ADDRESS 
 
 BY HON. S. S. HAYES, 
 
 ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME, IND, 
 
 JUNE 34th, 1874. 
 
 CHICAGO: 
 
 J. S. Thompson & Co., Printers, 168 and 160 S. Clark St. 
 
 1874. 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 • 
 
 BY HON. S. S. HAYES 
 
 ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME, IND., 
 
 •TUNE 24th. 1874. 
 
 
 CHICAGO: 
 
 J. S. Thompson & Co., Printers, lf>8 and 160 S. Clark St. 
 1874. 
 

ADDRESS OF 
 
 S. S. HAYES AT THE ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME, 
 
 JUNE 24th, 1874. 
 
 Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen : 
 
 When I accepted the invitation to make some remarks on this 
 occasion I did not understand that I would be set down on the 
 programme for an oration. 
 
 A composition so elaborate, so perfect in style and design, so 
 rich with the graces of rhetoric as to be worthy to* be called an 
 oration, I have neither the leisure nor the ability to produce. Even 
 if qualified to make the attempt, I should hesitate, in the presence 
 of this assembly, these learned professors, and these young gentle- 
 men, fresh from the classics and familiar with the best models of 
 ancient and modern times. 
 
 With your permission I shall only offer a few practical observa- 
 tions to that portion of my audience who, having spent some happy 
 years amidst these pleasant scenes in the education of their faculties 
 and the acquisition of knowledge, under the guidance of these 
 eminent and skillful teachers, are about to enter upon a new phase 
 of life, with which at present they are but little acquainted. 
 
 If I can aid them to start aright upon this voyage, to provide 
 themselves with the means of self-preservation, to weather the storms 
 
which will beset them, and to follow a course which will lead them 
 to true prosperity and happiness, I shall deem myself fortunate. 
 
 The wise man who undertakes anything new, begins by a careful 
 survey of the situation. He decides first that the object is right 
 and of sufficient importance ; second, that it is capable of accom- 
 plishment by him. He examines himself, the obstacles in his way, 
 and the means at his command. Having learned fully the require- 
 ments of the case, he proceeds with courage and industry until his 
 exertions are rewarded with success. If perchance he has erred in 
 his calculations, or, from any cause, is defeated, he bears his dis- 
 appointment with patience and turns with the same courage and 
 industry to the next duty or enterprise which may present itself 
 before him. 
 
 This is the robust habit of mind which belongs to all who attain 
 eminence in any of the walks of life or accomplish great results of 
 any kind. It is a combination of foresight, courage, industry and 
 patience. If you do not already possess it, you should never rest 
 satisfied until you have attained it. 
 
 It is of equal importance to avoid in early life entanglements of 
 every kind. These may arise from unworthy companionships, bad 
 associations, sensual and selfish indulgences, indolent or extravagant 
 habits, and false views of our situation, of the ends of our existence 
 and the proper objects of ambition. 
 
 Because we have found healthful amusement in athletic exercises 
 it does not follow that our associates should be chosen from those 
 who follow such exercises for a livelihood, or that we should seek 
 them at the billiard saloon, the race course, the base ball club, or 
 the circus. 
 
 Evil communications, vulgar and indecent language, the vices 
 of sensualism, and all acts prompted by the baser passions of our 
 nature will be shunned by every young man who respects himself 
 or desires the respect of others. Better still for him if in addition 
 
he has erected for himself a high standard of excellence, if he 
 has acquired a taste for the pure, the beautiful and the good ; if he 
 has learned to love and practice virtue for its own sake. 
 
 I would also impress upon him the value of habits of self-con- 
 trol and self-denial, which indeed are included in the practice of 
 virtue. If perfectly able to deny himself every gratification, every 
 object of his wishes which his judgment or his conscience disap- 
 proves, he is master of himself, and prepared for that measure of 
 success to which his other qualities may entitle him. 
 
 Let us suppose now that the young graduate is prepared to start 
 in the world with a good education, a good reputation, and the 
 qualifications and purposes I have just described. The first ques- 
 tion which he has to meet, is the choice of a vocation. To solve 
 this question properly, he must begin with a just idea of the require- 
 ments of his situation in life, and of his obligations to those who have 
 nurtured and educated him. 
 
