Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-06-23

| in her gifts 70 me Class Of 1870. She
| now fondly bids 10 forth.
Quit so9 rs, .s,n men = 3 ss,stronr: n
There's world to make new
There's call for men who are brave AND
true
On! On with song.
Ralph Owen Brewster.of Dexter. Deli
ia Kappa Epsilon, delivered the part-3
ing address 1t was delivered well ana
was highly appreciated.
We are gathered here today to say
our farewell as a class to our life d
four years-the four years that have
nourished our growth together from
high school boys. to the embryo mem
of today. Any formal expression Oh
sentiment inevitably smacks OF
hypocrisy. The words Of HEARTFELT
farewell have been too often profanedI
by insincerety and self interest toI
here carry their full message. ONLY
our course through life to the end CAM
with fidelity show our appreciation OIL
the generous gifts thus far received.
Nevertheless. as we venture forth
college to try our taut-strung shipsI
alone 1t is altogether appropriate thatl
we should express as briefly and ash
truly as we may our varying gratitudei
for the-p past, our various hopes for the
future, and then go in austere silence
to live.
The homing instinct is strong inI
youth and not easily can we forget
this campus-these trees and build |
ings and blue skies-which for FOUR
long. long years have encompassedi
our ambitions and our joys. II here-l
after We should ever walk through
fields and country lanes often curl
eyes must search the horizon for
those twin chapel spires-so evers
pleasant to the eye in our college
rambles through this hill-less
country Returning here in the pos
session of the years, dwarfed though
this quadrangle may be by the physi-
cal grandeur of our future experiences.
we shall ever hold these, shapes and
colors precious as the most familiar,
images OF our youth and however
sweetly fortune may seem to smile or
cruelty to taunt, if we should ever
willfully neglect this little spot Of
ground we shall be base though fool
ish traitors to the faith of many men
to- whom we owe so much Of what I've
are. s,.tt N-
~ Our too often needless criticisms of
the acts and ideas of. our patient.
voluntary friends and teachers cannot
be atoned by the repentance of day
but as our understanding of the
faculty has grown from the servile
fear Of Freshmen; through the useful
abuse of Sophomores; the supercili-
Gus Indifference of the Juniors, unto
the man valuation Of Seniors: we
have come to realize that these
teachers are merely men like our
selves except that they have-each
and every one-consciously given up
their lives to the most sacred task Of
modern civilization with a. full APP
probation of the hopelessness Of any
material reward commensurate with
their personality and influence.
Among the varied and virile charac-
tiers residing here year after year
from their common love of Bowdoin ie
We have found only one-and who
has not-who personifies in hui
mainly something approximating our
ideal let us show our gratitude in the
only fitting terms-by our manner of
life Let the memory Of the disinter-
ested sacrifices Of SO many Of our
teachers and especial of the genial
personality of that one whorwa taken
from us at the summit of his influence
be always a revelation to us of the
wisest happiest manner of life and a
spur to those acts whose perform
ances by us he would have deemed a
sufficient recompense for his patience.
kindly labors here on earth.
As class we are with something of
sadness bidding farewell to these well
known buildings and to these well
loved men although as individual
alumni We shall always visit these
pleasant places and renew the glad
associations but most inevitably are
we saying farewell to each other The
class reunion trophy Is won each year
by less than sixty per cent of class
and that at twenty-fifth or fiftieth
reunion so that we may not delude
ourselves with the hope of all greeting
each other again. We are at the part
ing Of the ways and many of our
future paths will never cross and 10
we are sad. We have been together
long and known each other well in
sorrow and JOY; in despair and
courage; in defeat and victory: in dis
ceuraging work for the college or
team and in happy relaxation at
dance or rally: in partisan strife and
in class pride; in petty jealousies and
noble sacrifices and ever have we re-
vived our estimates Of our classmates
as each year has witnessed steady
growth in us all toward a stronger
better personality. Now the time has
come to part to go out into new sur
roundings, amidst new companions, to
try our mettle on the world and be
judged not by what we mean but by
what we do and that not with tho
sympathetic criticisms OF this
sheltered college life far removed
from the harsh realities of hunger and
cold but by hard stranger critics who
will thrust us ,mercilessly down. On
the eve of such change it becomes
us to be sadly fearful and as the
plunge draws nigh We are rudaIv