[Valedictory address].

  • McDowell, Joseph N. (Joseph Nash), 1805-1868.
Date:
[1856?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [Valedictory address]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    with as without the setting. Mind is immortal—it blazes as well on the hearthstone as it does in the hall of fashion ; mind is the bright morning star of domestic life, which bids darkness flee, shines brightest upon the dreary path of life, and lights up every footstep with alacrity and joy. It is a mistaken idea that money makes men great and powerful; it may give us importance and power for a time, but the glory perishes with the using. Shakespeare has said put money in thy purse, Roderigo put money in thy purse, but I say unto thee, put learning in thy head, and honor and integrity in thy heart; they will last longer, they will main- tain you while living, and live after you when dead. Learning, heroic decision of character, inflexible integrity, pure, moral rectitude, will be the bright jewels of your character when mountains of ill-gotten gold will have dwindled away. Silver and gold may pay the expen- ses of a splendid funeral, but the memory of the man rots in the sepulchre. The rich Croesus, the rich Polydor, of Messina,— the Arbaces of Pompeii—and Shylock, of Venice,—live in mem- ory's records as knaves — fattened hogs, or oxen ribboned for the fair. While the minds of the nations which produce such mon- sters in wealth, such mammoth calves in gold, live renowned for their moralitv, wisdom, learning and patriotism ; their deeds in arts, science and in arms, have floated upon the turbulent sea of human knowledge, a casket of jewels whose lustre shines to heaven, and although found oftimes upon the dun-hill of poverty, shine with intrinsic beauty m the estimate of every mind of elevated mould, and with purest ray serene The great moralists who have been the ornaments of the pages of history and blessings to mankind, the lights to the path of the hu- man raee, have never been reputed wealthy, nor is it ever asked by the pupil of wisdom and learning, were they rich. Socrates, the father of the moral teachings of Greece, when Ids prison doors were opened by his pupils who bade him fly, which he refused preferring death rJther than disobedience to the laws of his country, drank the hemlock and died while he had not a drachma in his purse Our Saviour when brought before Pilot had not a piece of silver on b. person yet Judas the rich man and banker of the twelve, had tlnrty pieces oi silver the pHce of his Master-the one is worshipped as a God, the other des- PiMtrIaLuther. Melancthon, and John Calvin, the greatest moralists J Xners of their age, had but little to boast of but wisdom, piety i 1 the latter of whom, that man who stamped the nations ^r:uv s1;:;:;, u ** *. >— *- «* ^ *- 1 f h 1 effeol. were sold. In your own profession, gentlemen, great t: havetely been rich, but have been examples of genius strug-