we have just
lost. You, who are leaving the school, have been the friends and
contemporaries of Henry Julius Desmond; his features are fresh in your
memories, and will remain fresh as long as you live.

"Tall, eager, a face to remember,
A flush that could change as the day;
A spirit that knew not December,
That brightened the sunshine of May."

"Those lines, as you know, were written of another Harrovian, who died
here on this Hill. Henry Desmond died on another hill, and died so
gloriously that the shadow of our loss, dark as it seemed to us at
first, is already melting in the radiance of his gain. To die young,
clean, ardent; to die swiftly, in perfect health; to die saving others
from death, or worse--disgrace--to die scaling heights; to die and to
carry with you into the fuller, ampler life beyond, untainted hopes and
aspirations, unembittered memories, all the freshness and gladness of
May--is not that cause for joy rather than sorrow? I say--yes. Henry
Desmond is one stage ahead of us upon a journey which we all must take,
and I entreat you to consider that, if we have faith in a future life,
we must believe also that we carry hence not only the record of our
acts, whether good or evil, but the memory of them; and that memory,
undimmed by falsehood or self-deception, will create for us Heaven or
Hell. I do not say--God forbid!--that you should desire death because
you are still young, and, comparatively speaking, unspotted from the
world; but I say I would sooner see any of you struck down in the flower
of his youth than living on to lose, long before death comes, all that
makes life worth the living. Better death, a thousand times, than
gradual decay of mind and spirit; better death than faithlessness,
indifference, and uncleanness. To you who are leaving Harrow, poised for
flight into the great world of which this school is the microcosm, I
commend the memory of Henry Desmond. It stands in our records for all we
venerate and strive for: loyalty, honour, purity, strenuousness,
faithfulness in friendship. When temptation assails you, think of that
gallant boy running swiftly uphill, leaving craven fear behind, and
drawing with him the others who, led by him to the heights, made victory
possible. You cannot all be leaders, but you can follow leaders; only
see to it that they lead you, as Henry Desmond led the men of
Beauregard's Horse, onward and upward."

The preacher ended, and then follow