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 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 University of California. 
 
 Class 
 
 
 
 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2008 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/fromschoolthrougOOwrigrich 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 

C t C f 
 
 f c r 
 
 c r c ^' c V «^ c 
 
From School 
 Through College 
 
 By 
 HENRY PARKS WRIGHT 
 
 Doctrina $ed vim promovet iruitam, 
 rectique ctUtiu pectora roborant. 
 —Horace. 
 
 New Havek: Yale Univehsitt Press 
 
 London: Henry Frowde 
 
 Oxford University Press 
 
 MCMXI 
 
^':^^ 
 
 COPTRIGHT, 1911, 
 BY 
 
 Yalk University Press 
 
 First printed September, 1911, 1000 copies 
 Reprinted November, 1911, 1000 copies 
 
 •••..• • 
 
 
 • V • • • 
 
TO THE MEMORY OF 
 
 ALFRED PARKS WRIGHT 
 
 1880-1901 
 
 227643 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 
 
 
 VAOK 
 
 
 Preface . 
 
 . 
 
 ix 
 
 I. 
 
 Opportunities 
 
 . 
 
 S 
 
 II. 
 
 The Main Purpose 
 
 . 
 
 S9 
 
 III. 
 
 Health, Recreation, and Exercise 
 
 55 
 
 IV. 
 
 Self-Discipline . 
 
 . 
 
 . 78 
 
 V. 
 
 Courage and Honor . 
 
 . 
 
 95 
 
 VI. 
 
 Among Classmates 
 
 . 
 
 115 
 
 VII. 
 
 Planning for the Future 
 
 . 
 
 . 187 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The thought of writing a small book for 
 college students first came to me when I was 
 invited to address the graduating class of the 
 Hotchkiss School. It was evident that there 
 was no more important subject for young men 
 just passing from school to college than the 
 right use of the years of study immediately 
 before them, and the address took the form of 
 suggestions such as would have helped me at 
 the beginning of my Freshman year. That 
 address was the basis of the present volume. 
 
 The college offers such large opportunities 
 in the way of a preparation for life that it is 
 a pity that any one who can have them should 
 miss them, or that those who have them should 
 fail to get their fuU benefit. I have spent all 
 my active life in work with students, and during 
 twenty-five years in the Dean's Office of Yale 
 College a very pleasant part of my service was 
 to give friendly counsel to hundreds of young 
 men who came to me with their difficulties, 
 ambitions, sorrows, and temptations. The 
 suggestions in this book have therefore grown 
 out of personal observation of student life, and 
 they have this to commend them, — that they 
 
PREFACE 
 
 have been tested, and in some cases at least have 
 been found helpful. 
 
 My plan of life for a college student is : Enter 
 well prepared so that there will be time for 
 something more than class-room duties. Make 
 study the chief, but not the only purpose. 
 Take care of the health, and do the college 
 work so as to go out with sound mental train- 
 ing and strong character. Get what you can 
 of the incidental advantages and of the enjoy- 
 ment which college offers, but never to the 
 neglect of the college studies. 
 
 New Haven, Conn. 
 July 7, 1911. 
 
 [»] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
I 
 
 OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 r 
 
 / 
 
The noblest sight this world affords is a young man 
 bent upon making the most of himself. — T. T. Hunger. 
 
 Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. 
 
 — Emerson. 
 
 A life without a prevailing enthusiasm is sure not to 
 rise to its highest level. — President Eliot. 
 
 Education is the only interest worthy the deep, con- 
 trolling anxiety of the thoughtful man. 
 
 —Wendell Phillips. 
 
 The love of study, a passion which derives fresh vigor 
 from enjoyment, supplies each day, each hour, with a 
 perpetual source of independent and rational pleasure. 
 
 — Oibbon. 
 
 To talk in public, to think in solitude, to read and to 
 hear, to inquire and answer inquiries, is the business of 
 a scholar. — Samuel Johnson. 
 
 The heights by great men reached and kept 
 Were not attained by sudden flight. 
 
 But they, while their companions slept. 
 Were toiling upward in the night. 
 
 — Longfellow. 
 
I 
 
 OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 There is no time in a student's life when he is 
 more likely to need good counsel than on the 
 day when he enters college. He has left the 
 restraints of home and of the school behind, 
 and is at the beginning of what may be made 
 the best and happiest four years that he will 
 ever know. He is at that age when it is a 
 pleasure to live, when the future is bright, and 
 most experiences are new. He feels conscious 
 of strength and quite sure of being able to 
 accomplish anything which he sets out to do. 
 Impatient of suggestion from those who have 
 gone before him, he is too ready to take advice 
 from companions with as little experience as 
 himself. How much these four years might do 
 for him if he could get at the beginning of 
 Freshman year the view of the proper relation 
 of things which most men have when they 
 graduate ! 
 
 I was older, when admitted to college, than 
 the average of my class at graduation, and 
 should have been guilty of unpardonable folly, 
 therefore, if I had not kept pretty constantly 
 in mind the purpose for which I came; but, 
 
 r8j 
 
''•'FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 though necessity compelled me to work my way 
 in part, I knew all my classmates well, formed 
 many life-long friendships, and had time for 
 religious work, for social activities, and for 
 recreation. Since then, I have spent forty 
 years in somewhat intimate relations with the 
 undergraduates of a large college, and have 
 observed those among them who have won 
 success and those who have met failure, as well 
 as those who have gained something from 
 college, but ought to have gained more. My 
 sympathies are with the student in all that 
 rightly interests him, outside the class-room 
 or within it. I do not wish to see him enjoy 
 college life less, but I have an earnest desire 
 to help him make a wise use of opportunities 
 such as will never come to him again. 
 
 The majority of students in the high schools 
 do not continue their studies beyond what they 
 think necessary for business. Whether one 
 should go on and prepare for the university 
 depends on his ability, his ambitions, and his 
 circumstances. Ought he to be contented with 
 what education he has, as long as he has it in 
 his power to obtain more? This question can- 
 not be wisely answered without advice based 
 on experience and knowledge. The temptation 
 everywhere is to be satisfied with present con- 
 
 [*] 
 
OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 ditions, when often we ought not to be satisfied 
 with them. The judgment of those who know 
 should outweigh one's personal preferences or 
 the wishes of parents and friends. 
 
