Princeton University - Nassau Herald Yearbook (Princeton, NJ)

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N TIIE NASSAU HERALD. 11 hundred young men just ready to begin work. Let us, therefore, turn to our friends and say: As you watch us to-day planting our ivy 5' as you listen to our Class History, as you see us passing through the fiery ordeal ofthe Presen- tation Oration, do-not suppose that these are meaningless ceremonies, do not, for a moment, believe that we are liv- ing altogether in the past. The night before the attack upon the Redan, a small bodyiof Scotch higlanders started the well- known air of H Annie Lowrief, and in a few moments every Scot in the army hadjoined in that song of his native land. The true grandeur of that moment lay not in the beauty of the air, nor in the memories of the Scottish hills which it awakened, but in the fact that the thought of old Scotland and of their ,homes gave those Highlanders courage and strength for the battle on the morrow. This college has been our home, to its walls many old associations cling. But to- day, as we revive these associations, as we linger once more in our familiar haunts, as we sing our parting ode, our thoughts are looking towards the future, and in these exer- cise we hope to find some of the strength and courage which may be needed so soon. Though the parting of friends may be hard, yet we would not linger longer. There is a call to us from without these academic halls, and we Would not be found sleeping when work is to be done. If you can find in our Class-Day some of the meaning which it conveys to us, you will not look upon our exercises with mere curiosity. And, my classmates, what word of encouragement can we say to one another before the last farewell? If our class associations have taught us anything, they must have taught us the old, old story of the brotherhood to man, that the success of one means the advancement of all 5 that the fail- ure of any is a drag upon the rest. Let us broaden and deepen those feelings of fellowship and comity which we have here learned to entertain towards our fellow'-collegians, until they grow into a large and true philanthropy. Who that goes from this place cannot echo that sentiment which

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10 THE NASSA U HERALD. a freshly healed. It is the memory of a spring-time, two years ago, where three, who had been counted in our num- ber, who had lived among us,who had gained our affections, died, one of them in our very midst. Shall we ever, could we ever forget that fatal morning in June, when the news fell on us with a suddenness which made it appalling, that Montague Ely was dead? My classmates, it is right that we should remember those scenes, those experiences, which were the saddest that our class has passed through. The frightful stillness which reigned, the awful forebodin gs which were fully realized before that day had passed, are vividly impressed upon our memories. Let us not attempt to stifle such remembrances, for they may teach us a healthful lesson. They teach us that a class which has passed through such experiences is bound close together by that past in which all its members have a share. It might be possible for other classes. to forget their unity. It should be impos- sible for us. Common bereavements form a closer tie than common prosperity. Classmates, let us keep this thought present with us to-day, and in it may unpleasant memories be lost. But our thoughts should not dwell on the past alone. We shall miss the significance of the day unless we recognize its close connection with the future. There is no time when young men attract so much attention in society at large as when they are-to use the orthodox phrase-going forth. The papers are full of their doings, their friends sit by and watch in admiration and expectancy, and as for the young men themselves-why, they feel as if they were prize calves at a cattle-show, whose chief duty is to look equal to the occasion. Such, my classmates, is our situation to-day. We seem to be attracting much attention, and I, for my part, am not ready to say that attention could be better bestowed. But there is- one thing which we cannot forget without making a fatal mistake. The interest which we excite is not due to any past attainments or achievements of ours, but simply to the grand potentiality which centres in a

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i 12 THE NASSAU IIERALD. the nineteenth century is growing more and more to under- stand- I have felt with my race, I am one with my kind 7 Let us then, in all that awaits us, be true to these facts, true to our manhood, true to ourselves, true to Old Nassau. I would not preach to you an abstract morality-a scheme theoretically perfect, but practically worthless. It is a plain fact of experience that life becomes happier, more satisfac- tory, more enjoyable, the more thoroughly we identify and bring ourselves into harrnony with the struggles, the suc- cesses, and the failures of the great mass of our kind. It is only then that we realize what is the true glory of humanity -the true nobleness of our own nature. With some such thoughts as these, let us spend the few hours which remain to us. And when the farewell shall have been spoken, when the class shall have ceased to exist as such, let us be strong in our hopes for the future, rather than sad over memories of the past.