Alumni Oration

"Encoenia" University Monthly 7, 9 (June 1889): 130-136. (UA Case 67a, Box 1)

Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Senate:-
Fellow Alumni, Ladies and Gentlemen:-

Our meeting tonight is one for renewal of personal acquaintance, for strengthening of friendships formed here in college life, and for cordial greeting to our successors in these lecture rooms and sacred grounds. The

Alumni Form The Link

Between the college and the larger life of the active world; the faculty and the students make the college within the walls; the Alumni are the college extramural.

In coming back to Alma Mater then, we speak not for ourselves alone but in some sense as representing the great body of the community of which we form a part. It is fitting that some voice from outside should salute the earnest workers in the college, for the connection between the two spheres is close and growing every year.

The universities are no longer separate from the life of the time; the monastic idea is not in harmony with modern life. On every side the college feels the throb of humanity, and responds to the call of life by noticing the demands of the public, by finding a place for social studies and by acknowledging in general the obligation, to give in return for so much received. The solidarity of human interests is thus exemplified.

Now, among all the relations of the college to the general life of the age is that which it bears to the nation; the influence it has upon the national spirit; the

Power It Exerts To Create A Common Life

to give unity and character to the separate interests and districts of the country.

We do not need to emphasize the importance and value to mankind of the nation as such. We have simply to recognize the fact that each nation has a character of its own; that this character, mental and moral, is developed with the history of the nation and preserves the same essential features from epoch to epoch. We see this character stamped on all the nation’s works, its politics, its religion, its literature; and clearly marked in the spirit of its people in every way. Greece and Rome, England and France stand for personality as truly as do the names of the greatest men. We cannot say, perhaps, of any single nation that

Humanity with all its fears,
With all its hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on it fate.

But we only recognize a fact when we say that in modern life that nation

"Is The Making Place Of Men"

and that whatever gives tone and spirit to the nation, whatever develops high purposes and strong confidence; whatever secures a common life among the people; whatever binds the separate parts into one strong unity must be of the greatest consequences to the work that nation is to do; and the influence that nation is to wield.

It is apparent enough also that during the last 20 years the sentiment of the people of Canada in favor of making a nation here has been much strengthened; and it must be equally evident that the interests of different parts of our country, the differences of race and of religion, together with our geographical situation and other causes tend to divide our people instead of to unit them, and the same is true of the great empire to which we belong.

Over against these forces, always tending to division, there are others that tend to unite us. As ever

Political Considerations Count For Much

but as pressure from other nations grows less we must place more reliance upon the positive forces of commercial advantages; ties of blood and race; uniformity of character and purpose, and perhaps, and above all, upon that commodity of life which is created by general education and the higher culture. Bacon tells us that "Religion is the chief bond of human society," but we may also regard that apprehends the meaning of national existence and responsibility as a form of religion. It is mind that vies personality to the nation as to the man; the best culture of a country is the greatest bond in that country. These vital forces of intellect and thought though unseen are next to omnipotent.

And certainly in this respect we look to the universities to do much. They do not indeed contain all the culture; in a young country they are not relatively so fully recognized as in the older lands; but they are everywhere potent. It is frequently pointed out that since the invention of printing the

Universities Have Lost The Monopoly Of Books

That no four walls "can now inscribe upon their portals that within them alone now burns the lamp of knowledge." The modern university has now, it is said, extended itself over the whole world of civilization. This, however, only makes the necessity for the college greater. Severe thinking must be done when facilities for distributing the results of thinking are so numerous, and schools for training of themselves must be equally necessary. Amid the activities of our impetuous life, we need the stateliness of the university, the silence of the academic gowns to proclaim that "the atmosphere of study is an atmosphere of silence." Thus it is not only in spite of the invention of printing, but partly because of it that we say with Carlyle "Universities have and will continue to have an indispensable value in society. I consider the very highest interests of men vitally instructed to them."

In addition to this function of the college to attain to habits of close thinking whereby it develops a class of earnest life long students, the

University Promotes A Common Life

by teaching essentially the same truths to all. As the alumni here, to night, we feel like brethren

For we were nursed upon the self-same hill
Fed [as one] flock by fountain shade and rill.

So in a less degree are the college trained men of Canada bound by the subtle ties of intellectual fellowship. After making due allowance for the variety in the training received at different universities, the agreement of results is sufficient to make their alumni one brotherhood. Thus is laid the foundation for the organization of the professions and for the influential societies which are found among the leading men of the country; and thus is prepared a body of men ready to receive whatever impulse may come to the nation.

