[ADDRESS AT THE UNIVERSITY.]
BY WILLIAM GASTON.
Gentlemen of the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies:
When I look around on this extraordinary concourse of visitors I cannot but feel that expectation has been too highly excited, and cannot but anticipate and regret the disappointment which it must necessarily meet with. Aware of the value which is here set upon the ceremony of the annual address; knowing that friends of the University throughout the State regard it as calculated not only to excite a spirit of emulation among the students, but to attract the public attention to the institution itself; and warmly attached to that noble cause, for the advancement of which these edifices have been erected and your associations formed, I felt myself bound to accept the invitation, in obedience to which I appear before you. Could I indeed have foreseen the unusual engagements which, added to the ordinary occupations of a busy life, have left me no leisure to prepare anything worthy of the general expectation, I should have deemed myself at liberty to decline the call. But the discovery was not made until after my word was pledged and it was too late to hope that the duty could be devolved on another. Compelled then to choose between an entire disappointment of your hopes and the presenting myself to you without the advantage of full preparation, I have resolved to execute the undertaking imperfectly rather than forego it altogether. To whatever petty mortifications the adoption of this alternative may expose me elsewhere, from you, my young friends, I am sure of a favorable reception. You will see in it an expression of the sense which I entertain of the honor conferred on me, by your choice, of my readiness to gratify your wishes, and of my solicitude to cheer you on in the noble career upon which you have entered. The few homely truths which I wish to impress upon your minds will not indeed come mended from my tongue, but I do not despair that, presented in their naked plainness, but urged with the earnestness and sincerity of friendship, they may win their way to your generous and affectionate approbation.
The authority of Shakespeare is often invoked for the position that "there is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune." Without venturing to deny altogether the fitness of this metaphor, and fully admitting it to have enough of truth to render it appropriate to the occasion for which it was used, and the character to whom the great poet assigned it, I yet regard it as too favorable to that indolence of disposition which is always ready to imagine success in life as depending on some fortunate tide. I hold that, generally, every man is the architect of his own fortune, the author of his own greatness or insignificance, happiness or misery. True, it is, that casualties, neither to be foreseen nor prevented, may defeat schemes which have been wisely concerted and vigorously prosecuted; and that success, undeserved, and perhaps unsought, may sometimes befall the weak and slothful. These, however, are but occasional deviations from the ordinary course of nature, according to which, man's energies, wisely or foolishly directed, and diligently or carelessly exerted, are made to determine his character and condition in society. The stoutest ship that was ever manned with prudent heads, brave hearts, and strong hands has foundered in a hurricane, while the feeble bark that "owns no mastery in floating" is sometimes safely wafted into port; yet, who can deny that, ordinarily, the fate of the voyage must depend on the skill, care, and courage with which it is conducted. Much, too, very much, either for permanent good or ill in the fate of every individual, has been found to follow almost necessarily from the habits formed, the propensities cherished or restrained, and the rules of conduct adopted at a very early period of life. We might, perhaps, be tempted to regret that such important and often awful consequences should follow on the doings of an age, when the unworn senses are alive to every impression and the keen appetite greedy for every enjoyment; when the imagination is wild, the judgment feeble, and "heedless, rambling impulse" has scarcely learned to think. Yet such is the constitution of nature, and such consequently the appointment of Him, whose ways are always wise, benevolent and just, and whose will it were not more madness to resist than it is impiety to question. Look through the world, and the least observant cannot fail to discover talents abused, opportunities squandered, and men ruined because of early folly, misbehavior or thoughtlessness; and let those who have passed through life's ordeal with safety and honor look back on their trials, and they will acknowledge how much they owe to very early impressions and to habits contracted almost without a sense of their use or a foresight of their consequences. He, therefore, who aspires to excellence cannot too soon propose to himself the objects which he should strive to obtain, nor fix his aim too early, or too steadily, on the end to which his efforts should be directed. The shortness of life, large fragments of which are necessarily occupied by animal wants or wasted on frivolous cares and amusements, leave, at best, but an inconsiderable portion to be devoted to intellectual cultivation and exertion. To waste this portion would be criminal improvidence, and it is of the highest moment to learn betimes how it may be most beneficially applied.
