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ADDRESS 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE TWO 
 
 XjXai'E3Xl..^.Xt.3r SOOI3E3a7I3E3S 
 
 OF THE 
 
 jikoltl if Jfiftl' Cew iiE 
 
 JUNE 6th, 1860, 
 
 BY JOHN POOL, ESQ. 
 
 Published By Order of the Philanthropic Society. 
 
 CHAPEL HILL: 
 
 JOHN B. NEATHERY, PRINTER. 
 1860. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 PHILANTHROPIC HALL, ) 
 Chapel Hill, July 31, 1860. j 
 John Pool, Esq., 
 
 Dear Sir: — The undersigned have the honor, in behalf of the Philanthropic 
 Society, to express the great pleasure and sincere thanks of that body for your 
 interesting and appropriate address delivered before the two Societies on the 
 day preceding the last annual Commencement, and to request a copy for 
 publication. 
 
 The Committee beg leave to tender you their personal thanks, and add their 
 
 solicitations to those of the body they represent. 
 
 Very respectfully, your obd't serv'ts, 
 
 JOEL P. WALKER, ) 
 
 JOHN M. LAND, I Committee. 
 
 F. J. HAYWOOD, Jr. ] 
 
 ELIZABETH CITY, August 11, 1860. 
 
 Gentlemen: — Absence from home has prevented an earlier answer to yours 
 ofthe 31st of July. 
 
 The preparation of the address was interrupted by the labors and excite- 
 ment of the political canvass just ended, and I am fully sensible of its many 
 defects and want of critical care. But, as is customary, I shall place a copy 
 of it at your disposal. 
 
 Allow me to return you my thanks for your expressions of approbation and 
 kindness. 
 
 Yours truly, JOHN POOL. 
 
 Messrs. J. P. Walker, J. M. Land, F. J. Haywood, Committee. 
 
 
ADDEESS 
 
 Oentlemen of the Philanthropic 
 
 AND Dialectic Societies : 
 
 It is a matter for congratulation to see the increasing interest manifes- 
 ted in the cause of education. The institutions under which we live im- 
 pose a necessity for a general diffusion of correct and useful knowledge. 
 It may be, therefore, that a sense of patriotic duty, as well as of moral 
 and religious obligation, prompts the zeal shown in all parts of the 
 country in establishing and maintaining seminaries of learning. 
 
 This assembly, here to-day, participating in the annual festival of our 
 University, comes to approve the faithfulness of teachers and to encourage 
 students to diligence. Public attention thus directed to the proficiency of 
 merit and to the short-comings of indolence, by presenting an immediate 
 motive for exertion, becomes an incentive to honorable emulation. Such 
 encouragement is of no small importance to those who come here fresh 
 from the gentle influences and indulgent care of parental hands, to find 
 the thoughtless ease andirresponsibilty of childhood interrupted by a sterner 
 discipline. Those best skilled in the training of youth testify to its 
 utility. The constitution of the human mind, requires some attainable 
 object in view — some tangible reward of profit or praise — before it can 
 overcome its natural inclination to ease, and bend to the reality of irksome 
 toil. The anticipation of future returns for the sacrifices of the present 
 must be strengthened by some occasional realization, in order to bring 
 out the best energies of any human character. The knight, fighting 
 among the hills of Palestine, though fired with religous zeal and striking 
 in the name of his God and his honor, must needs seek some nearer 
 recompense in the approving smiles of his lady. So the eyes of approving 
 friends, and the visits of a generous public to greet success with honorable 
 applause, gives to the mind of the student new vigor and to his fainting 
 heart fresh courage for the task before him. 
 
 The college course so far from being a pathway of flowers should be 
 one of rigid training. The education here obtained is preparatory to the 
 great battle of life, and meant to fit you to become faithful and eflicient 
 soldiers. To advance with profit and honor requires no small amount of 
 labor, perseverance and self denial. The mere acquisition of knowledge 
 should not be the primary object. Useful and varied information is cer- 
 tainly a very desirable incident of your literary and scientific studies. 
 But the leading purpose should be to train and discipline the mind — 
 to call it from vagueness and uncertainty to precision and system — that 
 its wandering powers may be collected at will and concentrated upon a 
 
•>6 ADDRESS OF JOHN POOL, ESQ. 
 
