We have said that Tom was not a remarkable scholar; yet he was a scholar,
he was cyclopaedic. He had a general knowledge, and never forgot
anything. He was an unconscious student all the time.
But his attractiveness was not in his scholarship, but in his heart and
character. He possessed and was actuated by an unselfish and clean heart
and a pure conscience. He did not need to write upon his hat, I am a
Christian. The Golden Rule was the standard of his life and he was hardly
conscious of it.
CHAPTER XVI
THE FAREWELL COMMENCEMENT
Commencement exercises this year were very interesting; more than
ordinarily so. There were twenty-two graduates in the classical course,
and twenty-seven seniors in the theological class. There were four
hundred and sixty students in all. This was a much larger number than in
any preceding year. Nothing had occurred during the year to mar the peace
of the institution. Sixteen professors, clothed in their official
garments, with the president, occupied the platform, which was profusely
decorated with plants and cut flowers, while an immense American flag
floated over the president's table. But, somehow, there was a feeling of
sadness pervading the whole program; probably no one could have told what
caused it.
The four addresses, delivered by as many graduates, were of a high
order--vivacious, brilliant, and one or two of them quite exhilarating
and fine. Yet there was prevalent something like the feeling of a funeral
occasion--a feeling which follows the loss of a friend.
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