Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

ADDRESS OF COL. WATKINS TO GRADUATING CLASS Ladies and Gentlemen: As I turn back the folds of mind’s memory this evening and look back through the lengthening shadows ai the past, my mind’s eye rests with pleasing rapture upon the many scenes, pranks, and sports of boyhood days that cluster around and about these familiar walls, walks and grounds like concords of sweet harmony, striking the discords from life’s troubled music; leaving only the melody of its golden strains be hind. Days of unbridled roam ing in pleasure’s verdant plains and happy hunting grounds, while babbling brooks burst from every nook, flowers in untold quantities abound, and to which the cares and turmoils of life were unknown. Days full of joyous spirits and generous dreams of tfje balmy breezes and golden hues of the future far beyond; days when aches, pains and ills of every kind, whether a burning brow, an aching heart, a scald or burn, was treated, soothpd, eased and cured with one single remedy of “hickory oil.” So I come not as a stranger this evening from the sunset side of the western hills, nor as one from beyond the river that skirts our dominions on the east, but as one returning to scenes of childhood, to the household from which he sprang with interest in common with yourselves, hoping for your hopes, and praying that the prosperity and glory of this school and institution may last on forever and be perpetual. And when I seriously contem plate the duty which it devolves upon me to perform, I cannot but keenly feel the tinge of embar rassment born of conscious in competency to perform it well. This occasion is one of no little importance, and one which re downs to the credit of the citi zens who inhabit this immediate section; for by it and by your presence here this evening there is an expression on your part that you are personally and. vitally interested in the education of the young of the community, and while this interest may not be the cause of good citizenship, yet it is .certainly the highest evi dence of it, for the highest, truest and best type of good citi zenship of the people is found among those who interest them selves in the proper training and •education of its young men and young women. We may build war-ships in numbers which to the compre hension of man is unknown, may have armies standing on every hill top above and in every valley below, may build towers that rise like majestic mountains from the plains and equip them with the mightiest of guns, but the final destiny of the people of this land and country and the perpetuity of this republican form of gov ernment of ours, depends more upon the education and proper training of the young, than it does upon written laws, printed constitutions, iron clad ships or accurate guns. Our schools are the martello towers .which will guard our coasts against the landing of foreign enemies and repel the invasions of domestic foes. In the distant Netherlands across the deep a land that has been reclaimed from the surging billows of the mighty deep, there dwells a happy and contented people. Around this reclaimed portion of the ocean’s bed there is constructed for the purpose of keeping back the en croachment and invasions of the ocean’s waves a mighty wall, the masonry of which is a marvel to modern science and a wonder to modern engineers. But upon the top of this wall there walks con tinuously sentinels, whose only duty it is to watch the surging waters of the briny deep plunge themselves against this human structure and at the first approach of danger to sound the alarm to which the entire populace of that land responds. And when they have responded, the weakened portion of the wall has been strong aliened, and the danger has been averted, they return to their homes where they dwell in peace, happiness and content ment. No hprrid dreams of a conquering William nor merciless invasion of the ocean’s waves disturb their peaceful slumbers, for in those who beat a ceaseless tread upon the outer wall they repose an endless and boundless confidence. Around the destinies, homes, peace and pappiness of the peo ple who inhabit this republic, however, there has been no material wall thrown, the mason ry of which startles the wits of science or before which nature herself stands baffled, but in stead thereof there has been an invisible, intangible structure more lasting than adamant, more beautiful to the sight than walks by regal tastes adorned, and by the side of which material art fades like mists before the rays of the mid-day sun. This wall is the countless schools that are spread through the entire length and breadth of this land in cities, towns, hamlets, communities and cross roads around, about and everywhere, from Canadian bor ders on the north, to where the magnolia-laden zephyrs of the gulf fans Florida’s southernmost port on the south: From the rock-ribbed shores of the Atlan tic on the east, to where the sea gulls build their nests