"How suggestive is the letter of one of the Fellows of the College in the early years of the Revolution: "The young gentlemen have already taken up with politics. They have caught the spirit of the time. Their declamations and forensic disputes breathe the spirit of liberty.'
"It is not without its meaning to us that under yonder elm Washington first took command of the American Army and that the Massachusetts Legislature driven from the State House by the cannon of the British troops, met in the college chapel, or that the College having waited for a century and a half before conferring the degree of Doctor of Laws to men outside her own number, elected George Washington as the first to whom this order should be given. Or to take a later scene, in the early days of the Civil War in 1861, the diary of the treasurer of the college tells of how he used to come to Cambridge at eight in the morning to drill the 'College troops.' A large faction of that company of students that marched around the college yard were within three or four years found dead upon the battle field.
"The community has given the college man the privileges in which he glories; the college man rejoices in the opportunity to serve the community. Public spirit finds a home in the college.
"You have already anticipated my application of this thought - your duty in public service. The upturning of crime and degradation in our greatest city suggests a joint action, and in that our brethren have been in the van. There, however, the worst feature was not the crime of the criminal or the degradation of already degraded office holders, but the lethargy of the city, the silent abetting of masses of intelligent people of the crimes, the selfishness of business men, householders who would rather bribe than have their peace disturbed. We have yet to learn that every citizen has his public duty. But my thoughts today are in quieter lines. Many of you are not going to the largest cities, but to the smaller ones, to towns and villages. Degradation in a man is easily recognized, but when scattered through smaller communities is unnoticed. The elements that inhere in New York are in our towns and villages varied crimes in extent and depth; the crime, also the degradation and the lethargy. Pure unselfish and loyal citizenship is needed throughout the country as well as in the city. Back in the country road vice lurks and purity waits long for succor. Each man's duty is nearest to his hand.
"There are two more suggestions that I want to make in the application of public spirit - they are simple and I believe that they are timely.
"Upon our common school system democracy stands. That the children of this republic receive the foundation of an education and gain the elements of a firm character is essential. Because the public schools are concerned with the rudiments of education and with children, the sentiment has sometimes gone abroad that any sensible average American can undertake the responsibility of our schools. The public schools have therefore in a few large cities fallen into the hands of politicians and the institution on which our public safety depends has become the football of political parties and ward room deals. In many of our smaller cities the management of the schools has been given to men who however worthy as average citizens have not the refined, sympathetic or cultured qualities which enable them to meet the demands of the best education of children. To the public school system the American people have given themselves with marvelous devotion, where there has not been the highest skill there has been at least the greatest self-sacrifice. There is, therefore, a call today upon the public spirit of university men - that wherever they may be, and whatever profession they may enter they feel a responsibility for the common schools, and by work and sacrifice do their part in strengthening our republic in its foundations My other point is a very different one, - This nation has, we believe, a great and peculiar mission in the history of mankind.
"It is not a nation formed for conquest or colonization. The condition of nations in Europe and the east, with their great standing armies, eating up the people's earnings, creating mutual suspicion, is enough to make angels weep. That with all our civilization, arts, culture and religion, the people of this 19th century have not reached the highest point in mutual confidence is a marvel. Much has been done in the last half century. Much remains to be done.
It becomes the educated men in America to use all their influence in keeping the nation to her high purpose - that of giving to the world the example of a people, united, free, self-governed, and skilled in the arts of peace.
"Let each man do his part towards checking the spirit of jingoism and insolence towards other nations that occasionally disgraces our national councils and that appeals to the passions and self-pride of the people. Let each man also do his part towards encouraging a spirit which will make our relations with other nations those of honor, self-restraint and peace.
"Men of the class of '95: By a few suggestions of the past I have tried to help you see a few of the duties of the future. For generation after generation this college has received from the community, its officers, and alumni, untold gifts, the fullest devotion and the richest sacrifice.
"You now stand to the University as its last and, we trust, its richest fruit. Here you have dreamed dreams and seen visions. For the most glorious of those dreams and the loveliest of these visions you will be held responsible. If you should fail of your highest purposes in life, you will not be able to fall back upon the excuse that the highest ideals have not been given, for they are yours now. What you will do with them remains for you to answer.
"In the days of King Charles the First, a young man of the English middle class took his degree at the University of Cambridge. Although no book records it, we know he must have had visions of high duty and privilege. He was only a humble minister and weak in body, but he was also, as one of his contemporaries writes, 'a godly gentleman and a lover of learning.' His vision of duty carried him to this land. Amidst the poverty and hardships of the day, he had before him the vision of a greater people. And as he became weaker in body, the dreams and memories of his old University at Cambridge must have beckoned him to a greater opportunity. The little community in which he lived was planning the foundation of a college. To it the young minister gave his thought and prayers, and dying, John Harvard left to it his library and half his moderate fortune.
"While the memory of that life hovers about this place, the men of Harvard will have an inspiration to live up to their highest visions.
"Look unto the rock whence you are hewn. Look unto your fathers, and may God be with you."
After the sermon the Baccalaureate hymn, by H. H. Yeames, '95, was sung. The choir sang during the service the following selections: "Awake, put on thy strength," Stainer; "Sing Alleluia forth," Buck; "Peace and Light," Chadwick.