 single point — thus bringing into practical use its entire activity and 
 strength. Facts and rules committed to the uncertain keeping of the 
 memory are comparatively useless acquirements. The mind must be 
 made to grasp the principles, and to work out as much as possible by its 
 own esertions, the logical deductions which lead to the truths that it 
 would store away for future use. By no other means can it be qualified 
 to enter successfully upon practical investigation or to rely with any 
 -degree of confidence upon the result of its own labors. This work is not 
 in the power of teachers. Their judicious guidance and encouragement 
 may facilitate, but can never insure the leading benefits of a proper edu- 
 •cation. A careful selection of studies and a well planned routine of 
 intellectual exercises afford much assistance; but after all it rests with the 
 .student himself. It is a struggle for mastery over his truant thoughts, to 
 jnake them the subservient instruments of his will — and the victory cannot 
 1)6 gained without a fixed determination to pursue it witji unfaltering 
 purpose. The talisman to success is labor — determined, unflinching labor, 
 until it becomes a habit — a second nature — a positive pleasure. Without 
 it there can be no high degree of mental training. Only by repeated 
 labor are the muscles and eye of the artist trained to works of skill and 
 beauty. By such, the gladiator prepared himself for the deadly lists, 
 and the aspirant for the olive crown became a victor at the Olympic 
 games. The aspirant for, intellectual excellence cannot learn too early, 
 that his more exalted aim can be reached by no less arduous means. 
 He will find no road to it over which the rich may roll in chariots of ease 
 while the poor walk in weary toil. Nor can he receive it as a birthright. 
 It will not descend with the manor and the castle and the liveried 
 servants. Neither can the work be done by hired laborers. But, day 
 by day, and step by step, with patience and labor, he must work out for 
 himself the rewards of success. If he attempt to recline upon a bed of 
 roses, or listen to the siren of ease when she sounds her deluding notes, 
 he will never feel the palm of victory press his brow. 
 
 Nor can there be any safe reliance upon the native powers of the intel- 
 lect, however great. It is too often true, that the most highly gifted are the 
 most apt to neglect the proper cultivation of their endowments. Natural gifts 
 of the most brilliant order may be neglected and misapplied, until they 
 become rather a curse than a blessing to their possessor — serving only to 
 make him appreciate more keenly the high estate from which he has fallen — 
 sharpening the pangs of remorse, and adding to the bitterness of regret, 
 the shame of self-condemnation. All are alike subject to the overruling 
 necessity of depending on self-denying labor for the attainment of excel- 
 lence in any department of life. In the private engagements, in the 
 learned professions, in literature, science and the arts, it operates with the 
 same binding and uravoidable certainty. Circumstances may give advan- 
 
, ADDRESS OP JOHN POOL, ESQ, 7 
 
 tages, or chance may elevate for a time, but it serves only to make defects 
 more conspicuous, and to increase the mortification of failure. Nothing 
 but individual effort can secure individual excellence. And this is espe- 
 cially applicable to the student, who would bring into usefulness, by 
 wholesome discipline, those exalted gifts with which Providence has en- 
 dowed man so eminently above all the rest of creation. But it is an 
 object worthy of his best exertions, and within the reach of every one 
 who brings requisite diligence to the undertaking. 
 
 It is difficult to over-estimate the power of systematic effort — the 
 magic of concentrated thought. To a mind well trained, obstacles be^ 
 come playthings, and seeming impossibilities vanish on its approach. 
 Instead of begging a pitiful tribute it commands the trophies of triumph. 
 It i« this training that imparts to the correctly educated man such facility 
 in the management of the ordinary concerns of life, and such readiness 
 in the discharge of duties the most arduous. Without it, by an uncom- 
 mon activity and natural quickness of mind, some manage to get along 
 with tolerable success. With some ingenuity and a few flashes "of fancy, 
 they may turn attention from the shameful confusion into which they are 
 betrayed by the want of consecutive thought. They may throw upon a 
 matter in hand a kind of flickering light, with now and then a ray of 
 borrowed radiance to penetrate the mist in which they are involved. 
 With some applause, they may play around a subject without ever giving 
 it a manly grasp. But these are mere scintillations of intellect. They 
 catch the empty praise of the ignorant, but can never command the solid 
 approbation of those whose esteem is so gratifying to a man of parts — nor 
 can they secure that which is so much sweeter than all to the cultivated 
 man — the consciousness of intellectual strength and the pride of mental 
 superiority. 
 
