University of North Alabama - Diorama Yearbook (Florence, AL)

Page 33 text:

ihe imperial land of the South, that her glory may be kept untarnished by our lives, and that in and through us she may become greater than her far-famed glory of today. At last we have come to the parting of the ways. We all agree that the years we have spent here have passed too quickly. Xo doubt, it is a sad thought to all of us to think that we are to say our last good-byes to our classmates, school friends, and last, but not least, to our beloved teachers. The memories that have made our school days dear we may keep until we have crossed the bar, but the work that this College expects us to do demands that we do not idly bask in peace and ease, but be Up at the work the world would have us do. The call has gone out to all ends of the earth for men and women who have been trained both by the knowledge that they have gotten from college and from experience. The mighty undertakings of the age and the great strides which all the world is taking today calls for trained men. The work of the pyramids and the hanging gardens of l.abylon are no longer a wonder, but such engineering feats as the Panama Canal, which will bind the two highty oceans together and make all the world closer, or the aeroplane that sails through the air at a rapid rate, or the wireless telegraph messages that flash across our continent in a few seconds. From out the field of such work as this comes the call for men, men who have the ambition and the confidence to plan and to accomplish still greater things than all of these. We have long since crossed the Mississippi into what vas a new world to those who moved West in wagons before the Mexican War and the railroad broadened our dominion, and we are bounded East and West by the oceans. We are living in an enlightened age of the world, an age which accomplishes those great feats that were considered impossible by our fore- fathers, and, above all, an age in which we can see in the near future the blend- ing of all these wonderful forces in unison toward such marvelous strides of progress and civilization as make the myths of the past fade away. You and I are the promoters of this age. There is much work to do all over the world schools are to be taught, educational needs to be met, and a thousand and one problems greater than the world has ever known are to be solved. We are the men and women to accom- plish these wonderful feats. In every field we are needed. The farmer, by the knowledge he has gained, is able to make the old red hills of Alabama blossom into the richest of fruits and into waving fields of golden grain and snowy acres of the fleecy staple, King Cotton. By this same knowledge photography is bringing to us, as on parchment leaves painted in, sunlight, the secrets of the depth of the sea and sky; it is finding new stars, and with the telescope camera liknesses may be snatched across spaces im- penetrable by the naked eye.

Page 32 text:

Senior Class Oration BY L. L. JAMES. ANOTHER race has been run; we who have labored ihe iast few years within the walls of our Alma Mater will in a few days be standing upon the threshold of a new career. The trials and the hardships of our school days have all been forgotten, and there remains but the recollections of the pleasures and the happiness. My dear classmates, we, who should be the truest men and women under the sun-kissed skies of Alabama, should go forth clad in the livery of our Alma Mater and armed with the knowledge she has been able to give us. We must receive the challenge of the world in a new day. The struggles that have been ours in the school-room have, in a small measure, tested our skill and our armor for meeting and combating the obstacles and trials which shall confront us in future life. But without a steady heart and sinews of iron and a fixed and determined purpose, can we ever expect to return the proud victor from the combat with the world of today ? The challenge is not borne to us by ringing peals from warlike bugles, nor by stirring blasts from brazen trumpets, yet the gods themselves with all the powers of the universe at their command could not challenge us in a language more forcible than the challenge of the world to train men and women. We, in our brightest day dreams, have built magnificent castles, accomplished great things, and been crowned by fame with the richest laurels of success. But now the day is almost upon us when we must cross over into the lands of tomorrow, and begin the fight in reality for those things of which we have dreamed. Upon the border of school days and after life the questions must come to each of us, What am I going to do with my life, and of what use am I going to be to my fellow man? Not all of us can hope to be kings and queens, nor the favorites of fame and fortune; but all of us can be far greater than all of these, if we but serve well the state, the country, and the God to whom we owe so much. Success is not measured by the glittering heraldry of pomp and display, nor in the idle praises of our fellow-being. But it is rather . measured in the good we may be able to do in whatever line of work fate may see fit to place us. The greatest success will be the life of the man who climbs the rugged ladder of fame with his hands and his brow crimson with the stains of his own life-blood, shed in the service of his fellow man, his country and his God. The foundation of success is character, and by the service we render time and humanity we make our reputation. Let us, if we wish to prosper, serve well

Page 34 text:

These men and women while doing these great things are in need of per- sons just fresh from college with a desire to accomplish greater achievements than their predecessors. Hundreds of thousands of suffering beings all over the world are calling for our help. Let us answer the call and do even greater things and kinder deeds than those who have gone before. From out the social and political world comes a call for farmers, teachers, ministers, lawyers, doctors, and the all-important housewife. Those who are filling these places today cannot hope to live always, for they, too, must answer the summons and go the way of all mankind, and upon our shoulders must fall the burdens of this nation. There is an abundance of work for us to do. Let us rise above all party strifes, contentions and worldly haughtiness, and with clean hands and pure hearts take the helm of our nation whenever our time shall come, and guide her across the seas, no matter what may befall her. Alabama is calling for- men and women, men and women who are willing to stand for everything that pertains to the uplift of fallen humanity. A mighty educational wave is beginning to sweep over our State for the purpose of elevat- ing the rising generation. Let us catch this wave at the flood tide and ride out on it to the work the world would have us to do. Time and demand are calling for us to come out and take hold of the vocations of life. Shall we answer this call and this challenge, and send back to the world our acceptance, and go forth to take our place in the great battle? The greatness of the obligation which we are under to the country, and even to this State which has given us such splen- did opportunities and such wonderful blessings of freedom and equality, and the call of our duty to that country demands that we answer the call and the challenge. The time has come for us to answer the last roll call and bid farewell to our Alma Mater. Today each old room and this chapel hall has something to remind us of the days that are forever gone. Today we will view all of these for the last time, and with our hearts too full for speech we turn and grasp the hands of our classmates and teachers, with tears unbidden springing down our cheeks, and take our journey out into the world. May the fates deal kindly with all of you, my dear classmates, and may the richest laurels of success crown your every effort toward answering the challenge and paying the debt you owe to your country, your mother, and your God. THE END.