The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1893-07-27
A GOOD ADDRESS.
DELIVERED By PRESIDENT CRAIG
HEAOOF CLEMSON COLLEGE.

On the OpeEtpg Day Of that Grand Intt-
stitution-The Ussa and benefits OF
AertcuIt".Ai Colleges bly, Set Forth.
1t impossible to give the speech in
full, but the following extracts VIII
show what u grand Grafton IT. was
There is no more inspiring spectacle
on earth than that of life wrestling
with its foes. The bird rebuilding it's
storm shattered nest, the spider recon
structing its brokon web, and even the
unfeeling tempest-tOrn oak driving
deeper into the earth its upturn roots,
elicit our admiration, and inculcate les
SONS worthy Of imitation. Specially do
human btsegs struggling to free them
selves, and to walk out into the broad
light of liberty. deserve the sympathy
and admiration OF the brave and magma
nimous. 1t is not simply in the hour
of supreme and glorious triumph that
nations or individuals deserve our ad-
miration, but it is also in the hour Of
darkness and defeat, when the proud
spirit, refusing to cover or whine,
takes up once more the load OF life.
No laurel-croWned victor of the Olym-
pic games, chieftain homeward turn
ing from victorious battle ever deserved
the homage due tC him, who, though
defeated, reCOlectS his latent strength
and marches once more into the con
tlict. Germay was great when William
l led his victorious legiOnS under the
trimuphal arch of Napoleon the first,
but far crater was the Germany of
Fichte, which, though conquerd by the
COrScan, began to ponder the problem
of her schools that defeat into a grand
and glorious victory. Ere the last
Frenchman had deserted the German
capital, her statesmen and educators
had on foot a plan for the foundation
OF a great national university, Il uni
VerSity which was to permeate I'LL Ger
man life and thought and which is to-
day world wide in fame and influence.
This was herOSm this was state Sman-
ship.
Three hundred years ago the city of
Leyden was beSiegCd 10y the SDaniardS
For long and weary months the Dutch
refused to yield, although starvation
stared them in the face. So brave and
heroic was the defense of Leyden that
when the SpaniardS were at last re-
pulsed the states OF Holland granted to
the citv immunity from t3Xation. Her
citizens refused the offer, asking instead
fer great school, a university, which
tor tW| hundred years WAS the most
famous in Europe.
That was herOiSm. That was states
manShip. For Il thousand years France
has been land rich in heroic deeds, in
song and story; but in all her marVell-
Gus history her same has never shown
more reSplendent than in that hour of
degradation and defeat, when the whole
nation arose as one man and rolled off
the incubus of her war debt, Il debt
amounting to q Thousand million dol
lars. 1t was then that her statesmen
and educators, realizing that it was the
schools of Germany that conquered at
Sedan, that France had been defeated
by Kant and FiChte, by Goethe and
Shiller, by Humboldt and lIelmholtZ
and Gauss, as we'll as by Mollte and
William, began the work of national
regeneration 10y organizing a complete
system of public instruction beginning
with the humbleSt district school and
running on up to her great national
university. That was hrroiSm, that
: was sta! cSmanShip. and France Of to-
day is grea' er than was France under
the Empire.
But to return home, tn" Northern
army marching hOmeWar'l amd the
beating of drums and the waving Of
victorious banners was Il spectacle less
grand than that Of the ragged and
starving veterns Of Lee, who with sad
and aching hearts returned to their
deSOlated lireSldeS and dlSdaining to
pine or whine rebuilt their rulneI
homes, transformed blood stained bat
tie grounds into waving fields of gol-
den grain.
This was hcro' m, that heroism which
has ever distinguished the people of
South Carolina, that herOlSm which
llayne declared inVinciDlr. that herUiSm
which Sh0ne, resplcndant upon every
page OF the first severity years Of Caro-
lina's hist OIy, that hcroism that never
paled during all the darkness and de
ISOLATION Of iOur long Years Of civil war,
that herOlSm which, when the war was
over, "made bricks ont Of straw and
spread SplendOr" amid the rains of
blackened hOmeSteadS, that heroism
that flashed out again in Seventy-siX
when a band of CarulInians, as brave
as the SpartanS who guarded the gates
OF Thermopylae, planted themselves in
our State Capitol and drove from her
Legislative halls greedy herd of con-
temtlble carpet baggers and brsotted
slaves.
That was heroism and Carolina after
1876 was greater and graHder han the
Carolina of ante.bt llum days. liut the
work OF reconstructiOE and of re.
generation hasnOt yet enGeG.
Begln anew; ever anew should be the
WatchWord of great people. AS long
as we but sleep and cat content with
our fathers solution of the great prob.
lens of life. so long is all progress i'm.
possible. Human nie IS as barren 40
Sahara Of fruit.
The geLeratiOn OF men are, as old
Homer puts il like the leaves of The
trees which fan and renew them.
selves without amcliOration or change.
Hector returning home from the
tumult of battle to bid a laSS farewell
to AndI omaChc i9 to me the most
touching and inspiring picture in an
cient literature. Laying aside the lofty
plume, that grimly nodded from its
hOrse-hair crest, Hector, the nightlIeSt
soul of all the Greeks, took up his in
fant boy and dangling him in his arms
prayed thus TO Jove and all the gods
"Oh Jove and all ye goods, grant that
this my son may be better than his
farther was" May this, my friends,
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