 It is often objected to the indiscriminate education of all classes 
 that tastes and desires are created, which are incompatible with 
 the circumstances in which the majority are placed. I do not 
 think this effect is often produced in minds of a superior order. 
 The grand brotherhood of genius and learning is a true democracy. 
 It is made up from all ranks and conditions. Its patents of nobility 
 come from God, before whom the beggar and the king are equal. 
 Its members care little for artificial distinctions, for the trifles wor- 
 shipped by the frivolous and weak. Their companionship is with 
 great facts, and principles, and ideas. To labor and to endure is 
 their pleasure. A lower order of minds may obtain from a college 
 course but a smattering of knowledge and a few external accomplish- 
 ments, with a distaste for physical labor. With even these it is 
 probable that in most cases experience and necessity prove efficient 
 correctives. 
 
 However, it is true that much disappointment and unhappiness 
 result from mistakes made in the choice of a vocation, arising 
 
6 
 
 mostly from the foolish notion that the educated man should not 
 support himself by manual labor. If this notion should prevail, 
 when education becomes universal, manual labor and production 
 will cease, the means of subsistence will fail, and the earth become 
 depopulated. Erroneous as it is, and kept in check by the common 
 sense of the community, it has caused the professions and the lighter 
 employments to be overcrowded, in defiance of the law of supply 
 and demand, and to the lasting sorrow of thousands of our promising 
 youth, who might be profitably employed in the different trades 
 and agriculture. 
 
 I wish I could impress it on the minds of all our young men. 
 that the capacity to perform manual labor is the first step towards 
 independence. Frugality and industry are its attendants. Con- 
 tentment and a competency are its reward. 
 
 Of all the different employments, agriculture is one of the most 
 innocent, the most agreeable, the most remunerative, and the most 
 dignified. 
 
 The honest and industrious young farmer knows the value of 
 economy and simplicity of life. If he marries in his own class a 
 sensible and industrious woman, his prospect of happiness and success 
 is much better than it would have been had he studied a profession, 
 or sought a clerkship, to wait the better part of his life before he 
 could realize any return. But the farmer should be careful that 
 the demon of avarice does not possess him, and lead him to break 
 down his own health and that of his family by overwork from 
 excessive haste to get rich. 
 
 This lead* me to remark that our country suffers under two 
 evils that have almost become national. One is extravagance, the 
 other a craving for wealth. 
 
 It seems almost peculiar to the American character to be dis- 
 contented with the present, to waste our substance in folly, and 
 long wistfully for some lucky stroke to place us in possession of the 
 
means of further indulgence and ostentation. It is to be hoped 
 that the sharp teachings of adversity will correct the faults of our 
 disposition, and leave us to develop prudently and use wisely the 
 abundant resources with which our land is favored. 
 
 Youth is the season of hope and enthusiasm. The future is 
 painted in glowing colors. The imagination is filled with pictures 
 of varied scenes of enjoyment or activity. 
 
 One sees before him all the pleasures of the senses. 
 
 Another, visions of wealth and power. 
 
 Another, the pomp and circumstance of war, the honors of the 
 successful soldier. 
 
 Another is surrounded in fancy by listening senates, triumphs 
 in the forum, or from the hustings gathers the plaudits of admiring 
 thousands, while displaying the talents and skill with which he 
 believes himself endowed. 
 
 The voice of self-indulgence, of vanity, of ambition, is heard 
 calling the eager youth, and urging him forward. But of all who 
 enter life each year, full of hope and expectation, how few attain 
 the object of their desires, and how many even of these are disap- 
 pointed with the result. 
 
 What are the causes of this failure and disappointment ': 
 
 How can we guard against them ? 
 
 I imagine they are owing mainly to the fact that the plan of 
 life has not been formed with sufficient care, or with a full under- 
 standing of the value of things and the requirements and possibiF 
 ties of the situation. 
 
 Pleasure is not an object worthy <>f pursuit. It is only a grat- 
 ification intended to lighten our cares, and refresh us after our 
 labors. He who makes it his chief aim disgraces his manhood 
 and insures his future misery. 
 
