The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-18
ADDRESS OF w. w. SMITH
 A FEATURE AT MONTEVALLO

Dr. Smith who was attending the Bir- mingham Conference and who was pressed into service at the eleventh hour. was introduced by Dr. Peterson to. the audience as "a man whom South ern Methodism delighted to honor" pr. Smith is one of the best nnown and one of the most successful educators of the South. The system of colleges and schools of which he is the head is the Randolph Macon system, las T national reputation for high naracter and excellence.
 Dr. w. v, smith.
 Dr. Smith Is a young looking man and his audience could hsrd!y believe him when he alluded incidentally to his service as an officer of the Con- federate Army. He Is m personal ap- pearance strikingly like an orator of ue lenal reputation and a man who is very dissimilar to Dr. smith in mode of thought and mode of oratory, but the facial and physical characteristics of the Honorable Bourke Cochran of of the Virginian.
 Dr. Smith. however, notwithstanding what might have been expected of his looks, attempted no spread agle ora tory. His taste and gifts and inclina- tions ran more to quaint and rich humor. The informal address was larded with delightful illustrations and quaint allusions to old time customs and idioms which so please a Southern audience.
 By a singular coincidence Dr. Smith selected as a subject upon which to speak the famous Latin motto. "Carpe diem" It was singular and a coinci- aence in it was tho chosen motto of the senior class of the school. His se- lection was made unwittingly, and 1t igave an added. zest to the occasion.
 The address was a splendid tribute to the wealth. the beauty and the op- portunity of youth. the srich and full season of life. On the one hand was portrayed the charm and possibilities of youth and upon the other the re- sponsibility which accompanies 1t.
 The graduates who, were going out of that college. he reminded them, had enjoyed privilege they would never enjoy again. Never again would they be thrown together with four hundred of their own age, of their own customs and of their own culture. They had enjoyed one of the blessings of youth and it was his purpose to talk to them briefly upon the aspirations. the hopefulness and the visions of youth. It was his purpose. as best he could, to impress upon them the importance of grasping the full significance of the subject upon which he spoke. Grasp your day." Seize your opportunity" The Season of oYuth.
 "An English writer" he said. has, Old age locks with indignation upon the temerity of Youth and Youth looks with contempt upon the caution of old Age" Youth has eyer been at work accomplishing what old age has de- clared to be impossibilities. Youth has been hebind the progress of the world. When steam was invented professors and students took pencil and paper and figured out that 1t would be impossible for a steam pro- pelled vessel to cross the Atlantic. They had figured 1t out to a mathematical and mechanical certainty. But while they were figuring youth was building the steam vessel. And youth steamed across that ocean in the vessel which carried the paper showing that it was physically impossible for steam ves- sel to cross the Ocean,"
 The splendid advance of the past half century was vividly portrayed by pr. Smith. The modern postal system and the splendid news. gathering machinery known as the Associated Press, Dr. Smith considered two of the most re- markable achievements of that period so rich accomplishments. For two cents an American citizen could call to his aid a splendid trained army of more than a thousand men whc would take his letter and leave no effort un-