The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-06-19
PECK ELOQUENT.
The Illinois Kansan Speaking
Today in Georgia.
The Orator at the Commence
ment Exercises of
THE STATES COLLEGE
education is a Power; Educa-
tiOn is a Growth"
Saw Atlanta a Ruin; Again in
Regal SplendOr.
THE STATES COLLEGE

Athens. Ga, June 19.-The Hon. George
r. Peck. of Chicago. delivered an address
at the commencement of the University
Of Georgia today. He said:
Scholarship AND PATRIOTISM.
When you asked me to speak before the
Alumni Of This venerable institutiOn-this
Cherishing mother of so much that is best
and greatest in Georgia history felt that
the Invitation meant far more than it
said. It meant that dreams come true
1t meant that north and south no longer
nurse their sad and tragic memories, but
having watched out the night, Joyfully
welcome the advancing day. And it meant
also. that when those who once were enc
mics look into each others eyes they see.
only the same natures, the same hopes
and the same faith.
am a northern man and every drop OF
blood in my veins has coursed through
generations of Puritans. Nay, more; as if
TO show that the age of chivalry is not
gone, and to give your courtesy a deeper
significance. there was a time when I
stood in arms facing the brave soldiers
Of the south even here IN Georgia among
the hills and valleys you love so we'll L
have neither earned nor merited the honor
of addressing you, which by uniform Gus
tom has heretofore been given to some
son Of the university. But you asked me
to come and SO in plain fashion, 1 thank
you, and give you hand for hand and
heart for heart
You have graciously hidden me forget
the miles that separate this beautiful
shrine from my far-Off northern home.
You have made me believe that noun
tains and rivers serve more to unite than
10 divide. i bring you a salutatiOn and a
message. It is this: Let US remember
that BY stress which is stronger than
legal enactments, deeper and more sacred
than constitutions and statutes, we are
kinfOlk forevermore. Illinois and Georgia
are not so unlike as casual observer
might th1nk' certainly not more dlIIere1t
than are the people north of the Tweed
from those who till the fields and gardens
OF Kent and Surrey Language more than
latitude dominates the making of nations.
It has been my fortune to dwell in a land
of rigorous winters. and slow, reluctant
springs but III the CT0Cug and the butter
cup come to you before they visit US, their
beauty is not lessened because we must
longer wait their coming. Nature deals
out her bounty with a mothers equal
hand, yielding to each according to its
highest need. We have frosts while you
have flowers, but when the season has
run its course, do we not both look back
upon me peauty thaL mas ned ana iorWaF r
10 therbeauty that shall come again? My
people ask you, and 1 ask you in their
name. to count them as your own flesh
tons, and kindred in those great duties
which rest upon all alike as citizens of
the republic They are, I beg. YOU to be-
1ieve. very much like you, brave and de-
termined in a quarrel but also like you,
generous and 1nagnanimous when it is
over 1t is time we should all understand
that there are no zones in human nature
The philosophy of life is not transient
and temporary, but must needs deal with
theepermanent and universal. North and
south have passed the boundary that sep
arates local pride from national pride
and now under compulsion which Meth
er can and neither would resist, they bow
to the august present, and move forward
I do not like to speak of sections; those
geographical divisions which. after all
aretseparated only by invisible lines. In
that which is perfect all the parts are per
Iect. The eye can not say to the hand,
/ have no need of you Here in this
beautiful retreat. where science and learn
ing have held their sway so long we may
we'll be dedicated to the things that are
not Of a day, but for all time Surely the
members of THIS society were here dedi-
Gated, to that which IS better than mere
personal ease. and comfort. and better
thanf floating aimlessly on placid waters
unVeXed by wave or current. Since your
granuattOn, as you have felt the pres
sure Of experience in its actual concrete
form, the. truth has doubtless come home
10 you as IL does to most Of US, that il
We 90 not choose the strenuous life, Il
will choose US. and since we must be il
II, 1t is better to resOlutely lead than t.
be dragged captive into a contest we dc
not love, but can not avoid. All the
world admires courage, but how few I'm.
derstaud that courage is only faith crys
talltged into action.
When 1 think of the many great son:
Of the south, famous in council and II
held, who have been nurtured here,
hesitate to utter the thoughts that thi:
occasion suggests. Let me rather be
searcher with you for those truths which
make human existence worth our highes
effort Doubtless you were taught in these
scholastic halls that life would bring yol
many sofroWs and many rude awakentngs
The primrose path is not for him Wht
sees atar the goal Of high resolve. What
ever the university taught, and Whateve
IT left for the stern t1telage of experience
you have had some gloomy hours when i
seemed that men are only atoms in ;
great mechanism which little needs tn
particles that compose it. In the immen
sity OF the universe, the infinite sweep o
space and more profoundly mysterious
the infinite sweep of time, how useless
seems to battle against the things tina
are, or hope for the things that ought t
be. And yet, gentlemen, the race doe
move onward. Out of a weltering chaos
harmony and order are gradually evolved
and history is transformed from discOr