 Wealth, and power, and station, and popularity, and the ap- 
 plause of the many are likewise low objects of desire, seldom 
 attained, and unsatisfying to those who have them. 
 
8 
 
 I would say to the young man, seek none of these things. 
 What then can he do to insure his happiness ? I answer, learn 
 wisdom. Know yourself a.nd the true value of things, and seek 
 those objects that are within reach, and have a value sufficient to 
 justify and reward their pursuit. 
 
 As to pleasure, the moderate exercise of our faculties is a 
 source of real pleasure within the reach of all. Let us open our 
 eyes and ears and enjoy the beauties of nature. The green grass, 
 the waving grain, the spreading trees, the sparkling waters, the 
 singing birds, and the myriads of pleasing and sublime sights and 
 sounds which nature presents for our entertainment, are likewise 
 within the reach of all, and are infinitely superior in all the elements 
 of enjoyment to the glare and glitter, and noise of artificial and 
 costly pleasures. 
 
 Then, as to the pursuit of wealth and power, the ambition for 
 ownership and command. I will here tell you something which 
 perhaps will surprise you. It may seem to you a paradox. Nev- 
 ertheless it is true. The more you have, of material things, the 
 greater your power among men, the less complete is your ownership, 
 and your independence. Humility is the lesson which experience 
 teaches us. A few revolving seasons reduces the domain of the 
 most wealthy to the narrow space covered by his coffin. And 
 while in the plentitude of wealth and power, his enjoyment is 
 imaginary, his labors and cares are real. 
 
 The most valuable of all possessions, each human being has, that 
 is his own soul. That is a possession also capable of being infi- 
 nitely expanded in value by its cultivation, or it may be marred 
 and ruined by neglect and abuse. 
 
 Let every young man enter upon life with the consciousness 
 that he is the owner of that treasure, a treasure beyond all price, of 
 which nothing but his own misconduct can deprive him, and to which 
 but little if anything can be added by extraneous acquisitions. Let 
 
him strive to preserve and improve this treasure by exerting its best 
 and noblest faculties, filling it with knowledge and wisdom, and 
 preparing it for a destiny grand beyond conception, and endless as 
 eternity. 
 
 Again, the rewards of gratified vanity, whether of the soldier 
 or the public man, are transient, I may say momentary. The 
 breath of the summer wind is not more fleeting than the breath 
 of popular favor. If fame is the only reward of the soldier or 
 statesman, he is most illy paid. If beyond this he has not the 
 consciousness of duty done, of toil and sacrifice in defense of the 
 right, in promoting the welfare of his fellow men, his life has 
 been a waste. 
 
 These public employments are to be filled by those who are 
 called to them. They should be understood to be uncertain in their 
 tenure, of little value in themselves, and most deceptive to those 
 who are led to surrender their time and stake their hopes and happi- 
 ness upon their attainment. 
 
 Office-seeking is not in itself, perhaps, degrading. It is possi- 
 ble that a person may be a professional office-seeker and yet be 
 upright, correct in his habits, true to his word, faithful to his trusts. 
 But it must be admitted that the temptations which attend this mode 
 of life are strong and difficult to resist. The politician whose con- 
 science is weak may enter upon his career with good intentions, but 
 he is too apt to close it a social and moral wreck. What then is to 
 become of these public employments, so necessary to the welfare of 
 the state ? Are they to be abandoned by the good men and left 
 entirely to the bad ? I trust not ! Every neighborhood in the 
 country is now suifering from bad legislation or bad administration. 
 The tide of corruption has risen and spread over the land until its 
 fetid waters have defiled even the most holy places. Reformation 
 and purification must be had, if there is any virtue left among the 
 people. I have no doubt there is virtue enough among the people 
 
10 
 
 to accomplish these ends. It cannot be otherwise. I cannot believe 
 that we have reached the stage of moral imbecility, the last stage hi 
 the existence of nations. So recent and bright a beginning cannot 
 have an end so sudden and disastrous. The American republic, just 
 risen like a sun in its glory, warming with its effulgence the wearv 
 and the worn, the oppressed and the suffering, of all lands, will 
 not now vanish like a meteor and leave the pall of darkness over 
 the hopes of mankind. 
 
