Oak Street UNCLASSIFIED x HE URSINUS BULLETIN Vol. 13, No. 4 Four,,, Quarter, 1913 Inauguration of George Leslie Omwake as President of Ursinus College Entered at the Post Office at Collegeville, * Pennsylvania, as Second-class Mail Matter THE URSINUS BULLETIN Fourth Quarter, 1913 Inauguration of George Leslie Omwake as President of Ursinus College October 7, 1913 Volume 13, Number 4 Published by Ursinus College Collegeville, Pa. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/inaugurationofgeOOunse GEORGE LESLIE OMWAKE Order of the Exercises TEN O'CLOCK Band Concert on the Campus ELEVEN O'CLOCK ACADEMIC PROCESSION Escort of Students Marshal The Retiring President The President-elect The Honorary President of the Board of Directors The Rev. James W. Meminger, D.D. The President of the Board of Directors President John Grier Hibben, Ph.D., LL.D. The Directors of the College The Guests to be presented for Honorary Degrees Delegates from Educational Institutions Other Representatives The Faculty of the College The Alumni 3 THE INAUGURATION Hymn by the Students, "How Firm a Foundation" How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word! What more can He say than to you He hath said, Who unto the Saviour for refuge have fled? Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed, For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid; I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand. When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply; The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine. The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will not, I will not desert to his foes; That soul though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake ! Scripture reading and prayer The Rev. James W. Meminger, D.D., '84 The Induction into office H. E. Paisley, President of the Board Address Rev. A. Edwin Keigwin, D.D., Retiring President Inaugural Address George Leslie Omwake, Pd.D., President 4 Order of the Exercises Hymn by the Students, "O God, Our Help in Ages Past" O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home! Under the shadow of Thy throne Thy saints have dwelt secure; Sufficient is Thine arm alone, And our defence is sure. Before the hills in order stood, Or earth received her frame, From everlasting Thou art God, To endless years the same. A thousand ages in Thy sight Are like an evening gone; Short as the w%tch that ends the night Before the rising sun. Time like an ever-rolling stream, Bears all its sons away; They fly, forgotten, as a dream Dies at the opening day. O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Be Thou our guard while life shall last, And our eternal home. Address of the Day John Grier Hibben, Ph.D., LL.D., President, Princeton University Conferring of Honorary Degrees Benediction Rev. David Van Horne, D.D., LL.D., President Emeritus, Central Theological Seminary 5 The Inauguration one o'clock Luncheon to Delegates, Guests and Alumni two o'clock Presentation of Delegates in the Auditorium Music by the Band ADDRESSES on behalf of Educational Bodies The College Presidents' Association of Pennsylvania, Chancellor Samuel Black McCormick, D.D., LL.D., Univer- sity of Pittsburgh The National Education Association, President Joseph Swain, LL.D., Swarthmore College The Pennsylvania State Educational Association, Superintendent David A. Harman, President, Hazleton The Alumni of Ursinus College, Professor Philip H. Fogel, Ph.D., '01, Princeton University The State Normal Schools, Principal George Morris Philips, Ph.D., LL.D., West Chester State Normal School The Academies, Head Master William M. Irvine, Ph.D., LL.D., The Mercers- burg Academy 6 Order of the Exercises The Colleges, President Henry H. Apple, D.D., LL.D., Franklin and Marshall College The Universities, Provost Edgar Fahs Smith, Sc.D., LL.D., University of Pennsylvania INTRODUCTION OF DELEGATES EIGHT O'CLOCK Reception by President and Mrs. Omwake Freeland Hall 7 Chronicle At a regular meeting of the Board of Directors of Ursinus College, held in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on No- vember 18, 1912, George Leslie Omwake, A.M., Pd.D., Vice President, and Professor of the History and Philosophy of Education, was unanimously elected president of the college to succeed the Rev. A. Edwin Keigwin, D.D., resigned. At the next annual meeting following, held at the college on June 10, 191 3, it was moved and ordered that October 7, 1913, be set apart for the formal induction of the presi- dent-elect into office. A committee consisting of Directors James M. S. Isenberg, Henry T. Spangler, James W. Meminger, Harvey C. Gresh and Andrew R. Brodbeck was appointed to arrange appropriate exercises. At its first meeting, this committee chose the Rev. Calvin D. Yost, A.M., B.D., Librarian of the College, to act as secretary to the committee. The heartiness with which everybody participated in the preparations, and the readiness with which the distinguished men who were chosen to speak accepted the invitations of the committee, presaged an interesting and enthusiastic occasion. The highest expectations of all those who followed the preparations were quite surpassed in the size and char- acter of the assemblage, the fitness and dignity of the exercises and the whole-souled earnestness and enthusiasm of the entire body in attendance. While an excellent band was discoursing classic music on the campus on the morning of the inauguration, the quiet grounds of the college in their somber autumnal colors became enlivened into a scene of activity and strik- ing beauty. Crowds of visitors moved about as friend met 9 The Inauguration friend in happy conversation, while passing in and out of old Freeland Hall, headquarters for delegates and guests, and mingling with the crowd, were many representatives of institutions of learning and of learned societies, in the gay colors of their degrees as represented in the academic dress now everywhere in use on such occasions. At eleven o'clock the procession formed on the Olevian walk. An imposing line of students advanced from the east campus and took a position on the main avenue to act as escort. With Abraham H. Hendricks, Esq., '88, as marshal, the procession marched with the measured step of an academic body down the avenue to the street, thence on the sidewalk to the south entrance of the campus, and thence to Bomberger Hall. An idea of the length of the line may be given to those who are familiar with this route in the fact that by the time the rear of the procession had passed from the Olevian path by the portico of Free- land Hall into the main avenue, those at the head were already entering the portal of Bomberger Hall. Hundreds of people who had assembled on the green to witness this scene both unique and beautiful, and enacted for the first time in Collegeville, followed into the auditorium, filling the building to its capacity. 10 The Inauguration Ceremonies The meeting was opened by Henry W. Kratz, LL.D., Honorary President of the Board of Directors, who spoke as follows : Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends of Ursinus College and Fellow-townsmen: We are assembled today for a high and important purpose. The gentleman who has so success- fully succeeded his able and distinguished predecessors, and so efficiently and satisfactorily discharged the duties and functions of the presidency of this institution, and who so bravely and manfully faced and grasped its re- sponsibilities, is about to be formally invested with the full powers and prerogatives of that honorable office. He has been tried under strong tests and found worthy and well equipped for the discharge of the arduous duties and responsibilities which are involved in the presidency of a college. With this assurance of his ability, fidelity and efficiency the Board of Directors resolve on this day to inaugurate Dr. George Leslie Omwake as president of Ursinus College. After the singing of the hymn, "How Firm a Foun- dation," by the students assembled in the galleries, the Rev. James W. Meminger, D.D., '84, read the Ninety-first Psalm and offered the following prayer: Holy, Holy, Holy, art Thou, Lord God Almighty ; Thou art worshipped by the multitude of the Heavenly Hosts round about Thy throne, and Thou hast called Jesus Christ to worship Thee. Thou hast crowned us with Thy blessings ; Thou hast crowned our days with Thy loving 1 1 The Inauguration kindness. We thank Thee for the blessings with which Thou hast watched over us during the years ; for the acts of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, that we might have before us a man responsive to Thy truth, absolutely potent to Thy will — the Son of God and the Son of Man. We behold the marvelous revelation of His power through the material world over the things of the human soul ; and we thank Thee, our Father, that Thou hast given Him, the second person in the adorable Trinity, to dwell in a human body. We thank Thee, our Father, for the influences and forces in our lives that have brought us to this hour; for the institutions of learning in this grand land of ours; this splendid body of men and women standing between Thy truth, with its beauty and power and possibility for human life, and these on-coming youths from the homes of our country. Help these men and women, we beseech Thee, to realize something of the tremendous responsibility that rests upon them. And do Thou grant that every- one of these youths may have clear and fine ideals set be- fore him, and may have all the powers of his life quickened into larger and better being. We beseech Thee to let Thy blessing rest on this institution. We thank Thee for the men who founded it, who stood and labored here in the stress and storm of the early days — with what splendid sacrifice, what noble devotion ! We thank Thee for crown- ing their labors with such splendid results. We thank Thee for this man who comes today, about to stand at the head of this institution, in this the morn- ing of a larger and better day. We thank Thee for his power, for his mental and moral force. We thank Thee, Oh God, that he ever looks to Thee for guidance and has consecrated his life to the honor and glory of Thy name. Strengthen him this day for the appointed task in his life. Bless the students here. Grant that each one of them may 12 The Induction look upon life in its largeness and affluence and improve these fleeting moments for the enriching of their own lives, that they may enrich the world. Bless the directors, we beseech Thee, the faculty and all who are connected in any way with this college. Bless each of these institutions represented in these services, that the educational forces of the world may lead us to larger and better things m the interpretation of Thy truth. Amen. Mr. Kratz: I now have the pleasure of introducing Mr. H. E. Paisley, President of the Board. The Induction Mr. Paisley: Honorary President, Members of the Board of Directors, Members of the Faculty, Alumni, Students and Guests: The occasion which brings us to- gether on this seventh day of October in the year of our Lord, 1913, is one of no small importance, for it is to induct into the high office of President of Ursinus Col- lege, George Leslie Omwake, Doctor of Pedagogy, who will be the sixth president of this institution. When it became necessary to select a president to succeed Dr. A. Edwin Keigwin, who found he would have to relinquish the office on account of impaired health, and the pressure of many other duties, the Board of Directors fully realized their responsibility; for immediately there came to mind the great thought of the founders of Ursinus College, which has been incorporated in the Constitution in the following language, namely: "The purpose of the Directors of Ursinus College is to provide and maintain an institution where the youth of the land can be liberally educated under the 13 The Inauguration benign influences of Christianity. The religious and moral principles of Ursinus College shall always be those of the evangelical Protestant Church, in essen- tial historical harmony with the principles represented by him whose distinguished name the Institution bears." In realizing that the most important thing in all the world is humanity, and that the next important thing is the proper education of that humanity, and that the next important thing is to have those to whom this great task can safely be entrusted, truly most serious thought overtook us. To be true to the trust handed down to us by the noble and self-sacrificing founders and benefactors of years gone by was our only aim; to select one who would safeguard and continue and carry forward the work of Ursinus College, started in February, 1869, and since so well established, was our sole purpose; therefore, it is with a great deal of satisfaction and happiness that the announcement is made to you today that the unanimous choice of the Board of Directors was George Leslie Om- wake, Pd.D., who is a son of the college and who has served the institution as an instructor, as dean and as vice-president. The call of the Board of Directors to him was to "come up higher." We believe we have chosen one well qualified to ad- minister the affairs of the office on a high plane ; one deeply interested in the uplift of human kind through Christian education; one who is beloved and respected; one who merits, and we believe will receive, the hearty and unlimited support of those within and those without the college. (Turning to Dr. Omwake) George Leslie Omwake, on behalf of the Board of Directors, it is my pleasant duty to hand you the charter, 14 Address of the Retiring President the seal and the keys of Ursinus College as the insignia of your office as its president; and may the richest bless- ings of our Heavenly Father rest upon you and the college. Dr. Omwake: Mr. President and the Board of Directors: I accept these symbols of official authority and solemnly pledge to devote my best energies to the fulfillment of the responsibilities which they represent. Mr. Paisley : It is a pleasure to have with us him who recently laid aside the mantle of the office of president of this institution, after having served for a period of five years ; and most fitting, indeed, it is, that he should address us on this occasion, for we have always been charmed with his interest in the development and advancement of young people ; in their equipment for life's duties, and his presence and message have always been an inspiration. I have the honor to present A. Edwin Keigwin, D.D., of New York City, the retiring president. Address of the Retiring President Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: In the few moments that have been allotted to me this morning it would be quite impossible for me to do more than just put a little touch of sentiment into an occasion which of necessity must be somewhat marked by official presentment and by a certain semblance of dignity. Not that I would depart in the least from a dignified decorum, but my heart speaks louder this morning than my intellect could possibly speak. I have looked forward to this day for more years than anyone here can possibly realize, for the most worthy successor to the office which I now lay down. From the first day that I knew Dr. Omwake