The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-06-03
Address OLF E1O6G9
Vy1[L[L1NNl9 [lo VY1Ll3Wb1

W
Washington and Lee University, OF Vr-
.rinia. to-day delivered the commence
ment address before the two societies.
The auditorium was packed with people
from all parts of the State, and the
sneaker was warmly congratulated at the
close of his thoughtful and scholarly de-
liverance.
Mr.. Wilson spoke as follows:
Mr.. President, Gentlemen of the Faculty
and Students, Ladies and Gentlemen;
This University, as | learn from the
inaugural address of President Alder
man. has life coeval with the life OF our
constitutional government 1t owed Its
foundation doubtless to the belIef, so
earnestly entertained and so often acted
unon nv the fathers of the Republic, that
their work was foredoomed to the tali-
nre which had overwhelmed all similar
work in the past. unless the free govern
ment they established could be buttressed,
for all time. by the school house, the
college and the university. Hence the
men who founded commemorative,
founded schools, and every North Caro-
lima name. that was signed to the Fed
eral Constitution in 1877, speedily re
appeared among the trustees of the uni
yersity in its charter of 1853.
Beginning with such patrons and dedl-
Gated to such service. it would be strange
indeed if we did not find, among the
names of its alumni, not few that are
honorably written on the history of North
Carolina and of the American Union.
And now deeply rooted in the past, Sc
lv Hx-o1 in
and confidence of the people of the com
monwealth this university faces the fu-
ture with higher purposes, far better
equipment for its great work. and
graver consequent responsibility, than
in any of the hundred years of it's use
full existence.
OF all the cheering statements in Presl-
dent Alderman's address, none, in my
Judgment, throws so certain and bright
an augury over that future, as his emu
meration of the young men. who, by their
own efforts. and in part by occupations
which. if not dignifed by high purpose.
might almost be called mental, are work
ing their way. through difficulty and OBJ
stace, to university education. and to
the power. influence and responsibility
which university education brings IN
democratic country. From such youths
we nave learned I'D eAIfccI Ihcy
have enriched every field of human en-
deavor Self-reliance energy and en-
thusiasm are the great forces of the
world, and, when directed to worthy pur-
pose. and enlightened and guided by in
tellectual and moral training, win vic
tories and achieve results that add to the
progress and happiness of mankind. The
state that clears, from the pathway of
her sons, barriers too great for their
strength. but leaves obstacles that put
that strength to its greatest tension. is
raising a hardy progeny for her own
service and for the service Of mankind.
They pass from the training school to the
arena of action seasoned and hardened
for its buffeting and with a self reliance
and resolution that weaken before no
difficulty and ought TO surrender to no
wrong.
Nations as well as individuals oftener
win the power and greatness by a strug-
gle with reluctant nature, than by the
free gift of her bounties The richest
and most populous part of the United
States today is that region which owes
most to its own efforts and little to ma
ture except granite and ice" The peo-
pie of Holland, as Motley tells us,
wrought and struggled in a country dis
inherited by nature of its rights, until
a region, outcast of ocean and of earth,
wrested from both domains their richest
treasure, and was gradually transform
ed, by human perseverance and mastery,
into land of wealth, refinement and
matchless prosperity, a center of world
wide commence, a hive of industry and a
patron of art, science and learning. And
far more significant, "a race engaged for
generations in a stubborn conflict with
al 70 ,-9i.aHyc ffy1 In
eating itself for its great struggle with
the still more savage despotism of man."
The unconscious education that comes
10 young men, from early struggle, is
generally the most valuable part of their
training, for it generates the force that
can grasp and concentrate all other
training and knowledge for the accom-
plishment of difficult results. It was the
boast of Ulysses that his little island was
Il rough, wild nurseland, but its crops
were men. Men may may be produced
III happier environment, but men are
produced when Unborn virtues are forced
into mortal struggle with adverse cir
cumstances. And out of such struggles
only is freedom born.
If the builders of the American Union,
sustained more by hope and faith than by
the past history of mankind, acted on the
principle that a people, to be free, must
take their government into their own
hands, the builders of both the Union
and the university acted on the principle,
founded alike in reason and experience,
that self government was a task too
great to be entrusted to weak and ignor-
ant hands. Whatever this school may
accomplish for general and professional
training, it has still other ends to ac-
eomplish. 1t may disseminate sound
learning, widen the domains of science,
add to the felicities of social intercourse
by the graces and charms of culture and
good breeding, strengthen the ministra-
tions of religion, but the circle of its OBJ
legations is not complete. 1t may fit the
young men of North Carolina to become
intelligent planters, successful mer-
chants, scholars and teachers, clergymcn,
physicians and lawyers, but it must like