PRESIDENT HAYES'S GRADUATION SPEECHES
by WYMAN
W. PARKER*
Rutherford B. Hayes upon graduation
from Kenyon College in
1842 gave the valedictory for his
class. He also presented an
oration, as did his eight classmates.
As Hayes came into prominence,
a legend grew about the superior
qualities of his talks that com-
mencement. This reputation was
increased rather than diminished
by the local newspaper report of the
proceedings that day, the only
available public evidence. It was long
believed that the script of
Hayes's speeches had been destroyed.
Happily the manuscript of
these speeches has recently been
discovered by Director Watt
Marchman among some heretofore
uncataloged papers of President
Hayes in the Hayes Memorial Library at
Fremont, Ohio.
Hayes's speeches at commencement,
August 3, 1842, are not dis-
appointing, in spite of the inflated
proportions the legend assumed.
Taken as an example of his abilities at
the peak of his college
career, they show an advanced stature
and hold promise of future
development. He subsequently developed
these potentialities quite
consciously by rigorous self-discipline
to fit himself for the highest
office in the land. Although Hayes
never was a silver-tongued
orator of the style most popular in the
midcentury, by dint of con-
stant practice, reinforced by careful
composition, he did become a
forceful and effective speaker.
Commencements in the nineteenth century
were lengthy enter-
tainments, which parents were willing
to endure patiently for the
pleasure of seeing their own sons
perform individually. Hayes
made an appearance last upon the Kenyon
commencement program
in 1842 after eight orations, two
poems, eight musical selections,
and the conferring of degrees. Each of
Hayes's eight classmates'
orations, although none are now
located, may be assumed to have
been of moderate length, or of about
fifteen minutes duration.
An interlude of music was provided
between every two orations.
* Wyman W. Parker is university
librarian of the University of Cincinnati. Before
taking his present position he was librarian of the
Kenyon College Library.
135
136
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
Proceedings on the commencement day of
August 3, 1842, opened
at 10 A.M. with a prayer and closed with
a benediction about three
hours afterwards. There was but one
guest speaker, the Rev. S. G.
Gassaway, who was hardly a stranger to
the campus. He had
received his M.A. at Kenyon in 1837 and
then served as a tutor
and faculty member while earning his
theological degree, awarded
in 1840. He read an original poem
addressed to the two literary
societies, Philomathesian and Nu Pi
Kappa, the former of which
had been in existence almost from the
founding of Kenyon in 1824.
Hayes led his class for the last two
years of college. Previously
he made a local reputation for himself
as a newspaper reader and
for his fund of political knowledge.
Stanley Matthews, a college
mate and later Hayes's appointee as an
associate justice of the
United States Supreme Court, remembered
Hayes as having "not
only the levelest but also the oldest
head in college. He never got
caught in any scrapes, he never had any
boyish foolishness, he never
had any wild oats to sow; he was
sensible, not as some men are
at the last, but sensible from the
beginning."1
Thus it was quite natural for Hayes to
take the place of class
leader on the commencement program. His
valedictory strictures to
his fellow students warned against
"empty declamation" and praised
the power of slow mastery. These were
tenets close to his heart
that his subsequent career embodied. He
recommended an honest
spirit with sound morality to the
students to encourage great and
virtuous actions.
The careful wording of the part of the
valedictory addressed
to the president of the college was not
apparent to the reporter
from nearby Mount Vernon, who recorded
it as "a rich flow of
grateful feelings" in the Democratic
Banner.2 President D. B.
Douglass, a former army officer, had
come to the college but a
year previously and shortly was to be
removed from office by the
trustees for neglect of discipline.
Many students were dismissed for
"outrages committed" which
included drinking and "more grave
1 William B. Bodine, The Kenyon Book (Columbus,
1890), 364; Scribner's
Monthly, XV (1878), 705.
2 Mount Vernon Democratic Banner, August
9, 1842.
Hayes's Graduation Speeches 137
infractions of decency,"3 which
can be read as "insurrection." Hayes
takes mention in his address to
Douglass of the great improve-
ments made in laying out the college
park, which was President
Douglass' permanent contribution to
Kenyon. In spite of the
peculiar and interesting"
relations that the class of '42 had with
President Douglass the occasion demanded
"a public avowal of
his high esteem." Hayes ends
his remarks to Douglass by saying
that there are those among the class
"who will be ready and
willing to do all that in them lies to
defend your reputation and
secure your happiness." Douglass
appreciated these kind words
and three years later had occasion to
ask for help. He wrote to
Hayes requesting permission to quote,
as in his second printed de-
fense he subsequently did, that part of
the valedictory addressed
him.4
Hayes's words to the gentlemen of the
faculty are warm and
personal, "the willing tribute of
honest and grateful hearts." His
class was aware of the great influence the faculty had in
molding
minds and fixing fortunes. The
students' debt of gratitude could
not be repaid, but their prayers would
be that the faculty might be
honored and happy in their old age.
