that when you have its decisions at one time, you know where to find them at another; that it shall not be marked by whim; shall not be moved out of its course by gusts of passion; shall not, in a fit of great good humor, allow to-day, what, in a fit of ill humor, it will forbid to-morrow; shall not, therefore, tease and vex the subjects of it by its fickleness and variableness. These should always know what they have to depend upon; and not see the elements of order disturbed and broken up by the prevalence of official disorder. Against a government administered upon such principles and marked in its several acts by courtesy, by kindness, by the frankness and dignity of gentlemen, I am persuaded that depravity herself could not muster up anything like a formidable conspiracy. Such, gentlemen, we profess to be our aim; and in the prosecution of such an aim we feel confident of your support. Although we do not expect to have much, if any reason to apply for it. We do not hope, that an appeal to the understanding, the magnanimity, the conscience, of the students, will effectually preclude those scenes of misrule which have occasionally tarnished the history of other colleges; and that affection will do for us what the exercise of mere authority has not been able to do for others-attach the students more and more to the interests of their Alma Mater. After all, young gentlemen, students of this institution, her success hands. Have we is, in a great measure, in your hands. deceived ourselves in expecting from you a chivalrous sense of moral honor? A delicate noble sensibility to character, and all the decencies and elegance of character? a high respect for order and decorum, even in slighter matters! an ardent love of your studies and corresponding industry? If we have not; if our expectations are well founded; if you shall bear us out in our hopes respecting you, then shall our efforts be animated, our labors sweetened, our success cheering, and Dickinson College revive from her desolations, a phoenix of renewed life, and spreading her lustre over your county, your state, your country, be a source of mild and enduring glory in ages to come. |