St Johns College - Yearbook (Annapolis, MD)

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tinguished of our Alumni, your son, honored wherever known for his wealth of mind and h rt Judge Tuck has pledged a thousand dollars. Another, not an Alumnus, your adopted ea 2: . . . son whose ripely cultivated intellect has, on So many occasions, fascinated you with the com- bined flowers of rhetoric and logic, has pledged another thousand. Annapolitans, can it be that you will not appreciate the wisdom of the choice, that made this venerable city the seat of the College? Iwill not believe it. I am one of those who think that the people's ' b tl C should lead in ork should be done by the people. Not the monied few, ut ie masses W . this Great work of educational reform. Let the streams of your beueficence, formed of single D d meet and mingle with the State's benefaction, and the Collegelis safe- Many a .dia- rops, Q, mond now concealed from human view will be brought forth and set in the country's crown to enhance her ancient glory. . a . ' The spirit of the olden times is not dead.. Philomathians and Philokahans, there is power enough in you to fan it to a brighter flame. V Forty' odd years ago I dreamed golden dreams as I wandered through those consecrated grounds, and listened to the echoes of the past as they whispered through the branches of the grand old poplar, and one of the brightest of those dreams was the rising of St. Iohnls from its ashes. That dream is but half ful- filled. The hour has been too long delayed, and I now turn to you, her gifted sons, to help us to make it a grand reality. The eloquence of years is concentrated in one brief hour. By the memories of the past I implore you too seize hold of, use and improve the present opportunity. Key, Thomas, Murray, Johnson are blending their tuneful tongue, with our feeble advocacy-the living and the dead- They all commend her to your care, your sym- pathy and pecuniary aid. 1 Yours is a grand destiny if you are wise to meet it. You may fix stars in the firmament of thought, and noble activity, that will burn on forever. You may add to the lustre of the past new names, to grace the scroll that shall bear no other motto than this-the College cradled in the revolution, whose destiny is onward and upward- Young gentlemen, you are living in a great age-an age of extraordinary mental activ- ity, full of the wealth of invention, and teeming with the fruits of knowledge, gathered on every field of thought. It is in age, however, whose very intellectuality constitutes a peril, against which it becomes you to watch. It is a glorious part. It is above the envy of the most envious. The present is before you. On its proper use and wise husbandry depends the future. It was my privilege to listen to a debate between your two societies. The subject was one of absorbing interest. It was characterized by great power on both sides. Facts, the result of close investigation, and careful research, were marshalled' with great skill by each of the contestants. I felt proud of the talent I witnessed and consider the discussion one of the strongest proofs of the value of such literary societies to the College and the State- Young gentlemen, the theme was well chosen. The question you debated stretches for- ward, and penetrates the vast and unexplored future. It is a question to be determined amid the accumulation of stars in the blazing constellation. The sovereignty of States Evithin the sovereignty of the Union, withlno conflict of powers and no just cause of con- ict-the M agna.Cha1'te1' with the broad shield of the Habeas Corpus, and a pure judiciary, with nerve of will to declare the law and nerve of will to execute it, or 'else the total fxlipiiliiitliose stars, and the fatal. jar in the complex machinery of the government, which liberty be 103 iillgiggggiiiiidEEJO'CgS11gwan tgelzlvlll of one man will become the law, and you discussed was C1 - .1151 W - ie e of your debate was broad-the question 631' 35 P0531 C- The echoes of your eloquence have died away on the 96