Hayes personally continued
to honor these gentlemen by frequent
visits to the campus while
the appointments he held became
increasingly important. Even
then president of the United States he
attended Kenyon functions
as a loyal alumnus.
"College Life," Hayes's
oration, gives a fine account of the
discipline required of a student and of
the resulting vision of new
duties and prospects. The student
"soon finds that in entering the
public of letters all have to encounter
equal trials, overcome the
lone difficulties, and meet with
similar disappointments . . . but
none can obtain distinction without
merit nor preserve it without
toil." Hayes's belief "that
patient labor is the condition of success"
was one to which he subscribed
throughout his life. His ideal, which
George F. Smythe, Kenyon College, Its
First Century (New Haven, 1924), 137.
David B. Douglass to Rutherford B.
Hayes, January 28, 1845, Hayes Memorial
Library, Fremont, Ohio; David B. Douglass,
Further Statements of Facts and Cir-
cumstances Connected with the Removal
of the Author from the Presidency of Kenyon
College . . . (Albany, 1845), 54.
138 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
he continued to hold, is clearly
defined here as the means to this
ultimate end: that "man is truly
beloved only for judicious acts of
benevolence, he labors to become a
useful member of the society
in which he lives and thus prepares
himself to deserve the only
reputation which is valuable and
lasting."
Hayes however did not neglect nor
underestimate the real friend-
ships that could exist in a small
college, for he speaks of "friends
who are true in love, true in counsel .
. . gained . . . by purity of
principle and honesty of purpose by
warmth of soul and sterling
merit." His own college career was
full of concern for such per-
sonal relationships. While at Kenyon he
was one of the founders
of a local fraternity, Phi Zeta,5 with
the motto "Friendship for
Life," which was active for at
least eight years. Throughout his
lifetime he had many warm friends from
his Kenyon days, his
truest friendship being with Guy M.
Bryan, the Texan, who was
separated from him by the greatest
distance and the even greater
barrier of the Civil War. After Hayes's
death Guy M. Bryan came
to Gambler from Texas just to appear at
the special memorial
tribute offered Hayes by the alumni in
June 1893.
The representative of the nearest
newspaper at the 1842 com-
mencement festivities, in spite of
having conscientiously sat through
several hours of speeches, was lyrical
about Hayes's oration: "This
oration was rich, and splendid, chaste,
beautiful and sublime, pure
in diction, unique in arrangement and
lofty in sentiment, and was
delivered with a flow of animation that
struck like peals of music
upon the soul."6 This
enthusiastic report had much to do with the
legendary proportions which the
addresses, now first printed, as-
sumed as Hayes took office as president
of the United States in 1877.
The Oration7
An eminent American scholar has remarked
that the great business of
5 The silver-headed cane that Hayes
sported at the time to signify this membership
is in the memorabilia collection of the
Kenyon College Library.
6 Mount Vernon Democratic Banner, August
9, 1842.
7 Minus Hayes's headings, the speeches are reproduced here from the
original
manuscript in the Hayes Memorial
Library, Fremont, Ohio. They are published with
the library's permission.
Hayes's Graduation Speeches 139
one generation is the education of its
successor. The obligation faithfully
to discharge this duty is so
strengthened by the natural suggestions of
prudence and affection that it is justly
considered the chief object of parental
solicitude. It is not therefore to be
thought strange that parents are often
unwilling to commit to another's care
the important trust of training up
their offspring, and are always
extremely anxious to understand the nature
of the influences by which they are
surrounded. This is especially to be
expected where those influences are so
powerful, so oft-repeated and long
continued as they are in the course of College
Life----
Besides[,] the objections which have
been urged against this life are
so various and of such force that many
who readily admit the benefits of a
liberal education nevertheless believe
that the seclusion of a College is
poorly adapted to fit the young to become
energetic and successful men.
