June 26, 1934 – Commencement Day Address

Coeymans High School

Margaret Heath – (Valedictorian)

We Begin

Mr. Barnum, members of the Board of Education, members of the faculty, fellow classmates and friends:

We, who stand tonight at the meeting between a happy past and an unknown future, have reached not the end but the beginning of our lives.  We have mastered those early lessons of a few short years ago.  Those victories shall serve as stepping-stones for future and more difficult undertakings.  We have not finished our course at all, but are merely to begin a new one. We must aim at something or we will never reach anything.  In the words of Robert Browning: “A man’s reach must exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?”

Nothing can end well that has not been well from the beginning.  We have learned during the course of our few years of life, that every day of our existence is in a large measure a preparation — a building — a laying of a stone in the foundation of the future.  Every single act of our daily lives — yes, even every thought — is leaving it’s mark either for good or ill, for strength or weakness, upon the character we are unconsciously engaged in forming.  Every victory we gain over self makes us that much stronger, and makes the next battle that much easier to win; every good deed we do paves the way for a second good deed; every lesson we learn makes the succeeding lesson easier for us to master.  We have been sowing seed all the days of our past lives — we shall be sowing seed all the days of our lives to come, for as every day that comes is a culmination of all the preceding days of preparation, so every step onward in the journey of life depends upon the step we are taking now.

And now, fellow classmates, we must part.  This is our last appearance as a class.  After tonight we shall go our separate ways, but though time and space may divide us, we shall always be joined in heart and spirit, and the memories of our days in Coeymans High School will always be cherished.  May good fortune attend us, and may we remember that the training we have received is but the preparation in our youth for the sequel of our lives.  Let us still find time to learn something good since study is the task of youth, the business of maturity, and the pleasure of old age.