The end which an ingenuous youth naturally proposes to himself is a faithful and honorable discharge of the duties of life. His objects are to realize the fond hopes of his parents and friends, to acquire the affection and esteem of those around him, to become the dispenser of good to his fellow-men and thus to fulfill the purposes for which it has pleased God to place him in this world of trial and discipline. He feels that these objects are indeed good. By a moral instinct he is propelled towards them as fit to fill his heart, kindle his aspirations, and animate his exertions. Reason, as she gradually unfolds her powers and assumes dominion over him, sanctions this choice with her approbation; and religion comes in aid of nature and reason, to teach him that talents are but lent to be improved, and that an account must be one day rendered in which their use or neglect will be amply rewarded or severely punished. How much is it not to be lamented that sloth should enervate, dissipation corrupt, or vice brutalize this child of hope and promise? You, who have him in charge, watch over him with never-sleeping vigilance and affectionate solicitude. Give him a happy start, sustain him when disposed to flag, reanimate him when discouraged, check kindly his wanderings, soothe his wounded feelings, guide him with your counsels, and save him from the foes by which he is waylaid and beset. Macte nova virtute puer sic itur ad astra.
Most faithfully, no doubt, are these duties performed by the able and excellent men who are here charged with the office of instruction. Little can be done in aid of their efforts but to exhort and entreat all placed under their care to attend to their admonitions, treasure up their counsels, and obey their injunctions. Yet, there are some errors which were prevalent when I was a boy which I have reason to believe still prevail in public schools, and which may perhaps be better handled by an old friend than an acknowledged instructor, and to these, therefore, I would for a few moments request the favorable attention of the younger portion of my hearers.
Vigorous, diligent, and persevering application is essential to the attainment of excellence in every pursuit of man. It is undoubtedly a mistake to suppose that there is no original inequality in the mental faculties of different individuals. Probably, there is as great a disparity in their intellectual as in their physical conformation. But however false this extravagant theory may be there is another error far more common, and, practically, far more mischievous—the error of exaggerating the difference between the original energies of intellect, and of attributing to splendid and resistless genius those victories which are not to be achieved but by well directed and continued industry. It is in the infancy of life that the inequalities of original talent are most striking, and it is not strange that vanity, on the one hand, and indolent admiration, on the other, should hyperbolically extol these obvious advantages. In what this disparity consists it may not be easy to state with precision. But from an observation of many years, I venture to suggest that the chief natural superiority manifested by the favored few over their competitors in the intellectual conflict is to be found in the facility with which their attention is directed and confined to its proper subjects. That youth may be regarded as fortunate indeed who in early life can restrain his wandering thoughts and tie down his mind at will to the contemplation of whatever he wishes to comprehend and to make his own. A few moments of this concentrated application is worth days and weeks of a vague, interrupted, scattered attention. The first resembles the well-known manœuvre in strategy, so simple in its conception and yet so astonishing in its results, by which all the arms of a military force are made to bear upon a given point at the same moment. Everything here tells, because there is no power wasted, and none misapplied. Now let no one despair because he finds this effort to confine his attention difficult, or for a considerable length of time, impracticable. Nothing is more certain than that this power over the mind may be acquired. Let the attempt be repeated again and again—first short, afterwards (as the ability is increased) for longer periods, and success will ultimately follow. The habit of fixed attention will thus be created, and it is one of the peculiarities of all active habits, that in proportion to the difficulty with which they were produced, is their inveteracy, when once thoroughly formed. Thus, it not unfrequently happens that the advantages with which the individual commenced his career, who was naturally alert and devoted in his attention to every subject as it was successively presented to his notice, have not enabled him to contend successfully with him who, by hard efforts, has chained down his wandering thoughts and dissipated faculties to the habit of attention.
