Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Some of the Essentials a of the Tw Address of Dr. T. H. Drehe the Alurnni Associatio mencement of N Standing here, 21 years ago, I re- 1 luctantly bae farewell to my pupils and to the people of this community. The future looked dark and gloomy, as it always does, to a man who is breaking ties which have been weld ed together with hooks of steel, and who is throwing the dice, and stak ing his all, upon a new and untried me. The best and most flattering ] dence that the game has been ed with some degree of success credit, is the fact, that I am today, in such an honored ca y. e useful and pleasurable years ] h I spent among you, as student 1 teacher, are still fresh in mind' d furnish a delightful subject for ] emory to dwell upon. More con- i genial pursuits, shifting scenes, new t surroundings and the leveling in fluences of time, have not erased from that memory the feeling, that old i Newberry, after all, has the most hos- t pitable people in the world. I wish to thank my comrades of the 'Alumni association for their kindly t attitude, and to say, that I am flatter ed beyond my deserts in being thus s invited, a second time, to appear, as 1 your commencement speaker. c When I remember that the theory a and practice of medicine are not con- u ducive to oratory or purely literary a development; and that the giant t strides of Newberry college have fill- t ed her rolls with many who, by spe- c cial training, are better fitted to do c greater honor to them and the insti- c tution, at this time-I would be c ashamed, under such conditions, to Y own a heart so cold, as not to beat 1c high, in-grateful appreciation of .such 1 a tribute. Exploiting the Ego, in speechify- c ing, as in ordinary "shop talk," soon r grows monotonous and pales upon 1 one's hearers, but only those ignorant ( of~ the tender chords-woven of a .) thousand strands-which bind teach er and pupil, through school and aft- I er life, would be -so uncharitable as to t veto just one-more personal allusion. i Et of you know, the worthy 1 resident of Newberry college, horn we are all 'expecting a h, once sat at my feet, sas ant nt and receptive pupil. Soon his election to that 'exalted 1 ,I wrote him a congratula- ~ te and, like'Cassius (without and jealo'usy) asked him up- t t meat he fed, that he, thus *d grown so great and bestrid arrow world like a Colossus, old. teacher is obscurely around under his huge 'legs a djshonorable grave. e wa11 be no hide-bound sub- i ency to any text but today's e imadversions will,. centre, mainly, a ound "Some of the Essentials and < esponsibilitites of the Twentieth ( Century Alumnus." A character in a "Felix Holt" is made to say that there t are two ways of entertaining an aud- t jence: "O.ne is to tell them what they don't understand; and the other is to a tell them what they are used to." In 2 following the latter method, it is pos- t sible that you have had, from time to a time, on~ these occasions, a surfeit f of advice along the lines that we shall a travel over this morning. You can j not be reminded too often, however, y that where much has been given i mnuch will be' expected. So long as t any community has a better scholar e or citizen. among the uneducated,- i than the college graduate, there is neel of the word which spurs the E ambition an,d stirs the latent ener- i gies. A trustful and receptive mind, un- t der the spell of most modern lectur- i ers and platform orators will soon 1 land one into a state of morose fore- 1 boding, if not a species of actual coma I over the present status and future E utlook of this country. He will in- I vitably conclude~ that he has fallen < pon evil days; that no star of hope i onger beckons the "Mill-boys of the I lashes," the~ canal boat drivers and r ail-splitters, on to glory and the c ghest posts of honor and useful- I ess; that there is no more room ex pt at the top, whose dizzy heights i n only be scaled by those lessed with silver spooris in their < ouths, or by that vague and mys-< erious few, often talked about, but arely encountered, in every day life, t nd known as the geniuses of the< ountry; that the great herd of p ediocre collegiate plodders can ner eer hope to get their noses from the E grindstone, or do more than browse in the scant pastures, shorn of their 2 strength and beauty; that the trusts and "dollar-madness" of the pluto d Responsibilities entieth Century Alumnus r, of St. Matthews, before n at the recent com ewberry College >4***.