They are satisfied that learning is
required to perform the duties of exalted
station, or to investigate the secret
wonders of nature, but they imagine
that the habits which students acquire
will retard their advancement and
weaken the influence they might
otherwise exert. The graduate, they say,
is apt to suppose, because he has spent
the usual number of years in
pursueing [sic] a course of
Collegiate instruction, that he is, of necessity,
far in advance of other young men who
have not had the same advantages--
that his diploma is a sure passport to
wealth and honor, and he therefore
lives without improvement and dies
without a single virtuous action to
perpetuate his memory.
Such is undoubtedly too often the
conduct of the collegian; but such is
not the effect produced upon him who
performs with fidelity and zeal
the part he is required to act in
College Life. So far from its creating in
him that overweening self-esteem and
insufferable arrogance sometimes
complained of, its true tendency is all
in the opposite direction. Such an
one meets at every step with so many
difficulties that impede his progress,
and obstacles which he cannot surmount
that he must indeed be an in-
tellectual giant who is not mortified
and humbled to find how weak and
limited are his powers; and that man who
boasts of his attainments merely
because he has passed through College
may be always set down as [a]
vain and ignorant pretender.
Again, we are told that although the
student may have too much good
sense to wish to improve on the
unlearned, and thus in his turn become
the laughing-stock of the wise, still he
is deprived of that experience
without which he can never succeed in
the common concerns of life.
Surely it will not be denied that he has
the best counsel and instruction
140 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
from others to guide and assist him in
his course. Here we are assured,
however, lies the difficulty.
Young men, it is true, might profit by
the wisdom of those who have
travelled the journey of life before
them, but they surely listen to advice
or give heed to example. The sage
precepts of the feeble old man, tottering
on the verge of the grave are too tame
for the high spirits of those who
see the wide world before them, its
honors, its pleasures, and its vanities
all gilded by the bright beams of
youthful hope and anticipation. The
wholesome counsel and warning admonition
of a parent seem to them the
offspring of a father's anxiety or a
mother's love. Before they will learn
to control their passions or moderate
their desires they must experience
for themselves the mortifications and
disappointments which are the common
allotment of Providence to men. Every
one must feel the stimulus which
successful industry excite[s] before he
will exchange the fitful efforts of a
momentary enthusiasm for the patience
that never tires and the ardor
which perseveres to the end. In a word
all must learn by their own ex-
perience the conditions of their being.
This can be done in youth only
in those situations in which the
actions[,] events and results of a life
are crowded into a period so brief that
it forms but a segment of man's
pilgrimage on earth. In such a situation
we are placed at College. We
enter it just when our capacities for enjoyment
and improvement are ex-
panding to the utmost and while
reflections on the lasting effects of our
conduct still rest lightly on the mind
scarcely casting a transient shadow
over the fair prospect spread out before
us. The inexperienced beginner
knows not the necessity of the severe
restraints of college discipline nor
the benefits of the long hard course of
college instruction. He feels wronged
that his sweet repose must be broken and
his sports be left at the signal
tolled by the old unfeeling bell. He
feels no interest in solving the knotty
problems of Algebra and studying
languages no longer spoken. Lawyers
never plead in Latin nor merchants make
use of unknown quantities to
ballance [sic] their accounts,
then where's the use of poring over tedious
volumes when the woods[,] the river and
the fields are in sight enticing
him from tasks which dear nature abhors?
No wonder that arguments
and temptations like these often prove
too strong for youthful blood, and
that even the dreaded examination is
sometimes forgotten in the flow of
youthful spirits. But in a short time
this course as such courses always do
leads its follower to mortification and
disgrace. He falls below the grade
of merit which his eaquels [sic] and
perhaps inferiors have reached and
which his friends expected him to
attain. He knows that his disappointment
Hayes's Graduation Speeches 141
is the result of his own negligence and
the tear that trembles in his eye
tells that his pride is touched. He then
learns his first lesson from ex-
perience and it lasts him through
college. He may conceal or suppress his
emotion but from that day he is changed
changed [sic] in his desires[,]
changed in his habits[,] changed in all
that distinguishes the thoughtless
idler from the industrious persevering
aspiring student. New hopes and
new motives to exertion are awakened[,]
new views of his duties and
prospects are opened before him[;] he is
brought into collision with
generous minds[,] measures his powers
with theirs[,] partakes of their
sentiments[,] imbibes their spirit and
joins in their persuits [sic]. He
soon finds that in entering the Republic
of letters all have to encounter
eaquel [sic] trials[,] overcome
the same difficulties and meet with similar
disappointments. Some may have
extraordinary natural endowments but
none can obtain distinction without
merit nor preserve it without toil. By
a single energetic convulsive effort
Fortune's favorite[s] may gain the front
but while all around them is in steady[,]
rapid and ceaseless motion they
will be left behind and forgotten unless
they are active and diligent. The
observing scholar has now learned that
patient labor is the condition of
success, and his knowledge is as
effectual and lasting as though8 if it had
been gained in the harsher trials of the
world without.
