The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-06-16

N'NSS dAN AAbM illOIe eleCllNe ana Ile
costumes more attractive, and 1t may
be that the footlights CLEAN brighter,
put the play moves on just as it did.
II was of real and anxious interest
then and 1t has no greater interest
now, The play "a taken from life, and
| as life was in the beginning 1t Is now
and ever will be until time yields to
eternity.
Then as now the audience watched
the chief actors in the play. They saw
! them standing with reluctant feet
where the brook and river meet They
saw the old, old play of the real dawn
| ing upon the unreal, of preparation
| overtaking endeavor of realization
succeeding expectancy, of youth merg-
| ing into manhood.
The Glad Season of Life.
ut was true at the date of the COM
| mencement exercises of 1904 and it
is true now that youth is to all the
! glad season of life, but only by what
it hopes, not by what 1t attains or
what 1t escapes. 1t was hope that stir
red the heart and fed the inspiration
| OF those who participated in the first
commencement and it is hope that to-
day lends us the courage and enthu-
siam with which we guard the present
and face the future. We of to-day
| boast a superior wisdom, and yet iii
1904 those who stood where we now
stand could peer Just as far into the
| cavernous depths of the century con-
| fronting them as we can peer into the
dark recesses of the century facing u.s.
Into the future they could not read
| but they were buoyed by a hope build
ed on deep and abiding reverence
| for certain truths-truths that they
in all the sincerity of their souls, be-
| lieved to be as eternal as the years
and as enduring as the mountains. The
century closed has justified their hope
and teaches us to build our hope upon
the same foundation of reverence If
we would continue to enjoy the bless
ings and privileges inherited from the
century gone and if we would hand
them unaltered and unabridged to those
who follow us.
The First Commencement.
AT that first commencement the
| speakers who were selected to inspire
patriotism and to enthuse with cour-
age and proper ambition the young
men, then as now, assembled for the
purpose of laying aside irresponsible
and assuming responsibilities as cit-
zens of the American republic, chose
to speak in favor of liberty in praise
of virtue and in defense of a represen-
| tative government. 1t was reverence
for these things that the men of that
day believed to be of the first mpor-
lance. The truth of virtue the truth
of liberty and the truth of free gov
eminent was to them as fixed as the
stars.
AT our first commencement men
saw with unclouded vision and as in
the MONDAY sun all the wondrous
symmetry of the American constitu-
ton and the American government
The glow M nj ~,
eacE minutest part. They saw that
they had created a government of linn
tied powers and that those powers were
sharply and clearly defined. They saw
that each branch and part of the gov
eminent had to go to the constitution
as the source of all its power; they saw
that the Congress had no power
save such as the constitution gave. To-
day men do not see so we'll They do
not see the Congress and the courts
cropping in the dark. The light of rev.
erence for the constitution and for its
eternal principles has grown exceed
ingly dim.
Congress Has Strayed,
I'm the darkness that prevails the
Congress has strayed from the beaten
paths Of the constitution and is floun-
dering in dangerous labyrinth Of
doubts and perpleXities and there is
no light of reverence with them and
they, too, have become lost in the
perilous mazes of uncertainties and
dissenting opinions. American sub
jects who are not citizens have been
conjured UP out of the darkness. but
whence they came or whittier they
VIII go none have appeared to tell
us. The sacred right of trial by Jury
has become separated from some who
claim allegiance to the American flag,
and the separation excites no con-
Germ, even II it be noticed. Congress,
the creature, is directing its creator,
the constitution. and commanding
where the latter can go and where it
cannot go. Congress is talking about
an inherent power, but the talk is
so vague and indefinite that whence
the power comes or what it is or how
great it is no one has vet declared.
1.-The men who made commence
ment possibility and thereby laid the
foundation for higher education in
Georgia had in view something more
than the mere selfish pleasure and
enjoyment of those who should par
take of the gift of knowledge. They
are building for the state and for the
republic. They knew that from the
colleges and universities, from among
the scholars and thinkers. must ever
come the fuel with which to feed the
fires of liberty and patriotism. They
knew that knowledge of liberty must
precede reverence for liberty. They
knew that education is the only in
terest worthy the deep controlling
anxiety of the thoughtful man. They
knew that in education lay the safety
of liberty and the safety OF the repub-
lie. and so, almost coincident with the
formation of a representative govern
ment, they founded this university.
A Century of Great Men.
1--WE to-day look back through the
century gone and the long line of
patriots, of scholars, of statesmen, of
orators and thinkers that we see
streaming from it's portals and adding
their support to the maintenance of
liberty and constitutional government
attest over and over again the excellent
Judgment and marvellous wisdom of
those great men.
A strong Hand Needed.
1.-The darkness of irreverence has set
tied upon us and chaos prepares to
reign. With virtue and liberty hid
den from view, our free and repre-
sentative government is without
guiding star The need of the hour
is for some strong hand to turn on
the light Of reverence. We need again
to behold in all their original beauty
the fundamental truths upon which
our government was founded. We need
to feel for them the same reverence
that permeated and swept over the
audience here assembled in 1904. This
reverence must return to us, II we
would preserve ourselves and to our
posterity the free institutions that are
10 n fnhn 10