I loved him ; 15 The Inauguration and from that moment until this hour that love has grown. I have seen this man under circumstances trying, to say the least ; and, as always, he was the optimist. I have seen him with burdens resting upon his shoulders which would cer- tainly have crushed me had they been my unfortunate posses- sion, and he has always been able to rise strongly above those burdens; and this morning, as I come into this presence, my chief thought is the very great obligation which I owe to Dr. Omwake for whatever little success there may have been during my incumbency as President of Ursinus College. Had it not been for Dr. Omwake it would have been quite impossible for me to do justice to the office of president in addition to the duties of my pas- torate. And when I had the honor to represent this col- lege in gatherings of a like nature to this the question was oftentimes asked, "How is it possible for you to be pastor of a church and at the same time be president of a college?" and some of my more jocose friends would re- mind me of the circus rider who tried to straddle two horses. And I can assure you that the break-down referred to was not due to overwork in my duties here, for if ever a president had a loyal band of men to support him, it was the president of this college. I wish to express apprecia- tion to the President of the Board of Directors, former President of the Board, members of the Faculty, all the members of the Board of Directors, who without stint have, through these five years, sought to the utmost to make my years of sojourn here among the most pleasant in every respect. (Turning to Dr. Omwake). Dr. Omwake, I welcome you to this office this morn- ing with my heart full of gratitude that God gave you the call long before the Board of Directors vocalized that call. I have felt from the very earliest knowledge of you that 16 The Inaugural Address God had singularly set you apart for just such an office as this. I have seen you in the utmost self-sacrifice turn your back upon opportunities that would have led you perhaps into fields that might have indicated great prosperity in a worldly sense. Your heart has ever been here and your work, you evidently thought, was here. And today as I turn over to you this office, I do it with most earnest prayer to Him who has promised to go with those who seek in every appointed work in life to know and glorify the God- Man. May God bless your administration to the youths who are here gathered today, and may many of these young men and young women attribute their conversion to the consecrated atmosphere of the president of the college. Amen. Mr. Paisley : President Omwake will now deliver his inaugural address. The Inaugural Address Mr. Chairman: In accepting the call to the presidency of Ursinus College, I would be untrue to the most sacred impulse of my heart if I did not first of all profess that in doing so I am prompted by the resistless power of love for the college. You may be mistaken in your estimate of my ability to serve the institution in this high office, but you are not mistaken in assuming that what service I may render will be offered in unalloyed devotion. There are a few motives entering into the compelling dictate of conscience which bids me accept the responsi- bilities you have laid upon me, that we do well to consider at the very outset, for they should serve to grip the soul of every man who is responsive to the needs of his fellow- men and to the will of God. 17 The Inauguration In the first place, he who serves a college serves his country. The college is the crucible which converts the teeming masses of volatile youth on the one hand into the settled, law-abiding citizenship of our country on the other. The college has the unparalleled task of preparing the leaders for all the more advanced agencies of civilization. Less capable men will not do in the complex maze of forces making up our modern life. In the more or less dimly realized struggle by which, in response to a new ethical standard and a quickened public conscience, not only our own land but every nation on the face of the earth is trying to lift itself to a higher plane of action, the oppor- tunity to serve our country through our colleges in our day rises to the rank of that which in an earlier age lay before our nation's founders, and later, before its defenders. To take our talented youth and fit them for leadership in our national life is a supremely patriotic duty. But rising above the motive of patriotism is that of human helpfulness. Above the service which the college president may render to his country is that which he may render to his fellowman. An experience of more than a decade in dealing with young persons aspiring to go to college has served to impress me deeply with the fact that here is a point of contact that presents a rare opportunity for philanthropic endeavor. To pilot a young life that is being tossed about in the fitful maelstrom of adolescent youth, guide it into the calm haven of a cultural college, instruct it in chart and compass, provide it with a ballast of solid learning, and then to confidently send it forth in full sail on life's main, is a rare privilege indeed. More- over, constant contact with manhood and womanhood in its formative stages, when every influence may have con- structive value in the making of character, serves to keep burning the fires of one's enthusiasm for human worth. 18 The Inaugural Address When an educator ceases to be an optimist he has already ceased to be an educator. To choose a career as officer or teacher in a college is then to choose a career that never fails in abundant and unique opportunity to serve one's fellowmen. But higher still, when one is called to preside over a Christian college, he sees in it a magnificent opportunity to serve God. In Ursinus we have a Christian college, and he who would labor in this institution in any capacity enjoys the privilege not only of leading a personal Christian life unmolested, but of rendering active service in making the college itself a more effectual force in the Kingdom of God. While your call to serve Ursinus College is thus felt to be at the same time a call to serve our country, our fellowmen and our God, this is not all. In my university days, we used to sing: "For God, for country and for Yale." Ah, that is it. These separate motives become irresistible when bound up in the life and destiny of one's Alma Mater. Besides having gotten my collegiate training here, I have put a dozen years of service into this college. Need I tell you that I am bound to Ursinus College with bands of steel? To every alumnus and former student, let me say that if you find yourself lacking in devotion for your college, render it some service, and you will come to love it. It was when Daniel Webster was fighting for the interests of his Alma Mater in court that he made the famous remark: "It is a small college, sir, but there are those who love it." Except for the fact that he had come to the help of his college he doubtless would never have become inspired to 19 The Inauguration give expression to that splendid sentiment. It is safe to as- sert, without making inquiry, that this was one case in which that great lawyer never accepted a fee. The privilege of serving one's own college rises to the rank of moral duty. With this view of the motives entering into the accept- ance of your call, I now face the special problems that must engage our attention. Here we come not heralding radical "reforms" or revolutionary measures. There are inherent in Ursinus College so many splendid ideals, valuable work- ing principles and effective methods, more or less fully wrought out, but all falling short of realizing their potential worth, that any radical disturbance of our educational sys- tem would not only subvert the interests of the college in general but would constitute a species of vandalism in our well-ordered educational household. Our task is rather to build on the foundations already laid — to steadily bring into clearer relief our dominant ideals and purposes, to work out in more specific detail our fundamental principles of organization and administration, and to bring all available power to bear in the production of larger and better re- sults. Consequently, there will be no sensations, no pyro- technics in this administration unless they are shot up un- awares. We commit ourselves and all the forces we can command rather to a "term of close confinement at hard labor." We may be pardoned for giving expression to the belief, however, that in the long run the process of development to which we aim to apply ourselves will yield a college that will be both unique and superior in character and efficiency when judged by the ideals and standards which now prevail. Educationally, and in these matters I speak for the gentlemen who are associated with me in the faculty as well as for myself, we shall aim to keep the claims of 20 The Inaugural Address intellectual endeavor uppermost. A man cannot be well physically, sound morally, or happy spiritually, who does not live up pretty closely to the upper limit of his intellectual capacity. It is our business to surround the student with a comfortable environment, to provide a type of domestic life that will be conducive to health of body, to so condition the social life as to favor good morals and pure religion, and then to keep him busy with intellectual tasks. There are few joys that can surpass those of intellectual achievement. To solve a problem may be work but it should not be drudgery. We conceive a college to be a place of hard work but withal of supreme happiness. In this connection it should be observed that the general terms used to define education today, such as "assimilation of our racial inheritance," "adjustment to our social environment," and the like, fall far short of defining the individual effort involved in getting an education. To use a common phrase current in other fields of discussion, these representations of the educational process lack "teeth." The college lad cannot take a course of study by merely being "exposed to it," as a father jocularly remarked re- garding the inoculation of his son with a certain subject in school. We are impressed rather with the idea expressed in a class room in this building during my own college days by Professor Samuel Vernon Ruby, of blessed memory, whose experience as a soldier filled his heart with the mili- tary spirit and stored his mind with the imagery of war. Rising to his feet, he thundered with terrific emphasis, reinforced by a vigorous blow upon his desk, "There can be no progress in this world, except by the clash of minds." May that conception continue to influence the intellectual exercises carried on in this place. A very serious problem confronting certain college administrators today is how to keep a Christian college 21 The Inauguration Christian. Apparently denominational control has little to do with the real problem. The most truly Christian institu- tion I ever attended, not excluding the theological seminary, was a State institution. Nor does doctrinal belief settle the question. We must look, rather, to the conduct of those making up the college for the tests of its religious char- acter. We shall be misled also if we attempt to get at the character of an institution by striking an average. Just as a chain is as weak as its weakest link, so a college is as bad as the worst person in it; and just as a chain may be made vastly stronger by taking out the one weak link, so a college may be made vastly better by the single act of dismissing one bad individual. A college that is professedly Christian has a right to expect every person in it to make an honest effort, whatever may be his belief, to act in ac- cordance with the cardinal principles of Christianity, and the maintenance of the college's character requires that he who refuses so to do be eliminated from its social body. I must also refer on this occasion to another set of duties and responsibilities which confront the college head, namely, those involved in the administration of its fiscal affairs. As a matter of policy, I hope that Ursinus College will keep its rates of tuition and its cost of living at such a level that it can continue to command the patronage of self- supporting students and those of limited means. The re- quirements of our age are enforcing upon young men everywhere the necessity of higher education. Thousands of young persons are planning to go to college every year, whereas, a generation ago they would have looked upon such a course as an impossible dream. These persons, with noble self-reliance, undertake, in many instances, to finance their college courses unaided. For this class of students our doors must be kept open. This precludes the possibility of meeting expenses from moneys received from students. 22 The Inaugural Address Even colleges whose charges are very much higher than those prevailing here must accumulate gifts and endow- ments to save themselves from financial failure. A task, therefore, to which the present administration must address itself frankly is the increase of funds with which to maintain our growing work. This task properly belongs to the directors of a college, but assistance, and perhaps even leadership, in promoting the temporal welfare of an institution may rightly be expected of its president. It is through the president that benefactors may get im- pressions of the worth of the college and become acquainted with its needs, while to directors they naturally look for assurance of safe business management and activity in building up the material resources. On this side of my work I shall be prompted by the same motives and guided by the same principles as in the building up of the educa- tional life of the institution. In all things I shall rely on the unreserved support of directors, faculty, alumni, students and friends, in which several bodies our institution has abundant ability for the accomplishment of its purposes. At this point the students sang the hymn, "O God, Our Help in Ages Past." Mr. Paisley: This event, which is freighted with so much significance, would be incomplete if there was not one here to give us a particular message for the hour, which should ring in optimism and ideals, which should give us a look forward and not backward, and thus encourage us to lay hold mightily on the opportunities that are at hand. It is gratifying to have grace this occasion, so full of meaning and purpose, one who represents a great institu- tion of learning, which was founded one hundred and sixty-seven years ago this month (October 22, 1746), in the spot which became historic through a victory of Wash- 23 The Inauguration ington (January 3, 1777) and the convening there of the Continental Congress (1783), and is now renowned for the work of the institution which has prepared and fitted great numbers for their career in life; one who can speak to us out of a heart filled with love and devotion and experience. I have the honor to present John Grier Hibben, Ph.D., LL.D., President of Princeton University. The Address of the Day Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I count it a great privilege to bear to you upon this occasion the felici- tations of a sister university, and to rejoice with you in the promise of the bright future which lies before you under the administration of your new president. From the beginnings of your history you have always consistently maintained a certain type of education which has found its justification in the quality of the men it has produced. Although professing no creed of pragmatism I am quite willing to accept the pragmatic test of any educa- tional system and estimate it according to its fruitage value. Measured by this standard, you may well be proud of the human product of this institution, the men who have gone forth from this place to serve their day and generation. As we gather together at this time to wish you God- speed in the continuance of the great work which you have undertaken, it may be well for us to discuss for a few mo- ments the central educational purpose which should guide us all as teachers in our efforts to prepare our young men for the active duties of life. It seems to me that the sacred trust which is peculiarly ours as teachers may be expressed in terms of the supreme obligation resting upon us to train our students in the art of seeing. 