in the rugged cliffs that overhang the deep sounding Pacific, on the west. And the sentinels who are walking the ceaseless tread are the lean, lank and poorly paid men and pale faced women teach ers, who stand daily and hourly anxiously watching the surging waves of vice, crime and ignor ance hurl themselves in solid phlanxes against the young man hood and young woman-hood, keeping a vigilant watch over the unfriendly tides that ebb and flow, and throwing out the life line to those who perchance ven ture out beyond the posts. And so long as they keep this watch and the people respond to their signal calls, we can slumber on in peace, happiness and con tentment, but once the watch is broken or the signal is passed un heeded we will wake to find that the wall is broken, the waters are crowding in and that we are drifting to a destiny like that of the strong swimmer on the surf, in striving for the shore who sometimes seem to be near ing the point of safety, but with each ebbing wave is carried far ther and farther out until at last he is gone forever from the anx ious gaze on that tide which breaks alone on the other shore. | But turning to these young boys and girls who together com pose the graduating class this evening. The position they oc cupy in the drama of life’s activi ties as they step forth tonight may be likened to a beautiful custom among the wives of the fishermen along the coast town of Scotland where the shallow ness of the waters will not per mit the bringing of the fishing smacks close to shore. It is a custom among these sturdy wo men to carry their husbands upon their shoulders from the shore to the fishing smacks in order that the men may start dry and un trammeled upon their voyage. So these boys and girls this evening have been brought to the beginning of life’s voyage, in fit shape and equipped for the strug gles herafter, upon the shoulders and by the aid of devoted parents which in some cases perhaps has involved heroic sacrifices. And as they enter the arena of actual life it is not amiss to drive home to them, if we can, that from this hour onward those among them who wear the guild ed spurs of Knighthood will have to win them in the strenuous six days tournament of labor and not in one day’s swing of ease. That those who sail on the high seas of life and come grandly into port on the other side, must captain their ship with high re solve and mann it with unselfish determination. That it is only by the constant application to duty, high and ex- alted ambition to excel in what ever is undertaken and an un selfish determination to win by dent of merit and its own posi tive virtures that an entrance to any worthy shrine in life can be made, and are the only weapons with which any position once ac quired can be held and success fully defended. That push is better than pull; honest and devoted effort is more promising than the -influence of influential friends. That leaders of a class, rela tively speaking, is as great in the scale of success as the leader of multitudes. That greatness is a relative and not an absolute term and that achievement is only measured in the light of opportunities. And while one should not un derestimate the propriety of the respect that is paid to conspicious greatness nor mimimise the wholesome example that comes from notorious usefullness, at the same time we should never lose sight of the fact that one can be great all inside of his own lit tle village, at his own work bench, and in his own humble cottage. The private soldier in time of warfare, who is inspired by a patriotic zeal, presenting at all times an intreped front to the enemy, climbs mountains, wades rivers, sleeps without a tent, walks without shoes, fights with out fear and dies without tremb ling, is as great as that gallant and unrivalled leader whom the world proclaims as the greatest of all military captains. So it is true of the humblest soldier of peace, wherever he be in this union, and whatever be his call ing, who perseveres at his daily work, makes an honest living is true to duty, to his fellows, to his country, and to his God and who can look the whole world in the face, for he owes not any man, is as great as that man who now is president of the United States, or any one of that honor able list who have filled that high office in the past, for “Circles are praised, not that excel In largeness, but th’ exactly framed, So life we praise, that does excel, Not in much time, but acting well.” The miller of the Dee, watch ing the old mill wheel turn round and round from day to day, for his peck of meal for pay, with never a thought that is evil, with a clear conscience, and honest heart, a beaming countenance and a contented mind was a char acter in the lowly walks of life, a marvel at which Royalty humbly bowed its head and for whose s'mple faith the Monarch of the Realm at the price of his crowr, solilloquised that he whould glad ly buy. And Goldsmith’s Village Min ister, a man dear to all the coun try