Then he finds himself placed in a
position when friends of another
stamp are needed from those who were the
companions of his "hours of
idleness." Friends who are true in
love, true in counsel, and too honest in
their affection to spare reproof or
with-hold commendation where either
is deserved. Feeling the want of such
friends he cannot mistake the
requisites for obtaining them nor the
means by which they are secured.
They are not allured by the glitter of
profusion and extravagance, nor
deceived by uncommon brilliancy of
talent. They are gained, if gained at
all, by something more solid and
enduring--by purity of principle and
honesty of purpose[,] by warmth of soul
and sterling merit. Such being
the character required for friendship he
is forced "to assume its virtues if
he have them not" and "by use
to change the impress of nature["] before
the features of his disposition become
fixed and rigid.
He does not stop with the formation of
right habits of affection but
haveing [sic] been taught by
experience that man is truly beloved only
for judicious acts of benevolence, he
labors to become a useful member of
8 Words like this "though"
which Hayes lined out in the manuscript
have been
put in italic type.
142 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
the society in which he lives and thus
prepares himself to deserve the only
reputation which is valuable and
lasting.
Yet I may be told that this is only the
experience gained by boys and
is quite different from the practical
wisdom of real life. True. But these
habits and principles are the same
everywhere, and he who makes them
the rule of his life has little to fear
in any condition station which he may
be called to fill. Some however dread
the peculiar temptations to which
we are exposed, and others imagine that
the restraint we are under is
forced and unnatural, but every position
condition has its cares and dangers
and where the gain is greatest there it
is the part of prudence to re-
main content.
After all, is not this a poor and cold
account of College Life, that like
every other situation in which man was
ever placed, it has certain advantages
and corresponding to these are trials
and difficulties? Is this the reason
why we who have received taken
our degrees still linger in this abode of
monotony and restraint? Full of
confidence and determination we should
rather be eager to test the powers we
have so long labored to develop
and strengthen. Can it be that like the
aged prisoner of the Bastille we
fondly cling to the tomb in which we
have buried the ardor and wild
hilarity of youth? The world has not
lost its beauty nor freedom her
charms, then why are we not instant to
enjoy them? The unchained eagle
does not never waits to bid adieu to the links that held him but
soars
to heaven aloft exulting that he is free once more to visit his
eyrie in the
skies. But if we have laws and
restraint, in College we are not chained.
Tis [sic] by the exercise of
habits of industry and self-denial that we reap
its benefits but these do not constitute
all its gratification and delight.
These do not explain the melancholy
pleasure with [which] we shall look
back on our schoolboy days. It is behind
the scenes that we find those dear
objects which take such strong hold of
the imagination and the heart.
There we form our hopes of the future
and prepare to fill those stations
which we expect to reach ere the voyage
of life is over. There we meet
with kindred spirits whose warmth and
nobleness have not been chilled
or sullied by the coldness and suspicion
which creeps over us as life wears
on. There we have springs of happiness
that never fail and pleasures which
never cloy. For solitary enjoyment, in
our libraries we have all the stores
of learning, wisdom, and wit that heart
could desire. For the social
pleasures--festivity and
frolic[--]nothing is wanting. Each one can have
his little circle of congenial souls who
share in the same toils and sports,
the same friendships and dislikes and who
are indeed linked together with
Hayes's Graduation Speeches 143
"hooks of steel." Such jovial
meetings, such schemes of fun, we have
witnessed and planned within the gray
walls of yon old building as would
send a thrill of delight through the
blood of age. "Oh who that has shared
them ever can forget" those happy
times when heart-burnings, bickerings,
and jealousies were all forgot in
emotions of unmingled joy and gladness.
Then call not our parting scene a cold
formality, nor think our ardor is
damped or feelings crushed, and dead,
for
"Wild as the accents of lover's
farewell
"Are the hearts which we bear, and
the tales which we tell."
