Excerpt from Annual Address Before the Clariosophic and Euphradian Societies of the South Carolina College: Delivered December 4, 1859 Four and thirty years ago, I took my place behind this mystic stand, to deliver my valedictory to the Society I was then leaving, and my farewell to'college life and college friends. And as I stand here once again, memories come clustering thick upon me, and forms rise from their graves and throng around me - forms of venerable men, of loved companions. They bring with them the images of happy days, days that have vanished before me. Since then, a generation has passed away, and the friendly throng which greeted me is dispersed, and nearly all who heard me then, if living still, stray scattered through the world. Those whom I reverenced with a sacred veneration, and admired with a boy's enthusiasm, and looked at as a child looks at the stars, have gone to their graves, and strangers fill their places. And my own familiar companions, those by whose side I expected to battle with life, and by whose hands I hoped to be carried to my grave, are drifting hither and thither upon the tides of life, and in the storm of action. At such an hour as this, friends of my youth, I cannot pass you by. I must lay my tribute, however unworthy, upon your honored dust, and weave another leaf, however humble, into the chaplet of your fame. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.