Among the best results which attend a course of regular academical education is this exclusive and concentrated direction of the mental powers to their appropriate objects. In the years employed principally in the study of the learned languages the necessity of finding out the meaning of each word and discerning either the agreement between different words or the dependence of some of them upon others in certain grammatical relations necessarily sharpens and fixes the attention. After this preparatory discipline of the intellect the student is introduced to the study of mathematical science, where proposition leads on to proposition in regular order, and his attention is necessarily enchained to each truth, as it follows with logical certainty, from truths previously demonstrated. He is then initiated into the mysterious laws of natural philosophy, as they have been discovered, explained and illustrated, by a course of rigorous induction, and is ultimately familiarized with the yet nobler and more sublime investigations of moral science, the refinements of taste, the beauties of eloquence, and the charm of heavenly poesy. And this admirable training is conducted remote from the bustle and cares of the world, in the very hush of the passions, and beyond the reach of beguiling and distracting pleasures. Here surely, then, the understanding is disciplined, its discrimination rendered more acute, its general health and vigor confirmed, while a facility is created for directing its powers to the various manly and trying services which may await in life's busy theatre. But not unfrequently is the question asked by querulous students, why all this devoted attention to the dead languages, to mathematical theorems, philosophical experiments, metaphysical disquisitions and critical subtleties? In the world [he soliloquizes] no one talks Greek or Latin, and in the forum or legislative hall we shall not be called upon to demonstrate the propositions of Euclid, or explain the phenomena of hydrostatics and optics. The motives of human action are better learned in that great practical school, the world, than by poring over the theories of metaphysicians; and all the rules of Quintilian, Rollin, or Blair will never make a powerful reasoner or an eloquent orator. Why, then, shall we consume our nights and days in the acquisition of that which is to be of no practical utility hereafter, and which brings with it no immediate advantage, except the gratification of pride, a shortlived honor, a distinction at commencement? Beware, my young friends, beware of the tempter! These are the suggestions of sloth—the most insidious, persuasive and dangerous of deceivers. Vitanda est improba Siren Desidia.
If you cannot close your ears against her insinuations, strengthen your understandings to triumph over her sophisms, and nerve your courage to resist her wiles. Be sure, if you submit to her benumbing influence, and waste your days here in idleness, the time will come, when with bitter, but perhaps unavailing anguish, you shall bemoan your folly. Remember, that it is not designed by an academical education to teach you all that it behooves you to learn. Education is not completed within these walls. When you shall have quitted this peaceful retreat, and selected the profession or state in life in which you are to be engaged, then you should apply all your efforts to the acquisition of that species of knowledge which is more especially needed. Here are inculcated those elementary principles of science and literature which experience has shown to be best fitted to form the foundation of the character of the scholar and gentleman—those rudiments of instruction, which, omitted here, are rarely indeed acquired afterwards. Here are to be formed those habits of vigorous and continuous application—here, the capacities for improvement are to be cultivated and strengthened, so that every occasion and every employment without these walls may become subsidiary to further advancement in knowledge, ability, and usefulness. It is a miserable fallacy to mistake the exception for the rule. True it is, that those who have won the highest honors at college do not always realize the hopes which these glorious beginnings have excited. "The fair bloom of fairest fruit" may be blasted by pestilent dews. Folly, vanity and vice, low pursuits and vulgar associations, indolence, intemperance, and debauchery but too often debase and destroy the generous youth who entered on life's career rich in academical distinction, docile, ardent for fame, patient of labor, of manly purpose and noblest promise. Mourn over these moral wrecks. Lament the inadequacy of all earthly good, the frail character of all human excellence. Weep for those who have fallen from their high estate, but say not it was folly in them thus to have risen. True it is also, that it sometimes, though very rarely, happens that those who have been idle during their academical course have, by extraordinary exertions, retrieved their early neglect, and in the end outstripped others who started in the race far ahead. These are the exceptions—they furnish cause to humble arrogance, check presumption, banish despair, and encourage reformation. But so surely as a virtuous life usually precedes a happy death, so surely it will be found that within the college precincts is laid the groundwork of that preeminence afterwards acquired in the strife of men, and that college distinctions are not only good testimony of the fidelity with which college duties have been performed, but the best presages and pledges of excellence on a more elevated and extensive field of action. In defiance, therefore, of all the lures of pleasure and seductive suggestions of sloth, let active, persevering industry be the habit of your lives. Form this habit here, and cherish and preserve it ever afterwards.