50                                           THE   TECHNOGRAPH.
 

LAST WORDS TO THE CIVIL ENGINEERING SENIORS.
 

By Ira O. Baker, Professor of Civil Engineering.
 

When the program committee asked me if I would present
something here this morning, I immediately thought that per¬
haps I might use the opportunity for a few final words with our
graduating members. Frequently the circumstances and con¬
ditions under which anything is said gives it an attention and
weight which it would not otherwise have.

When the traveler through an unknown country comes to
the brow of a hill, if he is wise he surveys the landscape, selects
an objective point ahead, decides upon l|.is path through the val¬
ley below, and then proceeds step by step to find his way down
the hill through the valley and up on the other side. Obviously
the time to decide upon the path through the valley is when we
are upon the hill top, and we are more sure to reach the goal by
the shortest route if we keep our eye steadily fixed upon our
mark ahead.

You are upon a hill top this morning. You are shortly to
break off old relations and enter upon new ones. Let us see if
we can find a worthy objective point ahead, which s-hall serve as
a help and inspiration while you wend your way through the
valley.

I am fully aware that this is the last time that I shall ever
address you in the relations of teacher and taught, and it is with
mixed feelings of regret and pleasure, of solicitude and antici¬
pation that I bid you adieu, and I fain would reveal to you some
of the feeling that a teacher has when he sends his boys out into
the world to test their powers—and his. But the occasion de¬
mands a higher motive than merely personal pleasure, so I ask
your kind indulgence while I try to teach one more lesson. I
make this attempt knowing that the occasion and your thoughts
will more clearly reveal to you the truth I wish to teach than
can my words.

It is not necessary to remind you that recitations are ended,
but I do want to urge upon you that you do not cease to be a