and the world’s prizes wait for the men and
women who are ready to take pains to win them.
Be careful and set your minds on the best things.
I meant to be a rich man when I was a boy here, and
I stand before you a rich man, knowing the care and
anxiety and responsibility of wealth. I meant
to go to Congress, and I am one of the Senators from
Kansota. I say this as humbly as I say it proudly.
I used to read of the valor and patriotism of the
old Greeks and Romans with my youthful blood leaping
along my veins, and it came to pass that my own country
was in danger, and that I could help to fight her
battles. Perhaps some one of these little lads
has before him a more eventful life than I have lived,
and is looking forward to activity and honor and the
pride of fame. I wish him all the joy that I
have had, all the toil that I have had, and all the
bitter disappointments even; for adversity leads a
man to depend upon that which is above him, and the
path of glory is a lonely path, beset by temptations
and a bitter sense of the weakness and imperfection
of man. I see my life spread out like a great
picture, as I stand here in my boyhood’s place.
I regret my failures. I thank God for what in
his kind providence has been honest and right.
I am glad to come back, but I feel, as I look in your
young faces, that I am an old man, while your lives
are just beginning. When you remember, in years
to come, that I came here to see the old school-house,
remember that I said: Wish for the best things,
and work hard to win them; try to be good men and
women, for the honor of the school and the town, and
the noble young country that gave you birth; be kind
at home and generous abroad. Remember that I,
an old man who had seen much of life, begged you to
be brave and good.”
The Honorable Mr. Laneway had rarely felt himself
so moved in any of his public speeches, but he was
obliged to notice that for once he could not hold
his audience. The primer class especially had
begun to flag in attention, but one or two faces among
the elder scholars fairly shone with vital sympathy
and a lovely prescience of their future. Their
eyes met his as if they struck a flash of light.
There was a sturdy boy who half rose in his place
unconsciously, the color coming and going in his cheeks;
something in Mr. Laneway’s words lit the altar
flame in his reverent heart.
Marilla Hender was pleased and a little dazed; she
could not have repeated what her illustrious visitor
had said, but she longed to tell everybody the news
that he was in town, and had come to school to make
an address. She had never seen a great man before,
and really needed time to reflect upon him and to
consider what she ought to say. She was just
quivering with the attempt to make a proper reply and
thank Mr. Laneway for the honor of his visit to the
school, when he asked her which of the boys could
be trusted to drive back his hired horse to the Four
Corners. Eight boys, large and small, nearly every