•• Tern pus erat. quo prima quies mortalibus aegris Incipit. et dono divum gratissima serpit."
Preston first read the Latin and then asked the Professor if he would accept the trans lation of Dryden. Dr. Parks consenting, Preston repeated some fifteen or twenty lines, when the Professor remarked: "That will do for Latin." It seems that even as a school-boy Pres ton excelled as an extemporaneous speaker, and that while he was at college he made a fine reputation for himself as an orator. Indeed, Judge O'Neall tells us that his ora torical efforts as a college student were never surpassed by any that he made after wards on the hustings, at the bar, or in the halls of legislation. The learned Judge just referred to was one of his classmates. Preston graduated in December, 1812, re ceiving "the third distinction of his class, in company with Whitfield Brooks, James R. Massey, and Arthur H. O'Hara." The subject of his graduating speech was, "The Life and Character of Jefferson." In speaking of his speech on that occasion, Dr. Laborde says : " It was a time of much po litical excitement between the Federalists and the Republicans, and as his elocution was far above the common standard, the speech was well received, and, as was thought, shadowed forth his future reputation." As a result of my study of the lives of great men, one fact has impressed me, and that is that we so often find that the subject se lected by a student for his graduation speech is indicative of his trend of thought and pro phetic of his life. And we should not be surprised that this should be the case. His graduation speech and its subject constitute an important fact in a young man's life, at least in his own estimation. They are for a while the burden of his thought, and his whole heart and mind are fixed upon them. It is not unnatural, therefore, that they should reach down into the innermost depths of his soul and that they should reveal to us the bent of his mind and the tendency of his
life. We find this illustrated, to some ex tent at least, in Mr. Preston's case. He had been brought up in Virginia, where Jefferson lived, attained his greatest popularity, and was most highly honored. What was more natural than that this young Virginia student in attendance upon a Carolina college, when he came to select a subject for his gradua tion speech, should have had his State and sectional pride challenged and should have felt called upon to vindicate the reputation and character of that great Virginian and emi nent Southern statesman, Thomas Jefferson? We see here clearly revealed, too, the fact that Preston's inclination and tendency were already in that direction, in which he was destined to shine conspicuously, — the do main of politics and statesmanship. It is to be regretted that his speech on that occa sion has not been preserved. It would be interesting to read it in connection with the subsequent events of his life and in the light which they would throw upon it. Even' young man should preserve his college speeches and essays. In after life, he will find them more interesting even than when they were prepared and delivered. And then, too, they will give an insight to his life that will be invaluable. After graduating, Preston spent a part of the winter in Richmond, where the Legislature of his State was in session, and the remainder in Washington. I have no doubt that his stay in these cities was highly bene ficial to him. At these capitals he was brought into contact with the leading men of the country^ He heard them speak, met them socially, and from his association with them no doubt modified his ideas of public men generally, broadened his views of life, and learned lessons that were of infinite ser vice to him afterwards. I have the most profound sympathy for the average college graduate. His ideas of life are necessarily crude and ill-digested. His education, in one sense, is but just commenced. Prac tical life is very different from the placid quiet
