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To-day we are in the historic position of pausing upon the threshold, where, before facing the future with the perennially hopeful vision of youth, we turn and look back, after them anner of all womankind. What each one of us sees there in the past is known to each one of us alone, but there is much that is shared by us all in common. Four years, in this comparatively early period of our lives, would have made many changes in any environment, and four years in an institution of this sort, devoted to the strengthening of character and culture, are, we all realize, probably the most directly influential of any in life.

The great lesson of education is not summed up for us here in any one fact or series of facts, but is comprehended in a certain definite attitude toward life; in a breadth of view, a quietness of mind, an aptitude for growth, and a recognition of the vital principles of truth.

We come from near and far, unrelated, unevenly developed, utterly heterogeneous, and the college holds us together for four years in an attitude of receptivity and scholarship-it unites us with bonds of daily intercourse and sympathy, fans our little talents appreciatively, and marks our crudities and limitations. by inevitable comparisons-in short, it awakens and quickens individuality within us, and gives us, as its greatest gift, ourselves.

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