The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-05-31
delivered by Mr.. G. B. Rookie, of Florence

S. C.
In bidding farewell to his class mate
he spoke of the swiftly passing years
Time is short and we must seize the day
The world is full of work for us, in our
own State vast changes are taking place,
industrial and educational. The Old North
State is aroused and her people are de-
manding that the curse of illiteracy be
forever removed.
World wide changes are taking place
A great thought stirs the soul of humanity,
deep in the breast of men is a response
to that command of ages ago, Let there
be light In the East a mighty empire
is being reused from its millenial slum-
ber Throughout the world the sentiment
prevails that the tyranny of ignorance
must be overthrow and in one grand
phalanx this nations are moving onward
to the contest.
He babe farewell to the faculty, thank
ing them for their faithful service, and
spoke a parting word to the student body
and the people on the HILL In bidding his
Alma Mater farewell he said: we know
that in future years we shall often think
of the pleasant strolls along her classic
walks; visions of her ivy-mantled walls
and restfuI shades will often come before
us. When the sad September tints again
the forest foliage with the autumnal
shades we shall think Of the glad re-
union at old Wake Forest and long to
be there. But that chapter in our lives is
closed, to all these pleasant scenes and
to Wake Forest College we must bid fare
WE'LL"
THE GRADUATING CLASS.
The graduates are as the following:
Masters of Arts-J. @. Adams, w. d.
Adams, " G. Coffey, j. l. carp, H. e..
Flack. W. T.. Fry, Fl. Trantham.
Bachelors of Arts--J. @. Adams, w. ID.
Adams, B. w. Allen, A. r. Aubrey, G. T.
Brandon, j. F. Gale, w. Gale, L. Getting
ham, ]. l. carp, II. e. Flack. r. e. Flack,
S. G. Flournoy, N. L. Gaskins, f. 0. Huff
man, ]. L. Jackson, c. N. Peeler, ]. B.
Powers, G. B. Rookie, r. II. Royal, r. e.
Sentelle, w. w. T. Sorrells, T. r. Taylor
E. w. Undertake S. A. Underwood, Jesse
A. Williams, JOS A. Williams, S. B. Will
son.
Bachelor of Law-H. A. Kornegay.
Address of President Taylor to gradual
ing class:
Young Gentlemen: You have just re-
ceived the diplomas which are to serve
as your credentials as Masters and Bach
elors. For several centuries these titles
have authenticated attachments in Ian
guage science literature, and philosophy
But originally they were the offspring of
feuGaI ideas and customs and they have
not yet lost all the suggestivesess of
knighthood The Magister Arthur is
survival from the Magister Equitum, and
the Arts Bachelor of the Knight Bach
elor
las knights, therefore, who have just
received your accolade, ] address to you
my parting words. But you are knights,
not of the twelfth, but of the twentieth
century Not with lance and sword, and
coat of mail, not for mere adventure or
for guerdon of chivalric glory, go you
forth into a wider arena of life. The
medieval knight was called cavalier
or chevalier from the name Of the ami
NAL which he bestrode. But, as man
is more than a brute, so is humanity more
than chivalry.
Young knights of the twentieth cen
fury, | counsel you to bear ever in mind
that your talents and acquisitions are not
to be regarded as selfish possessions, but
as a trust, for whose use you will be held
responsible. The people have right to
look to college graduates to be leaders
leaders in lettering the political, econom-
ical, social, educational and religious
condition of all classes and races-lead-
ers in aggressive warfare upon evil
whether in high places or in low. And
for you to wrap yourselves in sloth or
selfish ease and to deny to others your
very best of wisdom knowledge, labor
and endurance would be a denial of right
full claims.
''And in order that you may accomplish
much for others and for yourselves, let
me remind you that you must be un-
firing workers. The price of achieve
ment is labor. The world is neither lot
terry nor bargain counter of cheap rem
nants. Specialized and painstaking prep
aration is an essential prerequisite. A few
months of superficial reading or training
for professional or business activities is
not enough You must build soundly on
your soundly laid foundations. Once in a
while a quack may find his way to some
need of the world. But only because nine
ty-nine honest men have made medicine
a science law a system of justice, and
the ministry a holy calling. Spurious
coin passes because there is so little of it.
The world may be fooled or cajoled now
and then by shrewdness or knavery, but,
after all, our dispensaton is one of
equivalents and two and two do not make
FIVE
CAS- true knights you will be patient
Blessed is that youth who has the heart
to begin at the bottom and win his way
upward. The true glory of manhood is
not in having but in doing and getting
not in posing upon a pedestal of honor
able position, but in carving ones way to
it by ceaselesS effort Attention to de-
tails makes success in the lump. lie
who is recognized as an efficient worker
on the lower levels will discern beck
oning to come up higher. AS a rule, those
who have the soft places are the men who
have done their best in hard places. But
if promotion fingers, what then? Nj
the same, it is faithfulness that counts.
While we are gathered here today, there
is another great assemblage in our met
ropoitan city to assist" at the dedication
of a Hall of Fame. That assemblage will
have it's thoughts drawn perforce to men
whose achievements in peace and war
have enrolled them in the brief list of