Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-06-07

can act on matter, and that is the volition
of personal being, whereas this abstract
force at the back of all visible manifesto
tions of force is an immaterial agency, the
edltsd cGuSans of all material actions, the
inevitable inference is that it too is an act
of the will of a personal being, and that as
the actions it produces are apparently in
finite and endless, the being whose will is
the center of that force must be an infinite
and eternal being, and as in the nature of
things there can be only one such being, the
inference follows that the moving force of
all physical action throughout the world in
all ages is the will of God permanently and
necessarily moulding and operating in the
material creation which is his work The
true relation of the scientist and the theolo-
gian was never so happily illustrated as in
the addresses of Drs. Caldwell and Palmer.
GRADUATING EXERCISES.
On Wednesday morning commenced the
ceremonies which mark for the student the
termination of his college course, and gen.
orally his entrance on the real business of
life. of course the time-honored custom of
graduating essays was kept up, but we
hailed with joy considerable change in
the nature of the subjects handled by the
essayists. The old WORKOUT topics of decla-
nation were abandoned; George Washing
ton was not once mentioned, nor General
Lee; the American eagle spread not his
wings towards either the Pacific or Atlantic;
Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar and
Napoleon Bonaparte were left to settle
among themselves which was the most ac-
complished butcher of the three, and even
LOngfellow's Hymn of Labor was only once
mentioned, and that to deprecate the mis-
use of that shockingly maltreated compost
ton. This was a startling innovation, and
still more interesting was it to observe that
each speaker set himself definite problem
to solve of political, social or literary inter
est, which he worked ont to the best of his
ability, not one of them falling to elicit orig
inal and well considered ideas in reference
to his subject.
The graduates were seven in number, viz:
Messrs. w. NJ. Cox, of Mississippi; C. H
Chamberlin, of Louisiana; ]. F. johnson, of
Tennessee; Z. d. Wiser, of Mississippi; j. T.
Wood, of Tennessee, and F. G. Gilbert, of
Tennessee.
Messrs. johnson and Gilbert attained the
Baccalaureate, having graduated in all the
departments studied at the College. The
rest graduated in various departments with
out embracing the whole curriculum. Three
of the graduates being excused from speak
ing, the essayists were four in number,
Messrs. Cox, johnson, Wiser and Gilbert.
Mr.. Cox styled his essay "Aristocracy in
America" He showed how our present
system of protected manufactures tended to
depreSs the labOrer physically and mentally
and to concentrate. power in the hands of
his employers, creating gradually, as has
already been done in New England, an aris-
tOcracy of wealth who are silently gathering
all political influence into their hands. On
the other hand, he deprecated the evils of
extreme democracy, which places the deeis-
ion of all questions in the hands of the most
ignorant, and as a medium between these
two dangerous extremes, he advocated as
the true conservative policy the giving as
much political weight as possible to the
middle classes, which he defined as consist
ing of the farmers, tradesmen and profess
sional men. The essay abounded with orig
inal thought, and was well delivered.
Mr.. johnson, whose essay bore the rather
enigmatical title of "Many Versus Much"
very soon elucidated the enigma by explain
ing that his two adjectives related to subjects
of education, the question prOpounded being
whether education ought to spread over a
wide surface, embracing a great variety of
subjects, or TO restrict itself to a narrower
range and pursue more thoroughly the few
topics included. He elaborated the argu-
ments on both sides with great skill, and
finally decided in favor of depth against ex-
tension of surface. He is evidently unae-
customed te defamation in public, and did
not speak with the freedom and energy of
his predecessor, but the excellence of his
matter compensated us we'll for a somewhat
embarrassed manner,
Mr.. Wiser entitled his essay mistaken
Ambition" He dwelt with much force on
the evil done by stimulating false ambi-
ton in our schools and colleges. He defined
the scholars universal ambition to be to
study law, go into Congress and become
President. Other occupations quite as i'm
portant, and in all of which intellectual
culture is a valuable agent in promoting
success, are looked down upon with disdain
by the young Presidential candidate self
nominated, who possibly might have made
u capital shoemaker if misdirected ambi-
ton had not destined him to become a
briefiess lawyer and a forlorn office-seeker.
\ happy vein of satire pervaded this excel
lent effort, which ELECTED hearty applause
from the audience.
Mr. Felix Grundy Gilbert was precluded
by his duty as valedictorian from entering
on the discussion of select subject, which
we know him TO be well capable of doing
with credit to himself. His farewell to the
faculty, the students in general and his
classmates in particular, was given with
good taste and good feeling. Grundy is the
oldest of a family every mei Der of which
promises to tread in his footsteps and to be-
come a scholar of a high order. We contem-
plate with warm interest and high expecta-
lions the close of his college curriculum and
the commencement of his more practical
career.
The exercises closed with an address to
the Alumni Society by the Rev. L. o. Spen-
Ger on the Importance of keeping up the
study of the classical writers of Greece and
Rome in their original languages.
Nelson's Barbecue at Greenbriar.
We doubt whether as an act of princely
hospitality Mr.. Nelson's entertainment of
last Saturday has ever been surpassed in
Tennessee. This is q festival of yearly occur
renee given by Mr.. Charles Nelson, proprie-
tor of the Greenbriar distillery in Robertson
county, to his commercial connections in
this and the adjoining State of kentucky
and including with them representatives of
the press and of the various professions
throughout the same extent Of country.
What may have been the number of invita-
tions issued we are unable to say, but GER
tainly between four and 1--we hundred invited
guests We're entertained in the pleasant,
shady woods surrounding the Greenbriar
diStillery. The invitations included free
transportation to and fro on the railroads,