Henry Baird Favill, AB, MD, LL.D., 1860-1916, a ... - University Library

MISCELLANEOUS 625
Delivered to the Graduating Class of the Francis W. Parker School,
June 21, 1912. (Edited by J. F.)
ONE
UNSELFISHNESS
of the deepest impressions I ever remember receiving
was from the first morning exercise that I
attended at the old Normal School during the days of
Colonel Parker. At that time I saw perhaps more clearly
than I ever saw— and I was then not too old to learn — the
enormous value of early practice in public speaking. The
memory of the spirit of that morning exercise is most vivid.
There I learned, if I had never learned before, that it was
possible for anybody, the youngest child in the school and
the most mature and conscious, to get upon his feet and
say what he thought, without preparation, without trepidation,
and without disturbance. And I really think that
it has had great influence, even in my mature years, in my
speaking. I think there is perhaps no class of people before
whom I could come more willingly, or indeed be more
anxious to come, without any particular preparation for
what I have to say, to set forth the few thoughts that
have come to me in connection with this occasion. There
is only one objection to this sort of thing, and that is
that one never quite knows when one is done, and that
is why I have asked you to sit down, as you may grow
very weary.
We are engaged in this community now, very deeply engaged,
in fact involved, in what is going on in the National
Convention. There goes on a struggle which it is quite
possible history may refer to as a titanic struggle. To our
current view it looks very much like the fight of the Kilkenny
cats, with all those types of personal feeling — asperity,
rancour, vindictiveness, and perhaps more malevolent
feelings— that come into human affairs, in what should be
a great serious gathering of our people. Underneath it all