“May I say to this distinguished company, that if I wear this hood, it is only because I realize that my father is not here to receive it,” and emotional Prime Minister said. “It belongs to his shoulders, not to mine.”

You will find some highlights from Mackenzie King’s address to graduates below.

Dr. Mackenzie King: Many are the personal associations which cluster around this University, and which come to my mind to-night. It was, as several present are aware, the Alma Mater of my father, and of my brother, as well as my own Alma Mater. At the time of my father’s death, he had been for thirty-seven years continuously a member of the Senate, as a representative of the graduates in Arts. Many of the interests of our home centered in the University.

Among my earliest recollections are visits with my father to University College, years before I entered its halls as an undergraduate, and long before the old Convocation Hall was destroyed by fire. Many were the walks we took together about its precincts, before and during the years of his blindness. Nor do I forget at this moment that it was by my father that I was presented to the Chancellor for degrees in Arts and in Law…

May I say to this distinguished company, that if I wear this hood, it is only because I realize that my father is not here to receive it. It belongs to his shoulders, not to mine. I am sure I echo a sentiment which lies deep in the breast of most men who receive academic distinction, when I say it is to our parents, rather than to ourselves, that all such honour is mostly due; that far more than to any merit of our own, it is owing to the inspiration, the nurture, the sacrifices, the hopes and the aspirations of their lives.

To you, young men and women, who are about to receive your degrees, may I say just a word. As you go forth to pursue your several vocations, and to play your part in this work-a-day world, be careful of the value you attach to recognition of attainment. In the matter of human greatness, seek to guard against the creation of false values in your minds and hearts. Learn to distinguish between that form of service which seeks recognition, and the higher form which loves service for its own sake. Remember that recognition often wholly fails of its purpose. For the justice it may do to one, it may do a relative injustice to unknown thousands.

In every walk of life, back of all that is heard and seen, lies something unobserved, more deserving of recognition, which thus far neither our universities nor our parliaments have found it possible to acclaim, and that is the true worth which dwells in silence, and often in obscurity.

You will find it everywhere. It is to be found in the sacrifices that have made possible your college education and career. It lies hidden in your own lives. It is not to be found in the degrees which you may receive, but in your longings and strivings after what is highest and best, never wholly attainable, and which you only begin to experience as you seek to serve…

Never forget that the divine is to be found in the common. In this way, and in this alone, will you keep a true perspective throughout life, and help to guide the future of our country along the paths of justice, righteousness, and peace.