The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-09-13
6uRDETTE.s ADVICE

VIC commencement exercises
oi the nigh school in Dwight, a pretty
.ittie town in Livingston County. You
know about what a high school COM
mencement is; there were orations bv
'ne young gentlemen and ladies upon
line Golden Mean of Mental, Moral
ana PHYSICAL Power" From the Morn
ing to the Evening" Success" "a
Flea For the Boy of To-day" "A Plea
For the Girl of To-day" John A.
Logan and Might Brings Out the
otars; you know about what it is.
well, listened and | grew interested
ana learned something that l should
nave known hundred years ago and
| was glad [ went to Dwight, Ill, and
attended high school commencement
On my way back home l talked il all
over with myself-you know | like to
talk with myself on the train. much
better then | do with the casual stran-
ger Because when l get tired /
can shut myself up. whereas the COM
munlcatlve stranger who pulls his
mouth upon the defenseless traveller
will sometimes hold him up from Chi
cago to Brooklyn and talk him clear in
20 the Eden of the Eagle office. Think
ing over what the graduates of the
high school had said in Grafton and
essay, L began to wish that I could
say the same things in the same way
envied Louise De Clercq, and Nellie
Doherty. and Frederick Smith, and
Henry Wood, and Bessie Huey. and
Charles Vickery, and Nellie Jeffries
their views of life. They had a fa-
mlllar sound. too, but l didn't quite
recollect where heard them before
But it dawned on me. after awhile. /
began to remember an essay on THE
Press and the Ballot Box" which. at
the time read it, believed contained
the essence of all Truth and Philoso-
ply, and was prophecy of what was
to be within very few years from the
date OF that mastery paper. And a
bright. rosy-tinted, glowing prophecy
it was. | said: You miserable old
cynic-" you see in these familiar con-
versatiOns which hold with the best
man on the train, / sometimes take
things from myself that 1 wouldn't
from smaller man-''you miserable
old cynic, l know what is the matter
with you; you have lost enthusiasm;
and losing that you have lost all the
soul that a mans work has. You
have lost enthusiasm. and that makes
you hireling; you have lost faith and
that shrivels your soul; you have lost
'hurrah' and are of no earthly account
in mass meeting; your waist has
grown faster than your mind, and
thst has made you lazy; you are too
old fur tennis. too scant in the breath
for baseball, too active for cricket.
too fond of ease for society, and be-
cause none of these are right in your
line, you say: All is vanity Every
thing is vanity to a useless man. Get
back to the starters scratch and begin
over. Look at the world as do these
youngsters and you'll believe more in
your fellOw-men and in yourself. You
will correct certain mean tendencies
toward scOffing and burlesquing every
thing that doesn't please you. [ talked
to myself like a deacon all the way
across Ohio and Pennsylvania Then,
when | came East | attended d college
cpmmencement A great school; stan
| dRrd higher than the mortgage on
the Eiffel Tower. lowered in corner
and was pounded into condition of
numbness with Greek orations and
Latin essays. And the English orations
were marvels of elegant dictiOn,
smooth, well-rounded sentences. and
the choicest English, clothing the
poblest sentiments, from which at in
hsrvals solid chunks of wisdom fell
upon the floor with dull, sickeniag
thud. 1t was grand, and even the
president nodded his approval and
grave professors forgot their d gn'ty
aud applauded. And the preside Mt
made speech and two or three
learned doctors of the law and divinity
made eloquent and thoughtful ad-
dresses But wise and learned as it
all was kept on wondering where
had heard it all before-savfng
only the Greek and Latin All,
yes; had it. At Dwight. That's
where / heard it. Sift the thought
out of the language of the high school
out West and the university down
East, and it was about the same thing.
The same generous, manly, brave,
hopeful way of looking at things, the
same earnestness, the same enthusi-
asm that keeps the learned doctors as
young and brave as the boys whom
they teach, year after year; the same
sublime confidence in his own ability
to do a little better than any other
man in the vineyard, shaping the
thought and nerving mind and body
of the high school boy and the college
| graduate; no wonder envied them. |
felt grateful to them; / made up
what for the sake of brevity may be
permitted to call my mind, that l
would look at the world with their
eyes; that would believe in them;
that l would grumble less and sing
more: that l would close out my stock
of censure and put in full line OF
praise; that l would sigh less fire.
ouently and hurrah more loudly and
| upon slighter provocation. am going
TO every commencement at Haveford,
my boy, between now and the year
when you will cross the threshold,
and you look to it that when you grad
uate your old father won't know
| nearly as much as you do.-Robert j.
R,,1of%o in Rrnoklvu Eapla