Year: 1869

ALLOW me- young lauleS anu Senlle-


men, to turn aside for one moment to


speak of what relates to your business


life. i'll could speak one sentence


which would be echoed through every


department of the Government, adj


dressing myself not to those in middle


life whose plans for the future are fix
/ ed, but to those who are beginning
life, would say to every young man


and woman in the civil service of the
/ Government: "Hasten by the most


rapid steps to get out of these depart
ments into active, independent busi-


ness life." Laughter and applause.
/ Do not misunderstood me. Your work
| is honoTable-hOnOrable to yourselves
and necessary to the Government. l
make no charge on that score; but to


a young man who has in himself the


magnificent possibilities of life, it is


not fitting that he should be perma-


nently commanded he must be


commander. [Applause.1 You must


not continue to be the employed, you


must be an employer. You must be


promoted from the ranks to a COM


mand. There is something, young


men, which you can command-go


and find it and command it. You can


at least command a horse and dray,
be generalissimO of it, and may carve
out fortune with il. And / do not


fall on that illustration by accident,


young gentlemen. Do you know the


fact. If you do not let me tell it you,


that more men have won fortunes


with less failures in the dray bLsi-


ness, than in wholesale merchandise


ing. Applause


Do not, I beseech you, be content


to enter upon any business which does


not require and compel you to con-


slant intellectual growth. Do not en-


ter into any business which, if pur-


sued for twenty years, will leave you


no farther advanced mentally than it


found you; which will require no


more ability and culture at the end,


than it did at the beginning of the


twenty-five years. | ask you whether
your work in the Department is not
mainly of that sort, and whether it
must not continue to be of that sort.


If you take advantage of the law col
leges, or the medical colleges here, of
our magnificent libraries, of this busi-
ness college, and if you hold office in


the Departments for a few years to
enable you to live while'yOu obtain
legal, medical or business education,
you are doing worthy work, 1t al
ways pleases me to see young men get
into such places for such purpose
But while 1 would cheerfully help a
young man to get such place for such
a reason, / would warn him not to con-
tinue it, to get out of it as soon as pos
sible, and take place of active per-
sonal responsibility in the great in
dustrial family of the nation.


There is another reason-and that
is the last shall give in illustrating the
importance of business colleges-and
it is the consideration which was so
beautifully and cngently urged, few
moments since, by the young lady
who delivered the valedictOry of her
class, that it is almost surplusage to
add a word to her discussion. The ca
reer opened in business colleges, espe-
cially in this, for young women of our
time is a most important and note
worthy feature of these institutions.


Laugh at it as we may, put it
aside as jest If we will, keep it out of
Congress or political campaigns, still
the woman question is rising in our
horizon larger than the size of a mans
hand, and some solution, ere long,
that question must find. l have not
yet committed my mind to any form
ula that embraces the whole question.
l halt on the threshold of so great a
problem; but there is one point on
which 1 have reached a conclusion,
and that is that this motion must |
open up new avenues of work and use
fulness to the women of the country,
so that everywhere they may have
something to do. That is just now
infinitely more valuable to them than |
the platform or the ballot-box- What |
ever conclusion shall be reached on |
that subject bye-and-bye, at pres |
ent the most valuable gift which !
can be bestowed on the women
is something to do, which they can do |
we'll and wOrthily, and thereby main |
tain themselves. Therefore l say that |
every thoughtful statesman may look |
with pride and satisfaction upon such |
business colleges as are opening ca
reer for our young women. On that |
score we have special reason to be
thankful for the establishment of |
these institutions. lApplause.]


Now, young gentlemen, let me, for
a moment, address you touching your |
success in life; and hope the very |
brevity of the remarks will increase |
the chance of their making a more |
firm lodgment in your mind. Let me |
beg you, in the outset of your career, |
to dismiss from your minds all idea of |
succeeding by chance. There is no
more common thought among young |
people than that foolish one that by |
and-by something will turn up by |
which they will suddenly achieve |
fame or fortune. No, young gentle |
men, things don't turn up in this |
world unless somebody turns them |
up. Inertia is one of the indispensi-
BILE laws of matter, and things lie flat |
where they are until they are by some |
intelligent spirit flor nothing but |
spirit makes motion in this world) |
giving activity and life. Do not dream |
that some good luck is going to hap |
pen to you and give you fortune
Luck is an igTliS JdtluHs. You may |
follow it to ruin but not TO Success
The great Napoleon, who believed in |
his destiny, followed it until he saw
his star go down in the blacklist night |
when the old guard perished around |
him, and Waterloo was lost. Young |
men talk of trusting to the spur OF
the occasion. They lean upon a bro |
ken reed when they trust TO the spur
of the occasion. Occasions do not
wear spurs, young gentlemen. lfyou
expect to wear spurs you must win
them. If you wish TO use them you
must buckle them to your own heels
before you go into the fight. Any
success you may achieve is not worth
the having unless you fight for it,
Whatever you win in li1e you must
conquer by your own efforts, and then
it is yours, a part of yourself. lap
plause.


Again, in order to have any success
in life, or any worthy success, you
must resolve to carry into your work
fulness of knowledge, not merely a
sufficiency, but more than sufficen-
cy. In this respect, follow the rule
of the maehinist. If they want a
machine to do the work of six horses
they give it nine horsepower, so that
they may have a reserve of three
To carry on the business of life you
must have surplus power. Be fit for
more than the thing you are now do
ing. Let every one know that you
have a reserve in yourself, that you
have more power than you are now
using. If you are not too large for
the place you occupy you are too small


for it. Applause. How full our
country is of examples on all hands,
not only of those luminous examples
of men who occupy some proud emf
nence, butin every place you may find


man crninu on with Staadu narva Of