College of Idaho - Trail Yearbook (Caldwell, ID)

Page 80 text:

The TRAIL

Page 79 text:

I RAIL X . ,- . P x ,. X WY 5 X Ax Q XI' E-A , ffg X A. WY? 5 , if ff 1 . . I, Q f STUDDV HYC 77 V! 775

Page 81 text:

The -TRAIL 75 , Founders Day Address are meet to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary cf the founding of the - ,i College of Idaho, thus to commemorate the spirit of the men and women in i A ,f ip - whose ardent love for the fundamental truths of mind and spirit our U' -if ., 'ex -IX: 1? fl ix if S F beloved institution has her firm foundation. We have come here to pay tri-bute to our founders and to live once more in the spirit of sacrifice and devotion by which they were impellecl. It is a noble faculty of our natu1'e which enables us to shift ourselves backward into the past or to project ourselves forward into the future and hold communion at once, with our ancestors and our posterity. Human and mortal although we are, we are not me1'e insulated beings 'without relation to the past or the future. Neither the hour of time, nor the domain in which we physically live, bounds our intellect and spiritual cnjoyments. By ascending' to an association with our ancestors, by studying their character and imbibing their spirit, by sympathizing with them in their sufferings and rejoicing with them in their triumphs, we mingle our own existence with theirs, and seem 'to belong to their age. And in a like manner, by contemplating the fortune of those who are coming after us and by attempting something' that will promote their happiness we protract our own earthly beings, and se-em to crowd Whatever is future as well as all that is past into the narrow compass of our earthly existence. Thus we can be interested in and connected with the whole race througliout all time, allied 'to our ancestors: allied to ou1' posterity, ourselves but being links in the great chain, of being, whiich begins with the origin of the race, 1'uns onward through its successive generations, linking' together the past, the present, and the future, and terminating at last, with all things earthly at the throne of God. l Standing in this relation with our ancestors and our posterity, we are assembled at this spot to perform the duties whlich that relation andthe present occasion imposes upon us. Great action and striking' occurrences having excited a temporary admiration often pass away and are forgotten, because they produce no lasting results. Of the ten thousand battles that have been fought, fertilizing their fields with carnage, and bath- ing their banners in blood, of all the Warriors who have risen to glory, how few con- tinue to inter-est mankind. Victor and vanquished presently pass into oblivion, and the world goes on in its course, remembering only the loss of so much treasure and of so many lives. But there are enterprises, military as well as civil, which because of their lofty purpose, cheek the current of events, give a new turn to human affairs, and transmit their consequences down through the ages. The founding of our beloved institution thirty years ago, was the result of impulses of so noble a nature as to give it a higih claim to lasting commemoration. Born of an unselfish vision, reared by patient sacri- fice, she stands today, triumphant, ready to exert he1' influence throughout the world. Her influence like an emanation from heaven has already gone forth and will not return void. He who loves- sublime virtue loves to contemplate its purest models. That love of country may well be suspected which affects to be so elevated or so refined as to care nothing: for our national benefaetors. All this is unnatural. It is as if one would be so enthusiastic a lover of poetry as to care nothing' for Milton or Homer, or so pas- sionately attached to eloquence, as to be indifferent to Webster or Gladstone, We may be assured that he who really loves the thing' itself loves its finest exhibitions. We who love and admire the spirit of self-sacrifice and who believe that character building is the chief function of education, can do no otherwise than to love and honor that little band of men and women whose sincere efforts and patient sacrifice made this in- stitution possible.