I can refer however, at present to but one branch of the university work, viz: Literature as the product of a common life and the creator of a common life. In the first place then, it must be said that

Literature Is The Product Of A Common Life

and is not merely the work of a single mind. Homer’s poems represent the sum of life up to or at all events, at his time; he is a compiler as well as creator; he receives from every source and adds the vitalizing power of his own unique personality. The religion of his day, the highest sentiments of bravery, justice and truth; the spirit of loyalty to country, to friend, to conscience, how strongly marked in his epics. The men and the gods of his time; the genius, spirit, power of the best life of his age, surely we behold in all his works. As we read we feel the hot breath of warriors and hear the stifled sobs of woe-stricken multitudes. It is perhaps, this presence of life in his works rather than the author himself that most impresses us. The age seems to be centralized in him. Certainly his work is not an isolated thing.

Come we to England and behold the same. Chaucer’s tales have a literary charm all their own; so simple, so vivid, so finished, while the author betrays no consciousness of this excellence. But we soon forget the poetic art as we live with him and go with his company of their pilgrimage to the ancient shrine. The England of his day is before us; the typical men of that gay period. Chaucer could not help seeing and could not help writing what he saw.

So was it with Shakespeare in his myriad-minded presentation of that brilliant age of Elizabeth when he

Wrote Down On Deathless Pages

the positive, passionate life of his time. He had, perhaps, little Latin and less Greek, but as Arnold says he lived in the atmosphere of great ideas which he absorbed with marvelous rapidity. So have we in him a dramatic representation of a common life.

It scarcely needs to be said that Milton gave himself, with a consecration as beautiful as complete through years of sternest, conflict, and when with all his exquisite appreciation of God’s beautiful world there was left him only "that inner eye which no calamity could darken," to the work which "the world will not willingly let die," that depict the strength and glory of that Puritanism which even hostile critics so greatly eulogize. It is the heart of that mighty movement whose throb we feel and not merely the touch of the master poet. So in our Tennyson, called the institutional poet of our century, do we find so much that is

Familiar In Our Hopes And Yearnings

our philosophy and theology with not a little of the breadth and intensity of the faith in the brotherhood of man that marks our time:-

Men my brothers, men the workers
Ever reaping something new;
That which they have done but earnest of the
Things that they shall do.

Thus it has come to be recognized that the study of any literature must be accompanied by a corresponding study of history. This is well said to be especially necessary in the case of our English literature. For the men who created it have no lived in caves and deserts but among "the throngs of men." They have been a potent force in moulding the institution of church and state. They have known the spirit of the times in which they lived, and moved by this spirit, have given themselves to record what the nation thought and felt.

Thus, our historians, notable Greep, give space not only to the "details of war," but to the intellectual and social advance "in which we read the history of the nation itself." Indeed some are ready to affirm that the importance of the history of any nation is in direct ratio to the worth of its literature, and scarcely worth writing except it have one, that literature, more than any other factor indicates the

Growth Or Decay Of The National Life

and measures the worth of that life as an element of human progress.

"Language," says Johnston, "best shows a man, speak that I may see thee." So we may say that literature best shows an age.

Scholars do not regard literature as a chance product springing up here and there along the track of history at random. The world of literary achievements is governed by laws to a large degree. Taine and other writers have set forth this philosophical view as far as it relates to the power of the nation over its writers resulting from the race element, and from the physical conditions of soil, climate and history. It is closely related to the moral life of the people; for though literature does not aim directly and chiefly to teach morality. It is well said that literature never strikes her deepest notes except as the great eternal laws of righteousness, which give

Human Life Its Deepest Significance

which make man so noble in the scale of being and invest all his relations with undying pathos, form the basis of the thought or feeling, or at least harmonize with them.

This attempt to account for the great works of literature is sometimes pressed too far, especially with regard to poetry. The singer appears at the proper time, but he is not a part of the system in that unvarying sequence we call law. He sings because he must. The message comes to Milton as it came to Habakkuk and to John at Palmos and must be uttered. So while our day is filled with philosophy and science until we almost say "And the kindly earth shall slumber lapt in universal law, arises a Browning who while he shows a heart within blood tinctured of a veined humanity, dwells so much upon the quickening, positive power of the individual man that he is styled the subtlest assertor of the Soul in Song."

But enough has been said to show our belief that the best literature, that which "has been declared sterling by the general consent of mankind," embodies most fully the characteristic qualities of mind, the strongest, deepest, purposes of the periods when it has been produced – in a word that it

The Product Of A Common Life

We are now ready to inquire how far literature helps to create a common life, to give character to the national mind, and so to promote national unity.

It must be said that the personal element, the confidence in the "men of light and leading" is a strong uniting force. The sacred Scriptures indeed give unity to Christiandom, but the members of any of our religious bodies, the hosts of a political party are held together, not by general acquaintance, for comparatively few of them ever meet, but by the common truths they hold as taught by the "choice and master spirits" of those companies and disseminated by periodical literature. Mr. Gladstone’s power as an orator is very great, but his influence in uniting the multitudes who hold his political faith is exerted most largely by means of the press.

