Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1901-06-26
Graduating Essay.

Graduating Essay.
 The following is the essay delivered by Miss Etta Puntenney at the ex- ereises given by the. graduates and pupils of St. JosepR's a6ademy at the opera house on Thursday evening its title being "We who are about to sail salute you"
 Life's mighty ocean rolls it's surge before us,
 The restless tide flows outward to the sea; And we with beating hearts upon its waters
 Must now embark, for outward bound are we.
 In perusing the pages of history we read that when the gladiators of ancient Rome filed int5 tie arena, they passed before the throne of Caesar and cried aloud, "We who are about to die, salute thee," but tonight as the class of 1901 passes out from St. Joseph's academy, our brows
 flushed high with youthful ambition and our edgef 9azs fixed en the calm surface of the future, we pause brief moment before launching our little craft away from the shipyard, and voicing a glad welcome to our assem- bled guests this evening we cry out with the most bouyant hope, ''We who are about to sail; salute you"
 We have crossed the shallow and placid stream and now the deep and rushing torrent lies before us; We launch our frsil bark away of the stocks, away from the master builders hands. We have been riding in har- Dor but tonight the anchors are weighed, the cables cut and slowly we drop together down the tide. A few hours and these futtering sails will be tiny, fading speeks, drifting to- ward the goal.
 Long and anxiously have we looked forward to this hour but now we re- alize that We leave the safe harbor of our dear and cherished school to go to battle with wind and wave. Our own eyes must in future watch the com pass and scan the chart. Our own hands must hold the rudder. But since we know that the port of sue cess is reached only by embarking in the ship called Venture, we under take this voyage bravely, and whether we be carried by the wind of pros perity or followed by the cruel wave of diversity, it matters not. We are determined to act our part in the great drama of life, coGfageously, nobly. as becomes pupils of dear St. Joseph's.
 There are before us tonight, those who hold special claims on our grati- tude, kind friends whose interest in our progress and appreciation of our efforts have drawn them hither.
 To the exercises of 190l's last day of school life we bid you all welcome. As we move of this stage of duty our places will be quickly filled by others. We welcome you, our school mates of the advancing class. Together we have drunk from the fountain of knowledge, and as we leave you We take this occasion to hand you down the ''robe of extended wisdom and ex- perience," as the mantle orator phrases it. You are to enjoy the advantages we have enjoyed may you improve them better. You are to fill the places we now vacate-may you fill them more worthily.
 Kind teachers, if it be a joyto know that your labor has not been in vain, that the seeds of kindness and germs of knowledge which you have so pa tiently and perseveringly endeavored to instil into our minds and hearts will bear abundant fruit, may that pleasure be yours in the fullest meas ure.
 Our life work lies before us; life 1 of the highest endeavor can alone re- pay the debt we owe our Alma Mater | May the years of rougher schooling that awaits us be as rich in treasures of affection as these have been.
 We go tearfully from our loved | class room. We sever tonight, per haps forever, the sacred ties that bind us to that loved enclosure, and to the | dear friends who have guarded and l guided us. Now we bitterly regret | that many of our duties have been ill., performed and that great opportuni ties are, so to speak, swallowed up in the irrevocable past. But the hours of the present are golden, and the of the happy days spent together will ever brighten the way before us as we press with confidence and hope into the future.
 ''Oh friends of childhood's hours whose true
 affection
 Lent such charm to all the sunny past, Let but your prayers gowith us on our voyage
 That we may anchor safely at the last. No parting words. nOsad farewells be spoken,
 For when life's storm and strife at last isO'er With hearts but stronger made by pain and
 trial,
 We'll meet in love on that eternal shore