Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/408

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in venturous toils such as enchant us in ancient story. The Present—the living Present—abounds in opportunities for heroic self-sacrifice such as a demi-god might envy, and you will find ready at hand much work that is alike arduous and honorable; much of chaos that still waits to be reduced to order; many an Augean stable that still calls for no unworthy hands to cleanse it.

But time presses. Your work is waiting for you. You go forth as a fresh detachment of the army of human progress in India, and we wish you God-speed.

 

Gentlemen,—The Statutes of this University require that an address shall be made to the newly-admitted graduates by a member of the Senate, and this duty has, on this occasion, been entrusted to me by His G-race the Chancellor. In his name, and in the name of the Senate, I congratulate you on the success which has crowned your long labours. A few of you have reached the goal of your studies, so far as University examinations are concerned. Others, although Bachelors of Arts, have still before you the higher, but rarely sought, degree of Master, as well as the various degrees which this University confers in the Faculties of Law, Medicine and Civil Engineering. But every student knows that all that he has learned of any subject forms but a small portion of the whole, and that Literature and Science are Alpine regions, in which the horizon extends as the pilgrim ascends. Whatever department of knowledge you may have selected, or may hereafter select, you will find a lifetime too short for the work which lies before you.

Some of you have yet to elect the path which you are to pursue in life. A great writer has given us a sketch of an imaginary poem, entitled "The Youth at the Cross Roads," in which his hero depicts two female characters personifying the Tragic Muse and Commerce, as contending for the possession of his person. You stand, as Wilhelm Meister did, at the Cross Roads, but most of you are probably balancing between the service of Government and the profession of law. Both, no doubt, offer an honorable career, but it is to be regretted that more do not endeavour to find other outlets. One of the 