Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-06-21
The CLOSING Address.

The last speaker of the afternoon.
Arthur Harrison Cole of Haverhill.
Mass, Interested the entire audience
when he delivered the following clos
ing address
Mr.. President. classmates. and friends
In 81 Company of monks with
ds s9is,lus al their head pierced the will
asfuss5 IN the north of England and
rreeched the court of Edwin King Of
I Softhumbrla. He was a lust and con
| 3tfelentlous aud listened with interest TO
| Tue teachings of the holy men in the
| h,ue company. who As they spoke ere
eled intense excitement among the peo-
Pc, Tor some favored and some reviled
them. SO the King called a great eaun-
| ell TO meet on the seashore where he
would submit the question TO all ms
SUBJECTS snail we or shall we not EN-
pface this new and strange religion
On the day appointed the people gather
ed; The beach was crowded suddenly
hush ran over the throng, for an elder
man. old, hoafy bearded and famed
for his wisdom. fose and addressed The
people IN the strong, rugged language OF
his race and time Life Is like a spar-
rows hight through banquet hall he
! enters at one door and flies across to
| disappear through a door on the oppo-
sue SIDE II these monks can tell us
susht OF whence he comes or whittier
ne goes, let us follow him.
These keen words of the old heather
sage might express the questionings of
the modern man of the college life a.
II exists today We come and 90. class
close-treading on the heels of class, and
the man to whom the college life Is I'M
known might well inquire: You ente
and pass out You gather together anu
disperse, 10 be lost in the world Why
come you and what becomes of YOU
when YOU have gomez What relation
Exists tbBt between the life we now lead and
The college IS q peculiar institution
but stands Justly for good deal in
American life Here we are placed for
four years, removed, for the most part,
from the turmoil and excitement of the
world. To the casual observer it might
seem we did little but roam about in
much spare time. engaged in various
paying businesses and boyish games.
talk. and stare al books. Even to the
most careful observer IT might appear
we did little but learn out of many vol
umes and grow healthy from many
sports. But a deeper mission stimulates
the college and Keeps 1t alive, and
richer gain in facts and muscle comes
to the college man.
University may yield a richer harvest
than knowledge and quite naturally. for
that is it's province. but 1t cannot
clear cut ideas which the college freely
offers and we notice not as we acquire.
When one enters into the life of an in
sttution like BoWdoin. he comes into
close relationship with men a little older
! than himself and, as we expect comes
to emulate them, who in their course
bdu tnlNtb Win men Illie Ol0ef IMAM
themselves for a year or so, had learned
from and by them, and finally seen them
! leave And so the chain extends. Grad
uallV as the cycle of stories gathers
round noble character like King Ar
thur or Jeanne Dare, a set of ideals
comes to cluster about a college, and
each entering class catching the fiery
cross from the hands of the departing
carries it onward till at length the spirit
| of the college becomes imbued with that
| set of ideals and no one can come within
ha hEr Of 70 int hn
| ing uplifted and inspired. Such has
| been the glorious career of Bowdoin:
| and. as knights in their vigil before the
morrows conflict we here have fingered
| before the shrine and breathed in its
divine spirit.
| Glass after class reaches its Senior
| year and goes forth Bowdoin remains.
! But each class before it departs might
we'll look back and question itself:
Have we added to D.. Bowdoins high
looking back on our course, and what
! do we Rnd2 Every class can boast of
| virility in athletic pursuits and con-
need not chronicle these. 1911 has lived
out q high IDEAL.
When she gathered together nearly
| four years ago. she was composed of IN
| diyiduals who stood apart one from an
other, and now she is one whole And
| Why Because the class has lived out,
each member by himself that ideal, sin
| ceritv. which being translated into
mems relationships means franNness and
| honesty, true sonsiderateness. If the
undergraduates can find little in our
| lives here to emulate, We beg of them to
catch this spirit and hold 1t clear OF
| faint.
Because of that open mindedness
| which each man has preserved toward
his fellow. never. | believe, has class
gone through with better feeling reign
| ing among it's members. Wa
| As we have been rejecting on the past
| and hoping for the future, the nreSent,
| hardly welcome has almost faded from
/ our view. Today we. as class, formal
| ~ break the ties which have bound us
| so closely to our Alma Mater; today we
stand as did the gladators of Rome,
ready and grit for the conflict to which
we 20 and to her who has fastered MS
and whom we can almost feel will watch
| us az we strive, 1t is most fitting that
we give our parting galutaton We "a
| but we shall not forget: and as We 60
we raise our faces "a R0wdon. veilad
! hut not unknown. and hail her "Ambl-
| turf Salutamus.'