Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-06-13

each IN his station, should humbly strive
to be if our profession is to deserve the
name often applied to t. and surely
sometimes justly applied to it the noble
profession of arms. But we need not seek
in foreign lands, nor evenin our own earlier
history, for examples for imitation. We
have but to read the roll of the graduates
of this academy to find them. Upon it
are names that will shine brightly and
more brightly as time goes on; names that
will be held in reverence by future genera
tions. 1 need not speak them; they are as
familiar to you as household words. But
there is one here to-day of whom cannot
forbear to speak, for he is here for the last
time as our chief and our leader. The
world knows his genius; the world knows
what he has achieved. Wherever the morn
ing gun salutes the sunrise his name and
his fame are upon the lips of soldiers.
What all the world may not
know those who have been
brought near to him do know, they know
the warmth and tenderness of his sympa-
thies; they know the generosity ~ his
nature, the magnanimity O. - soul.
Soon he will leave US to seek rest
which becomes more and more ( ia! al as
years advance; but he leaves US wiz the
affection and with the gratitude OF the
nation ne has served so we'll. Happy
will any of you be who shall serve your
country with his sincerity of purpose and
with his purity of heart. May the even
ing Of his days be as tranquil as their
noon has been glorious, and when to him
shall come that inevitable hour which
awaits us all, may it come only as the night
comes to the wayfarer who is weary.
There is a service kindred to our own
a service TO which We should be bound by
the strongest ties of mutual confidence and
esteem, and among its members we may
find many men most worthy Of our ad
miration and imitation. [ know that it is
the fashion of the hour to say that we
have no navy, and unfortunately so tar as
regards the material Of naval warfare
there is too much truth in the remark. 1t
has not been the policy of our govern
ment to keep pace with other nations in
respect to either ships or guns. And be-
sides, the decay of our merchant marine
has wrought the decay-temporary decay
I trust-of that race of American seamen
which was once our boast. The crews of
our ships are no longer what they were
when the ''Old Constitution" carried alolt
her starry ensign wherever
''Winds were hurrying ger the food
And waves were white below;''
with five hundred New England freehold
ers upon her THU mphant decks. But the
heart, the soul, the mind of the navy still
exist; they have suffered no decay. Bright
in our annals as are the names of Perry
and Marlborough, of Rodgers and Hull, of
Decatur, Lawrence, Porter, cambridge,
Preble and Stewart, their equals are living
to-day; their equals in seamanship, their
equals in gailantry and devotion, their
more Than equals in professional acquire
ments and accomplishments The last
three decades have shown that
We still possess men worthy to
stand by the side Of the foremost
of the great historic admiraIs of the mis-
tress of the seas. One of them, now gone
to his rest, was Nelson as a warrior, a
Coliingwood as man. His achieve
ments will be remembered so long as his
native speech shall be a living tongue, for
the name of Mobile Bay does rot pale
when it stands In the full blaze of
the light which streams from Salamis and
Trafalgar.
It was once my good fortune to know
serving side by side. They bore an his
toric name and they gave it an added lus-
ter of their own. One of them has now
slept for twenty years in his honored grave;
he gave his life TO his country He was
kind and gentle in all his Intercourse with
his felIowmen; but he was animated and
controlled by the sternest sense of right
and OF duty. He knew of no loss save the
1pcs of hn1nr. no
save the displeasure of his maker. Sidney
was not more Unselish; Bayaid was not
more pure. He was the Havelock OF the
sea. The other still lives, the object OF
such atfectionate admiration as is accorded
to but few men. OF him 1 may not speak
with the freedom with which have spoken
of the dead, but may say that they were
brothers, not merely because they had a
common parentage; they wero brothers in
their nature. I never think of the navy
without thinking of them, and 1 never
think of them without calling to mind two
lines of little poem which learned in
my childhood:
so true, so brave, lamb at home
A lion in the fight
Let such men as these be to you examples.
1t is the privilege of the old to give ad-
vice to the young; advice, it is true, that is
not always acceptable, certainly, that is
not always followed; and it is my privilege
for this once to give advice to you. Were
1 to use many words could say no more
than 1 can say by repeating one short and
hackneyed quotation from the greatest of
dramatists, a quotation which will sound
trite and commonplace in the ears of all
who hear my voice. But if it is SO hack
neyed as to be commonplace or even wear
isome it is so because it is so true The
greatest and most important truths be-
come commonplace because they are con-
tinually in our minds and frequently on
our lips. Then let that quotation be my
advice to you:
"This above all: to thine own self be true;
Thou canst not then be false to any man -
To be true to ones self IN this sense is to
be truesto ones highest ideals of manhood
and of duty, and he who is true to these
ideals cannot be false to his fell owman :;
he cannot be false to his country; he can
not be false to Him who rules US all.
The address was listened to with the
GREATEST attention throughout and the
illusions to Grant and Sherman were loud
~ applauded.
Rear Admiral Rodgers made an address,
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