* 4****************4 hroats, squeezing the very life out 4 is; and that in short, we are spee< ng headlong to destruction, upon ti 7eefs and breakers. These gloon: li-gnosticians and prognosticator )f the present and prospective ai nents, which threaten our very e: stence, remind us of the husban vho went home, late and "groggy," t iis forlorn family, and soon fell int L peaceful sleep. His good wil -niffed the premonitory symptoms < Ln imaginary cyclone and hurried] LWoke "John" to investigate. Har( y responsible, he opened the do( eading into the closet where the lin >urger was stored, instead of th Loor opening upon the outer worli tealizing the danger, as he though .e shouted to his wife to "prepare fc he worst, that the elements, viere a ark as the dickens and smelt lik imburger cheese." That there is aodicum of truth in all this, no on he least conversant with the tru :onditions which surround us, wi tare deny, but more of that in du ime, I, for one, rejoice that fate oi ained me to live and work out m alvation through the setting and ri! ng of the nineteenth and twentiet enturies. As a matter of fact, w .re living in the greatest -countr: .nder the best system of governmer ,nd in the most marvelous age, c he world's history: - It is difficul o see how the most careless studer if the past can arrive at any othe onclusion. Pessimists who compar iurs, with an imaginary golden agi an, of course, see only the cloud: 7ithout even a silver lining. On f the foibles of human nature, is t aagnify the past, minimize. the preE nt, and decry the future. Then me if old were giants, their motive atriotic and their characters ur lemished, while the present, is ay of moral and intellectual pigmie: efferson, dead, is a paragon of ani aals, a wise and unsullied states aan, whose very name is the en odiment of our modern democrati a~stitutions. And yet, during his lifi e was prounouced a narrow an etty demagogue, , a coward, a: theist, and a destroyer of the na on s peace and happiness. Th enalty of greatness is, that it rare y gets its just rewards 'an ull fruition, until the grave close ver all that is perishable. The ir elligent reader of history must hav een impressed with the fact that th ast is either "a fable, agreed tupon, s Napoleon said, or little else, tha carnival of crime, war and perse ution. From Moses to the Macca ees, covering a period of fourtee: undred years, there was almost Co: tant war, 'vith its inevitable demor lization and corruption. For seve enturies, from Romulus to th ~aesars, the peaceful gates of Rom ere closed only six years. Ten c lie 12 Caesars, who ruled her des inas, died unnatural death--a id most of the Emporers, during th hole period of the Roman empir4 so late as the latter part of the sii eenth century, over eighteen thous nd people were put to death, mainl or religious reasons during the shor nd bloody reign of the Duke c lva, in the Netherlands. There wer aore printing presses in Spain dui rug the middle of the sixteenth, tha: hie middle of the nineteenth centurl ,nd she is yet bleeding and groanin .nder the wounds inflicted upon. hei y the bigoted Philipp II, who crush d out the liberty of conduct an reedom of speech, in that unhapp andi France swung from th yranny of kings to the tyranny c aobs; and while England throve an rospered, through many long an loody wars, her last stand against th ttls South African Republic show d her decaying strength and force er to exclaim, as did an ancient gen ral after a successful battle: "On aore such victory and I am undone. fow stands America in this list c otables? Since the Revolution, th :ombined length of her military can: aigns has been only about ten year! .nd the indications are that the bean: rug face of peace and happiness wil mile upon us for many decades t ome. Her progress, materially, an therwise, during the last, hundre ~ears, has been 'the marvel of th imes. It is estimated that she prc uced nearly three times as muc wealth during the nineteenth, as th receding eighteen centuries combin *d. The seventy millions of peopi n the United States, transporte rore merchandise, by rail, in 189% ccording to Josiah Strong, than th emaining one and one half billion f nennic the world. nil told. WV are still speeding on at a pace whi *!makes the head grow dizzy to cc template. While we have outstripp all competitors and are in the foi * front, in every thing which produc enjoyment and irspires ambi-ion, i should not forget that many of o *'blessings were cradled in the c world. The martyred graves, dott all along the past, as so many m stones, are but the monuments whi remind us fo the civil and religio liberties which have been won, aft many centuries. Few of us can nc conceive that there was a time, n I many generations back, when a Pr tesant was not allowed to read 1 Bible or pray in his own home; wh< the poor peasants of Franee we sent out, as so many slaves, to be around the ponds at midnight, le dI the frogs disturb the rest of my Lo: 0 and Lady of the Chateau. Even 0 our own New England days, forgetf e of their past history and painful e periences, men were not allowed y vote, who did not belong to the e tablished Puritan 6hurch. TI shackles, not only of chattel, but me: tal slavery, have been broken and 1 e are living . in, and breathing tl 1. healthy ozone of a modern, enligh 1, ened atmosphere. If the people are not suprem sthey alone are to blame. There e not an officer from president to co: a stable who is not amenable to the sovereign will and wishes. "I e Goddess of reason now sits enthro: 1 ed on cathedral altars;" our dem e cratic government would never da: -to close its church doors, convert i y sacred temples into work shops, carve on the tombs of the dead, th a "death is the end of all things," e did France, barely more that... ge eration ago. No Madame Pompadou t or DuBarrys would risk