The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1881-06-22
INNOVATION AND REFOR-
NATION.
BY PROF. G.. B. CROMER.
Before the Alumni Association Of Newberry
College Tuesday Morning, June 2lst, 1881.

Before the Alumni Association Of Newberry
College Tuesday Morning, June 2lst, 1881.
Gentlemen Of the Alumni Ass0cia,
ton
One Of the most difficult and
most important things fora young
man TO learn is-that he knows
nothing ; another, that be is moth,
ing, and is not likely to become of
very great importance. The sooner
we realize that we arc ciphers;
that while we are the darlings OF
our mothers, we are not and are
not destined to be the worlds
darlings, the better will it be for
our future comfort and happiness.
1t is not difficult for most of US to
remember when we left home
glowing with enthusiasm, and in.
cited by an untaltering faith that
We were born TO distinguish our
selves and our country: never
doubling that, when we die, the
great heart of hum anity will throb
with quicker pulsatious; the mad,
facing world, pause to shed bitter
tears over our graves !; and the
cbisel, trace on our tombs--not
what we were, but what we ex'
pected to be.
The colIegian, when u Sopho'
more, feels that they who are
wiser than he, have some know.
ledge not worth the knowing; as
q Junior, if faithful student, be
begins to realize that his know
ledge does not exceed the com
bined intelligence Of the Seven
Sages when a Senior, he is per
picked to know on what he can
rest ar = claims 10 excellence; and,
after graduation, he finds that be
is not a little child picking up a
pebble here and there on the
shore of the great ocean Of truth,
but a wayward boy whose faintest
glimpse Of the liIni;less expanse
Of the ocean Of knowledge, is in.
tercepted by towering mountains
whose rugged heights can be
scaled only by the unhagging dill.
gence Of a lifetime. TO the student
who stumbles over Greek roots
and frowns amidst Latin moods
who, with faltcring trust, attempts
to steer between the Scylla and
Charybdis Of Physics, and Meta,
physic, who glides along the mar,
rows of Diferential Calculus, and
is fain to regard Bishop Butler as
the natural enemy Of tue human
race ito the student whose pre-.
sent is so discouraging, the future
is ngularIy inviting. The future
Of our college days was sunIit and
enchanting; 1t lay along ways
made happy by trilling songsters
that poured out their little souls in
music it was not unattended with
somewhat Of the golden CLEANS
Of the poetic fancy. But now
it begins to dawn upon US
that tine best.laid schemes OF
mice and men gang af, agley,
johnnie has become plain Jack,
and the world does not applaud
him and lovingly pat him on the
head. The flowers Of hope that
bloomed for the school.b boy are as
dead unfragrant weeds; - the
roseate beanty was only q dream
Of the imagination and this
elernally springlng nope is still
weaving fantastic visions, and
Turing us onward, ever inward
to what? The college student,
displacing punctuation mark,
believes, There's q Divinity that
shapes our ends rough: hew
them how we will And are VIC
always ready, looking at the
world, and not above the world
10 acknowledge that There's a
Divinity that shapes our ends,
rough-hew them how we will :?
Or are We not rather inclined TO
| regard man as only a sigh-a sot
"a pulse beat-a heart-pang-a
playtbing of chance? Pausing to
day on the summit of the ages; and
assuming that we know something
Of what has been done, let US give
thought to the present, and in.
vestigate some of the influences
that affect US as we stand with
the jostling throng' in the vesti.
brle Of the great hereafter. We
are in the world !; not only so, we
are of the world and it is becom,
ing that we seek to know what
the world is doing. One lesson
is we'll learned: that life is full OIL
mysteries; Or rather, that life is
the great mystery of mysteries
And when unaided human iudg
ment tries to 60 10 the hidden
arcana Of life and unveiI the Sc
cret principles that control the
human heart, it must acknow.
ledge the insignl6cance of the
known and trem bic on the verge oi
the infinite unknown. The poet
OF many sided geuius-the great
reader OF human uaLure-puts in
TO the mouth Of q man who is
dangerous because be thinks Too
much, these words:
Men, at some times, are masters Of tbeiI
fates;
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars
But in ourselves, that We are underlings.
This sentiment is dear to every
independent, manly nature every
nature that does not seek to ex