 When I first entered Phillips Academy at 
 Andover, I spent several unhappy days in a 
 cheerless room in the Latin Commons, in peni- 
 tence over my decision. It seemed to me then 
 that I had made a great mistake in giving up 
 a place where I was getting twenty dollars a 
 month, only to waste time in learning the Latin 
 grammar. Working ten and a half hours a 
 day, with pleasant companions, to produce 
 something that other people needed, looked to 
 me like a better occupation for a young man 
 with some mechanical ability than spending 
 morning, afternoon and evening in acquiring 
 knowledge of a subject -that had no practical 
 value. I was considered a good workman, and 
 felt sure of steady employment. I had begun 
 to have visions of the time when I might become 
 a member of some firm, with leisure to devote 
 to country politics, when I might hold town 
 offices, and perhaps sometime be chosen to repre- 
 sent the district in the legislature of the state. 
 That was the not unworthy ambition of a boy 
 who had hardly been outside the limits of the 
 little town in which he had been brought up. 
 
 [5] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 As I look back over the intervening half cen- 
 tury, I am not now sorry that some influence 
 came into my life to send me away from home 
 and into a new environment. 
 
 If we can do so, is it not worth while to live 
 for a few years amid traditions that have stood 
 the test of time, to be under good instructors, 
 and to have for our associates some of the 
 choicest young men of the country? Can we 
 live in such company and amid such surround- 
 ings without being better for it? College is a 
 good place in which to correct disagreeable 
 habits, and to discover and wear off the rough- 
 nesses that annoy our friends. Conceit, selfish- 
 ness, rudeness, and other unworthy traits so 
 common in youth, will be taken out of us by 
 Faculty and by classmates, unless we belong 
 with those of whom Solomon would have no 
 hope, even though they be brayed in a mortar. 
 The few years spent in college will enable a 
 young man to get a correct estimate of his 
 own ability. How is he to know himself until 
 he has had a chance to take his measure by 
 coming into competition in many ways with 
 other young men? If he rates himself too high 
 or too low, the truth will be revealed to him 
 here. In the days when scholarship was the 
 object of a student's ambition, there were 
 
OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 probably men in every class who came expect- 
 ing in due time to wear a Phi Beta Kappa key, 
 but whose names were found in the lowest 
 division when the class was arranged according 
 to scholarship. There are many examples, 
 also, where, under the stimulus of good instruc- 
 tion, unexpected ability has been discovered, 
 perhaps in some special branch, and a good or 
 even high scholar has been developed out of one 
 who never gave evidence of superiority in the 
 school. It often happens that one becomes a 
 specialist in a field wholly unknown to him 
 before he entered college. 
 
 A liberal education is a good investment for 
 any young man who desires it, if he has the 
 health, the ability, and the means to obtain it, 
 no matter what occupation he may afterward 
 choose. It should give him a clearer view of 
 the purpose of life, a higher ideal of manhood, 
 a broader culture, a better social standing, a 
 love of books, and a capacity to appreciate the 
 best things. But college is no place for one 
 who is a stranger to moral principles, or who 
 is constitutionally lazy, or who has a positive 
 dislike for mental effort. If he cannot, or will 
 not, get interested in his studies, it is the part 
 of wisdom to turn to some other occupation. 
 There is not only no profit, but there is no real 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 pleasure in the college life where there is not 
 the consciousness of increasing mental attain- 
 ment. 
 
 It costs a good sum to go to college, and it 
 takes four valuable years of a life which is short 
 at best. But if you are fond of study, and have 
 shown in the school good natural ability, and 
 if you have the ambition and purpose to be a 
 man of influence among men and to do some- 
 thing more than work under the supervision of 
 others, a thorough college training ought to 
 help you. If you enter a profession by a short 
 course, you will soon be aware that the greater 
 part of your professional brethren are college- 
 trained men, and with these you can hardly 
 expect to compete on equal terms. If without 
 further education you turn toward business, you 
 may find by and by, if you ever become an appli- 
 cant for some high position, that among the 
 other applicants are college men with business 
 experience, whose mental training has been 
 better than yours, and that one of these is more 
 likely to get the place. It is of course possible 
 that you may get some special training in busi- 
 ness which will give you an advantage over the 
 college man, but the probability is that you will 
 not. 
 
 A very successful high school teacher once 
 
 [8] 
 
OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 expressed to me the opinion that where the 
 public schools furnish preparation for college 
 without cost to the parent, many boys of only 
 average ability and in limited circumstances are 
 encouraged to go to college, who can never 
 succeed in any of the professions for which this 
 training is supposed to be a preparation. 
 There are, it is true, graduates who never get 
 a pecuniary return from their college educa- 
 tion sufficient to justify its cost to themselves 
 and their parents; but is not this, in most 
 cases, because they are ambitious to obtain 
 positions which they have not the ability to 
 fill? v When a ll professions are crowded, not 
 every man with a bachelor's degree can expect 
 to secure a large number of clients or patients, 
 or to receive a call to a wealthy church or an 
 appointment as teacher on a high salary. It 
 is not likely, however, that any earnest boy of 
 good ability will make a mistake in getting as 
 much education as his circumstances will allow. 
 If the college graduate is willing to take hold 
 of any kind of work for which he is adapted, 
 there is no reason why he should not do it 
 better than he would have done if he had fin- 
 ished his book education when he left the high 
 school; and he ought to have, all his life long, 
 the higher enjoyment which comes from years 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 spent in the development of powers which would 
 otherwise have remained dormant. He may 
 have less success as a money-getter, but the 
 object of a college is not to fit its graduates 
 to earn large salaries. 
 
 The ambition of fathers to have their sons' 
 social position better than their own often 
 brings boys to college who have little fondness 
 for intellectual pursuits, and no desire to get 
 anything out of college except a good time and 
 a diploma. I would not say that such sons 
 ought not to come, if they can meet the require- 
 ments for admission. Many of them, to be 
 sure, make only a short stay, but some, perhaps 
 one half, continue and are graduated. If they 
 can be trained to habits of regularity, and can 
 be made to do work thorough enough to keep 
 a safe standing, they will be much better men 
 for the experience; and the probability is that 
 before they reach the end of the course, the 
 spirit of the place will possess some of them 
 and give them an ambition to do something in 
 the world worthy of their opportunities. 
 