The Valedictory
Gentlemen of the Faculty,
For years you have sustained towards us
the various relations of parents,
instructors and friends. As parents you
have borne our cares, commended
our diligence, reproved our faults,
guarded us from temptation and danger,
directed our steps in the path of duty,
and watched over our dearest in-
terests. As instructors you have labored
with patience and zeal to awaken
in us a just sense of the obligations
which our opportunities for improve-
ment impose, and to fit our minds for
high enjoyment and noble pursuits.
As friends you have shared our griefs,
watched with us in sickness, cheered
us in disappointment, and rejoiced in
our success.
In all the difficult and often
embarrassing situations in which you have
been placed, we know that you have
always endeavored to perform your
duty to us. We also feel deeply how
inadequate and sometimes ungrateful
has been our return. But Gentlemen,
notwithstanding the indifference and
apparent levity with which we have more
than once met your exertions in
our behalf, do not think that we shall
ever forget them. Be assured that
after many days you shall be rewarded
for the sacrifices of time, of pleasure,
and of health which you have made for
our sakes; not indeed with a precise
compensation for your hours of anxiety,
the weariness and sinking of spirit
occasioned by your concern and toil for
us; but in the willing tribute of
honest and grateful hearts. In the
instructions received we have a lasting
memento of our indebtedness. Whatever
respectability and influence we may
attain in life will remind us of those
who fixed our fortunes by moulding
our minds in youth. Though our
connection with you is now at an end[,]
its effects will remain with us forever;
and as you feel you have fulfilled
your obligations, so you may be sure
that your acts of friendship and
affection are fast locked in our
memories there to be cherished till our
144
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
names are engraved on the tomb." We
can never repay the debt of
gratitude we owe, but when in other days
and distant climes we bear the
troubles and disappointments of life[,]
our fervent prayers shall ascend to
heaven that as in manhood you have been honored
useful and esteemed[,]
in age you may be honored and happy.
Gentlemen of the Faculty
Farewell--
To President Douglass.
With you our relations have been so
peculiar and interesting that we
cannot depart without some faint
expression of our thankfulness for the
friendly manner in which you have
uniformly treated us, and a public
avowal of our high esteem for your
character and attachment to your person.
During the eighteen months that you have
presided over the destinies
of this Institution we have daily met
you on terms of familiarity and con-
fidence not often accorded to the pupil
by his instructor. We are sensible
that it has been your earnest desire to
render our association with you, not
merely instructive, but pleasant and
improveing [sic]. We have not been
cold observers of your constant
attention to our convenience and comfort,
not uninterested spectators of your
exertions to add to our means of enjoy-
ment by improveing [sic] the
natural advantages and beauties for which
this place is distinguished. But I need
not enumerate the labors, nor
speak of those traits of character which
have won our affectionate regard;
it is enough to say that we have never
doubted the goodness of your in-
tentions but have at all times been
confident that your aim was our welfare.
With this estimate of your worth we now
leave the scene of your in-
struction, and wherever our lots shall
be cast there you may look for those
who will be ready and willing to do all
that in them lies to defend your
reputation and secure your happiness.
Farewell--
Fellow Students--
Your situation is very different from
that [of] those who will this day
go from among you. You have reason to be
glad that you are advanced to
the rank to which your labors during the
past year entitles [sic) you--
that you are now to have a respite from
toil--to return to your homes, to
receive the congratulations of friends and
enjoy the delights which vacation
affords. We, on the other hand, are
about to part forever from scenes
endeared to us by many pleasing
recollections and fond associations[,] from
Hayes's Graduation Speeches 145
companions with whom we have lived in
the closest intimacy, and from
friends whom we have "worn in our
heart of hearts". We cannot therefore
expect you to share partake
largely of the emotions which swell our bosoms
on this occasion. I need but allude to
our regret that we are about to part,
and to express our earnest hope that
unkind feeling if it exist, will cease
and offences which are past be
remembered no more. There are, however,
other things suggested by your situation
which our interest in your welfare
will not permit us to pass over so
hastily. This is the critical period of your
lives. So far as human sagacity can
foresee, your present conduct will fix
your characters and influence your
career for the remainder of your days.
In regulating your habits bear this
constantly in mind--when deliberating
on the propriety of any acts consider
first the ultimate result towards which
they verge, if you are willing that
their tendency shall determine your fates,
you may soberly perform them, but if you
see cause to hesitate be sure that
their end is fatal: You have already
heard much, perhaps, too much, of the
advantages of College Life. Do not be
deceived as to their nature. They
confer no distinction beyond that which
superior excellence obtains. On
the contrary, there is a strong desire
among our people to exalt merit when
exhibited in self-made men. We cannot
complain of this. It is natural and
proper. But it will require greater
exertion from us to attain those stations
of respectability to which we aspire. Be
careful, however, that you do not
make too great haste to become learned.
