The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1912-06-11
TWELFTH TERM
OF CLASSICAL
SCH ,OL ENDS
THE COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES
CONDUCTED LAST NIGHT, c. E.
Do6soN DELIVERING THE PRIN.
opal ADDRESS.
twelfth annual commencement

the school building, the students and
large number of their friends gath
ering to witness the graduating honors
conferred upon Jno. c. Mclean who
is the only graduate this year at thai
school.
! Prof. Penn Harvey, as acting prin
! cipal, was in charge of the events Of
i the evening, c. E. Dobson. president
! of the Pensacola Commercial Associa-
! ton, being the speaker of the occasion
ana winning much applause by his
well directed and interesting remarks
The auditorium was beautifulIy
draped in the school colors.' purple
and crimson, and after Mr. Dobson's
| address, the announcement of Aonors
and the comforting of the school di-
plomas, an informal dance was the
order, dainty refreshments being serv-
/ ed the guests.
Have Done Fine Work,
The students of the Classical schoo,
have been doing fine work this year
and some records have been made by
| the young people which do much
credit to the popular school.
On account of the i'll health of Prof
| armstrong, who is now thoroughly re
| covered, Prof. Penn Harvey has been
| in active charge during the past schco
year, but last night relinquished his
office to Prof. Armstrong, who was en-
| Enthusiastically welcomed by everyone
Prof. Armstrong was forced to spend
many months In the Adirondack noun
| tains and, like everyone else who ever
leaves Pensa cola, Is more than glad
| to get back. He will be in active
charge next year at the school whicl
| he has personally made a valued fea
| ture of the educational side of Pen
sacola during the years that have
| passed
Mr.. Harvey, with few well chosen
remarks, introduced Mr.. c. e. Dobson
who spoke as follows:
Mr.. DoBsoN's ADDRESS.
y have myself suffered on SO many
| occasions from the excesses of com
mencement speakers, that I have de
termined to deliver you from one OF
| their common failings by being brief
If I may happily escape another by
being to some degree entertaining,
| shall be glad.
I'VE have ell had our commence
ment.' Perhaps it wasn't formal
Maybe we stood on no platform and
received no diploma, but we just as
| certainly left the protected school life
| and commenced to face the world In
| most of us arise memories of those
days--happy memories Of golden days
It Is good to revive. them. We had
Ideals and aspirations and faith Their
that we may well remember and re-
new.
This school stands for the building
| and fostering of such ideals. There Is
| much use In these days for such an
influence. Excellent as is our higher
| public school system, there Is some
| thing in the individuality of a school
| like this that breeds and nourishes the
| nobler virtues. Personality, self-re-
lance, certain fine manliness, are its
products. This city needs to realize
mn ha nf Sno
| ton for the use of its own people and
as a business asset for bringing good
citizens from outside. We have not
yet awakened fully enough to the
value of promoting and supporting tc
| the utmost our own schools, and, until
| we do so, we shall never have them
| brought up to the full of their power
| and usefulness A good school is
| worth just as much in the develop
ment of a city, from a purely utili-
| tartan standpoint, as any shop or fac
| tory, and 1t is more the part of wis
| dom for business men to subscribe tc
| the endowment Of such school thar
| to the stock of any Industrial enter
prise. Man does not live by bread
| alone and that city or state whose
entire thought Is material is riding tC
a fall
I'll fares the land, to fastening Ills
a prey
Where wealth accumuIatss and mer
| decay
What is it that survives Of the
| grandeur that was Greece's'? Thenis.
tocles's wooden wallis are no more;
Alexander's warriors are dust; but the
| splendor of her achievements in sculp-
| ture, in philosophy. in literature, have
4 colored the thought and act of the
| whole world. It is The qualities Of
simplicity, of courage, OF self restraint
| Of honor, of Ito use Matthew Arnold's
| phrase) sweetness and light thai
| to her glorv of art and literature thai
have made these the model and adj
miration of the world.
| INSPIRATION OF GENERATIONS.
The overlapping ambition of PhiliI
and Alexander of Macedon built
mighty empire, but they died victim:
of their own ambition, their empire
| quence and nobility of Demosthenes
the patriot they drove into exile, hav,
been the inspiration of succeedins
genera ions TIE heroic fortitud,
shown by the Laceda amonians VIII,
died at Thernopylae, will still NOV,
mems minds when the conquering on
rush of the Macedonian plalanxes Il
forgotten.
draw a parallel between the Roman
republic, Afterwards empire, and on
own And whether or not there Is We
impending danger, II is the part o
| wisdom for us to examine and dnt
whittier we are tending.
EXPERIENCE.
For there is only one lamp b,
which our feet may be guided'-expe
rience. Rome in its early days shove,
much of the same rugged simplicity
honesty and fortitude that our Garlic
history boasts Cincinnatus Gale,
from the pillow to save the republic an
the Tribune, Brutus sentencing [,
death his own son for the good Of tn
state, are familiar examples AM
later the parallel may still be drawn
We have not been without Statesmen
whom the corruption Of certain time!
has moved to the Ciceronian lament
tOl tempora o. moresi'
We have begun to enlarge on,
boundaries and pile up wealth, two o
| the sources Of the decay of Rome
We are acquiring outlying territory
We are filing the country with aliel
peoples. Listen to Gibbon: Durinl
the first four ages. the Romans, il
the laborious school Of poverty, hat
acquired the virtues OF war and gov
eminent; by the exercise OF those vir