Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1911-10-18
FINE TRIBUTE PAID
TO PRESIDENT DENNY
Address at October Convocati on
at Washington and Lee
BEFORE A CROWDED AUDITORY
BY Distinguished Richmond Editor
Major Hemphill

vocation, Oct. III
DIR. Denny: told you when we
talked about it in Richmond that
you should stay put. You told me
that you were much impressed by
the force OF what | said, aud two
days later you proved it by doing
precisely what had pleaded with
you not to do, which shows how
much more you thought OF your own
opinion than OF mine, which proves
further that
He is S fool who thinks by force or
skill
To turn the current OF woman's
WILL"
or words to that effect.
l have no doubt you will save the
University of Alabama, If it can be
saved, and | wish with all my heart
that your work there may be attend
ed by the most abunda success.
Your remarkable career here justi-
fies the prediction that down in Ala
bama you will not rest until you
have built up the University OF
which you will have charge into a
high place among the great institu-
tions OF learning in the country. No
body wanted you to leave Washing
ton and Lee University for which
you have done so much, even the
the students wanted you TO stay;
but now that you have determined
to go whether you ought to go or
not, you deserve all the good wishes
that can be heaped upon your head
and many earnest prayers for
strength OF soul and crowds Of stu
dents and heaps OF riches. l salute
you not as a Virginian or an Alaba-
milan, but as one OF the chief citizens
OF the Republic OF Letters in which
there are no imaginary lines or ge-
ographical divisions. AID multos
amos!
May the fires OF higher education
kindled by faithful and illustrious
men upon the affairs here erected on
these everlasting hills burn forever.
Here where the mind looks out with
clear vision upon the world and its
activities, in this rereued atmos-
pierre palpitant with the spirits OF
the just men made perfect who here
consecrated their lives to the cause
of liberal aud exact learning, we
have, indeed, high Indictment to no.
BILE thinking and virtuous deeds.
The history of this great Univer-
sity is a history of achievement
Throughout it's career it has been
worthy of the name it bears, and in
the larger.life upon which it has now
entered there are other worlds t(
| conquer. Esto perpetual
? Education is more than the &C.
, QUESTION OF the three fundamental
RS. more than familiarity with the
rules OF grammar, the science oi
numbers, the course OF history, the
, wisdom OF the ancients: it is all this
t and infinitely more. Higher edu.
5 cation means only more education, ,
said famous lecturer, and the ar
A gument for education is not only al
] argument for the primary school
] but for the academy, the college ant
the university. The more languages
man hath, the more man is he.
J, it be we'll to know little Latin or
little French, it must be better t,
e known more OF them; and il man
mental horizon is widened, his mos
: al powers quickened, and his ser
vice to mankind enlarged by cor
> versing with creative genius of a
time. by familiarity with Homer an
Ii Dante and Shakespeare and Cervar
" tes, his manhood will be the NOR
ennobled IL to this power he can ad
|. the skill to bind the sweet influence
l. OF the Pleiades or loose the bands {
T. Orion" The strength Of the nation
n resides in their educated INTEL
h gence.
!. All OF you will return shortly
your several States and commun
70 ties to become centres Of influent
d. and il you do not learn while "
are here TO sift the wheat from IL