In like manner when we think of England today, we a once think of the great men whose works we have studied, who have been our teachers, our masters. We

Are Bound To The Mother Land

not by an constraining cords of political allegiance so much as by the philosophy and art, the fact and the sentiment, which she sends to us. How can we do less than love a people to whom we owe so much of our law and who gave us for friends her host of eminent authors. Shakespeare, Milton, Tennyson, and a few others do more to make us one nation than England’s magnificent armies and her unequalled navy.

But beyond this personal influence there is the power of literature to stamp the minds devoted to it. We have said that the student of literature must also be a student of history. It must follow then, that the mind of a nation of which history is the record, will be open to the devotee of its literary works. The breadth of thought, the intensity of emotion, "the boast of heraldry the pomp of power," all the genuine life of the nation; the characteristics of its manhood, its genius, must possess him who possesses a thorough knowledge of what that nation has been and done. It has been said that the

Heart Of A People Is Its Mother Tongue

and that it is only by learning that mother tongue we can know that heart. If this be extended to a literature the statement is fully justified. Man’s language and literature must be regarded as the best means of transmitting the life of one age to the next. "A good book" says Milton, "is the precious life blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life." The nation that has adequately expressed itself in its literature and art can perish only as last year’s harvest, in the strength of which lies all the life of today. How much may be included in a single author is illustrated by what Emerson says of Plato: "In Plato you explore modern Europe in its causes and seed,—all that in thought which the history of Europe has embodied or has yet to embody."

This power of literature to embody life is complemented by the power of literature to reveal life, it may indeed be said that literature reveals us to ourselves.

So Arnold writes: "In our culture, the aim being to know ourselves and the world, we have as the means to this end to know the best which has been thought and said in the world."

University men forming their ideals from these sources; obtaining the nurture for their minds and hearts from these loftiest thinkers must do much to

Make The Life Thus Received Felt

Among their fellow citizens. For in due course these college men become teachers and leaders of the people, they lead in the professions, they control the general education of the country; they form public opinion through the press; they give elevation, breadth and grace to parliamentary work; they should give the best tone of the amenities of social life. What they have been taught they teach, they inspire others with the inspiration they have received, they make others admire the authors and embrace the sentiments dear to themselves. The history of education would, I am persuaded, furnish abundant illustrations of these statements.

Surely the hundreds of young men in Canadian universities, reverently and sincerely, with their zeal for education kindled almost to a passion, seeking from the past its inmost life as treasured up in its literature, must do must to promote a common intellectual life in a young country like ours, surely they must do much to bind us to the English nation whose life is so strongly marked and so high that, as Carlyle thinks, it has produced "a finer set of men than any you will find it possible to get anywhere else in the world."

Sometimes eager students, as well as ambitious professors, feels so distinctly the currents of national life about them that they

Think College Life A Restraint

and long to mix with action that will at once identify them with the public weal. But if the positions we have taken be correct then they who devote themselves to the great task of obtaining the wisdom of the past with a view to the present, who mould the life of the nation after best models, may count themselves as truly in the service of their country and probably more influential than if distinctly set apart to political office. To promote the construction of great railways and avenues for commerce, to create in our country a variety of industries, to add to the material wealth of the people is a great and praiseworthy work. But these are only the materials and machineries for the development and service of the higher life which the nation must possess that would hold a worthy place in modern times. A nation like a man must have a soul. It is the duty of every man whose education has made him feel his connexion with the race to become a positive force in determining what that life shall be. As a college is a part of the nation and not separate from it, the soul of the college, so to speak, must go into, the blood of the nation.

Imperial Federation

may come or it may tarry: in any event we must not be satisfied with a mechanical union of our people, but must work persistently for sharing whatever things are excellent to be found in all our border. In the midst of all our social and economic problems, with the political issues that may press us strongly not far hence, we must rely upon the power of knowledge among the people for the permanence of our cherished institutions. To secure national unity we must

Save the one true seed of freedom sown,
Betwixt a people and their ancient throne;
That sober freedom out of which there springs
Our loyal passion for our temperate kings;
For saving that yet help to save mankind
Till public wrong be crumbled into dust,
And drill the raw world for the march of mind,
Till crowds at length by sane and crowns be just.