 It is entirely correct to say that no youth is 
 old enough to leave home safely till he has been 
 thoroughly grounded in right principles. Some 
 are never old enough to be trusted away from 
 home. They will not, when fifty, have the 
 [10] 
 
OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 strength of character sufficient to go without 
 a guardian in the midst of temptation. But 
 the youth who has been well brought up, and 
 who has a serious purpose, will find at college 
 the influences that will develop the good that 
 there is in him. If he is to leave home and live 
 among others of his age, I know of no place 
 where there are more safeguards against temp- 
 tation and where the influences are better. 
 
 A young man who is ambitious for higher 
 education need not lose heart because his means 
 are limited. In almost all colleges there are 
 tuition scholarships for those who need them, 
 and show themselves worthy, and prizes for 
 those who have the ability to win them. If one 
 is in real need, he should not hesitate to explain 
 his circumstances fully to his class officer or to 
 the person in charge of the beneficiary funds; 
 but it is not desirable for him to make direct 
 application for one of the larger undergraduate 
 scholarships which are assigned by the Faculty 
 for special excellence of character and attain- 
 ment. The fact that he thinks himself worthy 
 of it might itself be taken as evidence that he is 
 not quite the man whom the donor had in mind. 
 
 A student who is willing to do any kind of 
 work that is honorable can generally find ways 
 of earning money. He may not be able to see 
 
 [iij 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 his way clearly for many weeks ahead, but if 
 he is made of the right stuff, it is not likely 
 that he will have to leave on account of lack 
 of means. Such men are often the ones who 
 come out strongest in the end. They have so 
 much more to do than their classmates that 
 they learn to economize their time and to work 
 rapidly. As I have watched the development 
 in mind and character of those who have been 
 self-supporting, I have often said: "Blessed is 
 the student who has to work his way, who 
 knows the value of money from his own expe- 
 rience, and who appreciates his opportunities 
 because he knows what they cost." I do not 
 think a man is less esteemed by his classmates 
 because he is self-supporting, or that he has 
 less chance of social recognition than he would 
 have with a modest allowance from home. An 
 election to a fraternity is not really an honor 
 unless it comes unsought. If you fail to 
 receive honors of this kind because you have 
 not had time to know your class and be known 
 by them, do not think your college life a failure. 
 You have gained by your hard experience what 
 may be worth more to you in the years to come. 
 A young man who earns his way in college, 
 wholly or in part, gets a kind of practical 
 business training which will be valuable to him 
 [12] 
 
OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 later, whatever his vocation may be. But to 
 do full college work, and at the same time earn 
 enough to pay one's whole expenses, is ordi- 
 narily too great a tax on health and is not to 
 be recommended. 
 
 You do not need to be told that success in 
 college depends much on good preparation. 
 You go to your school to prepare for the 
 examination which assures you the certificate 
 of admission. Throughout all the school years 
 you have always this definite end in view. 
 Whatever else your teachers may do for you 
 (and they ought to do much besides), you 
 expect them to prepare you to meet any test 
 set by any exanfiners. It is best, therefore, to 
 go to a school where the discipline is severe and 
 the moral standard high. But you must be 
 honest with yourself, and not try to shine with 
 borrowed light. It is vastly more important 
 that you should learn how to study, and that 
 you should abstain from the use of all helps, 
 than that you should take a high rank in the 
 school. You must learn how to take hold of a 
 piece of work at the right end. You must 
 become accurate in your statements and be able 
 to retain in mind, and have at command, the 
 knowledge that you will need in your tests for 
 admission to the higher institution. A vague 
 [13] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 idea that you once knew something about a 
 subject will not help you more in an examina- 
 tion for admission than it would in the practice 
 of your profession. In answer to a question of 
 Professor James Hadley relating to a certain 
 period of Greek history, a candidate for admis- 
 sion to Yale once made substantially this reply : 
 "I remember that somebody did something 
 during that period, but I cannot recall who it 
 was, or when it was, and I have also forgotten 
 what he did and where he did it." 
 
 If you have ability and the advantages of a 
 good school, you should be prepared to enter 
 college when about seventeen. For one who 
 wishes to get the most out of his college life, it 
 is generally unwise to begin it earlier. But if 
 you are kept back by unfavorable circum- 
 stances, it is better to enter several years later 
 than to come poorly prepared. 
 
 It is unwise to enter college with deficient 
 preparation. This is often attempted, for the 
 sake of economy, by students who are under 
 the necessity of earning money with which to 
 pay their college expenses, but these are the 
 very ones who cannot afford to run the risk. 
 Suppose such a student, for some urgent reason, 
 were allowed to enter the Freshman class with 
 a year's deficiency. He must during Fresh- 
 [14] 
 
OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 man year do practically three years' work in 
 one. He has, first, the regular studies of 
 Freshman year to complete; second, the year's 
 deficiency in preparation to make up; and, 
 third, in addition, the task of supporting him- 
 self. Any one of these is all that is expected 
 of a young man of his age, who does nothing 
 else. This unreasonable burden keeps him from 
 taking a creditable rank in scholarship, allows 
 him no time to become acquainted with his 
 classmates or for outside activities, and is very 
 likely to leave him with impaired health, though 
 the results of over-work may not immediately 
 appear. In addition, there is the strong proba- 
 bility that he will have to take, after all, an 
 extra year of college work in order to get his 
 degree. There are indeed cases of men some- 
 what mature, who have entered seriously defi- 
 cient in preparation and have nevertheless made 
 creditable records. The regularity and indus- 
 try necessary for them at the beginning of the 
 college course became fixed habits, and they 
 grew steadily in strength from year to year. 
 But these are not to be taken as examples by 
 younger men who have had better advantages. 
 For one with many deficiencies, it is better on 
 all accounts to wait and enter a year or more 
 later, well prepared. 
 
