Princeton University - Nassau Herald Yearbook (Princeton, NJ)

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s THE NA ss.4 U HERA LD. And when to the class of good old '80 the solemn hour of sep- aration comes, when on the mind crowd all the memories of our college days-our common toil, or sports and merry songs-the thought that these will ne' er be more, causes us to stop and think, andregret that we cannot live them over again. Our vacations are over. Soon we part, never all to meet here again. The partingto some will be joyful, but will there not be a little sor- row mingled with that joy? Is it not a hard thing to part with friends with whom you have spent the happiest and freest years that we will ever experience '? The best of us, we think, are but beginning to iind out how little We know-to appreciate the vast- ness of the work beforerus-andwe are yet to learn by expe- rience how this duty must be done. Heretofore, life has been but a dream ,T now we see it coming upon us with all its reality. We are about to go forth into the world. May she deal With us gently and kindly. AJ oy and sorrow, success and adversity will not be meted out to all alike, nor can any one of us hope toex- perience joy unmingled with sorrow. Whether we are prepared, depends much on our faithfulness here. We have been told that what we have acquired here we may exchange for things' needed in life, that what we have gone through with here is typical of that which We shall experience hereafter in life. This little world of ours, to which we are now saying good-bye, has been a lively one to us 5 it has taught us to think and act for ourselves. And to those of us who have not taken. advantage of our every op- portunity, we would say, now is a 'last chance for us. If we have not done right, is that any reason why we shall never do right? Shall we thus permit our manhood to mope and decay ? Not so I Let us now make resolves, and thus continue to strive. This, then, is the most critical time of our lives. Much of future character and destiny is wrapped in decisions now made. As Shakspere has it, f A H There is a tide in the aifairs of men, Whicli, taken at the fiood, leads on to fortune' , Omitted, all the voyage of life Is bound in shallows and in iniserie-S. I.i.fefS character, then, must be determined by the passage ot 'I

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QITIE NASSA U HERALD. 7 Cnass QRATION. , BY IRVING P. WITHINGTON OF NEW JERSEY. ' LADIES AND GENTLEMENA:-Concerning our class, to Whom I am about to say a ffew parting words, there has been as much said as would suffice for a long course of lectures, and as much written as would almostfurnish a library. .Where is thetongue and ,Where the pen which has not been swift to' discuss her future ? iWe are 'too near to read her destiny' clearly and impartially--to praise 'or criticise. A class, to be accurately judged, must be looked at through the haze of years, when college life is a thing of the past 3 when the excitement of a Class Dayhas subsided, and when the world has tried uswith its fire., To-day another class comes together as a, class for the last time, and 'from a full heart bids farewell to her college daysedays so free from all re- sponsibility , so pleasantly, and, perchance, profitably passed. The last recitation-room has been left, the last examiner has gone his Way. Yet what need to look behind, and to sigh ? f We have yet a few songs to singatogether, and a little jollity. CLASSMATES :-In bidding you farewell, your classmate appre- ciates the responsibility you have so kindly imposed upon him. He has not selected any grand theme as has at times been custom- ary, neither has he prepared la polished and learned oration. But if, by anything that may be found' here, there may be awakened in the hearts of any one an impulse that maynot be a transient one, but a lasting and useful guide when we have left these scenes of pleasantness, and through us may direct others, he shall feel doubly repaid. ' i . We need not say farewell to-day, and yet the hour of parting is so near wefeel the straining of the chain that soon must break. x

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QTIE NASSA U HERALD. 9 critical periods. These periods have ever marked the history of humanity. Even in the persons of our first parents it stood in Eden , and there, future destiny hinged upon personal choice. And that old story is lived over againi in every man, s experience , for 'C every man is an Adam, and Ries are just as plentiful as apples, and sometimes quite as tempting. ' , , Just as we choose, then, when the choice is put to us, and 'live lives of obedience or disobedience, can we make our pathway bloom with flowers or bristle with thorns. Standing, as we do, on the dividing line between college work and life work , look- ing back with tender memories and forward with apprehension, let us see that we are prepared for the conquests we must make. To each one, in accordance with his circumstances and disposition, is given a work, forthe accomplishment of which he is held responsiblep WVe must realize that we live for something, that by seeking ease and comfort we cheat ourselves and defraud the world. Alas, how many men we have seen who waste their lives in strenuous idleness , forever working, yet never achiev- ing. If we could but realize the importance of an active life- its effects upon ourselves and upon others, we would think the span of life too short, and complain that we had not time to do more. There is- room for all, from the highest to thelowest. The work of the past has been great, but it has not by any means yet been completed-for humanity has a course to run, a destiny to accomplish. , 'We, then, have something more to live for than a name, more to strive for than riches, and more to long for than power. We have our fellow-men to serve and defend, their sufferings to allay, our religionto support, our God to glorify. Grand questions, which in their issue and solution stretch out into the ages of an unwasting eternity, will press upon our attention. There will be periods in our life when the interests of two worlds-this and the next-will seem to come into collision, times when princi- ple and policy, or even passion, will wage war upon our spirit's battle-field ,T times when we must be outspoken for truth, stern in our detestation of all that is false or base, times when we must know that success' gained at the expense of principle is in