around and passing rich with forty pounds a year, spreading rays of sunshine, joy and happi ness throughout the little circle in which he dwelled —a life of unselfish devotion to fellow help ing, soul-saving, and humanity serving, from which draughts of inspiration can be perpetually sipped and a shrine before which any one can with honor stand ! with uncovered head. And yet Napolean sailed to the ! outei most ports of fortune, par took in unmeasured draughts of honor’s exhilerating waters; wrote on the highest pinnicle of fame his single name; bore the eagles of France to the loftiest summits of the Alps; marched through Italy an acknowledged conquerer; made conquests and camping grounds of the proudest kingdoms of Europe; played with ancient thrones as foot balls in his military festivities; humiliated the haughtiest dynasties of the world at his feet in the dust; and then, losing all he fell like Luci fer, the bright, son of the morn ing, to hope no more and to per ish miserably chained to a rock in the desolate ocean, a victim of an unholy and inhuman ambition that o’er leaped itself. It is'the brimming of life’s cup with noble and not big deeds that makes life sublime, and while you may not leave foot prints on the sands of time, yet your life can not-be said to be one of emptiness simply because oth-, ers soar to dizzier heights or sails in waters to you unknown. “How’er it be, it seems to me, Tis only noble to be good, Kind words are more than coro nets, And simple faith than Norman blood.” In the United States senate in the early spring of 1878, when a great issue of National policy was under consideration, a South ern senator was instructed by the legislature of the State which he represented, to vote against his own convictions of duty to his people. As the debate was draw ing to a close he sent to the clerk’s desk to be read the in structions he felt bound to dis obey. After the reading he arose and said: “Between these reso lutions and my convictions there is a great gulf. I can not pass it. Of my love to the state of Missisippi, I will not speak, my life alone can tell it. My grat itude for all the honor her people have done me, no words can ex press. During my life in that state it has been my privilege to assist in the education of more than one generation of her youth, to have given impulse to wave after wave of her' young man manhood that has passed into the troubled sea of her social and political life. Upon them I have always endeavored to impress the belief that truth is better than falsehood, honesty better than policy, courage better than cow ardise. Today my lessons con front me. Today I must be true or false, honest or cunning, faith ful or unfaithful to my people. My duty as I see it, I will do, I will vote against this measure.” That senator was L. Q. C. La mar, born in the state of Georgia, and in these terse sentences he voiced a sentiment and enunciat ed a principal that will resound down the vistas of ages, an im mortal tributes and fit accompan iment to the melody of fast an chored virtures, that enabled him as it has and will others, to in a trying moment, rise above the pettishness of public clamor, to swing around interests of selfish ness, to risk all for honor’s sake, and to glide in musical cadences Young Man If you are looking for the and neatest buggy on the market B~Cr~y THE CARMICHAEL THEY ARE BUILT IN ONE GRADE ONLY .4. WW AND ARE EQUIPPED WITH GENUINE “A Grade Wheels” AND OTHER MATERIALS THE BEST THAT MONEY WILL BUY. The Best is None too Good for You BUY A “CARMICHAEL” f—w—————— ——■— I— 111 Mil llil—-—■ ■IMWHW-T—TI-I BLSK.' I■! I Mill —l—TTl ..ZmaHPMMWaBHR ■Brnmn TTTf: FOR BARE BY BIGIIBBEB BBBIPBH Jackson, Georgia through the mazes of public crit cism to a glorious goal on the final turn. ‘ L A nd >f you young boys a „ d girls of this class this evening will but emulate and practice this high example set, whether you scale the heights where Ceasar Agustas stood or sound the depths and shoals where the Miller of the Dee walked with familiar tread, your lives will be ones of usefulness and your des tinies ones of assured success.. NOTICEr To the 976 members in good standing in the Butts County Division of the Mutual Life In dustrial Association of Georgia: The sth and 6th assessments 1208 has been called, the 30 days for payment will close June 2, next. These assessments settles all death claims to date and will leave one assessment in treasury to pay the claim of fhe death that next occurs. Do not let your insur ance be forfeited. Pay prompt ly. Jas. F. Carmichael, May 5, 1908. Secy, and Treas. T. J. DEMPSEY ATTORNEY-AT-LAW Jackson ------ Georgia Y, A. WRIGHT, ATTORNEY - - LAW, Jackson, Georgia. Longest experienced lawyer at the Jackson bar. DR. J. E. WOODS Physician and Surgeon. Office upstairs in Crum build ing. Residence phone, 163; office phone, 137-J. W. E. WATKJNS lawyer Jackson ----- Georgia Practice in all Courts, both State and Federal Office in Bant Hall west side public square.