The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1891-06-16
9 THE SOUTHERN WOMAN, j"
An Address Delivered by Mr.. r. r.
Rogers Before the Graduating
Class Of Harris Institute, We'd
nesday, June 3, 1891.

LADIES AND UENTLEMEN CLAS
OF '91.:
see before me tonight TIVE
generations of mon and women wht
have learned their A. b. G.. of life, a.
well as of letters, under one whose
name for years has been a familiar
and cherished household word in oul
community. All, L think, will testify
that this name can never be men
toned without stirring up delightful
recollections and exciting feeling
sense of gratitude. TO some of us
who, more or less, have passed beyond
our salad days." Mrs. Harris appears,
as time recedes, almost equally
with ourselves, the fabricator of our
destinies. To you, young ladies, the
part she has played in shaping your
early youth will not at first seem evil
dent you have felt the impress of the
strong handsome years must elapse
before dispassionate thought and am
pier experience will enable you to
see clearly the skill and beauty of its
touch. 1t is just when you are going
to resign the influence of this capable
instructor that I with great diffidence
assume the honor of introducing you
to your neville.
You must feel the deep importance
of the present moment. You have
reached that stream which marks the
boundary between childhood and
womanhood and before you extends in
unbroken expanse that vast region of
great possibilities, where you must
now take up your permanent abode.
You have emerged from the vestibule
into the great audience-room of the
world, and you should never take oc-
casion to regret the narrow limits of
the one for the magnificent proper
tons of the other. The period through
which you have just passed has been
one, it. is true, of little troubles, but
likewise of little joys; free from grave
responsibility, perhaps, bat full of Ia
borious preparation. If there have
been hours of pleasant reverie they
have shaded into hours of pcnsive dis
satisfaction, and YOUR dearest dreams,
like Cindercla's, have been ever fol-
lowed by awkward awakenings to
monotOnous present; often, no doubt,
the play thing ofyour own sweet fancy,
still you have always remained sub
jcct to direction rather irksome, and
restraints, if wholesome and beneficial,
yet unwelcome and unflattering. On
the whole, you have lost nothing to
mourn. Taking it at its best you
have but lived in the twilight that pre-
cedcs the breaking of the real day.
l have commenced in a conventional
way, have 1 not? You would have eX
pCCtCu llC W udNC Sdl'l 81
much, yet how could l better
prepare you for the glorious future
that awaits you than by drawing
contrast with that half unwinsome
past you have just forsaken; for you,
my dear young ladies, are about to
have conferred upon you the proudest
title you may ever hope to wear; you
are about to be enrolled among the
Women of the South.
1t has been the fortune of your
choice of schools, and the good sense
Of your proceptor that you are not
unpreparcd for the honors your
birthplace and your age have thrust
upon you; but the grace and dignity
with which they arc to be borne must
be your own. We doubt not your
success. If you have the will, the
powers have not been denied you. 1t
may not be improper then, to say
something Of the new conditions that
may be expected to surround you, and
to describe briefly, and as best we can,
the Development and character of that
noble type whose sisters you are by
birth, and whose worthy reproduction
you are hoped to become in your days
of full expansion.
1t has been petted theory with our
social philosophers, and a frequent
theme with our orators, that the!I
American man is the happy amalga-
nation of what is best in the men of
many nations. lie is, they say, the
resultant of the best characteristics,
drawn by kind of natural selection,
from the varied types of Europe.
They can detect ia the exemplar of
our people the method of the Teuton
the restless activity of the Frank; and
that appreciation of the polite in
pleasure and art, that distinguished
the Latin Races. In his genial ma
ture, they see the Irishman; in his
shrewdness, the Scot; and in his
sturdy, upright independence and
highest nobility of character, the
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