24 The Address of the Day You, who have been called to be not only a teacher, but in your new office also a leader of teachers, you should have before you an ultimate aim, clearly defined in your own mind, and towards which the nature of your curricu- lum, the methods of instruction, and all the influences of this college world should definitely and steadily contribute. And I believe that such a supreme end, dominating policy and determining procedure, can be most comprehensively expressed as the purpose to furnish to darkened eyes a faculty of sight and to present before them an ever-changing field of vision. We live in an age where an especial emphasis has been placed upon the training of the powers of observation as the primary and most essential feature of the true method of education. From this point of view knowledge is to grow by means of a more and more intimate contact with the world through the senses. While I believe most em- phatically that it is of an inestimable advantage to train the eye so as to increase both the range of vision and the accuracy of minute discrimination, nevertheless, a more profound and a more significant phase of such training is the corresponding development of the inner vision. It is the eye of the mind to which we must give our most care- ful concern, that it may attain that power of penetration which sees beneath the surface appearance and apprehends the lower levels of meaning and significance. Our North American Indian has been famed for his almost abnormal power of acute observation. But we must remember that in that primitive school of nature in which he has received his rude training, there has been also a quickening of his powers of inference so that the things he sees about him, the forest trail, the smoke on the distant horizon, the flight of birds, the drifting clouds, all tell a story which he has learned to interpret, and to adapt to his own use and ad- 25 The Inauguration vantage. It is not what one sees but what one understands which avails — and every phase of education should tend to create and develop this understanding mind. While the outer eye may see only two objects in the field of vision, it is the eye of the mind which sees in addi- tion the underlying relations which exist between them. The mind is capable of appreciating all that these objects suggest as well as all that they directly reveal. In every process of vision the contribution made by the mind is the all-important factor. The characteristic feature of scholarly thought is that it is reflective, and reflective thought is that which is carried on in the light which the mind itself creates. By means of this inner illumination the mind is capable of seeing the implication which is contained in any situation in the field of vision. Reason thus transcends the actual scene, and apprehends its thought value. In this faculty of interpretation by means of the process of infer- ence, it is the recognition of the casual connection between the various objects of our observation which gives thought its wide range and commanding power. The relation of cause and effect is something which can never be seen through the senses; it is a matter wholly of the mind's grasp of a situation. Plato has defined the philosopher, and the definition applies equally well to the scholar, as one who possesses a synoptic mind, that is, a mind which sees things together. Through this power of seeing how things hang together sure experiences are systematically correlated, and we come to know not merely a catalogue of facts, but something also of their underlying connection, as to how and why they are what they are. To appreciate the uni- versal significance of the special case and to rise from the mere fact to the law which it illustrates, this is the art of seeing. Whatever may be the particular subject of our study, we never master it until we have established a 26 The Address of the Day center to which all the significant lines of casual connec- tion definitely converge. Every method of instruction, every pedagogical device, should have in view, as an ulti- mate end, the quickening of this casual sense. The success- ful physician, statesman or man of affairs, must possess this ability of seeing the future in the present — and this can be done only by discovering the ground in reason which is the adequate basis for his prediction. This faculty of inner vision is peculiarly a power of discrimination. It is said of Solomon when he came to the throne that the most valuable gift with which God endowed him was that of a discerning judgment. Any method of education which is capable of justifying itself must produce that keenness of thought which cuts to the central core of a subject. The skilled fireman may give us who are teachers a suggestive hint. In fighting the flames, he is trained to make a dash to the heart of the fire. To get at "the heart of the fire," to see things from a com- manding center, to be able to separate the essential ele- ments of a situation from the unessential, to discard every- thing which does not bear directly upon the point of issue and thus secure a concentration of control, — this is the greatest of all mental gifts. The art of seeing also depends upon the ability to ap- propriate the vision of another. There is such a thing as a vicarious experience, of seeing through the eyes of others, hearing through their ears, and thinking their thoughts after them. One of the essential features of any process of education is the training which enables us to master the reports which come to us from the general thought and work of the world. We must learn the secret of making history our servant. We cannot proceed solely by a method of trial and error. There is a wonderfully suggestive power in a richly furnished mind, in which the experience 27 The Inauguration of the world has been securely funded. If the individual trusts in his own experience alone, he is but poorly equipped for a life which, if it is to prove efficient, successful and useful, must draw largely from the wisdom of the past as well as that of the present. Moreover, the training of the student must also be so devised that he will be able to obtain a true vision of values in life. It is only the inner eye of appreciation which is capable of estimating values, of determining what is excellent and what is not excellent; what is worth striving for and what not; what we would fight for and if need be stake our lives to win. Too little effort is put forth in the ordinary course of instruction to stimulate this sense of appreciation. We must endeavor to teach our students not only to see things as they are, but to see things in their beauty as well. We must not forget that this is a world of appreciation as well as a world of fact. Beauty has a place in our thought as well as utility. This sense of beauty and of right proportion may be fostered by an appropriate training which tends to create a critical judg- ment and taste. As one of the results of such a training, the experiences of life will naturally range; themselves in terms of a series according to their relative importance, first things coming first. In all our thinking and in all our doing we must learn where to put the emphasis. There is a sense of proportion, partly sesthetical, partly ethical, which forms the essential basis of culture on the one hand and the fundamental ground both of character and of con- duct on the other. This training in value-determination we may leave out of consideration in planning our scheme of studies, and in all our efforts to direct and develop the minds of our students ; but if we do, we leave them blind to the beauty of nature and of art, depriving them of the deep inner resources of sesthetical appreciation, and 28 The Address of the Day render them defenceless when the supreme test comes which is to prove their integrity, their loyalty and their honor. Our students must also be taught to see themselves in a true relation to the world in which they live and which they are called upon to serve. They must learn to see life in a proper perspective. To be able adequately to estimate one's own powers, to see the world's needs and to appreciate their claims upon us, — this in itself is a call to service. The educated man cannot enter as an excuse for failure to do his duty, the plea that he did not think. It is his business to think. It is after all, the understanding mind which fires the will and incites the spirit to noble endeavor. In the training of our young men there must be above everything else an endeavor to direct their minds to see the things which are unseen, which give to them an intima- tion of a world about them through which they hold a correspondence with the eternal. Such a view of transcend- ent realities is not due to a weak credulity or to super- stitution or to a traditional belief to which we give a for- mal and indifferent assent, but it finds its rootage deep in the reason which has been purified through doubt and which has been tested by experience, which is able to dis- cern the various lines of thought, of sentiment and of purpose in life, all converging towards a single point, and from that point to discover the secret of seeing Him who is invisible. The great insight of life which we must endeavor to teach and which our students must learn is that view of things which will constrain them to assume the postulates of God, freedom and immortality, in their effort to con- struct a working hypothesis for a life of duty and of 29 The Inauguration devotion. The teacher's prayer may well be that which was offered by the prophet of old: "Lord, I pray Thee, open Thou the eyes of the young man, that he may see." Conferring of Honorary Degrees Presenting George Handy Wailes A. Edwin Keigwin, D.D. : Mr. President, I regard it as a very great privilege to present to you at this time the Rev. George Handy Wailes, A.M., of Philadelphia, for the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. It has been my privilege to know Mr. Wailes for many years. I had the honor of being a very close friend of his during our collegiate days at Princeton, and early in his college course he gave mark of those abilities which he later developed, until today he is one of the honored professors of this, our beloved institution. Mr. Wailes has distinguished himself in so many fields of learning that the degree we confer today is one well- merited. As pastor of a thriving church in Philadelphia he distinguished himself in the pulpit. As a professor in Temple University of Philadelphia he distinguished himself as a teacher, and as the professor of Greek in Ursinus Col- lege he has shown continued mark as an educator. I take great pleasure in presenting to you George Handy Wailes that you may now confer upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. President Omwake: Professor Wailes, it has pleased the Faculty and Directors of Ursinus College to adorn you with the degree of Doctor of Divinity; and in the name of the college we hereby confer upon you all the rights, 30 Conferring of Degrees duties, privileges, honors, dignities and insignia which in these United States pertain to this degree; in testimony of which you are presented with this diploma, to which we have caused to be affixed the signature of the President and the public seal of the college. (The same formula was used in conferring the other degrees, and is not repeated in these proceedings.) Presenting Whorten A. Kline S. L. Messinger, D.D. : Mr. President, I have the honor to present to you a worthy alumnus of this college, the valedictorian of the class of '93 ; a man of broad learn- ing, a profound classical scholar, an acknowledged gram- marian; an authority, also, in the field of Natural History; a hard worker, an able preacher, a man of unswerving loyalty to his Alma Mater, — having efficiently served her for twenty years in the chair of the Latin language and Literature ; and, for awhile, also as the Professor in charge of the Greek Language and Literature; and for the past four years as the competent and successful dean of the college. In recognition of these merits, we present the Rev. Whorten A. Kline, A.M., B.D., that you may confer upon him the degree of Doctor of Letters. Presenting John Thomson James M. Anders, M.D., LL.D. : Mr. President, I take great pleasure in presenting one of Philadelphia's fore- most citizens for the honorary degree of Doctor of Let- ters, in the person of the librarian of the Free Library of Philadelphia. Through his long tenure of that office, — more than two decades, — his success has been unbroken. 