1909 Valedictory Address - Blooming Grove High School

Blooming Grove Schools Index

VALEDICTORY ADDRESS.
Delivered by Miss Lois Young at
Blooming Grove Commencement. ...
The following valedictory address
was delivered at the commencement
exercises of the High school at Blooming
Grove, Tuesday night, May 18th, 1909,
by Miss Lois
Young, aged 15 years, who tied for the
highest honors with Cole Waterman:
"Standing with reluctant feet where
brook and river meet."
In youth the heart thrills with hope
and the mind attunes itself to the
great song of the universe as the eye
beholds the panorama which nature
affords us the flush of early summer.
But what is hope? A great sage in
answer to this question said '"Tis the
dream of man awake" and no wonder
he said it since life is a kaleidoscope
made up of shifting forms and chang-
ing scenes, an alteration of cloud and
sunshine, tempest and calm. Our
hopes are like thin airy bubbles tinted
but a moment in the sunlight will
rainbow colors when something
touches them and they are gone. Oft-
en our hopes rise on waxen wings and
when soaring the highest its pinions
are melted like those of the fabled
Icarus and we find ourselves helpless
and disappointed. Every desire and
expectation, every hope from which
there is a realization either here or
hereafter, must be deeply rooted and
grounded in reasonable and legitimate
sources.
Life altogether, is but a crumbling
ruin when we turn to look behind. A
shattered column here, where a mas-
sive portal stood, a mouldering heap
of blackening stones where the glow-
ing flames once leaped, and over all
the tinted lichen and the ivy hanging
green. Everything looms pleasant
through the softening haze of time.
Even the sadness of the past seems
sweet. Our school days look very
merry to us now, our bitter little sor-
rows, heartaches, snubbings and the
hot tears that fell on unruly latin
verbs are all forgotten, only the joyous
shoutings and jolly larks remembered.
Yes it is the brightness, not the
darkness that we see when we look
back. The road that we have just
traversed stretches very fair behind
us. We see not the sharp stones. We
dwell only on the roses by the way-
side, and the strong briars that stung
us are to our distant eyes but gentle
tendrils waving in the wind; and we
are thankful that it is so, that the
ever lengthening chain of memory has
only pleasant links. It seems as
though the brightest side of everything
were also its highest and best.
So that as our little lives sink back
behind us into the dark sea of forget-
fullness, all that which is the lighest
and most gladsome, is the last to sink,
and stands above the waters, long in
sight when angry thoughts and smart-
ing pains are buried deep below the
waves.
But let us have done with vain re-
grets and longing for the days that
will never be our again. Our work lies
in front. We hear the murmuring of
the great sea and must hasten on
where our brightly painted boats are
waiting to spread their snowy sails.
What our work may be, what this
world’s share is in the great design we
know not, though our unconscious
hands are helping to accomplish it.
Like the tiny coral insect working
deep under the dark waters and join-
ing continents together, we must
strive and struggle, each in our own
tiny sphere nor dream of the vast
fabric we are weaving for Eternity.
Let us no longer pause to gaze upon
The past as if it were the building.
It is but the foundation. Opportuni-
ties may flit by while we stand regret-
ting the chances we have lost.
There is no returning on this
stream of life. The frail bridge of
time on which we tread sinks back
into Eternity at every step we take.
No single step can ever be retraced,
no word unspoken. Then let us like
brave sailors go forth joyously to meet
this new life, that lies before us.
The traveler in preparing for an
ocean voyage selects the necessary
equipments for the success of his
journey. Naturally the question con-
fronts us, what shall we require before
setting sail on the river of life? First to
determine our course and have some
reasonable plans. Then these plans
must be supplemented by a fixed pur-
pose to execute them, for it is pur-
pose after all that gives meaning to
life and underlies character, culture,
position and attainment of any kind
whatever. It is purpose that makes
the contrary winds drive the sailing
craft into the desired haven. Then
we shall need the determination to
make the most of ourselves in that
which is noble and good, and render
the greatest possible amount of serv-
ice to others. We are so bound to-
gether that no one can labor for self
alone. Each blow we strike in our
own behalf helps to mold the Uni-
verse. The stream in struggling on-
ward turns the mill whell. Alexander
and Caesar fought for their own aims
but in doing so they put a belt of
civilization half around the earth.
