St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-06-07
GRADUATION DAYS.

School days are over for thousands of
young people. No longer will they he re.
Quired to pore over musty tones in search
OF knowledge. Their education is cOm-
plete. AT least they think it is, and the
diplomas they have received from the
principals of their schools testify that
they have well learned the lessons as
signed them and have merited the ap-
plause of their tutors and their fellows.
And perhaps majority of them fancy
that this is all true-that they have quail
flied themselves to grapple with and
overcome all the difficulties that may
beset them through life. Many believe
that they have already conquered a
place in business or letters, and that the
world is only waiting for their command
to fall down and worship them. They
have received the encomiums of their
teachers and the praises of their friends
for their proficiency, and seem to think
that the rest of the world will readily
acQuiesce in the partial verdict already
rendered. They forget that there are
other lessons to learn besides those
taught in the school room, and are not
aware of the fact that In this world
everything is not governed by rote.
The things that are taught in the
schools are but the rudiments of an ed
ucation. One learns to read and write
and cipher, bat he cannot learn how he
Can best deal with his fellow men to the
end that both may be protited. No bust
ness nowadays can be run according to
fixed laws; no profession can adhere
strictly to written rules or established
presidents. Circumstances differing in
different cases call for widely diverging
treatment of case, and not only the
laws that govern other instances of a
similar character must be understood,
but judgment must be exercised in de-
termlniug the best course of action. A
knowledge Of human nature is essential
under all conditions. and diplomacy,
boidness or tacta all required to evade
pitfalls OR TO overcome obstacles. The
world is not lump of clay waiting to be
nodded by the hands of a college gradu-
ate. 1t IS more like mass of lntracta-
BILE ore, containing much precious metal,
but requiring industry, skill and perse-
verance to extract it.
But the question is often asked: VIII at
will all these thousands of graduates do,
now that they are out of school? The
learned professions are already over
crowded. There are physicians in
plenty now in practice to cure twenty
worlds such as ours of all the ills that
flesh is heir to. There are clergymen
by the thousands who have no churches
over which they can preside. There
are almost as many lawyers as there are
litigaDts, and teachers are so plentiful
that the best are easily obtained at sala-
ries that day laborer would contempt
uously refuse. 1t is said that there is
always room at the top, but in the mad
rush to obtain foothold upon the lad
der of fame tens of thousands are yearly
crushed, and never even have the
chance to make beginning.
The education the youth receives at
college is merely preparatory to his real
education. 1t qualities him simply to
begin at the bottom of the business or
profession he may elect to follow. It
does not necessarily give him standing
in the community. That can be at
tanned only by patient endeavor and
untiring labor. The reward of the har.
vest does not fall unbidden into the lap
of the husbandman. 1t must be sought
earnestly and courted assiduoUsly. In
dolence is never profitable; slothfulness
is never prosperous. Intelligence and
education, allied with common sense
and application, will accomplish much,
and if the graduates OF the week shall
resolve to be guided by these considera.
tons they may hope for lives of
usefulness crowned with success,
but if they engage in the bat
tie of life under the delusion that
they already know all that is worth
knowing they will find themselves at a
woful disadvantage. For the world has
many shrewd and capable men who
never went to college, but who are ca
pable in every walk of life. and can
| give points to the best of the college
| graduates. These men are not to be sup
planted, but they may act as the instruct
Ors of their would-be successors in
| postgraduate course that may serve as
| all eye-opener to those who are filed
] with their own conceit and desire to
step from the ranks of their classes into
positions as leaders in society, in bust
! ness and in the professions. with un-
bounded confidence in their own ability
to revolutionize the world and achieve
FOR themselves renown before which the
fame of the heroes of past history shall
! fade into insignihcance.