 Every young man feels that the main object of life is to discharge all 
 its duties with faithfulness and honor. With his mind well-trained, he is 
 prepared to enter upon those duties in any sphere. If he choose any of 
 the learned professions, he brings to the mastery of its principles the 
 undivided powers of his intellect. Its honors and emoluments are within 
 his. reach, and wait upon his bidding. He will readily outstrip the many 
 who press into the race before they have trained themselves to run it. 
 If his country call him to her councils, he is able to stand among her 
 benefactors with pride and dignity. If he engage in the unostentatious, 
 but not less honorable, pursuits of humble life, he is saved from manifold 
 perplexities that befall his less fortunate neighbors. Method and pre- 
 cision mark his arrangements, securing in their operation, satisfaction and 
 success. Properly trained and cultivated men ai-e the pride of a nation. 
 To them must be intrusted the intricate affairs of government, requiring- 
 acuteness of mind and a well-balanced judgment. Judicial duties, espe- 
 
8 ADDRESS OF JOHN POOL, ESQ. 
 
 ciallj, require tliat close, discriminating and consecutive thought which can 
 result only from a patient and thorough discipline of the mind. With- 
 out men so qualified, any government fails in many of its most important 
 ends; and instead of securing right and upholding truth, justice becomes 
 but a hazard in its tribunals — and^ultimately it must be overwhelmed with 
 confusion and disgrace. Happy is the nation and fortunate the age that 
 prepares for its youths the means of Sitting themselves to discharge the 
 duties of its exalted stations, and by generous encouragement inspires 
 them to train themselves for a career of usefulness and honor. The high- 
 souled, aspiring young men of our land! Tl ey are the jewels of the 
 Republic, the repository of its hopes, the defenders of its destiny! It is 
 for them to be the benefactors of the age. May they prove faithful to 
 their trust, and firm in noble resolve to discharge it to the honor and 
 glory of their country. 
 
 But, in addition to public usefulness, educated men may exert a most 
 beneficial private influence. They may elevate the social standard of 
 morals and manners — give tone and character to the circles in which they 
 move — restrain inclination to vice, and by the valued encouragement of 
 their approbation promote whatsoever is virtuous and good. And this 
 private influence upon the masses of the people is no less important than 
 powerful. The human mind is inclined to be subservient, and to bow 
 before the manifestation of superior intelligence and virtue. The great 
 mass of mind requires some master spirit to think for it, and furnish it a 
 model of conduct. Most men look up, for guidance, to some one whose 
 acquirements and virtues have attracted their attention. Those who im- 
 prove the advantages of a liberal education thus become lights for others 
 to follow, leading them on to whatev 3r is for social improvement and the 
 public good. 
 
 Our peculiar political system requires elevating and virtuous influences 
 upon the masses. With us every man is repeatedly called upon to be- 
 come an active and equal participant in the rights and duties of the body 
 politic. The people impress their character upon the government that 
 emanates from them. If controlled by vicious influences, they may easily 
 overturn the foundations of society; and uniortunately such influences are 
 seldom wanting. To combat them in the private as well as the public 
 walks of life is a duty required at the hands of educated men. All that 
 is desirable in life depends upon the proper management of the feelings 
 and obligations by which society is bound together. None are able to 
 appreciate the extreme calamity which attends the disruption of social 
 order, until they have experienced its misfortunes. The claims of afiec- 
 tion — the advantages of private property — the protection of life — and 
 indeed, every blessing which renders civilized existence more desirable 
 than that of a savage, is sacrificed before the demon of social discord. 
 
ADDRESS OF JOHN POOL, ESQ. 9 
 
 The responsibility for the preservation of social order and of the blessings 
 of political and religious liberty, rests upon those who have enjoyed supe- 
 rior educational advantages. Let the appreciation of this, stimulate you 
 in your efforts to advance in preparatory attainment. Duty, patriotism and 
 interest unite in urging you to diligence. With manly purpose and 
 cheerful hearts, may you push on to the realization of the brilliant hopes 
 that are centered in you. "A youth of labor" will surely be crowned by 
 an age of honor. May no regret for opportunities neglected and the prime 
 of life wasted, hang over your heads to cloud declining years, and haunt 
 the walks of after-life with phantoms of remorse and shame. A duty 
 well performed is no less a blessing to ourselves than a profit to others. 
 Though it involve the sacrifice of present ease and require submission to 
 the inconvenience of uncongenial toil, steady perseverance will bring a 
 recompense more than commensurate with all the privations endured, in 
 the unrivaled pleasure of self-approbation, and the consciousness of a well 
 acted part and a life well spent. 
 
