To the members of the Class of ’84, a few words. I have watched your
progress during the four years with peculiar interest. You have gained
to yourselves a reputation as a class noted for zeal and earnest work
in the C. L. S. C. You are known as “The Irrepressibles.” You have
been characterized by an ingenuity in devising methods. In making up
the history of the C. L. S. C. there are several things that may be
traced to you. You number in your roll some distinguished names. You
have throughout the entire extent of the Circle labored with peculiar
diligence and fidelity for its general good. I am sure that the Class of
’82, and the Class of ’83, whose experience made it possible for you to
be what you have been, will not complain of the tribute which at this
time I seek to pay to you. I know that the other classes will follow your
lead, and be glad if they can have the good reputation which attaches to
your name, the name of the Class of ’84, the “Irrepressibles” of the C.
L. S. C.
There are some of you who are young, in the freshness and brightness of
life, with youth’s outlook. May it be a long time before the grave folds
its arms about you. May you do valiant service not only in the cause of
the C. L. S. C.—that were a little thing—but, using it as a platform,
may you accomplish large things and worthy in the homes you represent,
in the community of which you are a part, in the branch of the Church of
the living God with which you may be connected, and may your impress be
felt on the national life. Above all, may you do good work in God’s way,
by the divine process in your own lives, that as the years go by you may
build up character that shall shine as a light on the world, character
that shall endure through the eternities.
Some of you are in middle life. Aches, and pain, and signs of breaking
down once in awhile, make you stop and think. You wish that you could
recuperate, and get back some of the old power. Probably you will. You
have yet ten years, twenty years, thirty years, in which you may do
splendid service. May God’s blessing through this ministry enrich these
remaining years, and make you glad, and your friends glad, through every
succeeding year, that you were ever identified with our Circle.
Some of you are old. You do not like to have that stated; or do you?
You do not feel old: eighty-four years is nothing. May the venerable
members of our Circle, who count from—where _does_ old age begin—from
eighty-four and above, may you live until the new century shall dawn,
and may your last days be your brightest and your best days. You do
not know, you men and women of advanced years, how it warms our hearts
to see you in this presence and engaged in these services. We have for
all time glorified childhood. I can never allow a youngster to pass me
without a salutation. There is only one place where I do not like to hear
a child’s voice, and that is when it interrupts a public service. I take
great delight in these little fellows whom we meet in the streets, at the
front doors, and in all American homes everywhere. But I think we have
glorified the possibilities of childhood to such an extent that men and
women full-grown have come to think that all the possibilities of life
are hidden in the earliest years. When we see men and women of advanced
age coming to this place to receive the reward of four years’ work, with
ambition for years to come remaining, we feel that the possibilities of
this life are not limited at all.
And when we remember, as the poet says, that death is “but a gray eve
between two shining days,” there is no limitation to man. Therefore, work
on, work forever. God help us to begin in this life, that we shall make
everlasting progress as we enjoy the fellowship of the saints in the
presence of God.
So, then, my young friends of eighty-four years and under, I bid you
welcome to-day to this place, and as President Miller shall authorize
the distribution of the diplomas which you have won, we shall take
pleasure in handing them to you. We expect one of these days to see them
glittering with seals, new seals freshly won, placed on the pyramid. When
you are asleep in the long sleep, the diploma shall hang on the wall—a
tribute to your ambition and faithfulness.
The class song of ’84 was sung, the diplomas were distributed to the
graduates, and the Commencement services of the Class of ’84 were at an
end.