The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-06-16

Despite the heat a good audience
was on hand in University assembly
hall at IL O'Clock to hear the opening
exercises of the third day of COM
naencement week.
THE MORNING PROGRAM
was as follows:
MUSIC.
Band of the Twenty third Infantry U 5. A.
Undergraduate Honors Announced by the
chairman OF the Faculty, Prof Leslie
Waggener, LII ID.
Masters Address, Daniel Allen Penick b. A.
Subject THE Value of the Classics
in all Education"
MUSIC
Faculty Address. Prof Joseph Baldwin,, LID.
Subjeci: Educational Economy
MUSIC
Al nOuncemcnts.
MUSIC.
Promptly at IL o'clock the faculty
filed up the west aisle of the hall and
took seats on the stage. A few min
utes later The board of regents,
headed by DR.. Wooten, followed suit
up the east aisle. After a, exquisite
piece of music by the famous Twenty
third Infantry band of San Antonio,
DR.. Waggener read long list of honors
conferred on the undergraduates in
all classes and in all the departments.
Then after music Mr.. Penick of Aus
tin in easy, graceful and forcible style,
delivered the following excellent
"Master's Grafton" Subject:
THE VALUE OF THE CLASSICS IN AN
EDUCATION.
The secret of modern advancement,
as far as opinin goes, consists in
throwing aside anything that may
have been in the past an important
integer in the worlds civilization.
Yes, even in its very existence, to take
up something new, something that
excites the curiosity and interests the
common herd. From the comm on
atty come the sustenance and wealth
of mankind. Such are the things that
men desire and must have, hence
their strenuous and continuous adj
vocacy for something new. Though
the old may furnish tn m the solid
foundation for everything refined and
cultured in life; though the old may
furnish the material with which to
ennoble Themselves and their neigh
bors; though the old may have sup
piled mankind with all it has had in
the past, which is of a heightened
mature, and holds out the same
prospect for the future; though the
old be the pure essence of true, up
right and noble life, the dismission of
) which would seriously affect the posi-
tion which truly ambitious man
would prefer to occupy; still, in the
face of all this, the old must be sacri-
feed and it's place given to something
new; something of which nothing is
known; something which points to
worldly ACKNOWLEDGMENT, though
there be no certainty; something
which seeks to overthrow all our
established principles, though there
be no certainty; something which
seeks to Undermine our religion,
though there be no certainty; some
thing which says our fathers were
brutes, and that in time we will be
like them, though there be no GER
tainty. Do not understand that obiec-
tion is raised to investigation. No;
without investigation all modern con-
veniences would not be enjoyed; with
out investigation a backward
progress would be the fate
of all as far as concerns
man in the physical world; without
Investigation, the world would be one
teaming mass of useless and unwieldy
humanity, not knowing how to COM
municate, with one another, ignorant
of the cures for each othor's ailments,
each man an obstacle to his neighbours
progress, thereby presenting scene
of universal confusion; without
investigation the proper application
of the old to the new, or of the new to
the old, would be impossible. And
there lies the whole secret-the union
of the two.
The old is the ancient classics. The
new Is the modern sciences. tn argue
that all our attention should be paid
to Latin and Greek would be absolute
folly. To agrue that no attention
should be paid to Latin and Creek
would be more than folly, yet such is
the folly of modern civilization. The
reasons which urged the
EARLY ENGLISH SCHOLARS
to devote . lifetime to the classics can
not now be urged. Wehaveno common
universal Latin tongue, in which all
scholars are wont to express their
thoughts; no universal literary lam
guage urges us to return to Greek, the
source of that which all education was
wont to use, which all learned trea-
ties employed as their vehicle. But
we have still the Latin and the Greek,
and, though modern cranks will not
own and recognize it, without the
Latin and the Greek there would be
no modern science.
What say you. Why, the idea of
getting any good out of dead Ian
guage! Who would engage bust
ness clerk on his knowledge of Greek?
What invention ever resulted from a
knowledge of Greek What fortune
was ever amassed by knowledge of
Greek? Yes, but think moment.
Do you know the difference between
APPRENTICESHIP AND EDUCATION =?
Let man become apprenticed as an
engineer, carpenter, lawyer, and
he must devote his whole time to that
one thing, for he cannot be sufficiently
proficient in all to cope with opposi-
ton in this age of specialties.
And even here the need for
Latin and Greek is apparent. Even
though few of the trades and pro-