The daily state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 188?-1891, 1890-06-29
u1RyARD COMMENCEMENT.
,rsT OCCASION AND BRIL-
- LIANT AUDITORY.
-, cleveland Present-.-hemar s
hrs' 'a ofE.B. Dubois, the Negro
"..dn,te.-.Iiis Theme, Je"erso"
n,,,i.The Alumni Banquet e'c'
,raitorial correspondence

,o,nnoneemen occasion al
"E nr.,ard r,iyrrsty, and great time 1t
30" !, draw here hundreds OF the
hro;nie.t and biggest men IN A,nef'v',
pa,innipp on small scale unaer 'ne
-, ., IONS HARVARD, who gave II
Is lb,sr, and an Insignificant sum oi
~ 81. Il uas grown 10 be the srea'e''
;n.,itutjon in America IL was cnieny
!, .lis,,eJ as he records show, TO ht
ministers 10 properly fill the places OF
the strong and earnest and mas'efiu'
ministers Il that day. There has always
ln., hove a breadth q spirit OF worK-a
moral tone that have been the mud d-sill OF
ia ,reat growth and great work. Thls
t-,;.a,sity was not established by great
,,i,nS though it has now an endoW
r,nn. 80 ovsr eight million dollars. IN
h,s .1dreS4 PRESIDENT ELLIOTT stateo
that Jnriug the year gifts amounting 10
L,lf !, million dollars had been received
10 Harvard. A single anonymous glVer
pr.sants 5000, 900 TO the pension lunu.
oaa Of the most beau ifui giits from
tyohJi,s. is to have procured for the
college The services of two German ar
hsts who cf all the world make glass
hOwcr5 true to nature.
II is n growth--steady and wonder
nl Of the best New England thought,
and is the best monument OF the love OF
letters of the old Puritans whose thought
aas 50 wonderfully impressed this coun-
bv There are now two hundred and
nineteen teachers in this University, and
over two thousand students, and the
I,roe and commoiious buildings OF the
finest ARCHITECTURAL designs without mum
her The new buildings are poems OF
beauty and elegance. 1t is worth jour
uoy srs 10 see Memorial Hall-large and
,r't,iy and massive. 1t was erec,ed IN
mem w Of the brave Harvard men who
vent ont from here to fight IN the
Civil War. 1t is not, comparatively, as
handsome a structure as Memorial HAL
At Chapel Hill, though it is, OF course,
much larger and more convenient.
rhrte wa5 much regret felt ard eX-
dressed that PRESIDENT CLEyE ELAND could
not b, present ut tie commencement.
He n ,d written that he would be here,
out Il, the last moment he was detained.
II IS stated tuat the Trustees had deter
mined 30 confer the degree of IL ID.
apop him if he had been present His
lrltuda say that the eX-President was on
ho .cashore 4 aiishing and that he had
a'hcr land a four FOUNDER than to re-
ceiv the degree of Doctor of Laws. But
TO receive the degree of LII. ID. from
Harvard j. an honor that even EXPIRES
IDENT CLEVELAND might coyet and hon
Or above BIZ catch of fish. But MRS.
CLEVELAND was here and was the.honor-
eel guest, and the observed Of all obser
ye.s. While the distinguished speakers
we're delivering their orations, the eyes
Of many in the vast audience were or
Mrs CLEVELAND who looked as beauti
ful and as young and charming as wher
she first went to the White House. She
appeared deeply interested in all the ad
dresses and her interest was contagious
Olly SIX Of the graduates spoke. On
OF them was a negro, +. b. Dubois
whose Grafton was received with marked
approval! His subject was "JEFFERs0l
DAVIS" and it was striking address
lt was as follows:
Jefferson Davis was atypical Teutoni
Zero The history of civilization durin
fae last millennium has been the deyel
3pnent Of that ides. of the strong man
ot which he was the embodiment. Th
An,lo Saxon loves a soldier. Jefferso
Devils was an Anglo-Saxon, Jefferso
D.vis was soldier. There was not
piase in that familiarly strange life tha
'ould not have graced a medieval re
nance: from the fiery and impetuou
young lieutenant, who stole as his brid
lie daughter Of a ruler-elect OF the lane
10 the cool and ambitious politician
the Senate hall. So boldly and surel
did the cadaverous figure with the THU
nervous lips and flashing eye, write th
first line of the new page Of America
history, that the historian of the futul
must ever see back of the war of sece
sion the strong arn of one imperio,
,inan, who defed disease, trampled c
Vprecedent, would not be defeated ar
= never surrendered. A soldier and a love
i. statesman and q ruler; passsiOnat
ambitious and indomitable; bold, rec
less guardian of peoples all-lndgt
by the whole standard of Teutonic ciN
liz .tion there is something noble in u
figure of Jeffelson Davis; and judged
every canon of human justice, there
something fundamentally incOmple
about thai standard INish to consid
not the man, but the type OF civiliz ati
which his life represented; its found
ton is the idea of the strong man-in,
yidualism coupled with the rule of mig
and it il this idea that has made t
logic of even modern history tne CT
logic Of the club. 1t made natuta
brave and generous man. Jefferson l
us now advancing civil zttion by M
dering Indians, now hero OF nation
disgrace called by courtesy the Mexlt
war, and finally, as the crownlng
surdity, the peculiar champion ola p
Pile fighting to be free in order that
other people should not be free. Wh
ever this idea has for moment escal
from the individual realm, it has fol
M even more secure foothold in the I
icy and philosophy of the State.
strong man and his mighty right a
has become the strong nation with
armies. Under whatever guise, he
ever, jefferson Davia may appear a
man, as race, or as nation, his life
only logically mean this: The
vance of part of the VIZ
at the expense of the VIII