 [15] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 An added year often makes a great change 
 in a young man's ability to do intellectual 
 work. Many years ago, when no one was 
 allowed to join the Freshman class in Yale 
 College till all conditions were made up, I 
 repeatedly examined a candidate who seemed 
 to me extremely dull. Regularly every Sat- 
 urday for many weeks he came to my room to 
 go through the form of an examination. I felt 
 so sure that if he ever got in, he could not stay 
 more than one term, that I was several times 
 on the point of urging him to give up the 
 attempt and go home, but decided that the 
 responsibility was with him and with his father. 
 He finally removed his deficiencies, but so late 
 in the season that he stayed out and entered 
 the Freshman class at the beginning of the 
 next college year. Then he disappointed me 
 altogether. He developed slowly, but soon did 
 quite satisfactorily in his daily recitations and 
 still better in the term examination. Instead 
 of being dropped at the end of the first term, 
 as I had predicted, he had a fairly good grade 
 in all of his studies. That unpromising candi- 
 date became a Phi Beta Kappa man, and an 
 ofiicer of his class, and was socially prominent. 
 
 Unless one expects to save a year in college, 
 it is generally a waste of time to come over- 
 [16] 
 
OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 prepared. When he is fully ready to enter, 
 why should he take another year in school? 
 The result often is that he finds the work of the 
 extra school year too easy and forms loose 
 habits of study, of which it will be hard for 
 him to rid himself in the years which follow. 
 If a young man in good health, and old enough 
 to enter, has a year to spare, it can be used to 
 much better advantage after graduation, in 
 general culture, travel, or extra work in the 
 professional school. 
 
 Little need be said about the choice of a col- 
 lege. If the father is a college man, it adds to 
 the enjoyment of both to have the son follow 
 in his father's footsteps. I have never been 
 sorry that I was guided by the advice of my 
 pastor, who said that a boy brought up in the 
 country should go to a city college, and that 
 a boy brought up in the city should go to a 
 college in a country town. Large colleges and 
 small both have their advantages. While a 
 bright boy in a small college does not gain as 
 much by measuring himself with others, all or 
 most of whom are his inferiors, the competition 
 in a large college may dishearten a boy of only 
 average ability, and he may lose his ambition. 
 If the college is small, you will have a better 
 chance for leadership and for social recogni- 
 [17] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 tion; if it is large, you will be less limited in 
 your choice of associates and friends, because 
 there are so many to choose from, but you may 
 not make a wise use of these opportunities. I 
 may be wrong, but I do not believe that, unless 
 the coUege is unusually small, there is any pref- 
 erence for one over the other on the ground 
 of close relations between Faculty and students ; 
 that depends mainly on the spirit of the men 
 who teach and the attitude of individual stu- 
 dents toward the Faculty. As you can go 
 through college but once, it is wise to choose 
 the institution which will give you the best prep- 
 aration for life. When you are a graduate, 
 you will, of course, be loyal to the college of 
 your choice, but you will take greater satisfac- 
 tion if that is one which has a world-wide 
 reputation, and there are manifest advantages 
 in being connected with a college that has a 
 large body of alumni. One should give up the 
 idea, if he ever had it, that attendance at any 
 college is going to fit him for life, as a tailor 
 fits him with a suit of clothes. Let him get all 
 he can from teachers, from good companion- 
 ship, and from . the traditions of the place ; 
 these are valuable helps, but they are helps 
 only. The real good comes from the work he 
 does himself. Many who have educated them- 
 [18] 
 
OPPORTUNITIES . 
 
 selves without the help of schools and colleges 
 have proved well-fitted to hold the most respons- 
 ible positions. Every educated man is self- 
 educated. There are few colleges so poor that 
 an earnest student cannot find in them oppor- 
 tunity for sound mental training, and none so 
 good that a man without purpose cannot abuse 
 its privileges and make a complete failure. 
 
 It is a long step from the Senior class in 
 school to the Freshman class in college. With 
 excusable pride, you will look a great many 
 times at your name in the catalogue of the col- 
 lege which has been honored and loved by so 
 many generations of educated men, and with 
 some feeling of humility you will be often 
 reminded that there is no class in the whole 
 institution lower than your own. The advance- 
 ment brings with it much responsibility. In the 
 school, your teachers have decided for you what 
 subjects you should pursue, and have taught 
 you how to study. If you have come from a 
 good school, they have looked after your health 
 and physical development, have wisely sur- 
 rounded you with safeguards against tempta- 
 tions to idleness and dishonesty, and have 
 taught you how to lay the foundations of an 
 upright character. They have made it their 
 aim so to guide you that you should be self- 
 [19] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 dependent when you are no longer in their care. 
 In college, you will have a degree of freedom 
 from supervision which you have not yet 
 known. It will be assumed that you are a man. 
 The responsibility of deciding many important 
 questions will fall mainly upon you. The col- 
 lege will advise you, as the school has hereto- 
 fore done, but it will not, and ought not to, 
 decide your questions for you. Your own 
 development as a strong and independent man 
 requires that you be self-reliant, use your own 
 judgment, and make your own choices. You 
 will have to meet your engagements regularly 
 and promptly, and must do well the amount of 
 work required of you; but the college will not 
 dictate to you how to divide your time between 
 study and recreation, or how to occupy the 
 time not needed for strictly college work. You 
 will be held responsible for the faithful per- 
 formance of your duties as a student; but, as 
 long as you do not neglect these, if you conduct 
 yourself as a worthy member of the community, 
 you will have as much freedom as any good 
 citizen has. 
 
 Do not undervalue the advantage of coming 
 
 under the personal influence of the men that 
 
 make up the Faculty. They have been selected 
 
 for their positions with great care, some because 
 
 [20] 
 
OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 of their skill in scientific investigation, some 
 because of special qualifications as instructors, 
 but all because of their ability to train young 
 men in the process of education. It will be one 
 of your great privileges to know them and feel 
 the inspiration of their personality. If you are 
 a good student, you will before you graduate 
 count some of your instructors among your 
 best friends, and their friendly interest in you 
 will continue long after the close of your stu- 
 dent days. I do not know any class of men, 
 anywhere, in whose sincerity and integrity 
 and fitness for their positions I have more 
 confidence. 
 
