Daily Los Angeles herald., 1882-05-24

We have already noticed the gradu-
ating exercises at the Sackett School,
Oakland, in which number of Los
Angeles boys participated. Fred Potts,
Henry L. Bixby, Frank B. Shirley and
George II. Bixby, all of Los Angeles,
were among the graduating class, and
each of them acquitted himself with dis
tinction. George H. Bixby gave the
valedictory, which is clever produc-
tion, and was effectively delivered. The
Oakland Times furnishes the following
report OF it:
Divest any man of his ambition, and
what is he? Ambition is the noblest
passion that sways the human breast;
growing with the boy, in manhood it
shapes and systematizes his course,
spurs him to the attainment of that high
ideal which God has placed in his
heart, and is the father of his every
noble achievment. Without ambition
he is nothing, with ambition he is all.
Yet even in these days there are those
who would rob ambition of its honors.
A class of idealists and poetic dreamers
have been in every age, and are still,
accustomed to muse over their Arcadias
and Utopias, necessarily devising alb
surd plans for turning the world upside
down and remodeling it and society
after the pattern of Eden. They de-
plore wofully the dre& dul, putting
steam engine and all the other horrid
incidents of modern civilization, and
yearn wistfully for return of the good
old Saturnian age. Let us give all
things their place; let us enjoy to the
utmost the beauties and the delights of
nature which have been showered so
bountifully upon us-but shame upon
that man who turns liberty to license,
who dares to desecrate the very altar of
the soul America may indeed fondly
boast and proudly cherish at least
ONE ILLUsTRIoUs SON,
Who, favored as he was of the muses.
and perpetual dweller ON Parnassus's
heights, yet always sang song of nobler
spirit, and never failed to utter senti
ments worthy of his age, his people and
his clime-the laureat of the nation; the
bard of the nations firesides; the friend
of the nations thousands dear, dead
Longfellow. Glorious type of struggling
humanity; type of the energetic and as
piring manhood, that-whether success
or failure attend individual effort makes
the civilization Of the nineteenth GEN.
tury, as the years roll on may thy tribe
increased May thy real life counterpart
be so multiplied that thou wilt not ksye
to scale the Alps alone, that blazing
Excelsior thy motto and that of the
age, may it shine forth in characters of
dazzling and unmistakable brilliancy
upon the banner of every individual of
us all, that the advance may be general
and the victory complete
HERE IN THE LAND
In which we love, the beautiful, the
practical and the busy country of com.
merce and industry, liberal science and
philosophy, education and liberty we
have an unequaled field for viewing man
as he is bound to flourish where his soul
is allowed to soar unrestrained, and his
ambition is rewarded in unerring pro-
portion to the vigor and brilliancy of the
flame with which it burns. And in
California especially, our own home
land, ought we to be thrice thankful for
that noble, courageous and untiring
spirit of enterprise and ambition that
possessed and served our Argonautc
fathers in their heroic and successful
efforts to wrest the beautiful Pacific
shore from the hands of barbarism, and
add crowning glory to the civilization
of the day.
| vALEDICToRY.
And now, teachers and schoolmates, the
hour of parting and farewell is at hand.
As from the summit of this evenings
recollection we survey the sunny slopes
of these, our schooldays, toward you,
sir, our principal, and associate teachers,
under whose happy guidance we have so
far travelled, our hearts 60 forth in feel
ings of sincere and enduring affection.
Spontaneously they strike the three-fold
chord of love, gratitude and obligation.
And as we depart now to the university
and great high school that lies beyond,
we will ever cherish these memories, ever
save in our heart warm place for that
school and those men that started us in
the path of study and taught us to
aspire and labor for things higher than
-schoolmates, for whom, during
the familiar intercourse of these months
and years, fast friendships have taken
root in our hearts, the class of 'S2 must
now give you the reluctant grasp of
adieu, wishing you God-speed, and in
school and out, a ceaseless career of hap
piness, usefulness and honor. Glass
mates, we too must separate. We have
Ijourneyed together and on the way have
freely drunk of the full cup of fellow
ship; never have we tasted its dregs. We
have formed ties, trust, to be ev er un-
broken, and in view of the many happy