Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1916-04-14
COMMENCEMENT AND THEN WHAT

Commencement season is near at
hand. All nature seems to be getting
ready for it. Soon the sweet girl grad
uate will blossom forth in all her
beauty and varied accomplishments.
Commencement season comes once a
year and lasts for several weeks. 1t
comes in the days of the greatest YER
raj excitement when the leaves have
come to bedeck the trees with their
green and gladstone foliage to make
shady hooks with their inviting cool
ness, amid which the graduates may
wander with palpitating hearts, Won
dering what there is out yonder in the
dim future.
Yes, these are great days for the
sN eet girl graduate, days tremendous
~ intoxicating and upon which she will
lcok back in after years with fond
retrospection.
But there is another side to these
days. 1t is a period of grandstand
plays, of caps and gowns and other
things. The air is full of oratOrical
fire and gay with galaXies of shining
lights. Questions of every nature will
be discussed, and problems deep will
be solved Every conceivable subject
in the heavens above and the earth be.
meath, and what is neither here nor
there, will receive adequate attention
at the hands of these sweet self-same
graduates A world of interested rela-
tives and friends will be on hand to
applaud, sheepskins will increase daily
in Importance, commencement eti-
Guette will pour praise into your hun
cry ears, the half if it was true would
give you free passport into realms
Of bliss and unbounded success. Then
what?
And there will be maidens, sweet,
adorable maidens, maidens winsomely
coy and provokingly lovable. No Won
der there are so many broken hearts
at commencement time. At this time
the daughters of Eve seem to be espec.
tally attractive, and have a way of
getting next to fellow more effec
lively than at any other time. She
snuggles close, and as you look down
into the limpid depths of her soulful
eyes the damage is done, but alas. this
is not all. Then what?
Commencement days are soon over
ard then begins the other side They
have crossed the rubicon as it were, the
inc between the now and the hereafter.
The world has smiled for few days
bestowed few endearing phrases up
or the sweet girl graduate, and then
demands that she get down to business.
and he of some use to the world. Stern
reality looks her in the face. and
says: Come, give an account of your
self. Prove the value of your equip
ment the worth of the sheepskin Just
handed to you. Thus you are brought
face to face with duty; it is now sink
or swim. Do something. Dig, or else
step aside that others may do.
The world does not bubble as rule
about the things you do, just so long
as you do, and what you do adds to
the sum of the worlds good. There
are many things to be done and so
many ambitions to be met, and the
needs and the means to supply them
are not so far apart. 1t is then I'D to
you my sweet girl graduate to do your
part Begin right, and do your best.
ard the world will make a place for
you; fail and you will be thrust aside.
ana you will have only the family
purse to depend upon for the future.
and if this fails, you'll be thrown on.
upon cold, unfeeling world, perhaps
to take the bumps, mayhaps, your fool
ishness has merited. Then what?
commencement is over and yet it is
but the beginning for you. School
days are over, but life begins. The