"'Tis Sixty Years Since" Address of Charles Francis Adams; Founders' Day, January 16, 1913

'Tis Sixty Years Since by Charles Francis Adams opens with an intimate, sharply observed hook that turns a personal Founders' Day recollection into a meditation on memory, duty, and intellectual life. Delivered on January 16, 1913, Adams's address traces sixty years of change from his 1853 entrance to Harvard, invoking Sir Walter Scott's Waverley as a frame for thinking about historical perspective and the responsibilities that mark the transition from student to citizen. Part personal reminiscence, part philosophical reflection, the speech explores themes of education, continuity, and the shaping influence of great voices across generations. Adams considers how collegiate experience compacts into a lifetime of action and thought, and how the past informs civic and moral obligations in a rapidly changing nation. His measured rhetoric and keen historical sense render the address both a portrait of an era and a timeless inquiry into the purpose of higher learning. Ideal for listeners who appreciate oratory, intellectual history, and reflective philosophy, this recording will appeal to students, alumni, historians, and anyone drawn to thoughtful examinations of education and public life.