Durango semi-weekly herald., 1904-06-06

PRESEN TED
From Saturdays Daily.

last night. The church was hiIed
with friends Of the girls and boys.
The Call to Arms" was sung by a
chorus of voices from the school. The
invocation by Rev. Ferguson, after
which another song was sung, Away
TO the Fields. Then came the address
of the evening, after which the chorus
Joined in THE Lark" The exercises
were concluded after the awarding OF
diplomas by the chorus singing An
chored."
The principal feature of the evening
was the address Of Rev. l.. Il. Brown,
who came from Colorado Springs for
that purpose Mr. Brown is a polished
orator. profound student and a man
of original ideas. lie is very rapid
speaker. Although for the greater
part his words rang clear and distinct.
every once in while part of a sen
tence was lost to his auditors on ac-
count of the very rapid speaking, His
subject was Uncle Sam" He re-
viewed history OF the past for the pur-
pose of showing what TO avoid for the
future welfare OF our country He said
that Greece was entombed in a sepul-
cher of her own building, and Rome
was buried beyond hope Of resurrec-
ton. Was the United States to final
ly go the way of all the ancient coun-
tries whose histories had ended like
those Of Greece and Rome? He
thought not. for while In those lands
the masses were ignorant and the
few educated. in this land of ours the
many are educated and the few are ig-
norant. In education lay the welfare
of mankind and the stability of the
nation. But the education must be
OF the right sort-of the unsefish and
not of the greedy kind, Spain had
firm foothold in America before any
other nation. but the different motives
of the Spanish and those who landed
at Plymouth Rock accounted for the
loss of Spain's supremacy and the gain
of the Pilgrim Fathers. Spain is
dying nation because 1t has lived for
self and the United States is
growing nation because 1t is living for
others as well. As IT Is with the ma
lions, so It must be with men and
NpihNllp lpI tHtll ONu SDbl anu lDI
the good of the country. for If the men
and women OF a land have not char
acter, neither can the government un-
der which they live.
While many of the good things of
our government We're pointed out, Mr..
Brown did not overlook what he term
ed the sores on Uncle Sam" One of
fhpGa ha
men were admonished to steer clear
of the drink evil. Another was the
enormous influx OF the vicious ele-
ment of foreign immigration He said
one might walk along the streets OF
New York, and every fifth person met
was a foreigner. These foreigners
We're not actuated by the same aims
which brought our forefathers. Soon
after arriving thsy were asked If they
wanted to vote Yes, of course they
wanted to vote. Were they Democrats?
They didn't know what Democrat
was-had never seen one. Were they
Republicans? They didn't know what
Republican was either, = but they
were against the government and
kind of immigration landing weekly
in appalling numbers In New York.
Surely Uncle Sam had a hard task
ahead OF him under such conditions.
He deplored the great centrallza-
tion OF wealth in the hands of few,
and thought conditions must change
If the country continued In its growth
of greatness.
There were many grave questions
to be settled, and many new ones
would arise from time to time, but
the solution of these all important
questions was already being worked
out on the Fairgrounds of our schools
Professor Gould, before presenting
the diplomas, told the audience that
he considered it great privilege and
a great pleasure to have his life work
in training and helping young men
and young women in their start in
life. He said the class of 1904 was
composed of those who. did not do
things by halves, the fact having been
well attested that they had done their
work the past year in a most com
'''N''''ff i''ihtA anu h"h itiN bthlth
them something to be always remem-
bered for Speaking to the class, he
told them that they were expected To
he leaders; the world expected much
of them. and especially did Durango
expect much. They now carried a re
sDQnsibility, and what were they go
ing to do with it2 He reminded them
that as class they stood in this
community as a representative body
of culture; people in the lower walks
of life should be raised by their ex-
ample; that life meant much to them
and be hoped they would make the
most OF their opportunities.
He closed by invoking life's bless
lngs upon them, and then gave them
their diplomas.
The ball given last night by the
Durango High School Alumni Asso-
citation at Vendome hall was most
delightful affair. By reason of many
being invited who were not members
of the association. the attendance was
the largest of any ball given hereto
fore. The sweet girl graduate, the
boy graduate and undergraduates