Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1915-06-24

Mr. Kingsley said:
Middlebury College throu';a its presl-
dent and fellows has to-day conferred on
me what | understand to be the highest
honor within its gift
| shall not mar the expression of my
appreciation by any reference to my own
unworthincss, but try, if | may in Il
few words, to recite some of the rea-
sons why l am grateful. WEI YOU bear
with me If, in order to express my gra-
ttude, I am briefly personal2
was born only a few miles from this
ancient seat of learning, ON n small farm
where life was simple ana nard, where
the pinch of poverty was never absent.
! was educated first in a typical Yer
mono onc-room schoohouse; then in one
of the last of the old style Vermont
academies; then in the state University
at Burlington.
My forehears came to the New ITamp-
shire Grants before the Revolution, TAX
ing title to their homes from Benning
Wentworth and afterward defending
their homes from the land-Era bling New
Workers. NY paternal great-great-gra
father was in the battle of bennington.
In 1914 the British invading Vermont
from Mississquo bay sailed up Lake
Champlain past my rrandfather's door.
He was himself in Pattsburgh that
September day.
In 1861 or 1867 | stood on the village
Ercen-that spot which is similarly sancti-
fled in the memories of all Nermonters
of my age and saw the farmer boys as
semhlc to the music of the fife and drum
and then march away many of them
never TO return.
In tSS1 with my haccalaurcate honors
still tmWthcrcd l answered tho call of
a larger world and went away.
The intervening years have passed
Ike dream Now I find myself back
in the old state, the recipient of dis
tinguishcd evidence of approval, from an
institution with which ! personally have
never had any previous relations.
When your brilliant president conferred
this degree on me felt as Edward, son
Of Richard Plantagenet, must have felt
when Warwick said to him Of we may
follow Shak cspeare):
mo longer Earl Of March, hut Duke
of York.
Any man whose ancestry in related to
Revolutionary Vermont as mine is may
with propriety claim by a sort of Divine
r,
have to-day made me Duke And then
I remind myself of Warwicks further
words
"'rhc next degree is England's royal
throne"
The next degree, implying something
higher than this in the world of letters
If there he any such the recipients will
indeed he as few in numbers as the Kings
of England
am proud of this honor bc'ausc it
comes from Vermont college venerable
IN years and sound in it's educational
ideals. Middlchury college has always
stood for educational ideals which in re-
cent times have seemed - hit old-fashion-
ed and for that very reason have been
deserving of high praise. You have not
been much touched by the universal virus
of vocational training. You have not been
ashamed to stand for and put first the
old classical training. You have not run
away from Greek and metaphysics and
higher mathematics. You have hravelv
clung to tho idea that n university bred
man must he trained and not stuffed.
that such training does not permit of
vocational short cuts
I am again proud of this honor because
1t carries the approval of college-b bred
'oi US see It, ''lI'Se-pr'u men are
now faced with an opportunity not equal.
cd since the Renaissance.
The stern problems that face the world
to-day cannot he solved by men of ac-
ton alone. They can lead men and fight
and XIII men but that solves nothing
The people Of the world want a solu-
ton of problems. not merely victory on
the field of battle.
Unless leaders arise who show the na-
tons how to organize and civilize inter-
national relations. victory means only un-
..''''''N Si"Is','lr III ''''er''"u 'ha' AFFAIRS
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49, VI l''0','''''.o''eo sovereign
,.', +i,''' Il" humanity IL
~, " Ss9eS' IN lroiins
iio says
"Then everything includes itself in
power,
Power into will, will into annette: