Valedictory Address

Delivered by: Carman, William Bliss

“Valedictory Address on Behalf of the Class of ’81, Delivered By W. Bliss Carman” The Daily Telegraph (June 30 1882): 2. (UA Case 68, Box 1)

May it please your Honor:—

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen—You have heard to-day, as you always do on these occasions, a learned and interesting oration from one of our professors, are you are now requested to unbend your minds for a few minutes and give your attention to one of the boys themselves.

I hope you will not think that the Senate made a great mistake in allowing us to come before you, for I consider it a great privilege for which we ought to feel grateful; not because the College wishes to make a display of the training which she gives, for she is too intent on the advancement of true knowledge to be over-anxious about popularizing learning; not because she wishes to give her young graduates a chance of bringing themselves into public notice, or of cultivating their self-confidence, for that is a quality which our modern life and education seldom fail to give; but we are grateful because there is given us an opportunity of expressing our good will towards our Alma Mater and our interest in her welfare.

The privilege thus granted by the Senate, though not an important step, was yet one in the right direction ; for it was a recognition of the principle that their sympathy with her work ought not to be allowed to grow cold as soon as they leave her lecture rooms, but that their energy should be enlisted in her service. I say it was not an important step, because a valedictory address, however sincere it may be, cannot have any of that influence which belongs only to the matured opinions of older heads.

In regard to the class which I have the honor to represent, and our connection with the University, I may say that, while we heartily wished for changes, the need of which we daily felt, we were nevertheless conscious of the thoroughness and extensiveness of the professors and their pains-taking labor on our behalf, often under disadvantages and difficulties which the poverty of the college still compels them to endure—a poverty, it is true, such as attended the revival of learning and nourished our English universities in their infancy; a poverty which has always been characteristic of a scholar, but so extreme that it threatens to deprive us of the conveniences, if not the necessities of modern university life.

We felt, moreover, that the course of study presented to us was far too extensive to admit of that amount of individual deep research in any chosen branch of learning which is the highest and most pleasant form of intellectual development. The extensiveness of the curriculum precludes the possibility of special study, unless one is willing to give up a high place on the graduation list, and thus forego what is wrongly considered almost the highest honor in the University.

It might be well if we had an elective course which would afford, by means of deep research in one or two branches of study, that mental training which is now obtained by a superficial (though accurate) knowledge of many. But the great fault here is that a high standing can only be attained by far more than a superficial knowledge in each of the several branches, necessitating an amount of work which cannot be performed with safety by men of the average strength, at an age when it is usual in this country to begin college life.

But it is not for me to discuss fully a subject which I hope will soon receive from those in authority the attention its importance deserves. And while we may think there is a need of some change which would favor this result, we must beware of going to the other extreme. The clamor for technical education is one of the mistakes of the day.

I deny that it is the function of a university such as this to fit men for the law or for medical or commercial life.

It is rather the duty of a university to make her every son a man and a gentleman—a man, strong and self reliant; a gentleman, thoughtful and refined. And while we set no bounds beyond which science may no penetrate in its search for truth, let us not forget the thought that a modern writer has expressed in the words “Keep we to the broad truths before us; duty here—knowledge comes alone in the hereafter.”

If, in the past, the University has always been eminently conservative rather than progressive; if our Encaenias have generally been resting places from which to look back with pleasure upon our work; if they have too seldom been points from which we may date any marked improvement, this Encaenia day will always be a remarkable one in our calendar. For to-day, for the first time, the alumni and undergraduates will celebrate in common, in their own halls, the festal day of their Alma Mater, whose best interests sincerely hope that there will be unity of purpose in the past, and that together they may both wield an influence which separately neither could obtain.

And now, Mr. President, it only remains for us to take our leave with becoming grace, and I think we cannot express our good will tempered with regret better than the brief Latin word of farewell, which bears with it at the same time kindly advice. So I simply say on behalf of those your well wishers for whom I speak, Vale alma mater. Valete Amici.

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