 The Faculty are, like the weather, subject 
 to much unfavorable and unjust criticism. 
 Fathers generally seem to think that the fault 
 is with the Faculty if their sons form bad habits 
 or fail in their studies. If the college loses in 
 debate, the Faculty are criticized by the public 
 for poor instruction; if it loses in baseball and 
 football, they are criticized by the students 
 and the alumni for lack of sympathy with ath- 
 letics. It seems to be student nature to blame 
 the Faculty when anything goes wrong with 
 the college. The most of us think we can do 
 another man's business better than he does it, 
 and he probably thinks the same regarding us; 
 [21] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 but it is reasonable to suppose that men who 
 are devoting their lives to the study of educa- 
 tional problems should understand better how 
 to manage an institution of learning than those 
 who are only undergraduate students in the 
 institution. When tempted to say hard things 
 about your instructors, stop a moment and 
 think how much they have to put up with in 
 you. Loyalty to the college should lead the 
 student to co-operate heartily with the Faculty 
 for the common good. Courtesy, as well as 
 duty, demands that he submit cheerfully to 
 their authority. Whatever he may think of 
 their rules, it is his place to obey them. He 
 promised this when he was received into the fel- 
 lowship of the college, and the only honorable 
 course is to live up to the promise in a manly 
 way, or withdraw quietly and go to some other 
 institution. 
 
 The first year in college generally determines 
 the character of one's whole course. If you 
 could look up the early history of graduates 
 who have attained distinction in their profes- 
 sions or in public life, you would find that they 
 were mostly men of regular habits, and con- 
 scientious, diligent students in Freshman year. 
 They may not have shown unusual ability at 
 first, but they were honorable men and hard 
 [22] 
 
OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 workers. Bad habits of study in Freshman 
 year are seldom overcome, and a false standard 
 of morals then is likely to be maintained to the 
 end; if it is not, it will give one a reputation 
 which it is hard to live down. 
 
 There are about six hundred universities, col- 
 leges, and schools of technology in the United 
 States, that offer their privileges to any young 
 man, without regard to creed, race, or color, 
 who can satisfy the requirements for admission. 
 The greater part of these have been founded 
 and built up by gifts from private individuals; 
 some have been established by state authority. 
 The endowment and equipment represent a vast 
 amount of capital; yet in state institutions 
 instruction is given to the children of the state 
 without payment of tuition, and in most others, 
 expenses are made light for those who are with- 
 out means. Even where full tuition is paid, it 
 does not cover more than one-half of the actual 
 cost of the student's instruction. Why are 
 these opportunities offered so freely to all who 
 are qualified to make use of them? The pur- 
 pose is to train young men in mind and char- 
 acter for public service and for good citizen- 
 ship, that their lives may be a contribution to 
 the general welfare. 
 
 Talking one day with a graduate about the 
 [28] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 Chinese students in American colleges, I called 
 his attention especially to their excellent schol- 
 arship. He said : "But you must remember that 
 the Chinese students are all picked men"; to 
 which I replied with the question: "Are not all 
 college students picked men?" There are not 
 less than seven millions of young men in the 
 United States between the ages of seventeen 
 and twenty-four. What a small part of these 
 have the advantages which you are enjoying! 
 You have been selected for this great privilege, 
 first, by inheritance. Perhaps it was your 
 fortune to be born in a family that could afford 
 to send you to a good school and then to supply 
 your wants in college. Perhaps, instead of 
 wealth, you have inherited, what is far better, 
 the indomitable spirit which will help you to 
 make your way anywhere. If you are already 
 in college, you have been selected also by the 
 tests through which you have passed in the 
 school and in the examination for admission, 
 by which at least one-half of those who seek to 
 enter are left somewhere by the wayside. Much, 
 therefore, ought to be expected of you. You 
 have no right to use for selfish ends these oppor- 
 tunities, that persons unknown to you have sup- 
 plied and which the vast majority of young men 
 cannot have. You are, in a certain sense, a 
 [24] 
 
OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 representative of the public, chosen from among 
 the young men of the country, that you may 
 be prepared, in great part at the expense of 
 others, for some service which you are to 
 render to your fellow men. 
 
 [26] 
 
n 
 
 THE MAIN PURPOSE 
 
A real education must be based on a serious, consecu- 
 tive, progressive study of something definite, teachable, 
 and hard. — Paul Shorey. 
 
 Thinking is learned by thinking. — President Thwing. 
 
 Providence has nothing good or high in store for one 
 who does not resolutely aim at something high and good. 
 A purpose is the eternal condition of success. 
 
 —T. T. Hunger. 
 
 The men who leave their mark upon the world are 
 men who, when it comes to a real conflict between pur- 
 pose and pleasure, care more for the former than for the 
 latter. — President Hadley. 
 
 Our grand business is not to see what lies dimly at a 
 distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. — Carlyle. 
 
 The rising generation should think hard and feel 
 keenly just where the men and women who constitute 
 the actual human world are thinking and feeling most 
 today. — President Eliot. 
 
 He only is a well-made man who has a good determi- 
 nation. — Emerson. 
 
 Books are lifelong friends, whom we come to love and 
 know as we do our children. — S. L. Boardman. 
 
n 
 
 THE MAIN PURPOSE 
 
 When, at the close of the Senior year, you 
 look back upon your college days, you will 
 appreciate the advantages that have come to 
 you from the social life of the college and from 
 the part you have taken in athletics or in any 
 other outside activities. But nothing will then 
 gratify you so much as a consciousness of intel- 
 lectual growth and the knowledge that you can 
 do more and better work than you could have 
 done four years earlier. If you find that you 
 have made little or no intellectual progress, you 
 will then appreciate the loss, your regret will 
 be sincere, and will increase with the passing 
 years. Much as there is that is valuable out- 
 side the class-room, the real object of your 
 going to college is to study, to come under 
 the intellectual stimulus of the scholars and 
 teachers that make up the Faculty, and to get 
 the mental training and culture that result 
 from doing what they require. 
 