their nef f rious arts arid brazen goverment t schemes among us. - Ladies of pri .t ahd spirit ieed have any fear of ma r rying a ruler like Henry VIII wl e beheaded or divorced four, of his s , wives. Such is the picture, In a fe words, ladies and gentlemen, whi( e greets the eye of the twentieth ce: o tury alumnus as he goes forth to ( battle for his God, his country ai a himself. That he will receive mai s scars, no one denies, but there nevi was a time when the rewards of we] a directed efforts were greater, or t praise of genuine manhood, mo: 'sincere and unstinted. Then nobles: oblige. We are now passing throus -the crucial period which is to dete c mine the lasting weal or woe of th nation. A period which calls for ilJ d best and bravest to resist the evi a and temptations which always follo . in the wake of great prosperity ai e vapid luxuries. .It is with nations, as with indiv duals, when climbing the ladder, rui s by rung, from poverty and oppre sion, to ease and wealth, there is li ete danger of going astray. I-t is whi e the topmost round is 'reached that ~ n~ "scorn the base degrees by which v adid ascend," and topple headlong in the charnel house below. The tin for the Catos to thunder and strike, when vicious laws are being enact4 which foster trusts, millionaries az -ragbarons, that absorb the ill-gott4 ~gains of pillaged labor. When coi man is worth ~a million, while tho1 sands around him, are eking out ~pitiful existence. And a man who -without a crumb that does not fa Sfrom the rich man's table is genera e ly without a decent and unpurchas; ble vote. We are at the parting of tU -ways, where our leaders and edi cated men, must hold* the rudder tru lest the old ship of state, with i t precious cargo, go , down beneath ti fwafes, forever. During the mo e flourishing period of the Roman Er -pire. the people were forgetting the SGod's children their parents, hut bands their wives, and the Chril tians were smeared with pitch, ar set on fire, in order to light up ti -gardens for the revelries of brut; Semperors. As we all know she ree ed and staggeredi in her drunkt frenzy,'and finally fell into a heap< ,ruins. :The Knife of public sentime1 d should be whetted frequently ar e diligently, that it may safely disse< - out the diseased tissues, and ket i the body politic string, vigorous an - healthy. e What this county needs now, an "needs badly, is the old fashioned sy: f tenm of economy, honesty and har a work; and this applies with muc - greater force to the alumnus of . college than it does to the hod-ca: - rier on the streets. Macaulay ,sa: 1 that "nine tenths of the calamiti4 o which have befallen the human rac I had their origin in the union of hig d intelligence with low desires." TI e only way to throttle muck-rakers - for the leaders, especially, to liv a like Ceasar's wife above suspicio: e There is too nmuch stealing in hig: - as well as low, life. Too much sai e ing under false colors and living b d yond our means. It is bad enoug , for a clerk to rifle the till of his en e ployer and set up shop on his ruin s but when highly educated men. cal chi responsibility, besmirch their j >n- ments and befoul their nests Y ed public lute, and go free, it is an -e- vertisement to the world, that a d es cate sense of integrity has fallen i ve the "sere and yellow leaf." This b ur malfeasance in office and petty thi ild ery in all lines of business activil ed is restricted to no section or St, Ile! but is rolling like a sea of lava o ch this country. Many of the early us dians were said to have been si er rogues that, when unable to st w with their hands they used th ot feet. We will soon reach that pc 0- again unless we hasten back to Lis old paths of rectitude and c: an righteousness. So long as busin re reeks with shame and dishonesty i at our public men, so often caught ' st the goods on their backs, Othel: rd occupation will be a paying as in and the modern muck-raker must ul borne as a necessary evil. Be it s x to the honor of Newberry college to her high ideals, I know of no grai s- ate of hers who has figured in t ie orgy of crime and long may that b: a- liant record remain unsoiled w ve such polluted dirt. le The world is not expecting .t- much when it demands that, our stitutions send forth men, who le, ie pace of right living, as well is scientific attainments. Their adv a- tages and opportunities naturally ir them, as moulders of thought, ci o duct and opinion. Dr. McCosl, 1 a- once venerable and scholarly pre o- lent of Princeton university, said, re a public address, that not more tI ts one graduate in ten is worth the ti :r and money spent on him. He mil at -have added that' the two main cau s for this deplorable percentage a- failures have been a lack of enei -s, and character., Dr. Arnold, the no a- educator, once said, that from his al yerience in schools, he found the le ference between one studnt and r- other was not ability, as a rule, 1 10 energy. When Napoleon establisi Ix a military school in France, w stipulated that the students shol shine their own boots a a- shoe their own horses. He knew to value of work and economy in m. id ing good soldiers, and he knew t] ly the polished and