3i The Inauguration From a modest beginning in two small rooms in City Hall, Philadelphia (with a single assistant), the Free Library has steadily grown until now it can boast of the large central library with its literary treasures, at the Northeast Corner of Thirteenth and Locust Streets, and twenty-three branches, as well as one hundred and twenty- five Travelling Libraries and sixty-five Deposit Stations. This gentleman was largely instrumental in obtaining from Mr. Andrew Carnegie the gift of one million and a half dollars for the erection of thirty branch library buildings — of which thirteen have already been opened to the public of Philadelphia, while the fourteenth is almost completed, and others are in course of construction. It is my privilege to present one who has organized an effective system of lectures for adults, and of "Children's Hour" instruction, and has arranged in cooperation with the University Extension Society, courses in the lecture rooms of the Carnegie branches ; one who is an author of wide repute, having issued a series of bibliographical bul- letins from the Free Library, and published a popular volume of essays entitled "Whither and Hither," besides contributing many valuable papers to the Proceedings of the American Library Association and various leading periodicals ; one who is an acknowledged authority on bibliography and library administration; one who has pre- pared the catalogues of some of the finest libraries in this country, and is a widely known and popular lecturer. Moreover, he is one of the founders and managers of the Pennsylvania Home Teaching Society and Free Circulating Library for the Blind, and of the Pennsylvania Free Library Association, which has rapidly extended itself through the State, and of Travelling Libraries, together with many other useful collections in Philadelphia, and in this and neighboring States. He is also a member of many 32 Conferring of Degrees leading clubs of Philadelphia, among which is the Franklin Inn Club; he was the principal founder of the Philobiblon Club, and is President of the Nameless Club. His name is a household word in city and State, his fame not only country-wide, but more than this, it is international. Mr. President, such is the renown; such are some of the more notable achievements of him upon whom Ursinus College is about to confer a signal honor, in the bestowal of which, however, I feel strongly that she is equally honor- ing herself. It is with peculiar pleasure, therefore, that I present this distinguished candidate — Librarian, Bibliophile, Author, Lecturer — Mr. John Thomson, for the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters. Presenting Anselm V. Hiester I. Calvin Fisher, D.D. : Mr. President, permit me to present to you Professor Anselm V. Hiester, Professor of Political and Social Science in Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pa. Professor Hiester is a typical representative of that sturdy stock of which we are justly proud — the Pennsylvania German. He received his early educational training in the public schools of this State and Lebanon Valley College. At an early age he graduated from Franklin and Marshall College with the highest honors. After graduation he did post-graduate work in Columbia University, New York City. This man today is known for his indomitable energy, his versatility of talent and breadth and variety of attainment. Further- more, he is a gentleman eminent alike for rich and varied learning, profound scholarship and refined taste. In the sphere of political and social science he has made for himself a worthy and honored place. It is because of all 33 The Inauguration these attainments that I take this singular pleasure in presenting Professor Hiester to you, Sir, Mr. President, that you may confer on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Science. Presenting Aaron S. Swartz J. Shelly Weinberger, LL.D. : Mr. President, on this supreme occasion, Ursinus College has one of Mont- gomery County's most honored sons as a guest, the Hon. Aaron S. Swartz, one of the best known judges in Penn- sylvania. He is no stranger in these classic halls. In Freeland Seminary he was prepared to enter Lafayette College three years before Ursinus College was born. He is a close and steady worker, his indefatigable in- dustry and conscientious fidelity to right and justice being his strongest characteristics on the Bench. His opinions are models of clear statement and logical reasoning, show- ing the results of careful research and earnest work. Firm in his religious convictions, he is a model citizen, always manifesting an active interest in the welfare of the community in which he lives and in the affairs of the county, the State and nation. He is dignified, but affable and kind to all. His whole career as a judge shows that he is desirous of enforcing the laws and administering the proper punishment for crime, but also solicitous for the reformation of the transgressor. I have the honor to present to you, Mr. President, the Hon. Aaron S. Swartz for the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. 34 Conferring of Degrees Presenting Cyrus H. K. Curtis H. E. Paisley : Mr. President, we are honored today with the presence of one whose name is familiar the world around, a distinguished representative of the business in- terests of our neighboring city, a respected citizen of the county in which this college is the central seat of higher learning, Mr. Cyrus H. K. Curtis. At the age of twelve, he sold papers in his native city, Portland, Maine. At thirteen he began publishing a paper — a four-page sheet called "Young America." From that day to this, in which he is the presiding genius in the largest publishing establishment in existence, whose weekly issues are counted by the millions and penetrate to all parts of the civilized world, his cereer has been marked by steady advancement to greater and greater achievement. He represents a growing class of business men who recognize the social obligations of industrial and commer- cial establishments. Both in the management of the im- mense concern which he controls and in the influence of the publications which it sends forth, there is abundant witness of inherent desire on the part of the head to uplift, to cul- tivate and to refine all whose lives his fruitful spirit touches. His career signalizes in a remarkable way the possibility of combining in one's life-purpose the ends of personal success and public welfare. On account of his great energy, industry and tact, his intellectual quality, lofty ideals and moral worth, his unparalleled contribution to society in building up the standards of the home, I have the pleasure to present Mr. Curtis, that you may confer upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. 35 The Inauguration (After the formal conferring of the degree by the President, each candidate was presented with the diploma and adorned with the hood representative of his degree.) The ceremonies were closed with the benediction by the Rev. David Van Home, D.D., LL.D., President Emeritus of the Central Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio. Greetings from Educational Bodies The meeting was opened at 2.40 p. m., by President Omwake, who spoke as follows: Ladies and Gentlemen: We shall never be able to express our indebtedness for the great kindness shown us on this occasion by the representatives of other institu- tions. They have come here in large numbers and shown us respect and honor far beyond that which we deserve. We cannot do more than turn this afternoon over to them. Out in the University of Pittsburgh the students speak of the President as "Sammy Mac." At a meeting some time ago I heard an alumnus describe him as a "ninety horse-power, six-cylinder McCormick." He is known to our craft not only as the Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh, but also as President of the College Presidents' Association of Pennsylvania. This is one of the great labor organizations of our State. I have the honor to present to you Chancellor Samuel Black McCormick, who will speak for the College Presidents' Association. 36 Greetings from Educational Bodies Chancellor McCormick's Address President Omwake, Directors, Faculty, Students, Alumni and Friends of Ur sinus: By reason of the fact that at this time the speaker happens to be the President of the Pennsylvania Association of College Presidents, the pleasant duty falls to him of conveying to you, Mr. Presi- dent, the felicitations and the well wishes of your fellow college presidents in Pennsylvania. This duty is discharged with a peculiar feeling of pleasure. Already, as the re- sponsible acting head of Ursinus for several years, you have endeared yourself to your associates ; and now that you are assuming the full title of president, with such extension of responsibility and authority as may come with it, the privilege of extending to you, and through you to Ursinus College, the greetings and congratulations of the presidents of the sister colleges is a most delightful one. For them and for their several faculties, I wish to express the most earnest hope and the confident expectation that your administration may be most successful ; that you may experience rich joy in your work; and that under your guidance Ursinus may enlarge her resources, extend her helpful influence, and render such service to the Church and to the State as will rejoice the hearts and meet the ex- pectations of all who care for the college and desire its prosperity and well-being. To be the president of a college in these modern times is no easy undertaking. A person reads with something akin to wonderment of the college president of fifty years ago, with his opportunity for leisurely literary accomplish- ment, and contrasts the presidency of that time with what it is today. The nerve-racking cares, the tremendously pressing responsibilities, the intense, unceasing and varied 37 The Inauguration activities required of the successful administrator in the present day college or university call for the expenditure of energy in such measure as quickly to exhaust vitality and place upon the term of service a limit similar to that of the presidency of one of the great financial corporations. Virtue must go out of the man who faithfully adminis- ters this office today. The college president must spend himself literally without stint. He must be scholar, execu- tive, man of affairs, and withal he must have in him an inexhaustible supply of faith, courage, enthusiasm and per- severance. No man should accept this office who is not conscious that he has been called to it. He will disappoint himself and disappoint his friends in so doing. On the other hand, the office brings to the man the largest oppor- tunity for a service rich in good to Church and State and people. No joy in life is comparable to the joy issuing out of the successful solution of a difficult problem; the accom- plishing of a large undertaking ; the rendering of a genuine service to mankind. So measured, the college presidency is most fruitful in the joy of life. Always has this been measurably so in the educational history of America. To- day it is immensely so in the complexity of the problem presenting itself. The office demands the best that is in the man. High and holy is the service he renders. Ac- cording to the measure of his ability he gives to his com- munity that which is most desirable and most essential for their moral and intellectual well-being. In this particular time we are passing through a period interesting, epochal, dynamic. The man is in a deathless sleep who is not stirred as he contemplates the number, variety and vital importance of the problems presented for solution at this time. Problems of finance, of politics, of 38 Greetings from Educational Bodies corporate control, of social welfare, of religion; problems affecting women and children, the structure of society, the more or less complete reorganization of social relations ; all these, so many, so vital, far-reaching, extending into every possible relationship, demand a citizenship wise, capable, thoughtful, courageous, patriotic, such as America in all her history has never required before. It is the college which must furnish the leadership in this emer- gency. This leadership must have in it the conservatism which will not depart from the past, and the progres- sivism which will lead into a better future. It is the college president who must, by wise forethought, keen vision and comprehensive survey of events, guide the col- lege that its product may meet the nation's needs. The whole problem of education is undergoing the same test as the other institutions of the nation. People are everywhere inquiring as to what education is and what it is designed to accomplish. They have been taught that higher education trains the man's mind, develops his under- standing, perfects his taste and makes him more clever, with larger capacity to enjoy and to appreciate the very best that the world has produced. That is, they have been taught that its chief function is to make a superior kind of man. They have been taught rightly. But un- fortunately, in learning this high function of education the people somehow have come to believe that the college is designed to create a sort of aristocracy of the intellect ; that the college man is a superior person with a kind of culture denied the ordinary person ; and that he claims for himself rights and privileges which common people cannot enjoy. The college itself has perhaps helped to create this impres- sion by teaching that knowledge which prepares a man for the practice of a profession is somehow inferior, and 39 The Inauguration that culture is some peculiar quality which distinguishes alone the man who holds himself aloof from the world of affairs. The time surely has come when we should understand that the function of the college is to train men and women to live, and when we should also understand that life is work just as it is play. The college and the university must consider it their function to fit youth to toil efficiently, high-mindedly, self-sacrificingly, as well as to enable them to appreciate the beautiful things men have written in books and the splendid and heroic deeds that men have written in the history of the world. In other words, the college must make our young men and young women un- derstand that the culture which does not serve is a false culture and the knowledge which is not put to work is a knowledge which is relatively useless. The keynote of the college today is the keynote of every other institution in America — namely, efficiency. Of course, efficiency is the sense of enabling the in- dividual to live his life and play his part in the development of the institutions of a great people in a critical period in the nation's history. Now, when fundamental principles are being inquired into anew and are made to pass the supreme test; now, when the institutions of America, even the most sacred, are still in question and in process ; now, when the most vital problems of the nation are all at once demanding solution; now is the time when our colleges and universities and technical schools must recognize that their primary function is to create efficiency and that their high service is to society and to the nation. It is not enough today that a man shall know history and literature and politics and language and science. He must become something tremendously dynamic, and into him must be 40 Greetings from Educational Bodies put the spirit which compels him to throw himself with all the enthusiasm of young manhood into the service of the people. He must be made to realize that in college he is accumulating power, nor for his sake but for his country's sake. He must be taught that he is training his faculties, not for leisurely enjoyment but for hard, sustained work. In working out such an ideal chemistry studied that a man may cure diseases or create an industry is as hon- orable as chemistry studied to create manhood ; and in either case produces exactly the same amount of culture and the same amount of manhood and womanhood. In other words, as long as the nation has its problems to solve it must be the function of the college to train men efficiently for such high service. To assume the presidency of a college, therefore, is no easy undertaking. It is, however, a glorious oppor- tunity. It challenges every capacity the man possesses. Well may he aspire to expend himself in such a service. Nothing save the preaching of the Evangel of Salvation compares with it; nothing brings in such rich return in satisfaction and in joy. You, Mr. President, have already proved your fitness for this high calling. For