 These considerations of duty and usefulness have, doubtless, had their 
 due weight upon your conduct while here preparing yourselves to enter 
 actively upon the theatre of life. But there is another view perhaps 
 more closely connected with your individual happiness, which should 
 prompt you in your literary labors. You must expect to meet in your 
 course through the world, with disappointments and misfortunes. They 
 are unfailing incidents of earthly existence. No heart can be successfully 
 nerved against their depressing influence. Amid them all there is no 
 retreat, apart from religion, to be relied upon with so much certainty as 
 that which every man may prepare and possess within himself — a clear 
 conscience and the resources of intellectual enjoyment. They are posses- 
 sions of which no man can deprive him — above the contingencies of chance 
 and change — a part of his being — essentially his, by virtue of no human 
 statute, but in obedience to the immutable laws of Nature and of Nature's 
 God. And though he may not, as suggested by Cicero, carry them with 
 him as a personal possession into the realms of the future world, yet surely 
 the cultivation of the intellect partakes of divinity, and ennobles and 
 elevates and refines that wonderful principle within us, which we are 
 taught must live forever. 
 
 A taste once formed for literary pursuits is of priceless value. A rich 
 field is spread before the votary, and he is invited to partake of the refined 
 pleasures that are found in its walks. He has a world of his own into 
 which he may retire, when pressed too hardly by the stern realities of that 
 around him. It is peopled with the brightest creations of human fancy and 
 decked with the legacies of the greatest and purest minds of earth. The 
 present may be set aside for the feelings of other men and other times. 
 There is food for all the higher emotions and impulses of the heart, to 
 
10 ADDRESS OF JOHN POOL, ESQ. 
 
 entertain and please wliile it enriches with the accumulated stores of the 
 wisdom of ages. 
 
 It is to be regretted that such taste has not been more generally 
 diffused in this country. Its beneficial effects would soon manifest them- 
 selves upon the character of our people, purifying the tone of conversa- 
 tion — improving social intercourse, and elevating the standard of morals 
 and manners. 
 
 In your course, thus far, you have already met these pleasures. Your 
 toils have been enlivened in searching out half-hidden gems of thought, 
 and your weary minds refreshed in grasping exalted sentiments and elu- 
 cidating beautiful truths. You have learned that even upon the dreaded 
 cliff and among the rough rocks, many a modest little rose hides its blush- 
 ing head — many a limpid fountain gushes out to delight the traveller 
 with its gentle murmur — and many a sylvan grotto invites him to short 
 repose beneath its scented shades. In learning it is not distance but 
 approach that 
 
 "Lends enchantment to the view, 
 
 And robes the mountain in its azure hue." 
 
 Is it not intellectual feasting to read with understanding the classic 
 writers in their native tongues, and without an interpreter to hold com- 
 munion with the illustrious dead? — to hear the very accents of the 
 matchless eloquence of Athens and Rome — to reverence the deep philos- 
 ophy of Socrates, or listen to the sweet love-notes of Pindar ? — to appre- 
 ciate the withering sarcasm of Juvenal, partake of the heroic enthusiasm o£ 
 Virgil, and revel in the manly beauties of Horace? There is indeed sub- 
 limity in thus holding converse with the philosophers and orators and 
 poets of ancient times — in pondering over their wisdom, imbibing their 
 spirit, loving their beauties, and becoming familiar with their emotions — 
 until we feel that between us and them, there has scarcely been 
 
 " A single earnest throb 
 Of Time's old iron heart." 
 
 I cannot urge upon you too earnestly the practical usefulness of culti-- 
 vating such taste. It is commenced here, and should be pursued through 
 after life in whatever sphere you move, as the most delightful and satis- 
 factory of that circle of innocent pleasures which Addison so wisely 
 recommends us to enlarge. It improves the mind and refines the feelings, 
 while it affords the most satisfactory recreation amid the cares and toils 
 of life. Vicious habits have few charms for the man who delights to 
 spend his leisure hours in pursuits like these — while all the nobler and 
 higher impulses and aims find ready access to his heart. It gives addi- 
 tional sweetness to the joys of youth, strengthens the worthy purposes of 
 maturer manhood, and consoles declining age in its sober walk ''upon the 
 shores of that great ocean it must sail so soon." 
 
