Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1899-06-15

OC06Q CC OCed0, y uQe, tho DOntn Ot roses
is pro.empted for their special benefit,
and graduating exercises are thick as
leaves in Vallambrosa; nevertheless,
along with this discoEfting thought,
another truth runs parallel that in the
nature Of some things, double quality
inheres, that of being old and yet for
ever new. When spring comes llnger.
iogly over the fields, we do not stay our
rapturous delight TO consider that her
years date back to the prlmeval ages;
nor when winter passed, we catch the
first mellow notes Of the meadow lark,
do we pause to reflect that at some
anterior date We have heard the same
thing. And go with the accessories Of
this occaslon, the expectancy the music
the flowers, all these have been before,
but for US tonight, they have in them a
new significance, the charm of fresh
creation.
All who are familiar with the course
of study in our schools will understand
it is no light task, that az graduates you
have accomplished. "There Is no royal
road to learn,ng;"it it has been ploddlng
work, steady grind for months and
years slowly, but surely, you have passed
from grade to grade, until we find you
the guests OF honor, the graduates OF '99.
The day that you have looked forward
to 90 long with mingled feelings of hope
and fear, will be in the future, q day
that you can look back to with pride
and pleasure. You have won to your.
selves a good degree, and as fellow towns.
men, upon whom falls the reflected
light of your success, We delight to
houor you. Every pupil in every grade
OF our schools, will, we believe, feel the
influence of your accom- mpliehed work,
and 10 every home in the community,
the possibilities that are open to it's
members. will, We think be more fully
realized. You receive your diplomas
near the close of the 10th century, You
will therefore, enter upon the activities
OF lite in the dawn Of the Goth. It is
grand time to live. The dust ia not al
lowed to settle anywhere; everything
moves on 40 with the rush OF mighty
wings. A grand time to live, but the
are high, the exsotions
severe, tho weak must 60 to the wall.
there will be ''only the survival OF the
6ttest." Gibbon, the historian, said,
''svery person has two educatioos, one
which be receives from others, one more
important. which he gives himself" In
this view Of tho case, from having been
puplle, you now become teachers Of
yourselves.
However crowded your lives may be,
you will doubtless always find time to
do what you like to do, but the measure
Of your success may depend largely on
your ability to do what may be distate.
tul and even repugnant.
Some gifts and benefits come to us by
birth and some by environment. but all
that is truly valuable and fitted to with.
stand the ravsRes Of time will be won
by personal exertion, often at what
seems fearful odds, and IN the loneliness
of sinRle combat. You are inheritors
of the common lot; you will have joye,
you must have sorrows. Success will
cone at times, and alas, dismal failures,
bat remember, that in and out and
q -ound your lives. unfolding them like
q goIIen web, is the divinity that
shapes the end" You are in no way
debarred, no law of God or man shuts
you of from appropriating to your
selves, providing you have the requisite
industry and perseverance,, the best the
world has to give-culture, fame, for.
tune. ITO the victor belong the epoils
1t is true that along the centuries. here
and there, We lind individuals so muni1-
Gently endowed that exertion seeme a.
most unnecessary to their success, but
ordinarily genius is only the result OF
sustained effort. of work when others
Dl6ys 6uU VI UOll "u0u uuoy AooV ~ VII
be we'll to have this fact clearly stamped
on your minds, for the result OF your
life work can in no way be truthfully
attributed to chance, or to the action OF
the stars.
The impulse is strong upon me to
Improve the occasion" to specialize.
in the matter OF good advice, but as We
all know, the whole is greater than any
OF it's parts. I will sum up in the quaint
language OF the Csteohism: Learn to
do your duty in that state Of life unto
which it shall please God to call you.
Passing, now, from the guardianship
OF our schools into the wider sssocis.
ton OF the alumni, and freiRhted With
our best hopes and wishes. ve bid you
God speed.