Valedictory Address

"N.B. University. The Encoenia Exercises. ... The Valedictory Address" The Daily Telegraph (25 June 1880): 3.

I have, to-day, the honor of delivering a valedictory address on behalf of the last graduating class. Last year, when for the first time in the history of the University, it was decided by the faculty to have an address delivered at every Encoenia by a student selected from the graduating class of the previous year, the class of which I have the honor of belonging chose Mr. McLeod to deliver the address at this Encoenia, but owing to ill-health he is unable to do so, and the honor has devolved upon me. As it is the first time that anything of the kind has been attempted in this University, and as I have only had a very limited time at my disposal in which to act, I trust that any fault or omissions in my address will be pardoned, and that it will be regarded as being delivered merely with the view of preparing the way for valedictory addresses at subsequent Encoenias; for if the class that were the first to have thrown upon them the responsibility of delivering a valedictory did not fulfil the trust reposed in them other classes might also shirk the responsibility and there might be no valedictory delivered for years.

The idea of having a valedictory address delivered a year after the class leaves college, instead of at the time they graduate, may seem strange at first sight, but on more mature consideration will prove to be right, for students after having been "in the wide, wide world," from beneath the benign influence of their Alma Mater for a time, will be better able to appreciate the three happy years of college life during which they passed through the successive stages of "verdant Freshmen," "jolly Juniors," and "stately Seniors," under the eyes of professors ever ready to give them a helping hand in their pursuit of learning, and to encourage them by setting before them the benefits of industry and integrity, to form such habits as would tend to make them respected members of society, and by showing them the advantages of learning and scholarship, which, although they will not in all cases gain a man prominence in the world, ought yet to make him contented  with the sphere of life in which his lot is cast.

That days spent at college are the happiest in a man's life is an old and off repeated saying, but an old saying--as has been said of an old story--provided it is is good one, can never die of age, and I feel safe in saying that there is scarcely a graduate of the University to-day, no matter how successful he may be in the practice of his profession or in the pursuit of his business, but will say that the three years spent at the University of New Brunswick were the happiest he ever knew. There is a pleasure in study in college which can never be found in the study, in after life, of any particular profession, for at college a student works, influenced chiefly by motives of pure ambition, desiring to take a prize or a high position in his class, because he knows how greatly his friends and relatives will be pleased at his success; and no man ever feels so important or proud in after life when flushed with political or professional triumphs, as he did when a student, he walked up before the crowds assembled at Encoenia to receive a medal or other reward of merit; such an honorable way and in such good spirit between competing students, that the most cordial congratulations which the winner receives are often those from the unsuccessful competitor. Such, at least, was the case in the class of 1879, and is, I presume, the same in other classes. In the world, of course, it is different, men being influenced greatly and necessarily by what Coleridge calls the "bread and butter question," and in political or other contests opponents are seldom animated by a kindly feeling towards one another. It is this kindly feeling and good spirit which, to a great extent constitute the happiness of college life. Above everything else, a student who carefully reads the different works in the college course, in a proper spirit, and fully grasps their meaning, cannot help seeing, in the words of the immortal bard, that--

The purest treasure mortal times afford
Is spotless reputation: that away
Men are but gilded loam or painted clay.
A jewel in a ten times barred up chest
Is a bold spirit in a loyal breast.

I would like to ask any former president of the Literary and Debating Society, who has since obtained distinction in the world, if he ever felt so elated or pleased as when, on the first evening of the term the members, by their votes, unsolicited, chose him to preside over their discussions; for to be president of the debating society is considered a great honor among students; and I think it only proper to say here that I trust students will, in the future, keep up the interest in the society and attend its meetings, as it is of great utility in giving them confidence in speaking and teaching them the proper way of conducting meetings and presiding at debates, as well as in uniting the classes more closely together, because at meetings of the society all class distinctions are dropped and the members are not freshmen, and juniors and seniors, but undergraduates of the University. Student life, however, has its sorrows as well as its joys, as when a collegian who has lived for a time neglecting the duties of college life, building rosy-tinted castles in the air, dreaming of high position in the class and prizes won, and applause greeting him at Encoenia, has his bright visions dispelled by the stern reality of a written examination; or when, for having committed some offence, contrary to the statutes of the University, harmless though it may have appeared to himself at the time, he receives a notice from the Board of Discipline which makes him a wiser and a poorer man. Such misfortunes as these, however, by contrast make the sweets of college life all the sweeter.

Very different from to-day's proceedings was the old time procedure of Encoenia day, when the exercises were held in the hall down stairs. Then there were only a few students, now a large number and what is more satisfactory, increasing every year; then three professors, now five whose learning and attainments would grace any college in the land. Then no alumni society and no alumni medal, consequently no alumni oration; now a society composed of a very large number of graduates, a society that at present has great influence for good in the college and in the promotion of the higher education, and that influence is on the increase and will, I trust, go on increasing till the society has funds with which to assist deserving students who desire a college education, but have not the means with which to get one. Then the students of a particular denomination only could have the advantage of the instruction imparted within the University, now it is not only open to men of every religious denomination, but provisions have been made by which women may pass certain examinations, and while I hope that the Senate in their wisdom will arrange to have them admitted to the same privileges that have been granted by the conservative universities of the mother country, I think that I but express the opinion of every member of our class, and of every graduate with whom I have conversed on the subject, when I say I trust that the day is far, far distant when the system of co-education will be introduced into this University.

During the many years that have rolled away since the charter was first granted to the University, through the instrumentality of that great enlightened man, Sir Howard Douglas, it has undergone many changes and many vicissitudes of fortune, but thanks to the exertions of its professors and the wisdom and forethought of members of the Legislature, several of whom are now members of the University Senate, it now rests upon a firm basis and has kept on increasing in influence, till it is now second to no institution of learning in the Maritime Provinces. But great though the work is which it is now accomplishing, its graduates hope to see it far greater in the future, and there are probably some among you here to-day who will live to see the time when, the Province having increased in population and wealth and culture, and when the light from this temple of learning has illumined the length and breadth of the land, schools of Divinity, Law and Medicine, shall, thanks to the munificence of some as yet unknown donors, be instituted in connexion with it, and I appeal to this assembly and to the people of this province, if they would have the future of their sons and daughters prosperous and happy, to support in every way this noble institution, which does so much towards instilling into the hearts of those who enjoy its advantages, a love for refinement and literature, for poetry, which in words well known to every junior class, "gives treasures more golden than gold, leading us in higher and better ways than those of the world and interpreting to us the lesson of nature" which bestows on each age its appropriate blessing; on youth, experience; on maturity, calm; on old age, cheerfulness.

Although this is a valedictory address it is not meant to convey the idea that the class of '79 are taking a final farewell fo their Alma Mater, for on the contrary they will ever continue to do all that lies in their power to advance her interests and increase her influence, and will in after years have the most affectionate recollections of their college days, and of the friendships which they formed there, and will always live

"Memor puertiae non alio rege actae."