ADDRESS OF JOHN POOL, ESQ. 11 
 
 And, because more particular reference has been made to manly dut'e^, 
 it is not meant to be intimated that the same training and taste is not 
 equally important to the cultivated lady. Her thorough education should 
 tiot be -neglected^ Though she hope not to amass wealth by enterprise 
 and well-planned speculation— nor by her eloquence to command the 
 "applause of listening Senates" — still, she may have her reward in the 
 sweet pleasures of literary pursuits and in the praise of a well-ordered 
 household. 
 
 But in addressing an assembly of educated young men, it must not be 
 overlooked that probablymany among them are ambitious to have their names 
 enrolled among the great of the earth. Looking above the humbler posi- 
 tions in life, they gaze upon the dazzling promises of fame, rising in the 
 dim future, and inflaming the energies of the soul in pursuit of the exalted 
 ends which the day-dreams of imagination present as attainable realities. 
 If prompted by worthy motives this ambition merits sympathy and en- 
 couragement. The young are too often taught to regard such impulses as 
 pointing only to empty visions, deluding their followers with vain hopes, 
 ever receding on approach, and making the heart sick with repeated dis- 
 appointments. Such may be the experience of the faint-hearted, who 
 grow weary by the way and loiter and turn back. But there are number- 
 less examples teaching a different lesson. All depends upon the man 
 himself. Steady perseverance will surmount the most formidable obsta- 
 cles, and difficulties vanish at tie tou:!h of diligent application. Success, 
 though withheld for a time, must sooner or later follow in the train of 
 faithful exertion. 
 
 All that has been said in reference to mental training applies with still 
 greater force to him who would press after the rewards of successful am- 
 bition. His mind must furnish the armor and the weapons for the con- 
 flict. His steel must be tempered in the furnace of self-denial, and bur- 
 nished by the dreary toil of many a midnight watching. The temptations 
 of pleasure and ease are the lurking foes that hang upon his way and seek 
 to surprise him at every turn. His visor must never be raised at their 
 approach, and the out-posts of thought must be guarded with never- 
 flagging vigilance. There must be resistance and labor — a constant 
 bivouac of the reason and will, until he has mastered himself. His mind 
 must, indeed, be to him a kingdom — a kingdom, in which an iron law is 
 administered by a stern, unflinching judge — and he must be the abso- 
 lute despot, whose word is that law, and whose will is that judge. But 
 when he is once seated upon his intellectual throne, he is a king indeed — 
 
 " A king of thought, a potentate, 
 Of glorious spiritual state — 
 A king of thought, a king of mind — 
 Realms unmapped and undefined — 
 Crowned by God's imperial hand, 
 Before him as a king to stand." 
 
12 ADDRESS OF JOHN POOL, ESQ, 
 
 To a mind thus trained, failure can scarcely be predicted in any un- 
 dertaking within the compass of human means. It proceeds with such 
 far-seeing precision and force, that its way seems paved in advance, and 
 circumstances combine to favor its schemes. What seems darkness to 
 others becomes light on its approach— confusion becomes system, and 
 hazard certainty. Destiny is sometimes credited with its achievements j 
 and indeed, fortune does seem, at times, conscious of a master's presence, 
 changing her frowns into unexpected and almost servile smiles. 
 
 It matters little in what road the talents of a man thus trained are 
 turned. Usefulness and honor are before him in every direction. The 
 false teachings of pretenders, the errors of ignorance, and the designed 
 innovations and abuses of selfish schemers are everywhere to be met and 
 reformed. Theology, science and general literature, and the learned pro- 
 fessions equally invite his labors and hold out their bright promises of 
 reward. I offer no advice in the choice of pursuits; but it is to be re- 
 gretted, that in this country, political aspirations have so much engrossed 
 the talent of youth and turned it from other fields of labor. Under our 
 peculiar political system, the honors and emoluments of office being open 
 to every grade and class, early ambition has been blinded to the more 
 certain and durable fame attainable in other pursuits. Political eminence 
 and fame are subject to the detractions of calumny and the misrepresenta- 
 tions of partizan prejudice. The magic powers of the orator are limited in 
 their operation, and his renown seldom survives the changing sentiments of 
 a few generations; while eminent writers in theology, law and general liter- 
 ature, hand down their names as household words to posterity, and the 
 achievements of science continue for ages to enlighten and improve man- 
 kind. If the inclination of the best talent of our country to seek the po- 
 litical arena, as the theatre of its exertions, could be restrained, it would 
 soon remove the principal defect in our national character. Our literary 
 progress has not been commensurate with our advancement in material 
 greatness and political weight. It presents a national want, and those who 
 supply it will secure to theinselves undying fame. Our country has been 
 the pioneer in those great principles of civil right which now characterize 
 the spirit of the age, and we must trust to the present generation of as- 
 piring young men to attain for it the same preeminence in other things 
 which contribute to a nation's glory. 
 
