Patterson, Rector of St.Phillip’s Church, Norwood, reading a Scriptural passage from Job
XXVII: 1-12, 2 3-28, and offering the following prayer:
Almighty and most merciful Father; the Creator and Preserver of all good, we thank Thee that Thou art always
bringing great things out of little.
We thank Thee that into loving hearts Thou didst put the thought of the Thomas S. Clarkson Memorial School of
Technology for the advancement of science, promotion of learning, and dignifying of labor.
May the forces that make for growth continue to the enlargement of this blessed work. Bring life from everywhere, as
Thou dost for the growing plant, to this ever deepening and spreading work of Thine.
So continue with this School that all connected with it may feel that they are under Thy protection and guidance.
Follow those who go from its doors so well fitted for the action of the awakening world. And wherever they go may
they carry something of the spirit that gave them the Thomas S. Clarkson Memorial School of Technology, to the glory of Thy
Son, Our Lord. Amen.
This was followed by the overture from
Martha
by Flotow, a selection by the vocal
quartet, a scriptural reading by Rev. Patterson, and the Intermezzo from
Cavalleria Rusticana
by Mascagni. Then John Cassan Wait, MCE (Cornell) and LLB (Harvard) delivered the main
address, “Technical Education of the XXth Century.”
Early in his lengthy address, Mr. Wait described his students cleverly:
It is a popular notion that in general learning, the students presented for admission to college today is superior to the
students of any other period of the world’s history, considering his or her age. This is doubtless so, at least to mathematics and
the sciences, though they did have in the early part of the XIXth century individuals whose training in literature and art
surpassed that of many people today, and even in their youth.
The student should, however, distinguish between himself and his accomplishments. He should correct any feelings
of superiority to his forefathers in intellect and mental capacity. If thrust into philosophical scales, he would be outweighed.
In the light of new things with which young people are surrounded they, in their enthusiasm, are likely to forget what
the frequent perusal of biography and history would keep fresh for them,
viz.
a profound respect for the inventors and
discoverers to whom we all are so greatly indebted: Newton, Galileo, Leibnitz,…Boyle, Bernoulli,…Hargreaves, Newcomen,
Roebuck, and Wedgewood, all of whom died in the XVIIIth century. The scholars of the XVIIIth century had great intellects
and made great progress in scientific and intellectual pursuits.
The ceremonies were concluded by Moret’s “Moonlight Serenade” and the quartet
rendering a selection from Mendelssohn’s
Athalie,
“The Heaven and the Earth Display.”