your as- sociates in our great Commonwealth as well as for my- self I wish you an administration full of achievement; and as Ursinus College increases in resources and in productive power may the young people who go out from her halls have in them both the capacity and the spirit which will aid America in solving her problems and attaining unto her destiny. President Omwake: An organization of educators that is coming to command an ever larger place in the development of the educational life of the American people 4i The Inauguration is The National Education Association. For a year or so this organization fell under the rule of feminine spirits; then they felt it would be necessary, in order to protect themselves, to seek out the biggest man they could find. It is a matter of congratulation to us here in Pennsylvania that all these United States, among whom there is great rivalry in this Association, should have turned unanimously to the Keystone State for this man. It is a pleasure to introduce to you this afternoon the president of this As- sociation, President Joseph Swain, LL.D., of Swarthmore College. President Swain's Address To be the bearer of a message of congratulation and good will from the National Education Association is an honorable and a pleasant duty. The new hand which is placed to the plow today is such as the nation needs in the cultivation of human lives and character. May your years, Mr. President, be many and your services to the young men and women of Ursinus College be great and lasting as those of us who know you fully expect. In these years of tremendous change and readjustment, no man should leave the quieter and more peaceful work of the professor's chair for the position of executive un- less he feels the special call to the particular services. President Foster of Reed College has given us the recent assurance that two out of three men who are heads of institutions of higher learning are not filling their places to the satisfaction of their constituents, because of the great complexity of the demands made upon them. Under such conditions, the executive takes his life in his hands. But I know, in the case of our new president, the call has 42 Greetings from Educational Bodies come again and again not only from the trustees but from his own soul, and I am sure whatever may be the diffi- culty without, your new president will go serenely on with peace within. The American college, like every other living organism, has to readjust itself to the constant and persistent forces of growth. The high school is raising its standard, multi- plying and lengthening its courses. There is a decided tendency to add to the four years of high school, one or more years of college study. The State system of education from the kindergarten, to, and including the universities, has made gigantic strides in the last quarter of a century. One State has recently given over $4,000,000 for the bi- ennial expenses of its State university alone. Another State this last year has more than doubled, by a fraction of a mill tax, the annual income of its State university. This tremendous development means that the private college must soon provide free tuition, or its equivalent in scholar- ships, to all worthy and needy applicants, or lose some of its best students. We live in an age of specialization which draws students with tremendous power to our great universities with highly specialized courses. Sectarian zeal, which did much in the earlier years to promote the small college, is waning in the light of a broader and less emo- tional religion. As men tend to move toward the cities, so the average youth is attracted by the bigness and op- portunity of the great universities. With all these diffi- culties which our fathers did not have to meet, the man who undertakes to build strong and well the small college, must have a clean-cut and profound conviction in the soundness of the principles on which it rests, or he will not succeed. 43 The Inauguration For myself, I welcome all the great forces for educa- tional growth of the age. I believe the States of the Union will and should go on increasing at a rapid rate, the amount of appropriations to education elementary and higher. But still there is a place for the private college which the State cannot fill. The separate private college has the weight of experience. The universities are young in this country. The great majority of the college men and women now active in the affairs of the country are products of the small college. When Ursinus was founded, Harvard had about 600 students, Yale about 400. The great majority of colleges had not as many as 200 students each. Thus before 1869 the history of higher education in the United States was the history of the small college, so whatever their Alma Mater may have been, the gradu- ates who are past middle life, and are leaders in various fields of human activities, are products of the small col- lege. The great universities have each grown into power- ful centers out of the small college, or within this period, they have been born. It still remains to be proved that their undergraduate products are the equal in training and mental and moral strength with the college graduate. The college now stands, as it always has, for the development of manhood and womanhood. Those speak- ing for the college in the past and in the present, every- where sound this as their keynote, that it stands for the development of those manly and womanly qualities which are designated under the head of good character. For this purpose the college of limited numbers has a distinct advantage because it is practicable for each student and teacher to know intimately all the others, when not only the personal, but the community life can be used for the good of all. 44 Greetings from Educational Bodies The college places important emphasis on the personal contact between the professors and students as a powerful influence in determining character and scholarship. "The college has insisted that teaching should be personal; inspiration and leadership are quite as important as instruction." The college has done a great work in cultivating a respect for scholarship. It has furnished a large band of men and women who appreciate scholarship and furnished the foundation on which, not a few who not only appreciate scholarship, but who after years of subsequent study, have become scholars and men of research. The college has done a great work for its immediate neighborhood. Many a poor boy has secured an education at a college near at hand who otherwise would not have secured one. Those words of Webster, used in the cele- brated Dartmouth College case, "She is small, but there are those who love her," express the feeling of the great majority of those who have graduated from the small col- lege. I think in general the feeling of appreciation for Alma Mater is more intensified in the small college than in the large one. How much there may be in that witty remark of the Maine judge I cannot say, that in the large college, "the student goes through more college, but in the small college, more college goes through him." I fully agree with those words of the late President Harper, written after years of experience in the small college and in more than one great university : "The future of the small college will be a great future ; a future greater than its past, because that future will be better equipped, better organized and better adjusted." 45 The Inauguration There are three features which are characteristic of the type of college of which Ursinus is a representative, in which I most heartily believe. 1. The resident college gives the student an oppor- tunity to grow under the influence of his fellow students as they can grow, I believe, in no other way. "The college course," as President Thomas has well said, "has in view the individual himself, as a member of the great human race, whose inheritance of thought and emotion and specu- lation will in all probability be forever closed to him un- less he is able to enter into partial possession during his college days. This peculiar college training cannot be given at any school however good, and can be best given in the residential college, situated outside of or in the suburb of a great city." 2. The co-educational college is the typical American college. To my mind, the traditional objections to co- education in colleges are not justified by experience in those colleges. Young women are made saner and stronger by association with young men in college, and young men are improved in morals and manners by association with women. 3. Lastly, I have never been convinced that the equivalent of a four years course in training and power in a resident, first-class college, can be secured by part of the college course being taken in the professional school, however excellent it may be. The college set down in the midst of professional schools is always more or less dom- inated by the professional spirit rather than the academic spirit. Let us keep as many as possible of our young men and women for four years in the college atmosphere be- fore taking up the professional courses. 46 Greetings from Educational Bodies Now, Mr. President, I welcome you to arduous and exacting duties. In the twenty years of service as a col- lege and university president I have been so busy that I have not stopped to ask whether I belonged to President Foster's two-thirds, or one-third, but I believe that one who has the call to the task can have no more exalted or worthy occupation, associated as he is with the flower of the youth of the land, with men and women in the faculty, the board and community, consecrated to a noble service, than in doing all in his power to build a strong residential coeducational college of the highest rank. Not long since, on a public occasion, the alumni of the Uni- versity of Michigan were trying to express their apprecia- tion of the debt of gratitude that the university owes President Angel. He said in response, "I did not make the University of Michigan, the University of Michigan made me." May you, Mr. President, in the fullness of time, be able like President Angel, surrounded by admiring alumni and friends, because of the noble work you have accomplished for the college, feel so happy in the result that you can in truth say, "I have not made Ursinus Col- lege, Ursinus has made me." President Omwake: The gentleman whose name appears next on the program as the representative of the Pennsylvania State Educational Association, Superintendent David A. Harman, is detained in his home by illness. Pie sent me a very courteous letter expressing his regrets at not being able to come ; and there was not time enough for us to find someone to take his place. We shall there- fore pass on to the next number on the program. There is a reason why a representative of the Ursinus College Alumni should have a place at this time. The graduates 47 The Inauguration of Ursinus College have given themselves more to the public welfare than those of almost any other college in the country. Most of them have entered professions in which by self-devotion and self-sacrifice, they have labored for the upbuilding of the race. It is a source of satisfac- tion to me to introduce the next speaker, who entered upon his college course when I was a student and is today one of the members of the Faculty of Princeton University, Professor Philip H. Fogel, Ph.D., '01. Doctor FogeFs Address President Omwake: As representative of the alumni of Ursinus College I beg leave to bring to you their con- gratulations and sincere good wishes for the success of your administration. Ladies and Gentlemen: There was a time when the loyalty of a body of alumni to their Alma Mater was merely enthusiasm and blind acquiescence based on the principle that whatever is, is right. That time has gone by. The spirit of criticism is now all pervasive. Principles, maxims, and institutions which in the past have had the sanction of conventional approval are now under fire, and quo war- ranto proceedings have been instituted against them. Their future stability depends not upon the fact that they have existed, but upon their worth and efficiency in promoting greater fullness of life in the present and in the future. What is true in matters moral and political is true also in matters academic. The alumnus of the present is a keen and relentless critic of the actions and policies of the per- sons entrusted with the administration of his college. 4 8 Greetings from Educational Bodies Why? He criticises, not because he loves to tear down, — for he knows that destructive criticism is futile. He criti- cises, not because he is disloyal, but he criticises because he is intensely loyal to his ideal of what his Alma Mater should stand for, and should be. Loyalty has been characterized as the willing and prac- tical and thoroughgoing devotion of a person to a cause. There can be loyalty only when there is a cause to which we may be loyal. What is our cause? It is to maintain and increase the influence of Ursinus College as a place of sound learning. That means a place to which a man may come to claim his intellectual patrimony; a place not tossed about on the waves of erratic radicalism, but one where conservatism means reasoned progress ; a place where a man may fit himself for a career of service to his God and to his fellow man. Such a cause, furthermore, deserves, yes, demands our loyalty, for it goes beyond our private selves, it is greater than any or all of us. Whenever a cause is social and capable of linking into one the wills of all of us, whenever such a cause so arouses our interest that it appears to us worthy to be served with all our mind, with all our heart, and with all our strength, then that cause must arouse within us the spirit of loyalty. Loyalty to a good cause is valuable to him who is loyal. His devoted activity, the surrender of his arbitrary self-will, his belief in his cause and his love for it — all these states of mind are in themselves valuable to him who is loyal. But loyalty is more than this. The cause which we serve appeals to more than one. This, of necessity, gives me fellow servants. My fellow's loyalty sets me an example, his loyalty increases and inspires mine, for he shows me its worth. Loyalty is infectious. Each man's 49 The Inauguration loyalty will cultivate it in other men. Let us be loyal to our few things for the spirit of loyalty, secretly passing from us to many to whom we are strangers, may even thereby make us unconsciously rulers over many things. Generalization without specification is pointless. In order to be loyal there must be a worthy cause to call forth that loyalty. Therefore the college cannot expect the loyalty of her alumni unless her affairs are admin- istered in a straightforward way, without internal poli- tics or external domination, in a way which will ap- peal to all but the cavilers as one which has an eye single to the welfare only of the college, and not one of personal glorification. With such a cause to inspire, no alumnus dare remain disloyal. Now what is the form which his loyalty shall take? His loyalty must consist in many things. It is not doing all in his power to influence pros- pective students, though that is part of it; it is not con- tributing money to the support of the college, though that is part of it; it is rather the creation of an atmosphere both within the college and among all the alumni of pride in the college because it is worthy of that pride, and of devotion to her welfare. Loyalty is service. We are under obligation to serve whatever is true, and right and holy with whole-hearted enthusiasm. We are loyal to a cause only when we will- ingly and thoroughly devote ourselves to its service, and when this devotion is expressed in a sustained and prac- tical way. None of us singly will ever have the destinies of the college in our hands, but standing together with you, Mr. President, as our leader, we can join in making it greater by putting at the center of all our relations to our Alma Mater an intense and unswerving loyalty. 