The Lewiston teller. (Lewiston, Idaho) 1900-1905, 1902-05-22
n;eh School commencement.

.sr;an church where the high school ex-
.~c;ses were held. The church was
wilderness of flowers and foliage. The
floral tribute to graduates were many
and almost equally distributed. The in
strumental music Of the evening was
furnished by Kellar's orchestra and the
vocal music by ladies' double quartette
composed of Misses Waldman and Knep
per and Mesdamaes Barnett. Shaft,
thompson, Boston, Wright and Durbin.
Messrs Reed, Hurlbut. Beach and Schubert
furnished quartet Of male voices render
inc several selections in admirable style.
President McConkey of the school
board presented the diplomas to the
class.
Hon. Miles S. johnson addressed the
class and in the five minutes talk gave
them and his hearers food for serious
thought. He said:
SIN 1883 my grandfather. on my moth
er's side, who was a graduate Of Yale,
came to Oregon City, from New York, as
the president of what am informed, is
the first college ever established ON the
Pacific coast; and my fathers people
came to Oregon in 1886, and it seems but
Yesterday since attended the High
school at Portland, and, having never
lived east of the Rockies, am proud of
the west. l love the heaven-kissed
mountains that tower above us and make
us realize how enthusiastically small is man
as compared to the universe. The rains aud
dews from heaven falling upon Mother
Earth to burst forth again in springs Of
pure, sparkling, healthful, ife-giving
water, and it trickles down the mountain
side, all nature seems to rejoice and myr-
lads of wild flowers start forth to teachus
how beautiful is nature; and as the waters
Join with the waters of other springs, such
magnificent rivers as the Clearwater,
Snake, Willamette and Columbia, which
serve man as carrier of the produce he
has been the means of creating, we feel
that everything in nature has its purpose
and its mission to perform, and, unlike
atmosphere that hangs like q pail over
most OF the stuffy eastern cities, we here
breathe pure air, warmed by the Japan
current, and impregnated with nothing
but the perfume of flowers.
In the Judgment of Bacon the true poet
forms his limitations of nature after a
model of ideal perfection which perhaps
has no existence but in his own mind.
But, my friends, If you are lovers of ma
ture and will but spend a portion of your
time east, after having lived west, and
then return. there will be no need of your
forming in your minds limitations of ma
ture since nature will so present Itself.
in all its wonders that language will be
inadequate to describe its glory.
The study OF nature is elevating and as
one Of our poets aptly says:
One impulse from vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral, evil and Of good,
Than all the sages cam
"And it has been truthfully said tina.
Nature is the art of God.'
dwell on the lesson of nature-why?
Because you know and know, and
everybody else knows. that the constant
presentation of virtue through beauti-
ful, attractive and clear cut illustrations
train the mind of man to the acceptance
and practice of that virtue as a child is
trained by the example of the parent,
and II we can keep in close tonch with
nature and obey natures laws we will
perforce become better citizens and will
be better equipped to perform our part in
the great work the All-wise Creator Sc
lects us to perform
While ever since the creation of man.
kind has liberty been thought of and
speculateds about, but not until the star
spangled banner floated in the breeze was
liberty caught up in humanity's embrace
and the mists and fogs of time removed
IN order that the monumental character
OF free, selfdependent manhood might
shine out as living picture to the re-
hottest ages and be as bright as the great
Jupiter. sinctilating amidst the tiny
twfnklings or the lesser orbs Of night.
Here the free spirit of mankind, at
length.
Throws its letters off; and who shall place
A limit to the giants unclaimed strength
Or curb his swiftpess in the forward racer
Our forefathers wisely concluded that
ing him indeed and in fact an integral
part of the whole would develop noble
citizenship and that government founded
upon love and self interest would be far
more stable than one founded upon a
theory of force and might, and as the
youth of today is the statesman of to-
morrow, and as the foundation of our
government is the grandest of human
conception. it devolves upon us to build
not alone for the present, but for the vast
future. 1t is with pride that we can
truthfully say that our instructed citizens
equipped for mental work surpass in
grade and number those of any other ma
ton. past or present; and that the stock
from which our citizens descended
sturdy, honest, and intelligent = i'm
proved under the institutions Of this ia.
vored land has developed population
whose character and attainments will
never find rival beneath the stars. It
n ~ n v~aak e. n