 Men fail in college, as elsewhere, who do not 
 have before them a definite plan. Where there 
 is no plan, there is no incentive to achievement 
 [29] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 and little is accomplished. The first question, 
 then, is, What have you come to college for? 
 Your present ambition as a student is perhaps 
 to rank high in scholarship and wear a Phi Beta 
 Kappa key, or to win a place on the editorial 
 board of some college publication, or to become 
 qualified to represent the college in debate; 
 these aims are all highly commendable, but none 
 of them should be considered an end in itself. 
 If your main purpose is for college success only, 
 then you may not be getting the most possible 
 from your opportunities. There ought to be 
 back of all a plan of life, a settled purpose 
 which looks out into the future, to keep you 
 strong and steady, and enable you to see things 
 in their right light. The important considera- 
 tion is, not how you stand with the Faculty or 
 with your fellows, though you ought to stand 
 well with both, but rather how you will stand 
 in your profession twenty years hence; and, 
 as far as mental equipment goes, that will 
 depend less on your published grade of scholar- 
 ship, or the honors which you take in college, 
 than on your methods of study. It is better 
 not to win scholarship honors than to win them 
 by selecting your courses and preparing your 
 lessons solely with that end in view. It is better 
 not to make the debating team than to make it 
 [30] 
 
THE MAIN PURPOSE 
 
 by getting some one else to do your thinking 
 for you. 
 
 For the four years in college your aim should 
 be to come to the close of the college course 
 prepared to take up the work which will await 
 you, with strong confidence in your ability to 
 do it well. In all your plans during this period, 
 that is the main purpose to keep in view. To 
 gain this end, you will need to go out from col- 
 lege with a well-disciplined mind, a body 
 capable of much endurance, and a character in 
 which the world puts faith. 
 
 The chief object of a college education is 
 not to store the mind with knowledge. It is 
 quite possible for a man to have a great deal 
 of information, without the ability to make 
 use of it. A mind full of facts, but untrained, 
 has been compared to a house into which the 
 furniture of half a village has been thrown on 
 an alarm of fire. In its crowded and disordered 
 condition, it is of as little use to the owner as 
 if it were empty. The amount of knowledge 
 on every important subject is so great that it 
 would be impossible for the mind to retain it, 
 and a waste of energy to try to retain it even 
 if it were possible. To be well equipped in his 
 profession, a man must know where to go for 
 any material in his special line which it becomes 
 [81] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 necessary for him to have, and he must know 
 also how to make use of it. If he has at com- 
 mand only what he retains in mind, he is out 
 of the race, in competition with one trained to 
 a right use of his materials. 
 
 Many years ago, when an examination in 
 geography was required for admission to Yale, 
 and when American boys knew less about the 
 Philippines than they know now, a candidate 
 found this question on his paper: "Through 
 what bodies of water would you sail in going 
 from London to Manila ?" He wrote : "I would 
 sail down to the Straits of Gibraltar, enter the 
 Mediterranean, go through the Suez Canal into 
 the Red Sea, and then — ^inquire." He did not 
 know enough to satisfy the examiner, but he 
 had as much knowledge of the subject as would 
 be needed for almost any other purpose. There 
 are plenty of books and maps in the world, and 
 it is not necessary for one who has no present 
 intention of going outside the limits of his 
 native country to burden his mind with all the 
 details of all possible voyages which could be 
 made to the ends of the earth. The necessary 
 thing is that he should know how to get the 
 information when he needs it. Except for edu- 
 cational or other special purposes, it is foolish 
 to attempt to fill the mind with material that 
 [32] 
 
THE MAIN PURPOSE 
 
 can e«wily be obtained from books of reference. 
 Secretary Bayard, noticing the kind of ques- 
 tions set for a civil service examination, 
 remarked that he should not wish to have in his 
 office a man who knew the population of all the 
 countries of Europe. 
 
 I would not underestimate the value of the 
 knowledge that may be gained in the class- 
 room. One cannot devote four years of his 
 early manhood to an intelligent pursuit of the 
 subjects now offered in the course of study of 
 an American college without acquiring inci- 
 dentally a great deal of information that may 
 be valuable in after life. Whatever seems to 
 him likely to prove valuable, either later in col- 
 lege or in the years that follow, he should aim 
 to store up ; and, as the mind unaided will retain 
 but a small part of what it receives, it is impor- 
 tant that he learn how to arrange his material, 
 by the emplo3rment of modem devices, so that 
 he can readily refer to it, should occasion 
 require. He may not have as much occasion 
 as he now supposes to use the knowledge here 
 gained, but he should learn how to arrange it 
 systematically, expecting to make use of it. 
 
 But the important object before you in col- 
 lege is mental training. You should select 
 your courses with so much care, and do your 
 [88] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 work in such a way that when you graduate 
 you will know how to take up intelligently any 
 new subject and readily master it. When you 
 have acquired this power, you may rightly be 
 called educated, whether you obtained the edu- 
 cation in a university or in the training of prac- 
 tical experience. 
 
 At the present day, the college student is 
 called upon to select a part or all of his courses, 
 generally with important limitations in the ear- 
 lier years. Some institutions wisely arrange 
 the studies in groups, all the subjects in each 
 group being fixed. If it were possible to group 
 the studies so that each student could be 
 required to take what he needs, this would be 
 better for him than freedom of choice among 
 many courses. When he selects his own courses 
 with but little restriction, the temptation is 
 often too great to take those that are easy, 
 or that furnish information and entertainment 
 only; and even when he desires to get the 
 courses that are best for him, without regard 
 to their difficulty, and has a general idea of 
 what he needs, it is by no means easy for him 
 to make a wise selection. He knows to some 
 extent what he may gain by continuing sub- 
 jects already begun, but of the value of those 
 new to him he is in a poor condition to judge. 
 [34] 
 
THE MAIN PURPOSE 
 
 Of the methods employed in them he generally 
 knows only what other students tell him. The 
 number of courses open to him is often large, 
 and from the many which he wishes, he can 
 select only a few. He is limited, also, in his 
 choice by the schedule of recitations, on which 
 he often finds that two or more courses which 
 he wishes to take come at the same hour. The 
 result is that many delay their selection till the 
 last day allowed, and then make up the list, 
 influenced by what their companions have 
 taken. This is not worthy of being called a 
 choice, and is likely to be followed by a desire 
 for change as soon as the list has been handed 
 in. 
 