50 Greetings from Educational Bodies President Omwake: In our professional relations we, of Ursinus College, aim to recognize as far as possible all of the agencies entering into the educational work of the country. A body of institutions that have wielded a tremendous influence in the upbuilding of our State is that which is represented by the thirteen State normal schools, the chief of which are represented by their re- spective heads or representatives on this occasion. It is a pleasure to present the dean of the State Normal School Principals of Pennsylvania, one whose whole life has been given to this work, Principal George Morris Philips, Ph.D., LL.D., of the West Chester State Normal School. Doctor Philips's Address Mr. President, Members of the Board of Directors, Ladies and Gentlemen: In the Philadelphia American of March 5, 1887, President Magill, of Swarthmore Col- lege, urged that a regular college diploma and a college certificate in pedagogics be required of all public school teachers in Pennsylvania after 1895 or 1900. This was, of course, chimerical for several reasons, one which I pointed out at the time being sufficient, namely, that if all the graduates of all the colleges in the State were to take up teaching, they would not supply half of the new teachers needed in Pennsylvania every year, to say nothing of re- placing the thousands of old ones in service; and this has been true ever since President Magill's suggestion was made. But fortunately for the commonwealth there has been a great increase in the number of college graduates teaching in the public schools of this State since 1887. There are no 5i The Inauguration official records of the number of college graduates teaching in Pennsylvania in that year, but in 1888, the Superin- tendent of Public Instruction reported that, outside of Philadelphia, of the 21,168 public school teachers in Penn- sylvania, 233, or about 1%, were college graduates; while in 191 1, the last year reported, 2219 were college graduates, or 7% of the 31,518 teachers in the State, outside of Philadelphia. Of course most of these are teaching in the high schools of the State, which have of late increased very rapidly, especially since 1895, when the State began making special appropriations toward their support. There were in 1911-12, 163 1 college graduates, 1039 normal school graduates, and 576 others teaching in the high schools of Pennsylvania. But the great increase in the proportion of college graduates who have taken up teaching toward the close of the 19th century and thus far in the 20th century is well known, and has attracted much attention. The latest published information on the subject that I have seen (Bulletin No. 19, of 1912 U. S. Bureau of Education) shows that in 37 of the leading universities and colleges in the United States, one-fourth of the recent graduates be- came teachers, decidedly more than went into any other profession; and it is of special interest on this occasion to know that from the eighteen of these that would be classed as smaller colleges, 39% of the recent graduates became teachers. Undoubtedly, many of these did, or will, teach but a few years, before entering upon a life profession. An investigation as to the extent of this would be interesting, and important, but I have seen no account of any. But the fact that so many young college graduates teach only 52 Greetings from Educational Bodies for two or three years to earn money, or otherwise get ready to take up law, medicine, etc., makes it really the more important that colleges should seriously and earnestly set about the thorough and practical preparation for teaching. This should be done for the sake of the students and for the sake of the colleges themselves, for these graduates at once begin to send their students to college; but most of all for the sake of the public schools and the thousands of boys and girls who will come under their teaching. It is well known among superintendents and principals of schools that many, entirely too many, college graduates fail sadly and unnecessarily in their early teaching, and if they eventually become successful teachers, it is often only in the same way that the famous oculist became so skillful — by spoiling his bushel of eyes in learning how. The new school code of Pennsylvania provides that the Superintendent of Public Instruction may grant to gradu- ates of colleges and universities, approved by the College and University Council of Pennsylvania, who have done 200 hours of work in pedagogical studies, such as psy- chology, ethics, logic, history of education, school manage- ment, or methods of teaching, a provisional college certifi- cate, valid for three years of teaching anywhere in Penn- sylvania. The requirement of 200 hours of pedagogical work and the suggestions as to its nature came to the commission which framed the school code from a number of the college presidents on the College and University Council of Pennsylvania at a meeting of the Council. After three years of successful teaching, such college graduates receive from the Superintendent of Public In- struction life certificates valid everywhere in the State. 53 The Inauguration Both the provisional and permanent college certificates are teachers* certificates of the highest grade given in this State. Since the colleges, and especially the small colleges, have become so important a factor in the preparation of teachers, I venture to draw upon the experience of a life- time spent in the preparation of teachers and in the ob- servation and study of thousands of graduates of all grades and kinds of schools, in making a few suggestions on this important subject. Every college and university in the country now wel- comes students who intend to be teachers, and makes special efforts to secure the best possible positions for the con- stantly increasing numbers of such graduates. Is it too much to ask that they plan as seriously and carefully to prepare them for their work as they prepare prospective engineers or others, and that this preparation be just as definite, as concrete, and as practical as the preparation for engineering or anything else? It seems to me that the two fundamental needs of most American colleges for the better preparation of teachers are, first, a more general belief on the part of the college faculties that direct preparation for teaching is worth while, and, secondly, the selection of college faculties as much for skill and success in teaching as for reputation for scholarship and research. I have no doubt that the prevalent belief in college faculties that pedagogical training is of little or no value, is partly due to the exaggerated claims made for it by some of its advocates ; but there can be no question that sensible and practical training in pedagogy by men who have successfully taught and managed secondary and other lower schools themselves, and who have also care- 54 Greetings from Educational Bodies fully studied the philosophy and theory of education, sup- plemented by skillfully supervised practice teaching in good schools, will prevent many young college graduates from making sad failures as teachers, and a sadder waste of time and discouragement on the part of many thousands of their pupils. The other suggestion is fully as important for pros- pective teachers, and almost equally important for other students. We all know how closely young teachers imitate their teachers, and the higher the esteem and respect in which those teachers are held (so applicable in the case of a college student and his professors), the closer is the imitation, regardless of the totally different conditions. In the normal school with which I am connected we have excellent and helpful teachers of the science and art of teaching, but I believe that, after all, the most effective work in pedagogy done there has been by scholarly and skillful teachers of the different academic subjects in their regular class work. And I have no hesitation in affirming that the first requisite for a college professor of pedagogy is previous eminent success as a teacher in lower schools. No amount of university training can make up for this. We in the normal schools have long realized that abundant opportunity for practice teaching is the most im- portant factor in successful preparation for teaching; and as far as possible this should be in the best regular public schools, and not in artificially organized and conducted model schools. I found Oscar Browning's students doing excellent work of this sort at Cambridge, England, fifteen years ago, and I believe that almost any college can arrange for such practice for such of its students as are preparing to teach, easier and more profitably, of course, if the col- lege is in or near a city of considerable size. 55 The Inauguration May I, finally, ask whether some of the highly special- ized work which a university course gives, and sometimes requires, does not really unfit its graduates for teaching boys and girls, and the students in all grades of public schools are boys and girls, as well as a very considerable number who are in college. About ten years ago I went to Cambridge with a young relative, a graduate of a small col- lege, who was entering Harvard University. I had a letter of introduction to Professor Charles Eliot Norton, who had retired from active connection with the university, but whom I was anxious to meet and to have my young relative meet also. Professor Norton received us very cordially at his home in the suburbs of Cambridge, and, after in- quiring as to the line of work which the young man expected to pursue, he said, "A good many young men come here from other colleges and universities to take work which they cannot get there. Last winter at the end of the first semester, I met a promising young man who had come from the University of Chicago. I asked him what he was doing, and he told me that he had spent the past semester in studying the abdominal parasites of a flea ! Good Heavens !" said Professor Norton, "to think of a young man of parts spending six months on the ab- dominal parasites of a flea!" Is it possible that there are young men and women in the institutions which some of us manage who will spend part or perhaps all of their lives in teaching elementary subjects to boys and girls, who are spending too much time in various lines, upon "the abdominal parasites of the flea?" I am informed that more than 50 per cent, of the graduates of Ursinus College have taken up teaching. I can personally testify to the excellence and success of some of these teachers, and I am sure that the college has 56 Greetings from Educational Bodies done a great work in this direction, and that under the wise and energetic management of the president whom it is so fortunate as to have secured, will do a still greater work of this sort, and that along the wisest and sanest lines. And I bring to you, President Omwake, and to Ursi- nus College, the greetings, the congratulations and the best wishes of the State Normal Schools of Pennsylvania. President Omwake: At this point in the program we may be pardoned, I hope, for breaking through the cold cast of formality and yielding to a little personal feeling. While the next speaker is put down to speak on the subject of "The Acadamies,' , I am inclined to introduce him rather as my old teacher who had a great deal to do with my start in life. It was under him that I began the study of Greek. No one ever ventured to enter his class room without studying. It was from his great towering per- sonality that I gathered a few of the traits that have been of value to me in other years. It shall be our pleasure to hear this afternoon the Head Master of the Mercersburg Academy, William M. Irvine, Ph.D., LL.D. Doctor Irvine's Address Mr. President, Brother Delegates and Friends: It is my privilege today to bear greeting from many schools in this and other States — schools that stand for the moulding of manhood, for the highest scholarship of its type to be found anywhere in this country. I have attended many inaugurations of college presidents, but this is the first time I have ever seen the school men receive official recogni- 57 The Inauguration tion. I take it that we men of the preparatory schools are invited to this function because your ideals and ours are the same. The men in the schools as well as the men in the colleges are trying to give boys a great vision of life. It is our desire to have them see that all truly great life is lived with a spiritual outlook and on a high level; that it is well to believe in "the elemental truths that can never be proved ;" that real culture is not a narrow thing but the unfolding of a power within; that every educated man should develop the power to collect and swing his whole being into one act; and, as Chancellor McCormick sug- gested, he should join the working class, strong and happy, among both rich and poor; that he should shun the idle class, weak and miserable, among both rich and poor. I am sure, Sir, that every man on this platform to- day believes that the attainment of these ideals is not an easy task. As Dr. Henry Van Dyke says, "To make men better is the hardest but the finest work in the world." I know that all who struggle with this problem week in and week out will heartily agree with Dr. Van Dyke. Failure in our attempts makes us ready to believe with Huxley that "Education is the learning to do what you don't want to do at the time you don't want to do it." When we feel we all have failures — not many but some — - then we see the truth in what our wittiest philosopher of the Middle West has said, "Yes, Mr. Hennessy, you can lead a boy to college but you cannot make him think." To have our boys reach these ideals demands tact, personality and ingenuity, akin to that showed by an Irish policeman a short time ago over in New York. Mike, the policeman, reported at headquarters one morning and said to the sergeant, "I have found a dead horse." The ser- geant asked, "Where did you find him?" Mike answered, 58 Greetings from Educational Bodies "Over in Kosciosko Street; what shall I do about it?" The sergeant said, "Report it to the Department of Health." Mike took pen and paper, sat down, scratched his head and worked long and laboriously. Looking up, he said, "How do you spell Kosciosko, Sergeant?" The ser- geant, with a gesture of impatience, said, "Aw ! go