Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-06-18

than if received merely as my own in
dividuai unsupported opinions.
| Some of the graduating class are in
, debt to those who have faith in you
and have lent YOU money to meet your
! college expenses. Let me urge you to
| pay these debts just as fast as you
can. Deny yourself all luXuries and
all expensive pleasures until these OBJ
| legations are fully met. They arc
debts of honor. Your creditors have
| accepted your character for collateral
| and YOU must show them that it is just
; as good security as the bonds of the
| United States government.
| Mr.. Horatio Il. Durham. a graduate
of Colby in the class of 1856. was for
/ % years clothing merchant here in
| Waterville. When he went out of bust
ness he told me that of all the hundreds
| of Colby students with whom he had
| dealt and to whom he had extended
, credit, only one had cheated him out of
his pay. That the graduates of Colby
College are notable for common, every
day honesty in business dealings
| speaks we'll for the training they re-
ceived here.
Ralph Waldo Emerson was twice
! our Commencement orator. In 1S41
! he delivered here one of his most
! famous addresses, The Method of
Nature. His second visit was in the
midst of the Civil War. The closing
passage of his GRAFTON on that occa-
sion, beginning Il learn with joy and
deep respect that this college has
sent forth it's full quota to the field.
I learn, with honored pain. that you
have had your sufferings in battle.
and that noble youths have returned
wounded and MANNED" this final
| ca
the heights of tender and passionate
elouuence that are nowhere else to
be found in the writings of Emerson.
Mr.. Charles D. Thomas of the class
| of 1863 acting for one of the literary
societies of the college, paid Mr..
| Emerson the fee agreed upon for the
grafton, and when he paid him,
asked for his autograph. Mr.. Emer-
son complied with the request. but
first wrote: "Woulds't keep thy life
secure from every i'll? Pay every
debt as though God wrote the bill"
No one has ever surpassed Mr..
Micawber in effectively setting forth
the importance of living within ones
income. my other piece of advice,
Copperfield, you know. Annual in
come, twenty pounds, annual expen-
ditures, nineteen six; result, happi-
ness, Annual income, twenty pounds.
annual expenditures twenty pounds
ought and six: result misery. The
blossom is blighted, the leaf is
withered, the God of day goes down
upon the dreary scene"
Those of you who have found IL
necessary to borrow money Tor your
college course have acted wisely IN
running into debt. You nave pur-
chased something that will pay for
itself and will increase in value as
the years go by. 1t is not as though
YOU had bought an automobile on
credit-which would be junk by the
time it is paid for. If you buy what
Won can not pay for when you buy 1t,
let it be something that will nave
substantial value when you nave
succeeded in paying for It, Debt is
not always a curse: it IS sometimes
a blessing. Not a few people ma II
difficult to save money except by
running in debt. They BUY a piece
good bond. and pay for it on the in
stallment plan. They find it easier to
save when they have definite obli-
cations to meet.
One of the best of Browning's short
noems "A Grammarian's Funeral de-
scribes the unflagging uAwearied IN
dustry of an aged scholar who. with
death knocking at the door. kept on
with his studies. Friends urged that
he desist from his labors. that he
husband his waning strength, but just
because he knew his time was snort
he redoubled his efforts. so, with
the throttling hands of death at STRIFE,
Ground he at Grammar" All the
wealth of mind and heart could
amass he knew he could carry with
him when he went and better equip
ment for Eternity seemed to him OF
more Importance than scanty salts
faction that a few more days OF time
could provide. With such sure faith