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V ALEDICTORY ADDDRESS
At the C.C.I. Commencement Exercises Robert Inkster delivered the V aledictory address as follows:
"Certainly there is a great responsibil- ity attached to the duty of presenting the Valedictory of the graduating class of 1929. As a humble example of that class I am charged with the duty of expressing the various feelings which come to a graduate when he or she realizes that indeed he or she is a graduate. Those feelings comprise a mixture of happiness, regret, and antici- pation, and if I, my unworthy self, were able to properly express the full intent and meaning of those words I might then be able to convey to you the true thoughts now passing in the minds of the graduat- ing class which you are about to see align- ed l·efore you in the full pride and splen- dor of their great achievement.
That peculiar, happy elation which a graduate of the C.C.I. experiences on the night of his commencement, no doubt be- gins when the conductor passes through the coaches of the leaping, bounding, rock- ing old C.N.R. singing out something about the next station being Collingwood. Per- haps extreme happiness is reached when we finally alight at the station and are welcomed by a familiar face-4:he face of an old school-mate. Judging by the beam- Ing expressions of coun.tenance I see on the memt.ers of the class to-night, my es- timation of the el~ment of happpiness to be found in the graduate have not far miscarried.
But, then, there is that feeling of regre·t which suddenly sweeps over us. It is not a desirable feeling . I t overcomes all the happiness. It causes us to swallow hard to keep down an enlarging Adam's apple, and makes us bring out a handkerchief to wipe an imaginary cinder from the eye. It makes us crave to be alone in quietude, that we may gaze into space and dream of those happy and eventful days so recently gone beyond.
It is indeed true, an important phase of our life has gone beyond. No . longer will the tinkle Of that bell up on Hume Street P-all us to what we then considered the tor- lures of those who would go on the quest dirtying those whitf:washed t,asemen: walls
with our feet. Tonight we are enjoying for the last .time the privilege of takh~ a11 ac- tive part in the C.C.I. Commeneement ex- ercises. While some people have been tak- ing enjoyment in their preparatinno;; for the season of goodwill toward all, tJ,!pleting bank rolls and wearing of false whiskers. we, the graduating class have (or Wl'f>kS been manicuring finger nails and power- ing noses, polishing shoes, practising that business like man of the world express'on and just generally preparing for that great moment of our lives when we will say fare- well to those never-to-be-forgotten school days.
Formerly, Commencement has merely meant to us a concert at which 'was offered ample opportunity to display in public our ethereal, vocal, dramatic, athletic and per- haps idiotic abilities. But we do not see in it tonight the climax of a melee, of tic- ket-selling, of stage setting, of rehearsing of speeches, drills, athletics, dramatics, idiotics, etcs. Rather do we realize to the full meaning of that word "Commence- ment". We realize what it has already meant to so many. It was for them, and it is now, for us, truly, "Commencement," the commencement of life itself, a life for which we have been so well prepared.
To-night we have attained the golden peak to which we have teen struggling. We have realized .the hopes and ambitions which spurred us on to that attainment. We have reached that place of prominence from which youth looks forth in awe for the first time at the spectacle of life laid before him wi.th its many tortuous paths; one of which they must choose and follow through to that end which no man may sea or foretell.
We may, to-night, be represented as 3. little group silhouetted by the dawn Of life standing a.t the brow of the divide. The divide between youth and manhood-tak- ing one last longing look behind before disappearing into that great unknown. By the Collingwood Collegiate, its staff, its student l·ody, soon indeed will we be for- got-ten.
What is this Collegiate we are leaving? Is it that beautiful building up on Hume Street, with its broad halls, airy class rooms and splendid recreational facilities?
"THE GLEANER" 81