Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/317

 business, to keep his mind open and enlarged, if he would escape the reproach of having sunk into a mere drudge; if he hopes to hold his place in cultivated society; if he aspires to achieve aught for his own fame, for the benefit of his own countrymen, or of mankind at large. Thus it is, that you will be ever advancing on the path of self-education, making yourselves practically more useful in your professions, more agreeable members of the society in which you move; better citizens of the State you serve; and at the same time be laying up for the autumn and winter of old age, a store of pleasing recollections and associations, which will form one of your best solaces, when the body becomes too enfeebled for further work, and the mind too dull for fresh exercitation and adventure.

As you will thus educate yourselves, so we expect you to be mindful of your duty in forwarding the education of others. You may not be able to do much; some may have it in their power to do more than others; but if you are well satisfied of the pleasures and the profits of knowledge in your own case, you ought to seek to impart the same benefits to your fellows. Every educated man who like you has been stamped by the University, may become the centre of a fresh circle of educational activity and action. The scholar who studies merely for himself, pursues but a selfish aim, scarcely worthy even of praise or of approval: nay, it may be that he is but unconsciously wasting his invaluable, irrevocable time in another form of laborious idleness. He is like a fountain, the waters of which fall back unproductive into the basin of its own reservoir; while the scholar who labours for his fellow-men is like an abounding river, which gladdens and fertilizes the country through which it runs. The one at best is but as a star upon a cloudy night: it shines, but in privacy; and so far as this world is concerned, with ineffectual fire; the other is as the universal Sun, seen and felt through the clear atmosphere at midday, giving out light and warmth to all mankind.

And now a word to those who have failed in obtaining their degrees. Disappointment is natural and unavoidable; but there is no reason why any unsuccessful candidate should give way to despondency. The very effort to attain success has necessarily been productive of good to him: and so far from discouraging or blaming those who have failed, we sympathize with them; and the Examiners will, no doubt, readily admit that the great majority of candidates who have failed, are nevertheless entitled