, 1882-06-10
Schoo,-Day Dreams.

Nearly ali the school and college com
mencemen,s are over ani quite all the
graduates are by this time ~, or going
home, enjoying their honors snd full Of
swelling ideas aud lofty purposes-dream-
ing their dreams. Men and wsmen who
have long syv passed those bright days,
being disenchanted, regard these visions
with mingled amnsement and comn,isser-
a;lon, They recall their own youthful
visions and aspirations, and find 1t rather
Interesting to run over the essays and ora
tons which marx the Issuing forth upon
the world OF graduating classes III schoo
and college. These performances, a. Is
natural 10 youth, are somewhat anbisi
ous We hnd III them the errors of the
tunes pointed on. and the remedies for
them laid dosL with more or less pre,i-
son Usually the young reformers only
demand taar the whole nation. anG sil
nations, should become a. once patriotic,
honest, wise. unseltish, solf-sacrihcing.
temperate and frugal Tnen, they argue,
all the difficulties with which the world is
afflicted by, amo!tion, dishonesty, folly,
carelessness, extrayagance and dissipation
would disappear NJ dunbt II that But
the graduates discover, when they entsr
active Efe, that such Cgnpits are not
among probabilities not ~ say pCssiblii-
lies, and that the wees a.d faults which
produce social aud p,litical evils are in
herent III the na,ure o; man and ot 81
clety. No class oFatIcn and nu didactIc
essay eau Remove them. The graduating
classes which are turned cut finished,
year after var, lakin. them at their best,
are Ike pure srreamlejs l,s!ng them
selves i'll a maiiy waste # water, anu
whatever the graduate may expect, IN
tuencs over society, except 10 limited
degree, vii be the destiny of the very
few. College or school successes do not
always pressge success IN the larger
world, AMI he or she WIZ has succ eeded
IN tie earnest strife II school, Is not r,sses
sarily sucerssful in the business Of lie
About the iicsr thing most graduates
ind is disappointmout. The thing that
follows is experience, ana the next ought
10 be 6.sdon, and wisdom will teach that
what the young Orator or esssylst thinks
the world shonld De, he must make him.
self. He must uX ~ live up TO his own
ideal lt he ind, TIA. difii ,ult-as he is
certain to-he can estimate the greater
difficulty of bringing Others up to the
standard which his glowing fancy pic
tured
And the young giFl graduates who now
number their thousands in our high
schools, have Ike experience before
them Their ideal ia perhaps elevation
ui their sex; ard II IS robls one. But
they, like the other sex, will discover
that whatever hopes are based on improy-
N. the standard of the race or Sex, are,
to great degree iliusiouary hops Men
and women may control and improve
themselves. but they are not masters OF
the will, or regulators Of the conduct Of
any but themselves.
To say these things Is no; to deny the
influence of example, or the power which
one friend has over another. Unques-
tionably personal Influence is a mighty
factor for good and for evil IN our imme-
date relations, and just as certainly, he
ur she who lives well, will induce ohserv-
ers to follow such life. The graduate,
ike the man who promises TO re construct
suciety i'll sixty days, err in the opinion
that the whole will be lifted. aud the
whole structure and character Vi society
elevated at once But Archimed-s never
iouIu the itlSIuiH IpI AS IChtE dlll uO-
body else will ever fDd it. The man OF
WOMAN, young or old, who makes the
personal duties of lie the chief business,
viii be modestly and, perhaps, uncon-
sciously, doing good and elevating hu-
manity the while.
What these graduates will find, then,
on entering life, is the opportunity TO ap-
ply what is already learned, and To ac-
auire NOR. School lessons must be sup
pIement,d by rhe wider spaere of obser-
yation and Of work Each persons share
of the world, though 1t may be small
one, is enough for his work And in
that smaller world our entrance did make
= difference. our presence is not nnnoted,
and our death will make Il void