The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-04-25

| DSth WIN, IASQ., WHO Q6lVeTeu Lu6 dIul-
versary address, which was listened to with
marked attention and frequently ap-
plauded.
Mr.. BECK wITH's ADDRESS
Mr., PRESIDENT must frankly confess that
when BATTERED by the kind invitation of your
| board of Stewards 10 be their orator for the
| year 1885, consented TO perform the duty thus
| placed upon me ! little understood the magni-
| tude OF the task assumed, or properly appre
| ciated my own unfitness to follow in the foot
steps of Clay, Best. a Kollock, the Char.
tons, Cobb Griffin, or last, but not least, OF
him whom Georgia still loves to honor, the poet
lawyer, orator, statesman. gentleman, Henry K.
jackson. Speaking OF them, one of your dis
tinguisbed orators said, These hOnored gentle
men who have preceded me on occasions like
| the present have already plucked every flower
| OF poetry and eloquence and song and twlned
| them into garland to deck the brow of char
| attempting to emulate their achieve
ments; nor may | strive for fame in
| fields immOrtalized by their names. ! do not
feel, Mr.. President, that il is incumbent upon
me even to speak Of the liberatY and noble
elf-sacrifice of those TO whose Christian devo-
ton this institution, owes its stability and sue
cess. They need no praise from mortal lips,
| they desire no Ecnors which man can GeStow.
The God of the widow and the orphan knows
their love and sees their good works, and as
they have sown so shall they reap. What then,
! Mr.. President, is left for me to say2 Can
| wreathe crown of immortelles TO lay upon the
| tombs of the immortal deady 1t has been done
| recount the history Of this institution ana tell
the story of its origin, its struggle and success?
| 1t is written in the volumes of this society and
| has become part of the history of the State.
| Shall | urge those who present to
| continue their charities and increase their
good worksS The existence of this
institution and the presence of these boys make
an appeal whose voiceless eloquence would chill
| me INTO silence, and render impotent, because
unn ecessary, my utmost efforts What, then,
is left mef Nothing that can see, except
lrnln httaf foIl to tha how
themselves, "Our boys" My dear young
| friends call you our boys, because we all feel
| great interest In you, not only the good peo-
pie who are here to-day, but the citizens Of this
county, and, though you may not know it, the
people of Georgia. Some of you will say:
How is that! How can people be watching us
| who never see us%' Well, will answer you.
| First, because this school in which you are
being trained, this home in which you live, was
| established by one Of the most famous men IN
| Georgia's colonial history, and was patronized
| by one of the noblest women of England
| Secondly, because from this school boys have
| gone who as men, have been the pride Of the
State and have been honored in the councils OF the
nation. What has been in the past may be, and
| should be Ia the future. ! come your brother
to-day to tell you how to act while you are here
| to tell you some Of the serious lessons of life,
| and to aid you If l eau, in that preparation
which is essential to success and happiness in
| the future. First then, while you are in this
| home make it n rule to obey your superiors and
do whatever your teachers tell you to do.
y
| what my teachers told me to do. | could not
see that what they required of me was for my
| own good. had sort Of feeling that would
| like to run away, or, ] would like to break their
| rules, because thought that 1t prison life
| | was leading, and these teachers were nothing
but paid jaiers to make me go to bed at
| a certain time; get up at O certain time;
study nearly all the time and play very little
of the time But boys was Il fool. OF course
| | don't mean that l ought TO have been sent to
! the lunatic asylum, or that / could not have an
| SMerpd a sensible question If asked |
| that same foolish, silly notion that boys have
| that knew more about the business than the
| teachers did, and | thought it very hard that
| had 10 study when did not wnnt to. Now let S
| talk sense about this rule that am giving you
namely, obey your teachers" The teacher
has got to live, hasn't her He, has got TO work
in order to feed himself, TO clGthe himself, and
| if he is n married man, he has got TO feed his
| wife and clothe her. and If he has children, he
has got TO feed them and clothe them, hasn't
hey You must agree to that for the reason
| that your common sense tells you that he
| amt going 10 teach for fun, for teachers are
| very poor, a rule Well, now, amt it to the
| teachers interest to carry out the orders that
are given hun by those who own the home?
Because if he does not carry out their orders
| about the way YOU shall be taught and when
you shall be allowed to play, and when you
shall go to bed, and when you shall get up, why
he will lose his place as teacher, won't he? And
then his poor wife and children will have to
suffer won't they Suppose he is not a mar
| ried man, and is discharged for not doing as he
is told, he will suffer, because he will find It very
hard to get into another school The owners
| of the other schools will ask where he taught
| last, and they won't take him if he is dis
obedient. SO, boys, you can see for selfish
| reasons the teacher wants the boys to do what
the rules of the school require, and those rules
are generally wise. Then again, il YOU
obey your teachers, and do exactly what they
tell you to do, you will do yourselves Justice,
your minds and your characters will develop
FOR good and that result will reflect credit on
the school. So that will again help the teach
ers because you will be talked about as a good
scholar and good boy, and people will ask,
where was he taught, and the answer will be at
Bethesda; and who were his teachers, and the
answer will be Mr.. A. and Mr.. b. So you see,
by obeying your teachers you not only become
good scholars and bright Christian characters,
but you keep bread in the mouths of your teach
ers and it they have any one dependent on
them, you give them bread and clothing. and
last, you add reputation TO your home and give
a great deal of real comfort and joy to the kind
friends who bring and keep you here. You will
appreciate all this when you get as old az | am.
You will then find that you are
better citizen of your State and
that you learned at school will assist you greatly
to bear the sorrows and burdens of life. BY
subOrdinating, that is, by bringing under rule
your minds and your bodies while at school,
seeds of character are sown in your souls that
quicken and grow with your growth, so that
whatever sphere in life your talents may assign
you, you will be shielded from the scourgings
Of envy. hatred and malice. Second, study
hard. - If your homes were in the city of Sa-
vaunah, and you were attending public or pri
vate schools, and were invited To talk to you.
! should say: Boys, don't play hooky; don't
be a truant." But as your restrictions are such
here that you can't play truant" | will say:
Boys, don't shirk your studes-your books. 50
Do you know what "truant" is? He is
n "beggar," "vaCrDut.' a poor, dis
tressed, wretche1 creature; "one VINO
stays away from business or duty
an ''iiler - a "loit arer" "smrk," a tramp '
And do you know what a tramp is--he is an
| idle, lazy, worthless boy grown up to manhood
i suppose there are over 5000 tramps in the
United States and they are enemies to society
and are arrested whenever caught, and are
made 10 work in the chain-gang. In order &c
avoid arrest they keep moving from State tc
State with no homes and no friends, until their
lazy, theving, filthy bodies yield up theiI
| souls to eternity and their carcases become
| food for maggOts and buZZards. When | see
the lads of my State stealing away from school
Sinking their studies and their duties. in order
to make holiday with idleuess. billingsgate
and vice. and then Icing to their teachers and
their parents, the prophetic hand of observa
tion points to that army of trampS and IN
fancy / can see them ostracised by society
and conscribed by the devil fol
enrolment in that moving army
of outlaws. You ought to be mighty
thankful, boys, that you have such restraints
thrown around you that You do not run such
risks as DO the city boys. But IN another sens.
another way you can play truant" and that
is by not studBiRg hard-pldyipg sick-Gng er
citse you can tiHd to keep from learning and
recittHg your lessons. Do you know what will
be the result? Your minds will he he noun