The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1895-06-20
THE ALUMNI ADDRESS.


THE AIJJNNI ADDRESS.
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hacbie, as delivered before the alumni
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ANN Matcl'
But TINS institution OF iS91 IS not the
institution that we knew. AS the strength
OF our oak whose branches are stretching
towards the SKY ana whose roOts are
graphing closer ana deeper into the earth
is TO that OF the slender shruD heIore II
mas teasted upon sunshine anu shower;
rs the beauty OF rounded ana perfected
Womanhood Is TO that OF chiiu4Qo9' so is
the strength ana beauty OF TINS University
as compared TO that we Knew
But while cOngrat ulating ourselves upon
this happy condition and growth in the
past we should also be mindful that the
present has its due proportion of respOn-
sbility and the future its just share Of
labor if this condition shall be maintained.
This University is the creature, the off
spring Of the State, the conception of the
fathers who wrought out the fabric of
this commonwealth, who. amid tolls and
sacrifice, implanted its foundations deep
in liberty's soil and moistened it with their
best blood. True, the entity itself, the
towering mass of brick and mortar that
we see is of recent growth, but the germ
of which this material product is the inn
perfect fruitage was planted long before
this State was in the thrOes of revolution,
while i was staggering under the shock
of conflicting arms, before the Alamo had
taught the lesson of how heroes could ac-
cept defeat and death without tremor
and make them stepping stones to imper-
ishable glory, and before San JacntOs
plain had been consecrated by its baptism
of blood to the sacred cause of liberty
evermore the thought of giving to Texas
an educational system worthy of her
name and commensurate with her glory
had its birth. In her declaration of indie
pendence 1t was proclaimed that Mexico
had failed to establish any system of
public instruction, although possessed of
almost boundless resources, and although |
1t is an axiom in political science that un- |
less people are educated and enlightened. |
it is idle to expect the continuance of civil |
liberty, or the capacity for self-govern- |
ment." This thought of establishing a |
complete educational system of which the
University must be the head was not
possible of immediate fulfillment. The |
forests must be felled, the valleys must be
upturned, the plains must be made musi-
cal with the hum of industry, and civil-
cations advancingand resistless tread must
drive before it the merciess savage ere
the seed of 1886 could terminate and de-
velop. You have today the result of 80
years of consideration and effort, this
University of Texas. invite your atten-
ton tonight to the consideration of a few
practical suggestions, presented without
attempt at aught beyond simplicity and
honesty, relative to the duty of the State
to this institution and the reciprocal duty
and obligations that the alumni of such
institutions owe to the State itself. In this
age. and in this State a university is a
necessity. In the first place it is the
browning glory of the public school system
and paradoxcal as it may seem. the sta
bility of the system depends upon the
fixedness and permanency of this topmostI
rock. The educational system of Texasl
is like mountain. with the University
as its towering summit. Yet the heavens
send their rains to the base alone, and the
waters gather in stagnant pools or are
carried away to the sea, while the noun
tain itself groans in the agony of its thirst
and the verdure is stripped from its sides
and the summit is made bleak and bare.
But let the rains fall upon its crest and
down through crevice and rift. through
gloomy grotos where imprisoned spirits
dwell, through silent pools where bean
teous nymphs look down upon their mir
rored loveiiness, the element of life de-. q
sends and the dead seed are 0uickened
with its robe Of verdTrn and ha"m nt
If our educational system. Yon can nor