New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-06-21
THE GRAFTON By MR.. CURTIS.

su1lenly encounter lhe huHooMg HEuiNS Va
auth and maid Some mysterious fascioat On nAes the
- and stills the hearts of the wanderers ana thelr
e.verent deepens into awe they gradually recoS-
- themselves as once they were; the soft bloom OF
outb mon their rounded checks, the dewy hSht OF
,oe in their trusting eyes, exultiDg confidence III ler
,rinepc step themselves bhe and radiant WIN lne
- of the dawn To-day and here meet ourselves
Not 70 these familiar aone-yonder college green
,h its reverend t1aditons the halcyon cove OF the
setouk upon which the memory OF Roger Williams
noo5s ike bird OF cain the historic bay beating TOT
aver with the mufiied OF Barton ana OF Abraham
Vhirple; here tie humming city 81 tie h'lAg; ueIo
f peacef city OF The deadnot TO these ONLY OF ehieiS
Do We return but 10 Ives We once were II IL
moi the smiling Of the year it is your ocardess
.na uuvtiukled faces, that looking rom the WI
aovs OF University Hall. ard Of Hope College. Ohd"r
the trees upon the hill, il IL yours elves WON Eo" see
waking full OF hopes and DREAMS glowing WIN CON
seious power and "n0urishiDg youth eublule' Aiu
IN this familiar temple, which surely has never eou"tu
with eloouence 20 fervd and Inspiring as that OF your
commencement oraons, il is not yonder youths In the
galleries who ae they fondy believe, are whispering 10
wonder maids it your younger selves VIII" Ia me oaSs
that are 10 more murmurng to the airce ho'H'rs
and grandmothcrs OF those maids, as Waller WmsneIe'
10 Us rose
a. ns so ms Tl cT no mel Iaen abide
Thou must have uoude6 e'ed"
Uapuy The worn and weary nun and in the
picture no met n emselves could hey have felt htr
older ewes still gisCnnC with that earlier hgh' ana
their hearts yet beating with undiminisAed sympathy
and aspiration. Happy We, brethren whatever may
lave been achieved vhatt LETT undone IT, returning
10 the home earlier years, briug with Us the
glmital1e hope tho urchilled resolution, the mex
Upsulsl able fsith. OF youth
II was as echolars that you here; il IL TO the
feeling and the life II scholars that you return, mean
the scholar a specialist or deeply proficient
student, not Ike Darwin, oOnQucror greater thar
lO Y. he q human ElOWlt
edge: nor Ike Emerson whose serene wisdom, plane
In thc ccudless heaven lighted the path Of ms 10
larger spiritual liberty; like Longteow, sweet
singer Of national spring |Iue whose scholarship
decorated his pure and lnpd song bowers mir
ro7-d placid sream,-not scholars Ike these but
as educated men, TO whom the dignity and honor and
reuown Of the educated class precious, however re-
mote nom study lives may have beer return TO
the snnuol festival Of letters Neither years
books" says Emerson, speaking CT L. college days
have yet svsed to oxtJpate pojudice then rooted
IN me- that scholar is the fuvOre OF heaven and earth
tie excellency his country, the happest of men"
POPULAR DIsTRUsT OF THE EDUCATED CLASS.
But every educated IN is aware OF profound pop
distrus OF the and sgacy OF e educated
class. Franklin and Lincoln are good enough Tor "a
excsims this Jealous soepicisn az Frsl Il and Ian
coin did not laborously repair by vigorous study the
want Of early opportunity. The echCisr appealing
experience is proudly told 10 close his books for what
has America TO do with experienced If books
rot the ever-burning lamps of accumulated wisdom.
when Voltaire insulted by the LOncon mob he
turned his door and comphmented then upon the
beness OF their national character, their glorious
stituton an their love of liberty. The London mob
did not feel the sarcasm But when hear that America
may soorn experience because she is Law 10 herself
remember that few years foreign observer
60 the city OF Washington and sald' dld not July
comprehend your greatness untl saw yOr Congress.