 The fields of romance and poetry offer an inviting harvest. Whoever 
 takes to himself the first position of American genius, in this branch of 
 literature, will acquire a name as bright as any in the annals of the world. 
 And why may not America have a place as elevated, in this department, 
 as any other land? She has as much to inspire the imagination and kindle 
 the flame of the Muses. Her mountains are unsurpassed in grandeur 
 and beauty — and lovely streams flow from their bosoms, with murmuring 
 
ADDRESS OF JOHN POOL, ESQ. 
 
 13 
 
 cadence as sweet as ever lulled the Arcadian shepherd to repose or min- 
 gled with the soft notes of his pastoral reed. There are scenes of as 
 glorious deeds as heralds ever sounded in the triumphal procession of re- 
 turning conquerors. There rural loves are as warm and pure. The an- 
 gels who visited, near Eden, the daughters of men, found no lovelier 
 spots or cooler shades, or fairer forms, or warmer hearts. They are^all 
 here, inviting a minstrel to sing their praise. And, above all, liberty has 
 made them her home, and having erected here the blessed temple of her 
 retreat, awaits some bright genius to arise and herald the enchantment of 
 her new abode. 
 
 The different branches of science have their peculiar attractions. In 
 chemistry, mathematics and sound philosophy, modern advancement has 
 far exceeded the wisdom of ancient times. England and other countries 
 have run up a record of immortal names. Let us rival their greatness, 
 and yield to them no longer the highest places in the temple of fame. 
 Ambition cannot covet a renown more lasting than his who gains emi- 
 nence in unlocking the mysterious truths of nature. In this we can 
 already boast . many practical achievements which have conferred real 
 benefits on mankind, openi||g to the world new themes of investigation 
 and making their impress upon the age. But much remains still to be 
 done. Geology is in its infancy, and scarce emerging from the unfoun- 
 ded prejudices with which its early revelations were received. Many are 
 laboring to add to the store of its facts, or are drawing valuable deduc- 
 tions from its established truths. There are many "favored localities" in 
 this country, inviting an explorer to bring them to the attention of the 
 world. Intimately connected with natural history and comparative anat- 
 omy and the leading principles of chemistry, it requires much acuteness of 
 perception, close observation of hidden relations, and withal the most 
 laborious and patient research. But its ultimate development promises 
 such an insight into the wonderful history of the earth, with all its myr- 
 iad forms of life, marking the beginning and end of measureless periods 
 and recording the work ®f the great creative hand in the rise and fall of 
 species and dynasties in the vegetable and animal kingdom, long before 
 the human intellect shone upon the scene, that it may well challenge the 
 best exertions of talent, and hold out to the successful explorer the pros- 
 pect of renown commensurate with civilization, and as immortal as that 
 of the hero wearing the laurels of a hundred battles. 
 
 But, I am not advising the choice of pursuits. Every man must con- 
 sult his inclination and the leading points of his own character. If 
 crowned by piety and other requisite virtues, great attainment can no- 
 where be more worthily employed than in the sublime labors of the pulpit 
 and its incidental duties. The mysteries of revelation are food for the 
 closest thought. While the human heart is inclined to evil; there will be 
 
