May Crane's 1877 Valedictory Address

May Crane was born in 1856. She attended Washington schools, but Washington did not graduate high school students when it was her time to graduate. The first graduating class in Washington was not until 1876. After attending Washington school, May attended the Peoria County Normal School to learn how to be a teacher.

May was in the graduating class of 1877 at Peoria Normal School. In fact, she was the valedictorian. Her speech at the commencement drew such rave reviews that the Peoria newspaper ran the speech in its entirety. After her schooling, May became a teacher and had many speaking engagements around the area. She was well known for her ability as an elocutionist, a fancy word from the time meaning a public speaker.

We present now her stirring, uplifting speech, given during the Peoria Normal School Commencement at the Academy of Music in Peoria on June 14, 1877.

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves that we are underlings.”

Unless the plant absorbs and uses the nourishing elements which are provided for its growth, it will make no more advancement than if it had been deprived of the warm earth, the moisture, light, and air; and so if during the years just passed our lives have not been characterized by earnestness of purpose and concentration of power; if our energies have not been aroused and our time employed in the most profitable manner; we cannot consciously bemoan the results of our work and attribute the cause of our failure to the stern decrees of fate.  We have been surrounded by those things which are most needful to moral and intellectual growth, and it only remains for us, like the plant, to make use of the surrounding elements; and if we have failed the fault has not been “in our stars, but in ourselves.”

The spirit manifested by General Grant when he uttered the now famous saying “We’ll fight it out on this line if it takes all summer,” is that of indomitable determination to accomplish a certain definite purpose.  Bending all his energies to the task, and bringing all his forces to bear in the chosen direction, he worked steadily on through every difficulty until victory rested upon his banners. 

Thus, in every condition of life, and especially in life’s emergencies, earnestness and concentration are the stepping-stones to success.  The results of all our understandings are marked by the spirit with which we attempt them; and if our energies are divided and turned in this direction, and now in that, just as the fancy of the moment may suggest, the fruits of our labor can only be vexation and disappointment, and our lives must necessarily become dwarfed, aimless, and void of blessed fruitions.

In every profession it is considered an essential requisite that a person entering upon its duties shall have made some special preparation in that direction, as it has been said tonight, “the teacher’s work is for eternity,” and I think you will all agree that this calling should be ranked among the nobles of all professional pursuits; and, therefore, we must all admit that it is not only a good, but a necessary thing that some place should be fitted in a proper manner for the responsible position which they are to occupy. 

We feel confident that our school affords such advantages to all earnest workers.  It is not merely by judicious direction and instruction in the prescribed course of the school that we are strengthened; but we are continually having our ideas elevated by the examples of moral and intellectual excellence which have been placed over us.  Thus, kind friends, in supporting our alma mater, you are furnishing means by which the character of the coming generation may be elevated.  Earnestly trusting that you may consider our school worthy of your kind approval for years to come, allow me to thank you, in the name of the Class of ’77, for the interest which you have manifested in us by assembling here this evening.

Toward our schoolmates whom we leave behind, we shall always have a kindly feeling.  For have we not traveled over that part of the path which still lies before you?  You have seen wherein we have erred, and by following more closely than we have the advice of our noble instructors, you will more nearly reach the standard for which we, as a class, have been striving.

Dear Teachers: We earnestly ask that your interest in us may not diminish now that our relations as teachers and pupils are to be severed.  Many times in our discouragement your kindly words have incited us to a renewal of energy.  Many times, when tempted to forsake our chosen ideal, because it seemed so far in the dim future, you have shown us how it is that all great things are accomplished, and that the spirit within us determines all grand results.  With the hope that none of the seed which you have sown has “fallen by the wayside, on stone ground, or among thorns;” but that “it has been sown in good ground where it may bring forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred fold,” we today enter upon a new series of school days which will test the ability of our characters.  It is with feelings of sincere regret that, in bidding farewell to our pleasant school, we are at the same time severing the bond that has bound us to you as pupils.

Classmates: The time has come when we must separate.  We have closed our textbooks, and our weary longings over tasks that often seemed heavy and almost hopeless, are ended.  As we take a backward glance the mountains of difficulties dwindle into mole-hills, while the pleasant hours of association, and the warm friendships formed in them grow upon of hearts as we near the parting.  These association, and friendships, in their silent way, have had much to do with shaping our aspirations and destinies.  We shall miss their strengthening influence in the new life toward which our feet are tending.  But there will still be pleasant memories to which though will wander back, when years have left their traces of graver care and deeper thought; for “there are some pathways that even time’s dull footsteps cannot wear to common dust.”