 To learn to decide important questions 
 wisely is part of a young man's education. He 
 will make mistakes at first, and these will teach 
 him caution; but the need of caution will not 
 be properly impressed upon him if he is not 
 required to adhere to his decisions. When a 
 student is allowed to select his studies, he ought 
 to feel responsible for the choice after it is 
 made, and under obligation to justify it by 
 showing an interest in the studies which he has 
 selected. If he finds a course more difficult 
 than he expected, he should put forth more 
 effort. To think of giving it up because it is 
 [85] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 difficult, or because he does not like it, will 
 weaken the will power; to stick to it, with a 
 determination to succeed, will make a stronger 
 man. It will be worth a great deal to any one 
 to learn early not to make a decision till he 
 has taken time to convince himself that it is 
 wise, and to feel bound by the decision when 
 it is made, though to do so may involve per- 
 sonal hardship. If this becomes his practice, 
 men wiU know just where he stands. 
 
 You should select your courses so as to get 
 a good all-round education, with a broad and 
 solid foundation of academical studies on which 
 to build your future work. Under the old 
 system of required courses, the Faculty con- 
 structed the curriculum mostly of subjects 
 which they considered best for mental disci- 
 pline, and the colleges turned out strong men. 
 In the choice of studies you should select those 
 that require a reasonable amount of hard work. 
 Too easy courses waste one's time, and a very 
 difficult schedule may demand more than it is 
 wise for a student under twenty to undertake. 
 If I were to make up your schedule for you, I 
 should select for the first two years studies that 
 have much disciplinary value, as mathematics, 
 science, and the ancient and modern languages, 
 and leave the so-called culture studies for the 
 [36] 
 
THE MAIN PURPOSE 
 
 two final years. You will be much better quali- 
 fied to appreciate and enjoy these maturer 
 studies in Junior and Senior years, and you 
 need the discipline of the languages and the 
 more exact sciences first. In general, no one 
 ought to graduate from college without a good 
 knowledge of English, Latin, mathematics, 
 French, German, history, political science, 
 philosophy, and some of the physical and nat- 
 ural sciences. What I learned in physics and 
 astronomy has contributed to my life so much 
 that has been helpful and interesting that I 
 cannot think of a college course as complete 
 without them. I had also a great deal of 
 Greek and Latin. It seems to me worth while 
 for the student of good ability to spend time 
 in the study of these two ancient civilizations, 
 from which we have derived the highest ideals 
 in art and literature, and the foundations of 
 law and government. Greek and Latin have 
 been taught so long and so well that, in the 
 best schools, a boy can get a more thorough 
 preparation for college in them than in most 
 other subjects. The translation of the best 
 works in these languages into good idiomatic 
 prose affords excellent training in English, 
 and the constant practice of weighing different 
 views and interpretations, each of which may 
 [87] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 be defended, and of choosing the one which 
 seems best, improves the judgment. The study 
 of Greek and Latin is the best preparation for 
 many other subjects taken up in college or in 
 the professional and graduate schools. But the 
 advantage of the study of the ancient lan- 
 guages, or indeed of any language or of any 
 subject, is lost in great measure when one 
 begins to use helps in preparing for recitations 
 and examinations. 
 
 There are some men on the Faculty whose 
 instruction you will want, no matter what 
 courses they offer. The personal influence of 
 the man back of the course, and his methods, 
 will be worth so much that no substitute will 
 quite compensate for their loss. Between two 
 courses that seem equally desirable, it is better 
 to select one that, because it requires the aid 
 of instructor or laboratory, must be taken in 
 college or not at all, in preference to the one 
 which you can read up outside. 
 
 The Faculty will no doubt see to it that at 
 the beginning of each year some of your courses 
 naturally follow those already taken, so that a 
 due proportion of your studies may be con- 
 secutive and progressive. Otherwise you might 
 spend too much time on work that is purely 
 elementary, and get a thorough training in 
 [38] 
 
THE MAIN PURPOSE 
 
 nothing. A student should have one subject 
 in which he does the best work of which he is 
 capable, not limiting his attainments in it by 
 what his instructors demand, but learning, as 
 far as is possible for him, all there is to be 
 known about it, making it a favorite pursuit 
 and keeping up his interest in it after leaving 
 college. If it is something entirely outside his 
 profession, it may continue to be a helpful 
 stimulus, as well as a pleasant mental recrea- 
 tion, all through life. Every man needs some 
 such avocation to call his thoughts away from 
 his regular duties, and he will get more satis- 
 faction from it if the foundations have been 
 laid in college, under the guidance of an enthu- 
 siastic teacher. 
 
 An early choice of one's profession will help 
 a student somewhat in the selection of his 
 courses for Junior and Senior years. Pros- 
 pective students of medicine or law or theology 
 can generally select courses that will be helpful 
 to them in the professional school. The surest 
 way to make the right choice here is to get the 
 advice of the dean of the school where one 
 intends to pursue his professional studies. 
 Many courses have been introduced lately, 
 designed in part to give a practical training 
 to any student without regard to his profession, 
 [89] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 but intended also for those who expect to go 
 into business. One who is preparing for busi- 
 ness may choose -with profit courses dealing 
 with money and credit, commerce, transporta- 
 tion, trusts, banking, insurance, the science of 
 government, and hke subjects. 
 
 To secure good results from college work, 
 one must be thoroughly interested in it. He 
 will then study for the love of it, and will not 
 need outside pressure. A strong man is not 
 likely to keep up an interest in courses that 
 are easy. We become interested in things on 
 which we spend time, not in those which require 
 but little attention. The surest way to main- 
 tain a genuine interest in study is to get under 
 stimulating teachers, who are systematic, 
 demand regularity of attendance and hard 
 work, and know how to make things clear, and 
 then to conform strictly to their demands. 
 
