The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-09-23
ADDRESS TO THE UNIVER-
SITY STUDENTS AT THE
OPENING OF THE
SESSION.
FATHERLY ADVICE, AND A MAS.
TERLY DISCUSSION OF THE
NATURE OF EDUCATION.

liminary work being now presumabl,
over, and the real work of the year read!
to be begun, 1t seems appropriate and ii
that |, as the representative of the faculty
should speak to you some words of coun
sci and of warning.
In the first place, however, let me ex
tend, in the name of the faculty, wei
come to all of you. Some of you we al
ready know. We have met you face tC
face in the class room. Your presence i:
a source of great satisfaction to US. 1t i:
an emphatic testimonial of your earnest
ness in the work that lies before you. The
most crying evil that affiicts our southern
institutions of learning is the want OF
continuity in the attendance of students
Young men and young women go off to
college or to the university with high res
olutiOns and with firm determinations to
remain until they complete the course.
But, alas lessons are hard, professors are
exacting, and honors are never easy.
Interest in class work soon begins to
wane, and attendance upon lectures soon
begins to intermit. A business life all at
once becomes the important thing, and a
young man at the end of his first year,
and sometimes before, throws aside his
Cicero, his Homer and his Milton, aban-
dons his mathematics, forsakes phil
osophy, the mother of arts and sci
ence'-and all for what? For the priv
ilege of sweeping the floor and putting
up the window shutters of a
country store Your presence
here, then, young gentlemen, is renewed
assurance that you are in earnest, and that
| Nil nj SYDir will nt 70
be mere school boy dreams" Let me
call your attention, however, to one point.
You sustain relation of peculiar respon-
sibility to students just entering. They
will look to you and regulate their steps
by your actions. No where among men does
rank command such homage as among
university students? No where in the
walks of life will the senior of this year
command such respect as from the fresh
men who have just entered. Use your
power and influence we'll. Let it be seen
and known that the university is place
for work; that it's atmosphere is not to be
disturbed by unseemly and boisterous
conduct; that its halls and corridors are
places devoted to study; that the
professors and the students are
engaged in the laudable pursuit
of TRUTH and that the entire university is
dedicated to the cause of education and
to the service of the state. Hoping and
believing that your precept and example
will tend towards keeping up the present
high standard of university excellence, l
once more, in the name of the faculty, bid
you welcome.
We welcome you also, young ladies and
| Go, thn f,,f
time. II is an important occasion with
you. 1t is perhaps not putting it too
strongly to say that it is momentous oc-
casion. Your whole future life will be
more or less colored by the new experien-
ces you begin to-day. In view of this fact
it may not be out of place for me to give
you word of warning and of advice. L
shall speak the language of soberness and
truth, l shall use plain words. Don't
misunderstood me. No offense is intend
ed, but, take it, prevention is better than
cure; and If the strong word will prevent
the mean, sinful act, the teacher is at
fault if he does not use it..
In the first place, let me tell you lying
and cheating in the lecture room and at
examinations are not allowed in this univer
sity. l do not mean lying and cheating are
not permitted by the faculty. 1t goes with
out saying that such is the case. But |
mean to say that lying and cheating are
not allowed by the students with whom
you will be associated As a matter of
fact, the faculty have had nothing to do
with cases of discipline arising from these
vices. Yet it remains that more than one
student has been forced by his fellows to
leave this institution because he was de-
tected in cheating at an examination.
Let me, in the spirit of the greatest kind
ness, warn you now while it is time. Let
me say to you, if you are ever tempted to
cheat at recitation or during an exam
nation, think of what l say to-day. The
chances are, if you do cheat. that
you will be waited on by a committee of
your fellow students with a request to
leave on the next train, and if the facts
support the action OF such committee,
my word for it, they will be sustained by
the faculty. And think of it, this is not
the 'be-all and end-all." A young man
driven from an institution by his fellows
for lying and cheating, goes away in all
probab lily, blighted and ruined
man. The disgrace will follow him to his
grave IO may DO a PpuiOt"J Ava 6N''O-'
but it will rise like Banquo's ghost to ruin
him, perhaps just as he is about to grasp
the crown of his greatest ambition. Again
| warn you, be honest, straight, and clean
in all your words and acts, and you will
have nothing to fear.
/ am proud of the record our universe
ty has made in this respect. l want it to
be said for all time, as it may be said now,
that diploma from the university
of Texas is something more than testi-
monial of scholarship from the faculty.
It is silent testimonial of honesty and
truthfulness from the students, for the
simple reason that the recipient never
could have remained in his classes had he
been other than honest and true.
Inithe second place allow me to call
your attention to a paragraph in the cat
aloguel under the head of discipline"
You viii there read that we have no detailed
rules; that full confidence is felt in the
young men and young women of Texas,
but-"tiat it is the right, as it is the duty
of the faculty, to remove from the unlver-
sity an students who, either by miscon
duct or by persistent neglect of studies,
prove that they are doing harm to them
selves OF to Others"
Don't misunderstood this provision.
no,'I i.,,anipa +hof haaausp there are no