The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-06-21
H, H. s. GRADUATION DAY
ESSAYS AND CITATIONS BY THE
 GRADUATING GLASS.

Charles F. Pnrk-Farewell Address nV John Lee GlIson-Excellent Music Under
 the Leadership of Professor Jepson.
 The graduation exercises of the class
 of 's5 Hillhouse high school were held
 at the Hyperion theater last evening,
 the big theater being completely filled with the friends and relatives of the
 members of the class. The class was
 seated on the stage. while Superlntend-
 ent Virgil G. Curtis and Principal Isaac
 Thomas occupied seats at the side of
 the stage. The board of education occu- pied seats in boxes and 2. Principal Thomas introduced the class
 with few appropriate remarks, after which the Song of the Vikings" glee,
 was rendered by the chorus.
 Frederick Benjamin Merrels tIhemde-
 livered anh horation entitled "The Best is Yet to be-the Last of Life for Which
 the First Was Made" It was as fol-
 lows:
 MIR. FREDERICK B. MERRELEs'
 PAPER.
 ''The best is yet to be-
 The last of life for which the frsttwas
 made"
 Men fin America grow old before their time. To-day they are and to-hnorrow they are not. Decrepitude, impaired faculties come to them when they
 should be in the full vigor oftmanhond. reaping the harvest of youth we'll spent It is not so in Europe There age brings with it added vigor-added energy of mind and body. There we see the perfect whole, the blest and honored Hast of life for which the first was made" Then, too, in Europe the old men are not pushed to thefwal1 as they are here in rushing. bustling America. The respect which is the just and rightful due of gray hairs is everywhere accorded thent for all can perceive that age brings with it wis dom and xperlence-vaIuable aids in counsel and in affairs of state. The old world has her Gladstone, her Bismarck, and had until recently her Won Moltke men who have grown old in their countries service, preserving in their old age all the virility of.their early manhood In this group of able men Gladstone stands first. His career has been remarkable one: while his tal- ents are many and varied. We may see on one page of the daily papers his last stirring speech to his constituents; and on another a review of his grace ful translations of the Odes of Horace Although he is well past four-score years he shows as much clear-headed- ness as many men of fifty; in fact there are few men of that age who can at all with him. He seems to be able to do almost anything that young men can accomplish. He will electrify the House of Commons with speech that thrills the assembled audience through and through, and turns the whole tide of affairs, and he will then go to his estate and chop down a tree with the vigorous blows of an athlete in the prime of his manhood His best ef- forts on the Irish question have been made within the past ten years, when most men in thiS country are obliged to give up active life for quiet and rest.
 This picture of vigorous old man, vigorous in intellect and in bodily strength, pfloting England-the power of the world-through the shoals and among the rocks of politics, is well worth looking at and studying. Ameri- ,ans would do well to look for the se- ,ret of such marvellous preservation of bower. The regimen which has made Gladstone what he is is to-day would be worth following-w making part f our education. Von Moltke, who lied at the age of ninety-one, was vig- 'rous and alert mentally and physical y to the time of his death, presenting he rare spectacle of an old nlan-as we Il America would class him-ably conn handing one of the greatest of the ar nies of the world. The life of Bis- narck is strikingly similar to that of Gladstone. For years he has been the and the leader of Germany, olding the helm of state until he had yell nigh reached four-score years; and ow, in his peaceful old age, his cour- ry pays him all honor and reverence, +ermany stands to-day among the owers of the world, and this position he has gained for herself through 1any disadvantages and struggles. When we think of the numberless petty terman states, each striving for inde- endent power. we in some measure re- liZe the greatness of the brain which as unified Germany. And to Bis larcks clear head and firm hand this largely due.
 In this country we have had absolute no instance of such duration of .rength both of mind and body. Of Il the presidents of the United Statee, 1ere is only one ex-president now liv- lg, and he has been out of office but a 1ort time. The man who was vice. resident with him is the only ex-yice- resident who is alive to-day. Almost Il our statesmen and generals have ed' comparatively young; and if they ave not died they have early lost most the qualities which made them fa- ous. Is there any cause for this? There Is the fault if there is one? We now that both the Germans and Eng sh are more phlegmatic in their tenn eraments and slower in their move- ents than we, and that the American 'e has grown to be one of continued ,citement. With the same thirst for id which made the first adventurefs elk the shores of the new world, Amer ans go on delving and toiling twenty UT hours a day, giving no rest to body
 brain--that they may accumulate oney If they love excitement and easure-as too anT-gdo-they add to