Then felt that you could stand that you could stand
anything, ana understood the ray ing that GOd tGkcs
caie OF CHILDREN drunken men and the UnItod states"
is
falls among thieves, tod, and the college Leyiie
slavery nnder1nines the Republic but the clergy in
America the educated Gloss and the Church makes
of thousandsbut the educated clues leaye the
gospel OF TEMPERANCE TO be preached by ihe gnorant
the preaching OF regeneration 10 Methodist ineIans III
felas and barns. Vast questions their shadows
tie distribution Of land the towering pow CT OF corpor
Of advancing TO deal with Them promptly.
dsspates the night without shOck, leaves tAem 10 be
Euded 10 fury by demaeoeues Gfts panic cry OF
accusation. Erasmus the great pioneer ot modern
scholarship But III me fierce contest OF Tie keio1na-
hon Luther denounced him az time server .ud COW
ard With the feeling Theodore Parker, the splT-
cd he ever do for the cause OF man 81 and when nothing
rn-nod for his country but the dread Il alternative OF
slavery OF civil war Parker exclaimed sadly Of The
D. winch he belonged: If our educated men hal done
ther Guty should not now be il the ghasty condOn
VIC bewal"
TIE FAILURES NOT TIE CRITERION.
Gentlemen, We be ong TO The accused class It's honor
and digIy very precious to Is this humiliatng
arrangement truei Does the educa cd class America
especially deserve Of this condemnation Of political
reaney and moral cOwsTdce2 Fathess scholars lag
gard colleges, bigoted pulps there may be
signal INSTANCES you may find of feebleness
and pusin&nuity. This has been always true.
Lelgh Hunt said, IL thought that my Horace and
s,1oeIneheS gave me nSAt 10 s al tiDe WIN any
DR. Parr, who knew Horace DeOsthenes better taD
any man Of his TINE, he described him hGping
IAN o's,I retailing gossip ~ ony IOf Washetwoneh 10
bear DGllng tue earthquake OF the great civil
Asshd, oir Thomas Browne sat TRANQUILITY IN scholarly
seeluaon polishing che cOuceits OF the Urn Burial ana
nOGuaiIns the long music % the O NJ, d!cl."
ckns at browne and Psrr, at kra.mus aud Goethe Is
les peanis or literary voIutisties ana maj Tho lo,,
educated class 10 denounced as feeble and IEpracd |
c9Def
But remember what Coleridge said to Washington |
hson Never Judge work OF art by It's defects" The
nouer comment make upon scholars lie that
o. BruDmen's valet upon The tumbled cauibrc IN his
hands: These are our failures7 Luher impatient OF
ae mder spirit OF Erasmus and Colet sne Sir Thomas
More might well have called them our failures because
ne ws OF their class, and while lie cOnuseeG moderation
BIZ nery and impetuOus soul sought 20 sezo triple
Crowned and drag IL from It's throne. But Luther
was no less scholar and sands equally with them Tor
The scholarly class, ana the heroisn o. men,
Even ETasinis sald OF MN Win friendly Wit, lie has
M The Pope the crown ana the monks the belly"
u the cOwled scholars Of the Church rejected him aud
universities under their control renOunced ana |
eenned him, yet Luther is justified " saying,
G = ~ hls hand across them anu spe~ker hlDe@h and
ie5 Use scholars VINO stood with aim, These not
''P'e'0h's~Ves these are our failures"
SOME NOBLE TYPES.
on our side Of tue tho educated |
Ou! oi run'an Massachusetts, Bay the clergy and tho
n"siSa'es drove Rogers Williams their borders
Roger williams, also a scholar aud clergyman and !
win John Milton, the bright eOnsunInate flower of Pur
,nSin' But shall not he Tor the scholar rather
.hah Cotton Mather tOrturng terrified old women 10
uestn AS witches L appeal from Philip drunk |
rhhp sober,-from tue scholarship that |
fs ,Eas Mrs Hutchinson and hung Mary
D!up ana pressed Giles Corey death, to the
sS"oiafsAlp that argued with George Fox founa-
~ polhcal commonwealth upon sou-Iberty. A year
80 sal with my brethren Of the Phi Beta Kappa al
cambridge, and seemed 10 catch echoes OF Edmund
u ace resoundiDg impeachment OF Warren HastInss In
d. L..a..L ..faL