dissipated cavaliE ar under Prince Rupert, went down I- defeat before the untrained and G, ie fearing Ironsides of Cromwell, re Naseby and Marston Moor. seA diploma, of itself, is a sn hmatter. Andrew Jackson .boughh< r-which he was unable to read,. is. climbed, just the same, to the high ie emifierice by his innate strength a ls dogged determination. The lack w sustained application is the rocki id on which most college graduates stranded. They have no resources i- fall back upon. Like the unprofita iservant, they bury the lone tal s- which God has given them, insti t-of utilizing it, and preparing for t m ger things, by and bye. They le: rcollege with the notion that they reducated while the wise old prof to sor is secretly praying over their ie norance and hoping for the best. 'I is plain truth is, a man knows very d tle when he leaves college and1 dsooner he realizes the, true situati mand determines to remedy fifL"the t ke: ter for him. An alumnus should x- a student. His library should gr a up with him and they should is strong and fast friends. We are ti ,11 jthat the pride of science is hum -; when compared with the pride of 1- norance. The bright and snappy alu tnus who hopes to conquer by his w: is usually outstripped in the race ethe plodders who burn the miinis ts oil and who look upon their colle te training, as the foundation up st which they must build their- own si i erstructure, and carve out their o ir future. It is a deplorable exhibiti s- to see a college graduate waiting, li 3- Uriah Heep, for something to turn1 A or leaning, eternally, upon his all te mater, for strength and succ 3.1 There are too many educated loaf' 1- in this country. Whnold Edward III, perched i on a windmill, during the battle Crecy, was asked to send aid to] at son, he wished to know whethe'r 1 d young man was dead or wound t Learning that he was uninjured, 1 3 king replied: "Tell him that he I Sno aid from me. Every man mi *win his own spurs in this battle." TI d result of that mighty struggle v Sdue, largely, to the bravery and g .lantry of the boy's division. Sweari hi by the soul of that father and ners a by the confidence, begotten of se - help. he carried his banner to gre; ser achievements that were to follc -The cry has gone forth that t ah learned professions are overcrov ed. The fact is they are glutted wj too many men who are looking ean easy berth to escape hard wc and are not willing to pay the pr -of success. To those young men w -are preparing to start out upon th professional journey, let me wa them to look well about themselv 1and be sure that they enter the pa along which they are best fitted -, Iy ,', f. . . . . .L-~ ;ar rith ad-I eli Real E asee i ev les ite, ver In- How many people of means do ich monev on land? Small investmer eal gains. eir We have a few farms that ougb the' I on their cost and at the same tim vic in the next ten years. ess No. i Is 170 acres four m Lnd homestead and tenant house, rent ith cotton, will cut 250,000 feet of tir t'S No. 2 219 acres good eight tenant houses, only one mile from aid QNo. 3 900 acres near Whitn Lnd land is well timbered, and could i iU- desirable farms. his No. 4 200 acres in Newberry c open, plenty of good timber, rent cotton, all for $2,200, on easy ten too INo. 5 3oo acres near Reno a g in- $16 50 per acre. set No. 6 550 acres only three -mi) as with an oil mill and a bank a i- homestead and several tenant hou. being worked, all for $8,500- Ve is worthy your consideracion if yo st- good neighbors, has telephone in t in present owner rich enough to retir an A fiye room house and two acre me worth P,'5oo for only $2,ooo. es Four nice building lots on Reed of attractive price. Two lots at Hig -gy two story house and three acres o: ted We have numerous other propei MX- son and Greenville. [If )Ut Led I I New South Rea e ihe Herald"""'"""ws Comp rs, -in d- Herad ad News Building, Newherry.1 utO oNewberry I e Comp ig- WEEDERS CULTIVW be*COTTON be HORSE]i ble1* in-.WHEEL byl litiSHOE GRAIN CF tSCREEN P* SCREEN DO WIND( hed. a+ CREAM FlR he . ng* $Newhberry I dO Comp or P. F. Baxter & Son 62 FUEALsIECOS Nat to Practical Embalmers th -Phones . Dav 117-Night 909' st ate! you know who haven't made Lts wisely made lead to large t to pay you a large interest a more than double in value iles from railroad village, s for 2800 pounds of lint iber, all for $2,Ioo. room Ireidence and five 3ilver Street for $45 per acre. ire for $5 an acre. This eadily [be lcut into several .ounty with a two-horse farm S] fOpounds of lint Is.1 cod farming 1proposition at es from a prosperous village ad numerous stores, large es, 12-horse farm open and ry easy terms. This] farm a want a nice home. Has he house, and has made its e. 3 of land right in Newberry, street in Newberry at an h Point for $550.Large land for $4,750. ties in Oreenwood, Afider [Estate Tist MasonicTemple,'Greenwood. any HARROWS: TORS+ HOES FOES. S HOES ADLES 0 WIRE DRS ANDe )WS+ EEZERS ardware: anye BANK STOCK FOR SALE. Te own, and are offering for sale, shares of the capital stock of the onai Bank of Newberry, and we Lid be pleased to correspond with se who may be interested. OUTERN NATIONAL BANE, Wlilnungton, N. C.