The Oskaloosa herald., 1892-06-23
ESTABLISHED 1850.

/
he said: .......~-.
Mr.. President. Class 20. Ladies and GentIemea:
/ do not know how to address you as
| graduating classes are usually ad
dressed. do not know how, on this
occasion, to put that solemnity into my
periods. nor the pathOs to my accent,
which possibly too often accompanies
farewell addresses. understand that
to-day you are born into new life.
into new sphere OF action /; or rather
that you are metamorphosed into new
state OF the same life. And even yet
the animal kingdom, where metamOr-:
beauty and perfection, 1t is during the
frst stage that we find the greatest
activity, while with you it is, or should
| be, during the second. You are, there
fore, to-day born into, or metamOr-
phosed into, or possibly more correctly
have grown up into q new life. It is
the birth OF great men and great events
that we celebrate, not their death, and
It is with the joy and gladness Of u
bright spring morning that the cere-
monies are conducted. Your life as
undergraduates is past, and the requiem
was chanted yesterday. Then was the
time for mourning then the time for
tears. But to-day you leave all this
behind you and come forth bright and
fresh, joyous in your new life, strong
and vigorous in your new undertakings.
Neither can agree with the lOft-told
tale of nothing but ease and pleasure
in the past, and of toll, trouble and
sorrow in the futare. Were this true
then colleges and college education
were worse than failures. Your own
experience bellies the first assertion :;
and If it is false your faith may we'll
be shaken in the second. Who is there
outside these walls that for four years
has toiled harder than you? Who has
made the sell. .denials of pleasure, OF
recreation, of anything, Of everything
that you havep Who but you has
labored sixteen hours every day only
to spend the other eight in troubled
dreams of hard examinations and ignO-
minious failureP Echo answers. For
the lifs of an ambitious student is as
closely occupied and his energies as
nearly exhausted as that Of any one.
You should not, therefore, put on the
garb Of mourning as you enter this new
life, for 1t opens its doors to you with
out requiring q mortgage on your
You may expect that work will be Of
fered you which you can do or leave
undone that responsibilities will be
placed before you which you can as
sumo or not at your pleasure. You
will not be compelled TO do anything.
You can dwindle away into nothing
ness, or you can rise to honor and re-
noWn. In Olden times with the
Romans, and in many other instances
with the less civilized peoples, the am
bilious young man was pat to very
severe tests of courage and physical
endurance in order to prove him before
entrnsting great undertakings to him.
He was tried with fasting to see If he
would readily yield to the pangs of
hunger. If so, he was not worthy TO
go on the chase or into battle, where
there is 80 much uncertainty about OBJ.
tanning food. He was tortured to see
If he could endure pain, and pushed TO
the greatest extremity to see If he
could resist fatigue, for the warrior
must not yield even though death itself
takes hold Of him. And finally he
was put to ali manner of tests to try
his courage and nerve. Should he fail
in any of these he VAS counted un-
worthy his inheritance, and unworthy
the name man. But should he endure
to the end. with great joy and demon.
stratiOn of gladness he was received
back into his home and circle Of asso.
ciates, but with this difference: He Is
now a man, ready for the greatest con-
test in battle, or in the chase.
You have been passing through a
similar trial. For four long years
you have been put to some OF
the severest tests, and having
endured all, and accomplished all, to.
day We welcome you to our ranks. You
are now ready to go out as warriors to
battle for the right. You are ready
to enter the chase. May you ever pur-
your training has done more than test
your strength and courage. 1t has cul-
tivated your intellectS 30 that you have
grown strong, and are now able to push
forward alone, and to become masters
in whatever path you may choose. Let
me in q word advise you, push out
where others have not been; penetrate
the dense forests, and cross the broad
plains. Go anywhere, everywhere but
| let the stars of Heaven be your guide,
rather than the paths of men. There
never was q period in the history OF
education when young men and young
women of independent thought and
action were in so great demand. The
world is full Of copying clerks. But
| the demand Is great for those who can
produce something to be copied. Look
where you will there Is permanent
| and growing demand for research after
new truths. And this demand Is not
| confined to what is popularly called
| science, but Is one broad as the domain
| Of knowledge herself. Only q few de-
cades ago it was generally thought that
/ q teacher need know but little more
l than he taught. A teacher in the country
/ school needed but little more than q
country school education. But with
I the UNPRECEDENTED material progress
| which we have made during the last
half century, progress in educational
lines has also been great, and the pub
lie demand has not been far behind.
4 The country school teacher to day must
1 be q graduate of q high school or an
4 academy, the high school teacher must
have college training, and the college
professor-Well, there is q rapidly in
creasing demand that he be, not only
learned and profound, but exceedingly
skillful and active in the discovery OF
new truths. The spirit or discovery
and invention is abroad In the land.
Where is there position in college or
university that has recently been filed
by an elderly, or even middle aged msn
Where is there q presidency that has
been flled by one Of theseT You can
not answer me, because there are none.
Il Is young men that are wanted, young
men of culture, ability, and above all
of Independence in thought and action.
! The last three years have witnessed
the opening OF three great universities
In America. One in the extreme east,
one equally distant to the west, and
/ one In the great Mississippi valley.
For the presiding of one q man was
chosen who is specialist in Psychol'
/ oVy. q man whose university education
had been finished not more than ten
years, but who in this short period had
thrown more real light on the hidden
and mysterious workings Of the mind
than ali American Psychologists had
done in the half century preceding:
For the presidency Of another greai
naturalist has been chosen, man WhC
is unsurpassed in vigor and enthusiasm
| I'm the prosecution OF investigations
along his chosen line OF work. For thC
presidency Of the third one was chosen
the Youngest OF the three, scarcely thlr
ty.six, and yet one who had the conra9'
! and the nerve to undertake.. and tn'
l enthusissm and force to successfully
4 ..nauok tha unoaf difflculk aducatiOna