Extract From An Address Delivered To The Senior Class Of Dic...

"On whatever carcer of hfe you enter, flx your eyes on the highest point of possible excellence and then persevere in your efforts to appreach il. Probably more persons fail for want of continued exertions. than for want of high resolves. They make a few eflbrts with apparent zeal, but. meeting no immediatc reward or discouraged by unfureseen difiïculties. give over ihe siruggle and sink down in listless inaction or gloomy misanthropy. The racer might as well think to win the prize wilhout the breaih and bottoni to reach the goal. Men might with equal rcrsin complain that the pure wine does net spaikle in the cup without the cure of vintage and the labor of the wine-press. The great Roman orator devoted twenty years to constant application before he commenced his public carreer; and afterwards, amidst the harrassing anxieties Dfpolitical life, found time, besides delivcringr in incredible number of orations, to write valuiblc and lenrned woiks on a great variety of sub ects. Do you inquire now he accomplished all :his? Let him answer for himself in the oration ror Archias the poet. "Who then can justly censure me, if, as much time is given toother men for theirown business; for the celebration jf festival days and other pleasures; for repose }f body and mind; for gaming, ball and nightly jntertainments; so much 1 appropriate to my3elf and devote to these studies." Now the reason why so few attain similar eminenceis that so few make similar eflbrts. "What Cicero beeame, he made himself; nnd whatever degree of usefulness or reputation you attain, must be the fruit of patiënt, resolute toil. You live in an age of unparalleled activity and enterprize in every department of human exertion. Mankind will hold you to a strict account, and will pay only a fair equivalent for what they receive. No sinecures are bestowed to fatten the indolent, no garlnnd9 are woven for the brow of the sleeper. - The laurel ílourishes in living green on the summit of an nrcluous steep, and he that would pluck a perennial wreath, must toil up the ruggcd ncclivify."