Time is short and the amount of
knowledge to be gained, infinite, yet
this is a work in which "too swift
arrives as tardy as too slow", and
if in your anxiety to grasp all within
your reach, you become superficial, you
acquire but little that you can
truly call your own[,] lose the
discipline which would enable you to use
it promptly and with effect, and deprive
yourselves of the power which
is required to master what is profound
and difficult. But as it is possible
for students to mistake the manner in
which they can best secure the
benefits of their college course, they
are also in danger of being deceived
in the kind [of] qualities for which
they should labor. Young men are
often "caught by glare" and
strive for what is brilliant rather than for
what is substantial. We are especially
liable to fall into this error, in our
public exercises on occasions like the
present. We feel it would be vain
to attempt to instruct those who favor
us with their audience and we
therefore endeavor to please by tickling
the ear with ornaments of speech
and creatures of fancy. By the ability
required to succeed in such efforts you
may compose woful ballads to your lady's
eyebrow, but it is not that which
enables men to break down formidable
opposition and carry on "enterprises
146 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
of great pith and moment". There
must be something more deep and sound
than is implied in such capacity. This
style is not suited for our age and
country. However sweet it may sound[,]
empty declamation does not in-
fluence men of practical good sense nor
persuade any to great and virtuous
actions. It was not used by those master
minds who established our in-
stitutions and built up this nation. We still
have remains of the oratory
which moved men's souls when
self-devotion and patriotism "cost blood".
Behold the appeal of the gallant Stark
to his little band, when the green
hills of Vermont were all gleaming with
hostile bayonets, and the flag of
England was waving over every peak! His
simple words were--"Boys,
there's the British and we'll whip them
or this night Molly Stark's a
widow." The phrase was homely but
energetic and went straight to the
bosoms of the hardy mountaineers around
him. It breathes the plain re-
publican spirit of of [sic] our
revolutionary sires--A spirit so honest, and
persevering that if we nourish it in its
original purity and strength it will
bear us safely through the visions and
shadows of youth, and sustain us in
the dark hours of manhood's adversity--
Heed, we beseech you, those principles
of sound morality and learning
which will here be taught you, and
when hereafter Old Kenyon shall count
her jewels, may you be recorded among
the brightest.
Fellow Students,
Farewell--
PRESIDENT HAYES'S GRADUATION SPEECHES
by WYMAN
W. PARKER*
Rutherford B. Hayes upon graduation
from Kenyon College in
1842 gave the valedictory for his
class. He also presented an
oration, as did his eight classmates.
As Hayes came into prominence,
a legend grew about the superior
qualities of his talks that com-
mencement. This reputation was
increased rather than diminished
by the local newspaper report of the
proceedings that day, the only
available public evidence. It was long
believed that the script of
Hayes's speeches had been destroyed.
Happily the manuscript of
these speeches has recently been
discovered by Director Watt
Marchman among some heretofore
uncataloged papers of President
Hayes in the Hayes Memorial Library at
Fremont, Ohio.
Hayes's speeches at commencement,
August 3, 1842, are not dis-
appointing, in spite of the inflated
proportions the legend assumed.
Taken as an example of his abilities at
the peak of his college
career, they show an advanced stature
and hold promise of future
development. He subsequently developed
these potentialities quite
consciously by rigorous self-discipline
to fit himself for the highest
office in the land. Although Hayes
never was a silver-tongued
orator of the style most popular in the
midcentury, by dint of con-
stant practice, reinforced by careful
composition, he did become a
forceful and effective speaker.
Commencements in the nineteenth century
were lengthy enter-
tainments, which parents were willing
to endure patiently for the
pleasure of seeing their own sons
perform individually. Hayes
made an appearance last upon the Kenyon
commencement program
in 1842 after eight orations, two
poems, eight musical selections,
and the conferring of degrees. Each of
Hayes's eight classmates'
orations, although none are now
located, may be assumed to have
been of moderate length, or of about
fifteen minutes duration.
An interlude of music was provided
between every two orations.
* Wyman W. Parker is university
librarian of the University of Cincinnati. Before
taking his present position he was librarian of the
Kenyon College Library.
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