on, who is writing that letter?" Mike disappeared. When he returned half an hour later, the sergeant asked, "Where have you been?" "Sure, and I have been out dragging that horse around into Main Street." To inculcate the highest ideals in education is a hard and discouraging task. Every head master feels that each day he runs the whole gamut of emotions. In one mo- ment he is called upon to administer rebuke and in the next he must show the tender sympathy of a woman. Every challenge that comes to a teacher has in it the element of the heroic. It is this element that makes me a strong advocate for football and college entrance examinations. During one of my years as a student at Princeton, foot- ball was in the balance. Harvard did not put a football team in the field. There were discussions pro and con in the newspapers. I was the Princeton correspondent of the New York Tribune and was sent to have an inter- view with President James McCosh in order to get an expression of his opinion on the matter. I shall never forget that grand old man who had made a reputation as an educator in two continents and whom we all loved so devotedly. With a magnificent figure, his snow white hair and his flashing brown eyes as he paced back and forth in his library he was a picture. He said, "You can tell them that it is a hard game but they might as well get used to it for they will have to receive some hard knocks in life." 59 The Inauguration My heart burns within me when I recall the fact that Ross Marvin, who was second in command to Admiral Peary when the latter discovered the North Pole and who was the scientist on that expedition, also the martyr of the expedition, being the only man to lose his life on that trip, was an instructor at Mercersburg. I like to think of the heroism of one of my own boys who received a Carnegie medal for diving under the ice and saving the life of a companion. It always thrills me to think of a heroic incident in the life of another Mercersburg boy who in the hour of his death showed the spirit of Sir Philip Sydney, that knightly character of old. This dear boy with a companion was out in a canoe on a lake in the Middle West. The canoe upset. When a man swam out from shore, our Mercersburg boy said to the rescuer, "Help him, I can swim ; he can't." The boy who could not swim was landed safely on the shore, but before the rescuer could return our dear Mercersburg boy had gone down. Senti- ment is a real part of life and every teacher who looks for it can find it in his own students. I hope you will pardon me, Sir, if I say a word of a personal nature at this point. I am reminded today that the man who founded Ursinus College was a Mercers- burg man — one who was the valedictorian of the first class graduated in Mercersburg more than seventy-five years ago. I am also reminded today of the fact that the present leader of Ursinus is a Mercersburg man who nineteen years ago was the salutatorian of his class. In scholarship and leadership your career with us was notable. We are glad to see you inaugurated into higher leadership today. Your talents and your achievements justify this confidence. In honoring you, Ursinus College has honored herself. I have known personally all the members of your family, 60 Greetings from Educational Bodies your father, your mother — whom I rejoice to see here to- day — your sister and your seven brothers. I have never known an Omwake to be a failure. You come from stock, simple, sincere, devoted to the truth that has made our nation great. We are proud of you ; we congratulate you heartily and we hope that every dream you have for this institution will be realized. May you, like Sir Gerwain in the fable, cut off the head of the dwarf and liberate the knight of splendid manhood. May God bless you greatly, my boy, in the beautiful work to which He has called you; may He cause His face to shine upon you ; may He give you victory and peace, for His great name's sake. President Omwake: I am particularly pleased with the fact that on entering into executive work in the col- lege it is my privilege to do so in an age when the colleges of our State are in such splendid cooperation. There was a time, I understand, when there was sharp competition among the colleges of Pennsylvania. That day has passed with reference to our higher institutions of learning. I doubt if any body of men work more hand in hand than do the heads of the colleges as I have come to know them in recent years. It is a great pleasure to welcome to this platform this afternoon the representative of a sister institution in the Reformed Church. In days past and gone our fathers mingled together to fight one another. I say this without complaint against them. They were earnest and honest in their contentions. When I read the records of the theo- logical controversies which shook the church fifty years ago, I wonder how such a wonderful change could come about in half a century. Indeed, when the heads of Frank- 61 The Inauguration lin and Marshall College and Ursinus College meet to- day it is to greet each other with the strong hand of Christian fellowship and with the feeling, so far as the Church is concerned, that we have a common task. It is thus I welcome the President of Franklin and Marshall College, Henry H. Apple, D.D., LL.D., to this platform to- day to speak on "The Colleges." President Apple's Address Mr. Chairman, President Omwake and Directors of Ursinus College, Fellow Delegates, Ladies and Gentle- men: It is a privilege, for which I am deeply grateful, to be present and offer congratulations on the happy occa- sion of this inauguration. The ceremony of this day has its relation primarily to this institution. I congratulate you, Directors of Ursinus College, upon securing as your presi- dent an alumnus of Ursinus, who is in touch with her history and her traditions, a young man of scholarly attain- ments, sound judgment and deep sympathy, who has already signally demonstrated his fitness and found a place in the hearts of students to whom he is an able teacher and true friend. It is his by right that you and your constituency shall give him both the needed freedom in his work and your equally necessary loyal and hearty cooperation. I con- gratulate you, President Omwake, upon the noble privileges of service to which you have been called and I trust your administration may be long and happy, fruitful and blessed. But the ceremony has also wider significance. I bear felicitations to you in behalf of all the institutions of the Church with which you are affiliated and for the colleges of this land which welcome you into leadership in American 62 Greetings from Educational Bodies education. Upon the college I am convinced rests a large responsibility for the welfare of our whole educational system, even from the elementary schools which look for- ward to it up to the highest university specialization, which forms an unbroken process to fit men for the activities of effective and useful service in life. It is significant that in spite of all the changes which have taken place in the outward form of courses of study in these various educa- tional institutions and the many new branches which have been introduced to meet the demands and needs of a modern age the purpose of the college course has not changed. It is important that the aim shall be the same for the future, for there is a distinctive and essential fea- ture which dare not be lost in the training and discipline offered to young men in the life of a standard college. The chief function of a college is the making of a man — to develop and mould personalities into such manhood as will contribute to noble and serviceable lives. Emerson directed attention to this when he said, "The greatest enter- prise in the world for splendor, for extent is the upbuilding of a man." And certainly creative passion can manifest itself in no higher way than in the manufacture of men whose business it is to express themselves completely in service to their neighbors. The very foundation of an educational system, if not the fullest scope, is to send out into life healthy, self-reliant, service-rendering men. Of great importance in this process is the training of the mind and the development of mental power. It is clear that merely to impart knowledge is not education; neither is he the best educated man who knows most about things. Knowledge, it is true, must be imparted in the course of education — knowledge of facts, knowledge of laws and principles. This side cannot be minimized but it is of little 6 3 The Inauguration value unless there is such training and discipline of the mind as to render it capable of wise service. In this re- spect the college plays a unique part in American life. It forms men who can bring to their tasks an incomparable morale, a capacity that seems more than individual, a power touched with large ideals. The college is the seat of ideals. Men are bred by its liberal training to no skill or craft or calling. They are prepared for the whole of life rather than some particular part of it. The ideals which lay at its heart are the general ideals of conduct, of right living and right thinking, which make them aware of a world moralized by principle, a world not of interests but of ideals. Such impressions, such challenges to a man's spirit, such intimations of privileges and duty, are not and can- not be found in the work of professional schools. The sciences have a necessary place in modern education and none would advocate the adoption of the unchanged classical course of fifty years ago. Some knowledge of science is a part of a liberal education and should be taught at least so far as to enable graduates to enter the best professional schools. But the age of the classics has not yet gone by. One of the classic tongues, Greek or Latin, is the one royal road to a knowledge of all that is finest in letters and art. The language of the Hellenes in beauty, accuracy and power is unequalled and Latin is essential to a complete mastery of our own native tongue. I am convinced the college must emphasize to a greater degree the tried classical discipline rather than attempt to compete with technical schools. There must be preserved in this country the in- stitution, the college, which gives students the old training and discipline that has been tested, under teachers con- vinced of its merits. This does not eliminate science but emphasizes its value, not indeed for a course of technical 6 4 Greetings from Educational Bodies training but a course in which the culture of science and other liberalizing studies are sought as sound preparation for technical and professional schools and for life. As the college does not look on any man as educated unless he has been taught to interpret the problems of his own day through the lessons of the past and has received a knowl- edge of classic literature, philosophy and civilization, gain- ing discipline in the expression of his own tongue through the processes of translation, so it does not look upon any man today as fully trained for modern life who has not learned the methods of the laboratory and laid a secure foundation in science. In this respect a college curriculum must prove itself. How much language, pure mathematics and philos- ophy or sociological, scientific and vocational studies should be used, and how to retain the discipline and cul- ture of mind and give equipment for life is the problem to solve. Many experiments are being made and no final solution has been found. But it is only by careful, con- scientious, regular and systematic application, whatever be the studies of the course, that a discipline worth anything can be secured. The student who seeks and the college which permits mental sloth, carelessness and inaccuracy, which are the antithesis of good education, are counter- acting the benefits of a college course and paying too high a price for these four years. There is a place in this conception of education for gymnastics to develop the material or bodily functions of the student. The body may be the lowest part of per- sonality but at the same time it deserves consideration in the development of the whole man ; body, mind and soul. Walt Whitman thus praises the physical being: 65 The Inauguration "If anything is sacred, the human body is sacred, And the glory and sweet of a man is the token of man- hood untainted; And in man or woman a clean, strong fibered body is more beautiful than the most beautiful face." The apostle Paul views it in the same sense when he says, "Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost." This matter of physical fitness must be a concern of the college and we need to emphasize the importance of physical de- velopment and increased physical efficiency. The man who guides in these is every bit as holy as the man who preaches a sermon to feed our minds and souls. The body must not be made a source of shame but of pride. A college owes its students a full chance to learn healthy exercise and for daily indulgence in such. We dare not encourage the man who squanders his body and we cannot disregard the means of saving and strengthening it. Every day hundreds of persons are dropping out of the ranks whose lives and use- fulness might have been saved if more attention had been given to proper exercise and recreation. To our interest in the conservation of natural resources we ought to add a far greater interest in the conservation of physical man- hood. I am free to confess my belief that the best form of physical training for the student is found in games. Mili- tary exercise and gymnasium drill are good enough for those who must be forced to it, as they serve to strengthen the muscle and keep the system clean as well as to teach correct habits of carriage and graceful movement. But the game in all its varied forms not only appeals to a boy but by its character stimulates physical courage, individual initia- 66 Greetings from Educational Bodies tive, concentration of energy, poise, judgment, quick deci- sion, normal exultation in victory and laudable temper in defeat. There have been and are today evils in athletics. Many of these on the part of the student are the product of crudity, inexperience and immaturity. Some of them are due to the fact that the attitude of the college authorities has been an alternation of indifference, hostility and in- dulgence. Too often has it taken the form of issuing rules and regulations and too seldom has it involved participation in them. For many of these evils the apathy of college faculties is largely responsible. The value of the game is lost when outside gladiators are hired to play. The athletic contest has no value except as the spontaneous effort of the college man. The distinction between the amateur and the professional is not of itself a moral distinction at all. The professional athlete is as worthy of respect as the amateur. Indeed, there are many professionals who are better sportsmen than many amateurs. But it takes some degree of intelligence and moral sense to recognize the fact that it is unfair for the professional athlete to play as an amateur — more intelligence and more moral sense than some undergraduates, some alumni and even some college instructors have as yet attained. So long as