On every ground it is to be desired that Canada should possess a literature of her own; certainly scholars who long for greater unity and more pronounced individuality in Canadian life must welcome every worthy attempt on the part of our writers. But if the connection between literature and life be so close, then the enthusiastic Canadian must be patient while our literature is in its youth. We hear much said about developing a literature as if it could be, so to speak, made to order. But

Literature Is In Part A Growth

as in the life of a nation. Succession without unity is not growth, even a succession of books is not necessarily a literature. As Canadian life becomes distinct so will Canadian literature. Some subjects indeed are always open to us; if for the rest owe must wait:-

Here is all fullness,
Ye brave to reward you,
Work and despair not.

What I have been saying must be regarded as a plea for the study of literature. On every ground its claims are strong. Goldwin Smith has somewhere said: "To be available for the higher education a subject must be traversed by principles and capable of method, must be either a science of a philosophy, not a mere mass of facts, without principle or law." Now if literature is pervaded by principles if it has a philosophy, then it must have the value as a means of discipline possessed by all subjects which require consecutive thinking and which opens into larger subjects.

If the facts of science have value so have the facts of literature. If the object of the study of science be to interpret nature, the student of literature has also the work, not always an easy one, of interpreting the great authors.

Not a syllable will I utter to lessen appreciation of those studies which aim at discipline pure and simple. Drill, though it be drudgery, must always be useful, necessary. But if there be nothing but drill the work is not complete. To solve an equation of unknown quantities is good; but it is also well sometimes to

Seek The Relations Of Things That Are Known

To know the rules of the syllogism is excellent, but surely a college course may furnish a man with a few premises as well as with skill in the syllogistic process. We love quadratics and the syllogism, but it must be confessed there are more things in heaven and earth than these reveal. To give confidence, enthusiasm, energy, the quest for truth, to rouse the mind to its fullest effort is no inconsiderable part of our work. To train to soldierly regularity and precision is good; but to have men who are determined on victory is also necessary. To make the man conscious of his own powers, to find the man and give him to himself is essential to preparation for life. In this part of our task literature is a great aid. Nothing but fire kindles fire and literature is a kind of Promethean fire. Bring the man under the spell of the great author who has passed through the depths and stands on the serene heights where his mind "moves in charity, rests in Providence, and turns upon the poles of truth," and you have helped him as far as man can help his brother.

The Historic Element In Literature

should broaden the mind, the philosophical element should deepen it, while at the same time it supplies a lofty impulse, and, as Arnold claims, it alone among studies satisfies the end of relating what we have learned and known to the sense we have in us for conduct, to the sense which we have in us for beauty. "Life," says one philosopher, "is for learning and working." "No," says another, "learning and working are for life."

The growth of literary studies in our colleges is an altogether hopeful sign.

Students of this university have always enjoyed the stimulus to high literary pursuits given by the instruction of professors who appreciated their opportunities and knew the value of their subjects. It is matter of satisfaction to the Alumni that the authorities are still able to intrust their favorite studies into the approved hands in which they now are.

Many of us remember with gratitude and delight the breadth and thoroughness of the teaching given by our professor in that department, a gentleman whose ability and scholarship have since received the highest recognition in the power of the educational authorities to grant – the honored president of this university. We also trace not a little of our regard for the study of language and

The Best Thought Of The World

to the work of the lamented Professor Campbell and d’Avray. Goethe is quote as saying: "He who does not know a foreign language does not know his own." We, at least, are conscious that these instructors of our college years not only opened to us the wealth and beauty of the foreign languages they taught, but that, by the purity and grace of their English, by their sympathy with the literature they interpreted to us, they did much to make us sensible of the rich inheritance we possess in our own mother tongue. College men of the present will pardon us, in whom memory is active today, for thus breaking in upon the spirit of our festival to cast this sprig of laurel upon the graves of men at whose feet we sat as eager disciplines.

If I have at all made clear the broadening effect of university life and the kindling power of human letters, it must follow that the loyal men of every college must rejoice in the prosperity of all the institutions that work in the one large cause of the country and mankind. To have a genuine appreciation of the purpose a college should seek to serve is to appreciate good work wherever done. He that believes that only one college can do educational work is himself an educational skeptic, a disbeliever in the vital forces by which all the colleges live. If the

Higher Education Of Canada

is to be the force it ought to be–the force it will be if true to its trust as "heir of the ages"–there must be small places for petty rivalries, and generous recognition of one another’s worth by the colleges of the country.

For many years the alumni have given a cordial welcome to members of the graduating class; and our greeting is no less from the heart today because we welcome the first daughter of the university.

I congratulate you, members of the class of ’89, upon being admitted alumni of a university that honors all her sons, and that reasonably expects every alumnus to do his best to honor her.

But I congratulate you most of all upon having gained the attainments which qualify you for admission to the goodly fellowship of college men, attainments which surely must add to the richness and significance of life, attainments which prepare you in some measure at least to do a work for our native land that may have the best results "ages after we like streaks of moving mist have melted into the infinite azure of the past."