18
THE BATTALION
couragement is the guerdon of every man’s success,—surely
this assembly of dignity and learning and grace must have
some great significanc3'’. Abandofyoung men have journeyed
in company to the Mecca of science and have worshiped at
the shrine of the liberal arts, and as a reward are dubbed
knights in the name of learning.
What can we look forward to that could be moie beautiful
or emblematic of our highest hopes for the future than this,
our festival season, commencement, the la3 r ing of the corner
stone as it were, to our life structure, a building which shall be
characterized b3^ a combination of lightness, strength and
practical utility, modeled and designed by that great architect
of modern times, the education of the artisan.
When I was called upon to deliver this farewell address,,
though greatly appreciating the honor, I felt as I now feel,
my utter inability to give adequate expression to the senti
ments inspired by this occasion, so full of buoyant expectancy
to you who are yet to follow us in scholastic duties, so full of
the gladness of victoi’3 7 and of the sadness of farewell to us
who are to discontinue the duties of cadetship and who are
now to set out upon our lifelong adventures with the realities
of citizenship.
Surely W'e are doubly blessed in this wide land of ours,
where industrial pursuits are so much encouraged and so
ampty provided for by public benevolence.
Here we learn to respect the means which give pulse to
the nation’s life, I refer to husba.ndry and the mechanic arts.
Here we learn to act as peace-making diplomats between
labor and capitol, as exponents of the principle that in her
fields and shops a nation lays a foundation of solidity, and
opens the inexhaustible source from which she must draw her
wealth.
You, some of you, who have already passed over the
winding paths, along which we have been plodding for a
course of years, have attested your appreciation of the success
of industrial education b3 7 coming here today to bid us a wel-