 The work of reform cannot be carried out without the action of 
 men of ability and integrity. Such men will be found. They will 
 take part in it, not for their own sakes, but for the sake of others. 
 
 But because we have started in life to make our living in a sen- 
 sible way, it does not follow that we are to abandon mental culture 
 and the studies in which we have become proficient. 
 
 The human mind is wonderful in its capacities, and there is no 
 reason why the laborer, the farmer, the mechanic, the tradesman, as 
 well as the professional man, should allow his faculties to become 
 torpid, or should forego the enlargement of his understanding and 
 the extension and proper classification of his knowledge. 
 
 What I contend for is not the abandonment of liberal studies, 
 but the enfranchisement of the student by making him independent 
 in his circumstances, by demolishing the idols of vanity and folly, 
 to which a perverted public taste invites him to offer incense. I 
 would teach him the first lessons of true wisdom, by teaching him 
 that all the mere accessories of life, are of comparatively small value, 
 least of all wealth and display ; that the essential thing is the man 
 himself, with his qualities and affections, surrounding himself by 
 good associations in whatever sphere he may move, and unfolding 
 into a being fitted to enter worthily into a higher and better exist- 
 ence, and that this man may enjoy all the most precious things 
 without money, and without price ; and may prove his manhood in 
 he realms of literature and science, without regard to the amount 
 of his means and pecuniary resources. 
 
11 
 
 You leave college with the habit of study. Is it necessary to 
 lose it and to leave all literary pursuits, because you have entered 
 upon the labors of life? 
 
 He who will devote one hour every day to judicious systematic- 
 study, and mental improvement, cannot fail in time to become wise 
 and learned. In one hour the linguist can learn and master a 
 number of the root words of the language he is studying, and obtain 
 the definitions of many terms before unknown to him. In one hour 
 the musician can master several of the relations of musical sounds — 
 the painter and sculptor can obtain some new ideas of the 
 relations of color, or form and distance. In one hour the mathe- 
 matician can possess himself of one or more new and important 
 theorems. In one hour the student of geography may learn the 
 leading features of some important division of the earth, the student 
 of history may get the key-stone fact of the development of one 
 nation, or learn the cause of the downfall of another. 
 
 In fact there is scarcely a limit to the mental growth, learning 
 and improvement which may be obtained by one hour's judicious 
 study each day. To secure this benefit the student must avoid the 
 piles of trash which litter the shelves of all libraries, and the 
 ephemereal and demoralizing publications with which the press is 
 teeming. Stick to your elementary works, your dictionaries, 
 lexicons and encyclopedias, remembering at the same time that they 
 are all imperfect. Let every thing read be read for a purpose, and 
 with close attention, and under the surveillance of a sound 
 judgment — and remember that we do not profit so much by what 
 we read as by what we digest. 
 
 Having thus started in life, free from complications and 
 embarassments, with no moonstruck or will-of-the-wisp ambition, 
 under the guidance of good principles, good feelings, good intentions, 
 and force of character to resist improper pressure and bear the 
 suffering and disappointment incident to humanity, the young man 
 
can anticipate happiness and success, a useful and honorable career, 
 alike whether he be laborer or capitalist, with only this difference, 
 that the simpler and more humble his avocation, the fewer the 
 hindrances in the march of improvement, the more the majesty 
 of the man will loom up above the surroundings, and the more 
 probable that at some future day, whether in the present or the 
 after life, he will be installed high in the ranks of an aristocracy, 
 not of birth or office, of wealth or of fashion, but of the just and 
 true and wise of all races and of all times. 
 
 Gentlemen of the graduating class, you are now about to leave 
 these halls of learning. Probably you will never again all meet 
 here together. You will carry with you to your homes the best 
 wishes of all connected with this excellent institution, for your 
 health and welfare. I am sure you will endeavor, by your 
 conduct, to prove that you have availed yourselves fully of 
 the great advantages you have enjoyed, and wherever you 
 may be, will preserve for your alma mater feelings of gratitude, 
 affection and friendship. 
 
 
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