“’TIS SIXTY YEARS SINCE”
In the single hour self-allotted for my part in this occasion there is much ground to cover,—the time is short, and I have far to go. Did I now, therefore, submit all I had proposed to say when I accepted your invitation, there would remain no space for preliminaries. Yet something of that character is in place. I will try to make it brief.[1]
As the legend or text of what I have in mind to submit, I have given the words “’Tis Sixty Years Since.” As some here doubtless recall, this is the second or subordinate title of Walter Scott’s first novel, “Waverley,” which brought him fame. Given to the world in 1814,—hard on a century ago,—“Waverley” told of the last Stuart effort to recover the crown of Great Britain,—that of “The ’45.” It so chances that Scott’s period of retrospect is also just now most appropriate in my case, inasmuch as I entered Harvard as a student in the year 1853—“sixty years since!” It may fairly be asserted that school life ends, and what may in contradistinction thereto be termed thinking and acting life begins, the
- ↑ Owing to its length, this “Address” was compressed in delivery, occupying one hour only. It is here printed in the form in which it was prepared,—the parts omitted in delivery being included.
