The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1883-06-27
EDUCATION.
The Responsibilities Resting Upon
Those 10 Whom Have Been
Committed the One, Two or Three
Talents Respectively.
Commencement Exercises at Longview.

Commencement Exercises at LongView.
The proceedings bad at the High School
under Professor Pittman, the exercises oil
the commencement, etc., have already been
piyen in these columns, but the subjoined
correspondence has induced the publica-
ton as beow of the address made on the
occasion. That seminary of learning has
made rr3pid strides within the past year or
40. and the commodious new building will
even Be too small to accommodate the &C.
cessions which are expected for the institu.
ton. Professor Pittman and his able corps
of assistants are to be congratulated on the
mast and the prospective success:
Lyvyiew. June 25-Colonel John f. Elliott
DEAR SIR-The citizens OF our town as
well as the trustees OF our school, having
beard with great pleasure the valuable ad-
dress delivered by yourself before the
Longview Male and Female High school
last Friday evening, and being DESTROYS
of having 1t widely disseminated, join me
in soliciting that You publish the same in
the popular paper with which you are con-
nected. 1t was highly conplimented by
all and we anxiously await its arrival in
print. We wish also to order one thousand
copies OF the issue containing the address,
for which you will lind the money enclosed
Very truly yours,
Principal Longview High School.
MR.. ELLIoTTs ADDRESS.
Away up in Alaska there grows what is
known as the yellow cedar tree. In ap-
pearance 1t Is one of the scrubbiest, most
un couth aud least valuable of its kind.
But because OF its durability and the antip.
athy the devastating sea-worms have for 1t,
it Is prominently excellent for ship tim
her, and the Russians use it accordingly.
When cut it exudes virtue unsupported,
for it breathes fragrance similar to that of
the famous sandal wood. Just so it is
with many being in the forests of human
ity. Arrayed in especially attractive form,
aspiring not, to far surpass his fellows in
some particularly coveted form or direction
as the world goes, he would probably pass
unnoticed. But his merit tested and
his inner worth made known through some
circumstance, he is found to be of infinite
value to his fellows as one of the units in
the great aggregate OF multifareOus de.
mand, and far and wide extends his true
efficiency In the very midst of delicious ex-
halations from his inmost character.
1t has been customary in these college
addresses to the young, to exalt their aspi-
rations and to urge them on to attain
the highest round in the ladder OF
fame, and to encourage their ambitionings
by such sayings as there is plenty of room
mp stairs, and th't as ''all men are created
equal any position is attainable by every
one." Some things by frequency Of rope.
tition pressed In pithily proyerb
style came to be accepted as unquestiona.
BILE truths. Now, there was never a falser
proposition than that "all men are created
equal" If it were true, then any man
might be Hercules. a Beethoven, q
Homer. a Napoleon, Richelieu, a Web
ster. 1t is false, and it misleads as a rush.
light, too many into unwise attemptings.
Now, what desire to impress upon you to-
day is that II is infinitely preferable that
you clearly comprehend the nature and
extent of your possibilities, the measure of
your capacities, and then limit yourself to
the work they are best adapted to execute,
than TO be fruitlessly striving after the, to
you, unattainsble. 1t is better, far better,
to undertake and
SUCCEED IN SMALL THINGS
than to aspire to AUD fail in larger ones.
Life is too short even at its longest, to al
low Of much mistake. making, and we
should guard against the misfortune lest
the end arrive only to find us self-concedeh
failures. And unless We thus comprehend
the art Of living then the education of the
day becomes civilizations scandal and the
ages joke. With our limited facilities and
abilities, physical and mental, and these
80 diverse in each of us, we can accomplish
inst SO much and no more, and he who
strives to exceed this commits an error
that must receil to punish the offender
against natures laws. And while it is
well enough to take general survey OF the
field, l warn you II is better to cut up the
fie DIS Of thought and labor Into quarter
acre lots and then select those best suited
- your uses and work them
thoroughly than to stratch over
1t is the valuable quality OF the possession
or the work performed, and not the i'm.
mensity Of the domain or the picturesque.
ness of the prospect that pu,s the ciphers
behind the units in the assessment roll and
not before them. II Is incomparably
preferable that you be master of your first
arithmetic, grammar, history, etc., than to
have been vOraCiOus roamer over the
whole area Of college curriculum, only 10
wonder at last what the authors meant.
tell you that In mans as well as in woman.
life Is centered within the sphere of The
commoner duties those duties whose dis
charge are not advertised to the world
from the housetops of notoriety; those
du les that adopt and observe
LARGER CREED AND A LorrIER CODE
by daily contributions for advancing
the cause OF general improvement,
80 that when man comes to die his good
deeds will live, whether the empty skull
aud littla nila nf hnpas a a -
and bran be in monumental ma usoleum OF
the potter's field. SO that 1t will be i'm
material as Sir Walter Raleigh respon
ded to the executioner who advised him he
had best lie with his head to the east, "how
the head lie provided the heart be right"
And now my friends, having directed
your attention TO this grand central fact
that II Is with the commoner affairs of LIE
that you are mostly to deal, and which nc
amount Of culture can rid you OF, desire
TO impress you with another fact, and thai
Is that 1t is your duty rs one of the unit.
TO observe that creed and that code in all
lies smaller concerns to the end that yor
may secure tor yourselves one of the bright
est If not the lightest objects OF life-happi
ness. And u you have heretofore assumed
that you are being educated simply to tax,
care OF yourselves by aisregarding others
ments, to gather glory or to accumi,
late a fortune for your personal selves
then the sooner you undeceiye your
selves the better. Have yon not read
that from the spring issues the water
that winds Its way to the sea- only TO b.
thence taken up again to the clouds, which
floating back TO land, distill the dews OF
drop the rains that soaks into the earth Ia
replenish the. sources Of the spring peren