Hermesians, [“of Emory & Henry College W. Co. Va.” is inserted in
Flora’s handwriting]
It is with no
little embarrassment I must confess, that I appear before you this evening, an
embarrassment natural to a man unaccustomed to public speaking, but greatly
heightened in my case by a painful association connected with my last
appearance on the rostrum, which though happening several years ago is so vivid
in my memory as if it were to-night. My
auditory was a select one of ladies & Gentlemen and of all sizes and ages,
and I may say of every grade of military rank from the laurel wreathed Colonel
of 30 years service to the very latest Plebs.
I occupied a platform much higher than that, and to my ever lasting
mortification be it said, that in one of my loftiest flights, I had the ill
luck to step off the platform, eliciting bringing down the house in a
storm of laughter and ridicule from which I need not add I did not recover that
night, and though I grieve to say it, my sweetheart was the loudest in her
peals of mirth at my dire calamity. On
this occasion however I am reassured by the fact that I am upon the common
level, and if I lose by the inspiration which the presence of a
sweetheart would afford, I gain by the escape from her ridicule if present.
Gentlemen,
It has been
nearly ten years since I stood where I now stand & heard the echo of my own
voice through this hall. In that time
though to me brief in retrospect, how many thrilling associations crowd upon my
memory, how many changes have been wrought in those faces who then & since
enlisted under the banner of Hermes. Of
but very few of my old companions can I give any account, some have risen to
distinction and usefulness in the varied avocations in life, some have
consecrated a life to happiness at the altar of Hymen, while many have by the
decree of an allwise Judge, been cut short in the bloom of youth & the
heyday of promise and summoned to a final account.
It would
not be worth my while to mention names, each of you can fill the blank with a
circle of bright faces on whom genius had already implanted her crown.
But let us
pass from this mournful [illegible word] in the
past; and in the language of Hyperion, “Look not mournfully into the
past &c”. There is nothing in the
past connected with my associations in this hall to which I do not look with
pleasure, and I am glad to meet you here gentlemen to-night. You bring to mind the light of other days,
and it is to you that your predecessors look with pride & confidence to
perpetuate the name and fame of Hermes.
Like all great
Institutions this society had its origin in storm and trouble. Nursed by the spirit of revolution &
reform, and lifted into sunshine by the undaunted care of her founders, she now
flourishes in all the excellence ripe maturity
[the word “of” was inserted before “maturity,”
in Flora’s handwriting], and points to you like the mother of the
Grachhi as her jewels. Let not a
mother’s pride & confidence be misplaced, be not content with mediocrity in
anything, let your motto always be “excelsior.”
Not to know a heroes’ woes
Not to fall in alpine snows
But higher & yet higher rise
And write “excelsior” on the skies.
In this
connection let me add my testimony to that of many, that in all the changes
storms and vicissitudes in life there is but one harbor of safety, one
and that is in the religion of Christ.
My sojourn
with you has been short but I assure you has been most gratifying to me. I rejoice to see you in such a prosperous
condition. A few weeks more will find
me again on the frontier, but be assured I will ever feel great pride in having
once being a Hermesian. And if it
ever falls to my lot to lead a charge or storm a breach, I will rely with
confidence for success upon the principles inculpcated in me within
these halls in my early youth, for after all “the child is father to the
man.” It will always be my highest meed
of praise to feel that to I have to earned your encomium.
Ours is a
glorious Country. I love it but like
Mr. Calhoun, while I love the union I love Virginia more, and if one
attachment ever becomes incompatible with the other I scruple not to say Virginia
shall command my poor services. But I
am not one of those who prophecy disunion & then try to cause it in order
to verify the prophecy. I say to the
union, “esto perpetua.” While I
cordially eschew fillibustering I look forward to the time when by honest
purchase or legitimate conquest, as was said by one of our naval officers, our
boundary shall extend from the isthmus of Panama on the South – to the – to the
– Aurora Borealis on the north.