The Ripley advertiser. [volume] (Ripley, Miss.) 1843-1897, 1881-07-23
Ffom the S@oa'lvil'e Clifton.
commenosmont Address by
Col. Lamar.
REPORTED FROM MEMORY. J

rocal courtesy, for when it reached
me amid the din and turmoil oil
public life, il was like a strain oil
sweet, but long forgotten music.
The freshness and bloom Of your
spring time of life, carries me to my
days at College, for however wise
and experienced a man is, he
yearns for the lost paradise Of limo
cent boyhood when the unrufled
river Of youth mirrored the hope
ful skies above him.
This is not simply a gala day. II
inaugurates tho erao! manhood,
and may prove an epoch in life.
You are going forth into the world
where your characters are to be
formed. You have now from your
faculty praise for honorable con
duct, but the ordeal is to be there.
AS gaze upon your rounded brows,
| see no sinister expression flash
ing beneath; neither has virtue
there set her royal signet. l use
virtue in the fullest sense that
eludes definition, but you appreci,
ate all that word comprehends. |
would not disparage you, for | know
your young hearts are beating with
generous emotions, and you are
looking to me to hold up eminent
examples for your imitation. But
remember that in your natures the
tareS grow with the wheat, and it is
important to cherish and cultivate
these better emotions of the soul
as sacred treasures. No man ever
did a great action without emo
bling himself, or a near one with
out feeling himself ignobIed.
The ocean Of life IS out yoRder.
and many ships sink and sail. The
battle of life is there, and many a
brave man falls. You will be sur
rounded by difficulties so ad-
verse as to almost over.
whelm you; but walk up to
them, trample them under foot, and
force them TO flee: or if you fall, be
as the eagle | once saw in a storm
striking his wings liercely against
the blast that bore him downcast.
Whatever avocation you choose.
bring it to the best development of
your faculties. Have an object,
have motive TO action and toll to OBJ
obtain it. You have learned within
these walls that there is no royal
road to learning, and nothing now
without labor. Bl3on told the Sc
cret in his ~aphorism, acknowledge
(not geniuS) is p0wer." Genius. is
creative, but cannot create lnfor.
nation. | know thai there is a
great disparity in humln intellocts,
but there is nothing that the aver
age mind cannot attain with zeal,
will and energy, but it requires re-
peated andcunremitting mental eff
fort. Take the achievements of
successful men, and there is no
mind of ordinary capacity, with
proper application, that could not
have mastered any single step.
Man is not the creature of cir
cumstance; he can be ~thevcreator
Of HIS circumstances and the archi-
tect of his own destiny. l will
give an illustration of this; Some
years ago q Young man ose to
speak in the llouse Of Commons
w1ose pnmpnns style and action
was received with j4ers and hi.scs.
) lng TO the soul by these burn
Ing insults, he clenched his hand
and said: a have attempted sever
Il things in my life and have sue
seeded. The time wall come when
you SHALL hear me-" He labored
lourly to correct what was detect.
We in his oralory, and mastered
hose intricate points that would
Drove useful to HIM in Parliament.
le studied with incessaut zeal, and
or Years kept in view the one ob
iect Of his life, A few years ago |