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A 'fs -s Mfrs-Qw. ' -- f.-.nb .If I L , , M- .A ,X .. I I: II...l - ,I -'I Illis-. in-KI: -n': s- 'f fix- A-.i.:...-J -'f. - -.-1 w- --I - .-.j, - - -- - .- 1 1.2 .-H . - - Q. w ' . . . . .' . I-vp. V - . . , - . - - .3J.f--F ,..- ,..sz:.f s....fF'f.i-5-.e.?'.iafiSf. ,-W-..L-.....,... .,..a..-Ex .,.'.s...,....,,..g.-.w V ,pi . .. , V ' ' ' ' - Q - -- ' - --....--.. ...al-,.,L...-1 . - V j , -. . 1- - fry' -- -.Q - .1 '-12'fy:'. ' - 1-:',2,iL,g4 -- ' F . 4...,.. T ,, .. .. .' - --L35---rf---'-4--f', -' -7 . . . n -Q. A . . , which so many of our citizens are wont to discuss the comparative merits of the different colleges of the land. What is of home manufacture is despised as worthless. What is foreign is necessarily good. And yet our Alumni are our passport to favor, and we feel that we need no other. Too much stress cannot be laid on this point. Without patron- age and a liberal outlay of means no college can Hourish. If the most infiuential and liberal of our citizens express their preference for an education acquired from without to that which may be acquired within the State, the College must languish. These gentlemen do more than refuse us their aid- They exert a most malign influence against us. For they dishonor St. Iohn's by withholding the confidence to which she is entitled, and by example, which is far more potent than words, they work against her. Let the State multiply her scholarships, and thus bring the highest grade of education to the poorest. Let this be done, and all is well. It is the misfortune of our race, that we are always prone to under- rate individual effort. ine power of the ocean is in the waves. The power of the waves is in the separate drops. It is the unceasing putting forth of small exertions that moves the world- The mountains are leveled, a spadeful at a time. Let each one fulfill his mission, and what would be left undone? A dollar a head would give us thousands. :All we want is a fair, open field of competition. I flatter myself that the time is not far distant when those who now send their sons to other States will feel the awakening of State pride and give to this venerable seat of learning the high sanction of their example, and the more substantial benefit of their patronage- But the Alumni must lead the way. They must assert her claim. They must make known to others what they know by experience, viz: that St. ,Iohn's is deserving of a place among the foremost colleges of the land. St. J'ohn's asks to be identified with People of the State. Your Governor is at the head of the Board of Trustees. Your Judges of the Court of Appeals, and thepresiding officers of the Senate and House of Delegates are members of it. Young gentlemen, your societies are giving demonstration that the tuneful tongue is not yet lost to Maryland, and in the subtlety of debate, with the power of word-painting to illustrate the ,line of the argument, and logic in beautiful combination. Learning bubbles time and again, won plaudits from an admiring audience. I would counsel you to bear in mind that your Alma Mater will need your persuasive tongue, and highest enthusiasm. Amid those other dreams of ambition, which are Hitting before you in the halls you so dignify and ennoble, be this the most cherished, the sweetest, the brightest, and the best, viz: that you are to consecrate your highest powers to the cause of education, and seek to keep this one particular star in the ascendant. I might have chosen a topic more popular, perhaps, and seemingly more appropriate if I had followed in the path that bore the giant footprints of Welling, or the orator of last year, the gifted and scholarly I-Iagner- But they were not as generous as Boaz to the glean- ers of his ripened fields. For they plucked every iiower that bloomed, and left only a barren waste behind them. My heart was full. I thought, and still think, that the theme was well chosen, the Philomathian and Philokalian in beautiful combination. Learning bubbles up at the fountain head, and the beautiful meets us in all surroundings. Young gentlemen, the idea has gone abroad that this is only an Annapolis school, and the result is that a tide of bitter prejudice has set in against her in some sections of the State. Citizens of Annapolis, I turn to you in this juncture. You must prove to your fellow-citizens that you desire not a petty local school, but a great State College. And surely 'Annapolis, the Athens of the New World, ever distinguished for the love of the beautiful, will spring to the work before her, and meet her just responsibility. One of the most dis- 95

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ear. But the question itself remains. Was it a providential prognostication or a mere accident ? It remains for you to demonstrate, that the people are capable of' self-govern- ment, and to this end you must devote all your powers. The people must be educated for the crisis-they must be raised above the atmosphere of a pitiful partizanship, and have their feet set on the rock of a broad conservative statesmanship. They must breathe once again the fresh, pure air of the mountains that echoed ot the tread of freemen, and take their stand by the compatriot fathers of the Republic with the broad aegis of the Consti- tution over them, as they march, to use the language of the incomparable Choate, to the music of the Union. You will have your part to act in the solution of the fearful problems we have to solve in the national life. The question will be removed from the halls of debate where mind met mind, and wit clashed with wit to the stirring arena of actual life. Be true to duty. Be true to your country- Be true to yourselves. Above all and in all be true to the destiny that is before you. Strong men alone can meet the exigen- cies of the times-men of purity, of honor and of truth. Ripe culture, exact scholarship, high-toned moral principle, steadiness of will, and fixedness of purpose constitute the ele- ments of the greatness which the country's future weal demands- Drifting from her ancient moorings, our noble ship must founder. You will soon be on the quarter deck. Keep ever before you the fact that a little more drifting will plunge us on a more fatal rock than Scylla or Charybdis. Keep by you the compass, never let go- your hold on the cableg and you will ride the sea in safety. The Union Hag at the masthead-the port of entry, the harbor of '76-the haven far away in the deep blue of the sea not yet explored-the crew disciplined and taught to love the flag that envelopes them, and you will be the honored instruments of preserving the past in all its glory, and making the future the faithful reflection of the past. Wlieri I reflect that I stand in the presence of the young men ofthe country, who are destined to transmit to coming generations this rich heritage of glory, or to witness the eclipse of the stars that have shone so brightly in the iirmament of liberty and of the Union, I feel the magnitude of the crisis, and cannot express the anxietyithat consumes me as I lift, up a warning voice and bid them be true to duty, true to the country, true to the destiny that awaits them. ' zhgsr fl 'Xb iiiasarlii 97