“I have no doubt that they who originated the recent demonstration honestly believed it to be patriotic, for every movement nowadays must take that shape to satisfy the morbid appetite of the popular mind.  I cannot think it either in good taste or in conformity with sound policy for our collegiate institutions to foster this depraved appetite.  Surely there is enough of this in the political harangues of the day for those who require such aids to patriotism without its being administered to by our colleges.  That patriotism is of rather a suspicious character which needs such props.  I love to see my children well clad and taking a proper pride in their attire, but I should not think them well instructed if I found them everywhere boasting of their fine clothes.  A true nobleman is not forever boasting of his nobility for fear that his rank may not be recognized.  The loudest boasts of patriotism do not come from the true possessors of the genuine spirit.  Patriotism is not sectional nor local, it comprehends in its grasp the whole country....

“I have said the demonstration at Commencement was in bad taste.  Why? you will say.  Because Commencement day brings together the alumni of the college from all parts of the Union, from the South as well as the North.  They are to meet on some common ground, and that common ground is the love that all are supposed to bear to the old Alma Mater, cherished by memories of past friendships in their college associations.  The late Commencement was one of peculiar note.  It was the first after the return of peace.  The country had been sundered; the ties of friendship and of kindred had been broken; the bonds of college affection were weakened if not destroyed.  What an opportunity for inaugurating the healing process!  What an occasion for the display of magnanimity, of mollifying the pain of humiliation, of throwing a veil of oblivion over the past, of watering the perishing roots of fraternal affection and fostering the spirit of genuine union!  But no.  The Southern alumnus may come, but he comes to be humiliated still further.  Can he join in the plaudits of those by whom he has been humbled?  You may applaud, but do not ask him to join in your acclamations.  He may be mourning the death of father, brother, yes, of mother and sister, by the very hands of those you are glorifying.  Do not aggravate his sorrow by requiring him to join you in such a demonstration.

“No, my dear cousin, it was in bad taste to say the least of it, and it was equally impolitic to intercalate such a demonstration into the usual and appropriate exercises of the week.  You expect, I presume, to have pupils from the South as heretofore; will such a sectional display be likely to attract them or to repel them?  If they can go elsewhere they will not come to you.  They will not be attracted by a perpetual memento before their eyes of your triumph over them.  It was not politic.  It is no improvement for Christian America to show less humanity than heathen Rome.  The Romans never made demonstrations of triumph over the defeat of their countrymen in a civil war.  It is no proof of superior civilization that we refuse to follow Roman example in such cases.