes
! tial light. ....-,- - ~. ,-..s ...s :
| Now. young gentlemen, DR.. Broadus will
| talk 70 you about Demosthenes--a great and
earnest character. Such a theme from such
! d source is worthy OF and must have your
thoughtful attention. ..,. .....!..
| DR.. Broadus, too, was greeted with en-
! thusiasic applause, and had TO remain
! standing for some time before he could pro-
cecd to deliver the annual address before the
Mu Sigma Rio and Philoogian Societies.
Address Of Eev. Er. }. a. BrOaGsss. i,
! DR.. Broalius announced as his thene DE
| mosthepeS not for the purposes OF Il
mere eulogium already tepl thousand times
repeated, but for u practical design, propo-
! sing to treat the subject mot in scientific or
historical but in popular manner.s o
1 There is danger, he SAID, that Demosthe-
mes should be 5underrated by many and
ovcrrated By some. Many persons among
us, whether they accept or question the es-
innate which has been set upon him by all
the cent uries, are likely, when they attempt
u Judgment, to fall short OF Justly appreci-
ating his eloquence. They often have to
read him with somewhat imperfect know
ledge Of the unrivalled language In which
he spoke. He would not shrink from the
use Of translations (he remembered that our
English Bible was transation); but lie
would by all means have the original also
read. He thought that a yet greater diff.
Guilty arises from want OF familiarity with
his times, for, like every great orator, De
mosthencS was .a .>..nt .f. %
| .. A CHILD OF HIS OWN TINES.
Herecalled no considerable, special work
on Demostbcnes in English, though such
works exist in French and abound in Ger
man; bat the noble. general works on the
History OF Greece by Grote. Curtius, &C.,
! together with lie translations in the Bolln
! Library, would prepare one TO enjoy and
appreciate the great orator.
On the other hand, he said, some men
make profound study Of Demos.henes, his
language and his times. end do not acquire
equally thorough acquaintance with more
| recent orators. But, he insisted. one may
! have very high admiration for The poiti-
/ cal, legal, and religious orators OF England,
Ireland, and America, and yet believe that
the hroadest and calmest Judgment will ap-
prove the yerdictof the ages, and pronounce
Demosthenes
1.-THE FOREMOST ORATOR OF ALL THE WORLD"
He proposed to inquire. how came be to
| he such, aud what were the chief elements
of his power? z.E ztt @,.ts :!
I 7. he would consider the unrivalled ad-
vantages Demosthenes enjoyed for achiey-
ing the highest eloquence- ..,r'
/. In his hearers. The peculiar institu-
i n l. NJ ,rNH