14 ADDRESS OF JOHN POOL, ESQ. 
 
 tiecessity for the best efforts of thoroughly trained ability to enforce those 
 great truths upon which depends the welfare of nations, no less than of 
 individuals. Infidelity assuming milder names, will continue to lurk in 
 high places, undermining the foundations of morality and sowing the 
 seeds of vice. It is not so much among the more ignorant classes; for there 
 the natural impulses of the heart are not checked by that skepticism 
 which too often attends a little learning half mastered and falsely under- 
 stood. It is chiefly among those who, having some pretension to acquire- 
 ments, have yet not had the leisure or inclination to push it to that elevated 
 point from which the surrounding view would humble them at the utter in- 
 significance of human knowledge; and where amid the floating mists and 
 •the infinity of incomprehensible truths, they would feel the necessity for a 
 higher hand to direct and guide : — where bowing before visible mysteries 
 beyond the farthest grasp of their nature, they would humbly appreciate 
 the wisdom which has revealed so much, and be struck with wonder and 
 admiration at the sublime simplicity by which it is brought within the 
 compass of human thought. To be learned only to that point where con- 
 ceit begets doubts of all things beyond its reach, is equally unfortunate 
 to the man himself and to those under the in^ence of his fancied eleva- 
 tion. It casts upon nature a pall of darkness, hushing its struggling sug- 
 gestions and leading to despondency and moral ruin. The skepticism of 
 the partially learned is the stronghold to be attacked, and once carried, 
 infidelity loses its respectability, having no abode but in the heart of re- 
 volting depravity, or in the baseless visions of the monomaniac's dreams. 
 The man of well trained powers, commanding from the partially learned 
 attention and respect, is often able to impress them with sound doctrine 
 when enforced by clear reasoning and dressed in the drapery of genius. 
 He may expand their narrow views by superior learning, and by logical 
 precision lead them up to a purer height, where the appeals of eloquence 
 and the force of his character may open a way for the holy rays of truth 
 and reason. True greatness can have no nobler purpose, nor one requir- 
 ing a more careful cultivation of its endowments. What can exceed the 
 glory of him, who, having trained himself with much labor, and having 
 warred with vice and ignorance and laid broad and deep the foundations 
 of purity and truth, rests from his toil, to exchange the crown of moral 
 and intellectual splendor which he has won in this world, for the brighter 
 icrown promised in the world to come ? 
 
 But those who seek eminence in this country look principally to politi- 
 cal elevation. The gates of honor being open to capability and virtue in 
 every grade of life, there will continue to be many aspirants. Perhaps 
 it should not be discouraged. There can be no loftier aim than a place among 
 the honored rulers of a nation of freemen — to merit their honest preference 
 and assist in directing their progress to national greatness and prosperity. 
 
ADDRESS OP JOHN POOL, ESQ. 15' 
 
 This age and country present not only an opportunity, birt an actual ffced for 
 the exercise of the highest moral and intellectual excellence to which human 
 nature can attain. Prepare then to deserve the confidence of your country, 
 and let no consideration ever tempt you to betray it. Be ready to sacri- 
 fice personal ambition to public duty. Be slovsr to give ear to temporary 
 excitements, and never swerve from right to appease the threatening 
 clamors of faction. We have a country great and free ; none has ever 
 presented a career so glorious, or conferred in the same length of time so 
 many blessings upon mankind. The influence of its institutions has 
 spread into every land where civilization finds a home, and the fruits of its 
 industry have clothed and fed suff"ering millions. The oppressed of every 
 land stretch their arms to us, and prefer for our welfare their earnest peti- 
 tions to heaven. Every heart that throbs in a human bosom, has an in- 
 terest staked. Our past is bright and glorious — in the present are threaten- 
 ing clouds — 'the future is darkness. Where are the high-souled youths 
 in whose hearts is cherished the manly purpose to train themselves in 
 wisdom and virtue, to take charge of that future and gild it with the 
 light of the past? Their names shall be among the brightest on the 
 scrolls of fame, and all the tongues and kindreds of the earth shall call 
 them blessed. And when those who now tread the scene shall have passed 
 away and left to your keeping the precious destiny of the States united 
 and free, let no link drop from that golden chain — cling to your inheri- 
 tance in every particle of the soil hallowed by the blood of your fathers, 
 divide not their renown, for it is yours, and acknowledge no banner but 
 that which reflects from its stars the remembrance of their glory. 
 
 But whatever your aim, the matter of first importance is the formation 
 of a right character. The only sure foundation is uncompromising integ- 
 rity. Whatever is built upon any other, will be undermined by the cur- 
 rents of temptation, or overthrown by the storms of passion. The seduc- 
 tions of temporary interest and the blandishments of vice keep their 
 sleepless vigils to entice and betray. In the walks of private life cultivate 
 the social virtues, and they will light your households with incalculable 
 blessings. If you tread the road of ambition, bear before you the shield 
 of integrity and truth, and it will repel the assaults of your enemies. If 
 misfortunes befall you, the proudest consolation is a clean heart and an 
 honor untarnished. Bear ever in mind, that to be truly great or useful 
 or happy, we must be truly good. Of all training, the best is the training 
 of the heart. Intellectual splendor dies with the things of earth, but 
 intellectual purity is an inheritance for eternity. 
 
^