this is a commodity purchasable by a scholarship, the privi- leges of a training table and clubhouse or the misguided zeal of an enthusiastic alumnus so long will colleges be helpless in the hands of athletic professionalism. When we cleanse the inside of the cup then only can we regard as natural that the same man should be scholar and athlete and secure the fine traditions that make athletics one of the durable influences over youth. If in future years public life in America shall become cleaner, business life 6 7 The Inauguration more honest and professional life more elevated, it will, in part at least, be due to the training in self-control and idealism furnished by clean athletics in our colleges. There is another sphere where college training cul- minates in the development of spiritual power. Physical strength alone makes the bully. Mental acumen is the tool of the trickster, deceit, crime and sin. Spiritual power, the crown of life, is the determining factor in the highest function of the college in producing perfect manhood. This is undoubtedly the highest test of college life. Physical development and winning athletic teams are desirable, but the college which is successful in these and has nothing else to show is in a pitiable plight. To drill students, however well, in language, mathematics, philosophy, economics, science and kindred subjects, with no regard to morality or the higher spiritual realities is no less a travesty on education. We dare not stop short of that discipline of the will which forms not only the driving but the guid- ing power of personality and makes the useful citizen. The power is invisible and intangible, but it is none the less real, although the process of its growth is exceedingly subtle. This above all other things is genuine college cul- ture. In the four years' course it is the demand of a faith- fulness, integrity, honesty, self-sacrifice in play and in work which rounds out the character and spirit of the typical college graduate, fitted for a place of service in life. At every step he meets the moral problem and the manner in which he meets it mars or makes the man. Dishonesty in the class room is as ruinous as deceit on the athletic field. Lack of truthfulness in the routine duties of pre- scribed work is as disastrous as failure and unfaithfulness in various daily activities. This life is largely breathed in out of a sustaining atmosphere and shaped by environ- 68 Greetings from Educational Bodies ment until it becomes habitual, continuous and productive. A small college is a splendid field for the cultivation of this discipline because of the intimate individual touch of students with each other and with the instructors. This individual touch is the most valuable thing in college life. To come into intimate acquaintance with a cultured in- structor of broad mind and worthy ideals is in itself an inspiration to students to live in a clean and pure atmos- phere. For the sake of success and manhood we must lay broad the foundation of education and prepare students thoroughly for life's career. It should be the supreme joy of the college man to accelerate progress so that in the generations to come there shall be less of misery, less of iniquity, more of happiness. This is the divine opportunity of the college man; this is the burden imposed upon him. To this work, Mr. President, you are called in Ursinus College, and we ask God's blessing upon it. President Omwake : The closing address of the day is to be delivered by the Provost of the University of Pennsylvania. It is with some emotion that I introduce this speaker. Somehow or other, those of us who have been identified with educational work and have come in contact with the great head of our biggest university, have come to have a special appreciation of his big brain, his large heart, and his high ideals. There is not a representa- tive on this platform that does not share this feeling with reference to this speaker. On calling on "The Universities" then, we shall hear, in our last address, from Provost Edgar Fahs Smith, Sc.D., LL.D. 69 The Inauguration Provost Smith's Address President Omwake, Ladies and Gentlemen: As you have heard, I have been asked to speak for the universities. It was thought that they would desire to express them- selves on this occasion. Of course, there is no question but that they do wish to felicitate Ursinus College on the step she has just taken, and they also wish all good things to her under the new president ; but have they no message for Ursinus? I shall assume that they have and that they are willing to let me offer that message in my own way. An experience of thirty-seven years as a teacher in college and university has given ample opportunity to look about and note changes, some progressive, others retrogres- sive. I have learned that my reflections will not please all, for I am one of those who believe that there is great good in old things. From the old soil doth the new corn grow. Yes, we need the past to do the work of the pres- ent. The work of today was begun in the work done years and years ago. But, then, I mustn't ring these changes. I've indulged in them in order to prepare you for the declaration that I am sure Ursinus College under her new leader will serve her constituents, the State and nation, the better the closer she adheres in her fundamental teach- ings to the plan adopted by her saintly founders. Their aim was character-making. To reach their goal, their disciples were obliged to follow the path of discipline and drill as meted out to them in cultural studies without the diluting effects of electives and palatable substitutes for those sterner subjects which require thought. A crying evil of the day among us all is that we do not think. Every generation thinks less than did that preceding it. Is it any wonder, then, that we are wafted 7o Greetings from Educational Bodies hither and thither by every wild theory foisted upon us by a sensational press and thoughtless mercurial public? I am confident every university man will join me in say- ing, "Let Ursinus College adopt a broad-gauge, inflexible curriculum of studies which will give the widest horizon to her students, and then make them do the work. Permit no foolish excuses for hard work undone." No — let the faculty map out the curriculum and see to it that the student acquires the proper respect for the word must! In short, let Ursinus stand for honest, true scholar- ship. Let every teacher in her halls be animated with a desire to help his students become men and inspire them with ideals. Let that be the first aim. Let the college eschew those from the teaching staff who are impelled by selfish motives alone, who are looking only to their own aggrandizement, who would sacrifice longing souls that their names may appear upon the title pages of books. Real, true teachers are also investigators, but too many investi- gators fail sadly as teachers. They may point to an isolated fact here and there in some branch of knowledge, which they have brought to light, but they cannot lay their hands upon men or women who are better because they have been in contact with them and have been influenced mightily by them for good. Teachers are what every college needs. They have their reward. Two years ago it was my unexpected privilege to pay a hasty visit to Balliol College, Oxford. For years I had had a burning desire to look upon the place that had been made almost holy in my eyes by the work of that great master, Benjamin Jowett. My enthusiasm, my intense, eager interest in Balliol and its master influenced the por- ter to such a degree that he opened the chapel and, un- covering a seat draped in heavy mourning, said, "You may 7i The Inauguration sit there, Sir. It is the seat in which I saw the Master sit every morning for twenty-eight years." As I sat in that seat, I remembered that it was Jowett who had lifted Balliol College from a very ordinary position among the colleges of Oxford to the highest pinnacle — that it was Jowett who caused Balliol to be spoken of as the seat of scholarship — that it was Jowett who really made Balliol, Oxford; and there came to me, too, the recollection that when twenty years ago (1893) this great soul passed be- yond the veil, of those who gathered about his remains to bear them to their last resting place, there were seven masters of seven colleges in Oxford — all sons of Balliol ; and when the news of the sad event spread abroad, there were in England's cabinet, in England's courts of justice, in England's great army and mighty navy, in her halls of learning, in her abbeys, cathedrals, parishes, and in her splendid public schools, those who paused, and recalling what this brightest ornament of Oxford had been to them and to England, let pass from their lips these words : "I feel that there has gone a glory from the earth." And now, Mr. President, if you, your colleagues and friends will be obedient to the religious basis outlined in the Heidelberg Catechism and pursue the cultural train- ing set by your fathers, firmly founded upon these, you may confidently expect this college, bearing aloft the banner of Zacharias Ursinus, to go forward to even greater glory and that you, its supporters, will be hailed as blessed wherever a love of true scholarship and exalted learning doth abide. President Omwake: It would be very pleasant, had we the time, to hear all of the distinguished gentlemen who honor us today with their presence; but that is out 72 Introduction of Delegates of the question ; and no more fitting close could be brought to the spoken words in connection with this celebration than those which have just issued from the lips of the honored Provost of the University of Pennsylvania. However, in order that each representative may bear away the im- pression that his presence is appreciated, I now present the Secretary of the Inauguration Committee, to whom we are indebted in larger measure than to any one else for the success of these ceremonies, our Librarian, the Reverend Calvin D. Yost, that he may introduce the delegates, who, in turn, will rise in their places and greet you. Mr. Yost: Mr. President, it gives me pleasure to in- troduce to you the distinguished gentlemen and ladies who are guests of Ursinus College today, and representatives of the institutions which are doing honor to this college on this auspicious occasion. (The delegates arose as they were presented and greeted the President and the people assembled.) The ceremonies were closed with prayer by the Rever- end Thomas R. Beeber, D.D., of Norristown. 73 List of Delegates Harvard University Francis Barton Gum mere, Ph.D., LL.D., Litt.D., Alumnus Yale University Reverend D. Webster Kurtz, M.A., D.D., Alumnus University of Pennsylvania Edgar Fahs Smith, Ph.D., Sc.D., LL.D., Provost Princeton University John Grier Hibben, Ph.D., LL.D., President Philip H. Fogel, Ph.D., Professor Columbia University Lemuel Whitaker, Ph.D., Alumnus Brown University Reverend Geo. H. Ferris, D.D., Alumnus Rutgers College William H. S. Demarest, D.D., LL.D., President Dartmouth College Natt Morrill Emery, A.M., Alumnus Dickinson College Eugene A. Noble, L.H.D., LL.D., President Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church of America Reverend J. Frederick Berg, Ph.D., D.D., Professor University of Pittsburgh Samuel Black McCormick, D.D., LL.D., Chancellor Williams College Reverend George L. Richardson, A.B., Alumnus 74 Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church al Princeton Reverend Frederick W. Loetscher, Ph.D., Professor Auburn Theological Seminary Reverend William J. Hinke, Ph.D., D.D., Professor Amherst College Alexander Meiklejohn, LL.D., President Trinity College (Connecticut) Raymond G. Gettell, A.M., Professor Jefferson Medical College H. Augustus Wilson, A.M., M.D., Professor Theological Seminary of the Reformed Church in th United States Reverend John C. Bowman, D.D., President Reverend George W. Richards, D.D., Professor Western Reserve University Utley Wedge, A.M., Alumnus Pennsylvania College William Anthony Granville, Ph.D., LL.D., President Karl J. Grimm, Ph.D., Professor Delaware College George A. Harter, M.A., Ph.D., President Haverford College Isaac Sharpless, Sc.D., L.H.D., LL.D., President Franklin and Marshall College Henry H. Apple, D.D., LL.D., President Anselm V. Hiester, A.M., Professor Union Theological Seminary Reverend Francis Brown, Ph.D., D.D., D.Litt., LL. President 75 Mount Holyoke College Anna Lockhart Flanigan, Ph.D., Former Professor Bucknell University Albert Rowland Garner, M.S., M.D., Alumnus Heidelberg University Reverend Rufus C. Zartman, D.D., Alumnus Central Theological Seminary Reverend David Van Horne, D.D., LL.D., President Emeritus Lincoln University John Ballard Rendall, D.D., President Pennsylvania State College Edwin Erle Sparks, Ph.D., LL.D., President Lehigh University Henry Sturgis Drinker, E.M., LL.D., President Allentown College for Women Reverend William F. Curtis, Litt.D., President Lebanon Valley College George D. Gossard, D.D., President Hiram Herr Shenk, A.M., Professor Muhlenberg College George T. Ettinger, Ph.D., Professor Wells College Kerr D. Macmillan, B.A., B.D., President Swarthmore College Joseph Swain, LL.D., President Smith College Charles Homer Holzwartii, Ph.D., Instructor 7 6 Juniata College I. Harvey Brumbaugh, A.M., President Medico-Chirurgical College Seneca Egbert, A.M., M.D., Dean Temple University Russell H. Conwell, D.D., LL.D., President Laura H. Carnell, A.B., Litt.D., Dean Walter B. Shumway, D.D., Dean of Theological Department Hood College Joseph H. Apple, A.M., Pd.D., President Susquehanna University Reverend Charles T. Aikens, A.M., D.D., President Albright College Clellan Asbury Bowman, Ph.D., Dean Moravian Seminary and College for Women Reverend J. H. Clewell, Ph.D., President The American Philosophical Society Marion Dexter Learned, A.M., Ph.D. Franklin and Marshall Academy Edwin M. Hartman, A.M., Principal The Hill School Alfred G. Rolfe, Litt.D., Head Master York Collegiate Institute E. T. Jeffers, D.D., LL.D., President The Mercersburg Academy William M. Irvine, Ph.D., LL.D., Head Master Harrisburg Academy Howard R. Omwake, A.M., Senior Master 77 George School George A. Walton, A.M., Principal Schuylkill Seminary Reverend Warren F. Teel, Ph.M., Principal Shippen School for Girls Mary D. Musser, A.B., Instructor State Normal School, Millersville P. M. Harbold, A.M., Principal State Normal School, West Chester George M. Philips, Ph.D., LL.D., Principal State Normal School, Shippensburg Jesse S. Heiges, A.M., Dean Historical Society of Montgomery County Reverend Thomas R. Beeber, D.D. The Free Library, Philadelphia John Thomson, Librarian Department of Health, State of Pennsylvania B. Franklin Royer, M.D., Chief Medical Inspector 78 Inauguration Committee James M. S. Isenberg, D.D., Chairman Henry T. Spangler, D.D. James W. Meminger, D.D. Hervey C. Gresh Andrew R. Brodbeck secretary to the committee Rev. Calvin D. Yost MARSHAL Abraham H. Hendricks, Esq., B.S. 79 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 3 0112 112032138 URSINUS COLLEGE "An institution where the youth of the land can be liberally educated under the benign influences of Christian- ity."— The Founders Collegeville, Pennsylvania