Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-06-10
The First Commencement Address

The First commencement Address
(DeHrercd TO Cain and Abel, the first
graduating class of the Garden Of Eden
Normal SchOoLJ
MY YOUNG FRIENDS-It is a privilege
A'A to be permitted to address you this
morning. for ] am convinced that never in
the worlds history did the age beckon with
so eager gesture to the young men on the
threshold of active life. Never indeed in
the past, and certainly never in the future,
was there or will there be a time more
deeply fraught with significance. And as
| gaze upon your keen faces it seems almost
as though the world had amassed all the
problems that now confront us merely in
order to give you tasks worthy of your
prowess.
The world. / think I may safely say, is
smaller now than ever before. The recent
invention of young women, something quite
new in the way of a social problem, has in
troduced a hitherto undreamed- of complexity
into human affairs. The extreme rapidity
with which ideas and thoughts now circu
late. due to the invention OF speech,
makes it probable that what is said in Eden
today will be known in the land of Nod
within year The greatest need is plainly
for big -visioned and purposeful men, eff
ficient men. men with forward looking
minds. 1 hope you will pattern after your
admirable father in this respect; he truly
was a forward looking man, for he had
nothing to look back on
You are aware, however, that your father
has had serious problems to deal with, and
it is we'll that you should consider those
problems in the light of the experiences you
are about to face. One of his most perplex-
ing difficulties would never have come upon
him if he had not fallen into a deep sleep.
! counsel you. therefore, be wary not to
overslumber The prizes of life always come
to those who press resolutely on, undaunted
by fatigue and encouragement. Another of
your fathers failings was probably due TO
the fact that he was never small boy and
thus had no chance to work the deviltry out
of his system. You yourselves have been
abundantly blessed in this regard. | think
may say that here, in our Normal Acad-
emy, you have had an almost ideal play
ground to work off those boyish high spirits,
to perpetrate those mischieyous pranks that
the world expects of its young. Remember
that you are now going out into the mature
work of life, where you will encounter seri-
Gus problems.
As you wcnd your way from these accus
| toned shades into the full glare of public
| life you will do so, hope, with the conscious
ness that the eyes Of the world are upon you.
| The sphere of activity in which you may
hnd yourselves upon may
| be restricted, but you will remember that not
| failure but low aim is base. You will hold
a Just balance between the conflicting
tendencies of radicalism ahd conservatism.
You will endeavor TO secure for labor its
| due share inythe profits of labor. You will
not be forgetful that all government depends
| in the last resort on the consent of the gov
| erned These catch words in the full flush
of your youth you may be inclined to dis
| miss as truisms, but assure you that
| 10000 years from now men Will be uttering
| them with the same air of discovery.
| 1t is my great pleasure to confer upon
Won both the degree of bachelor of arts and
| TO pray that you may never bring discredit
| upon your alma mater.
The newspapers that are startled by the
Baltimore professor who is eating loeust'
seem to forget that there is very oil,
precedent indeed for that diet.
The Poem, You Can't Forget
The poem Moreby Acklom wrote abou