Stephenson, to make a fortune, in-
vented the steam engine and Shakes-
peare wrote his plays and poured out
his soul in undying song, to make a
comfortable home for Mrs. Shakes-
peare and the children.
To stem life’s current we must also
have ambition; not the kind however
that is prompted by a desire to excel
others for the simple purpose of be-
ing above them but for the purpose of
elevating others to the same point. It
is ambition which cuts the smooth
road over which humanity marches
forward from generation to generation.
Let us not be satisfied with small
meager attainments but strive for a
great deal. In the world today it is
necessary to adopt the principle pur-
sued by the plaintiff in action for dam-
ages, to demand ten times more than
you are ready to receive. It was by
not following this simple plan that
Rousseau came to grief. He fixed the
summit of his earthly bliss at living in
an orchard with an amiable woman
and a cow, and he never attained even
that. He did get as far as the orchard
but the woman was not amiable and
she brought her mother with her, and
there was no cow. Now if he had
made up his mind for a large country
estate, a house full of angels and a
cattle show he might have lived to
possess his kitchen garden and one
head of live stock and even possibly
have come across a really amiable
woman.
Life lies in the struggle and let us
not forget there are giants and drag-
ons in this twentieth century and the
golden casket they guard is not so
easy to win as it appears in the story
books. There the youth takes one
long last look at the ancestral hall,
dashes the tear drop from his eye and
goes off to return in a few years rolling
in riches. To the ambitious life
is a brilliant game that calls for energy,
courage and hope, yet having sufficient
chance about its working out to give it
all a glorious zest of uncertainty. Let
us exult in it as the strong swimmer in the
heaving billows, as the athlete in the
wrestle or the soldier in the battle and if
defeated we win the grim joy of fighting.
If we lose the race at least we have had
the run. Better to sail than drift or lie
at anchor. Vastly important among
the necessities for our voyage is a
generous education. Modern in-
dustrial, financial and commercial
conditions are more complicated than
ever before, and only the trained mind
and clear head can stem the current.
Then let us hasten down to the pier
where our ships lie at anchor. We
are ready to unmoor them and on
board all is hurry and preparation.
Soon the band strikes up and we are
off. Friends are waving gaily and bidding
us bon voyage. One by one the
old landmarks glide by like the different
grades of our school course. We
pass the incoming vessels, the Juniors
who will take our places. The old
High school building fades from our
sight on the shore and the last light
house like our faithful teachers recedes
from our view, and we are out
on the open sea.
No event in after life will ever stand
out with quite so much importance as
our graduation from High school. Our
class has been like a happy family
and our teachers more than instructors.
They have not only stimulated
us to high ideals and noble purposes
but created in us a desire of knowledge
for its own sake. The career
and work of each one of us has seemed
to be their judicial charge and
through the coming years we feel they
will follow our paths with keenest interest.
In the severance of the class ties
which marks the rounding off and
completion of this chapter in life we
realize the work “Farewell” becomes
indeed “The word that makes us lin-
ger” and it matters not what the
conditions of our life’s journey may be
whether we tread the path of prosper-
ity or adversity (not legible) separated from
you far or near (not legible) cherish
for you the warmest friendship
and the sweetest of memories.
The old school building in “which
many of us have gathered since the
days we girls wore our first “Buster
Brown” frocks, from which the boys
had just emerged into the dignity of
knee trousers. You have watched the
little frocks grow longer and much too
small, while the little knee trousers
have grown longer and much too large.
The little blouse has sprouted
into a smart coat and the little old
battered cap once so useful as a com-
bination of hankerchief, drinking
cup and weapon of attack has grown
into jaunty, saucy hats of green and
yellow.
With reluctant feet we turn down
the high road of life and again and
again after we have grown sad and
weary with the fight and returning
disconsolate and unsuccessful will the
sound of the old school bell ring out
for us a new inspiration calling up
bright memories of school days, and
reminding us “there are no friends
like the old friends we loved in our
youth.”

The Corsicana Daily Sun - Tuesday, May 25, 1909
Submitted by Diane Richards