 One has advanced a long distance in mental 
 training when he is able to concentrate his 
 attention on a subject which he wishes to 
 investigate. The attention is fixed without 
 difficulty on things that are easy and enter- 
 taining. A boy will read an interesting book, 
 or become engaged in some absorbing game, 
 and be utterly insensible to the flight of time; 
 but as soon as a difficult mental task is set 
 [40] 
 
THE MAIN PURPOSE 
 
 before him, the mind shrinks from the effort 
 and is constantly wandering to other and 
 more congenial subjects. The chief difference 
 between the successful and the unsuccessful 
 man, whatever his occupation, lies in the ability 
 to control the mind. This power will need to 
 be acquired. You will find that you cannot 
 bring your mind under control without much 
 patient effort; but it can be done if you are 
 thoroughly in earnest, and you must learn to 
 do it. When you sit down to study, give your- 
 self wholly to the task before you. Avoid all 
 bodily movements that may tend to distract 
 your thoughts, and let the mind have a chance 
 to work uninterruptedly. If you observe a 
 man when he is intensely absorbed in anything, 
 as at the critical point in a game, or when 
 watching some object in nature, you will see 
 that for the moment he has absolute self- 
 control. An audience of thousands will listen 
 to a fine passage of music in almost perfect 
 silence. Can you not learn to fix your mind 
 on your work to the same degree? When you 
 find your thoughts wandering, resolutely call 
 them back again and hold them as closely as 
 you can to the task till it is completed. Day 
 after day and month after month of this expe- 
 rience will gradually secure control over a 
 
 [41] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 wandering mind. By and by you will find that 
 you can do in one hour what at first required 
 two or three, and it will be better done. Your 
 ability to work rapidly and thoroughly will 
 increase with each succeeding year, until you 
 are able to do the most work in the least time. 
 
 As the body gains its full power by regular 
 and systematic exercise through a long period 
 of years, so the mind is developed by doing its 
 daily tasks patiently and thoroughly. Special 
 efforts put forth occasionally may not be with- 
 out their value, but such mental strain does 
 not properly develop the mind, any more than 
 occasional over-exertion develops the body. It 
 is by doing conscientiously the duties of each 
 day that one acquires the strength which the 
 great occasion demands. 
 
 All work should be done thoroughly, whether 
 one likes it or not; but if any part of it is to 
 be neglected, let it not be the tasks that are 
 irksome. These, above all others, are to be 
 done religiously. In after life, success cannot 
 be attained if one neglects the duties that are 
 disagreeable. It is not so very difficult to get 
 interested in an unwelcome task when one has 
 actually begun it; the hard part is to begin. 
 Because the very thought of it is annoying, 
 you continue to put it off, and keep it out of 
 [42] 
 
THE MAIN PURPOSE 
 
 mind as long as possible. The way to deal 
 with it is to take hold of it first of all. DinUd- 
 ium iacii^ qui ccepit, habet. If, when you 
 have before you several things to do, you take 
 up and finish the most irksome first, the others 
 will seem light and you will have a comfortable 
 satisfaction in place of the cowardly feeling 
 which otherwise would hang over you till the 
 disagreeable duty is done. 
 
 If the work seems to us difficult, let us take 
 hold of it with courage and confidence, and we 
 shall find ourselves stronger than we thought. 
 We do not know whether we are strong or weak 
 till we take up some hard task. The difficulty 
 of it will make it necessary for us to do our 
 best, and we shall then get some idea of what 
 our best is. It is certain that he will never 
 become a strong man who habitually turns 
 aside to avoid things that are difficult. Man 
 has been developed by facing difficulties and 
 overcoming them. In the countries where there 
 are few obstacles to contend with, men are 
 inferior. A life of ease does not produce men 
 of thought and action. If man had always 
 lived in a Garden of Eden, with nothing to do 
 but till the ground and eat of the fruit thereof, 
 he would not have developed the strength, 
 courage, self-reliance, and pertinacity which 
 [48] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 came from subduing a world which brought 
 forth thorns and thistles and on which he ate 
 bread in the sweat of his brow. By doing 
 hard things, we get the strength that will 
 enable us to do things that are yet harder. 
 
 Never urge as an excuse for poor work that 
 your surroundings are unfavorable. Remem- 
 ber how much has been accomplished by those 
 with no early advantages or with bodily 
 infirmities which would have been for most of 
 us sufficient reason for idleness. No surround- 
 ings can be so unfavorable as to keep a young 
 man who has health and ability from making 
 much of himself, if he follows steadfastly an 
 earnest purpose. 
 
 Learn to think for yourself. Do not lean 
 on the support of others. One of the worst 
 evils from using helps in study, aside from the 
 dishonesty of it, is that one loses confidence in 
 his own judgment and does not dare to express 
 an opinion on any subject until it is supported 
 by some one else. A young man takes up in 
 college a certain line of study, which leads to 
 the degree of Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of 
 Philosophy. To prove himself worthy of the 
 degree, he is required to complete a certain 
 amount of class-room work. But the real pur- 
 pose of the college is not that he may accom- 
 [44] 
 
THE MAIN PURPOSE 
 
 plish this amount of work, nor even that he 
 may secure the degree; it is rather, as has 
 already been said, that he may gain the train- 
 iag in mind and character which comes from 
 doing the work. He can have this training 
 only by doing the work himself. If, therefore, 
 he gets it done for him and then presents it as 
 his own, he is defeating the object for which, 
 often at great sacrifice to his family, he is 
 spending in college the best years of his life. 
 Instead of developing into a strong man, he 
 is growing weaker in character and intellectual 
 power from year to year, and may be really 
 less fitted to take up the serious business of life 
 at the end of his course than he was at the 
 beginning. There is a certain satisfaction in 
 having done one's work well, which more than 
 compensates for all the hard struggles and 
 self-denial involved in doing it well, and the 
 joy that comes with the consciousness that 
 one's mental powers are growing stronger is 
 like the joy of existence in a perfectly healthy 
 body. 
 
 There is not the slightest ground for think- 
 ing that mental training may be lightly 
 regarded by students who plan to enter busi- 
 ness. A capable business man is not developed 
 by doing things that require no thought. In 
 [45] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 more recent years, there has been a steadily 
 increasing demand for college men in business. 
 It was once believed that if a boy was marked 
 out for a business career, college for him would 
 mean a waste of time; but a college graduate, 
 who has reaUy earned his diploma by hard 
 work, has had just the discipline which will 
 enable him to succeed in modern business. It 
 is not the possession of a diploma that makes 
 his services valuable, but the hard work which 
 he did in order to get the diploma. It is true 
 that he must be willing to begin where his 
 untrained brother began ; but the man who has 
 learned to concentrate his attention on one 
 subject and who knows how to take hold of a 
 new problem as a rule soon outstrips his com- 
 panion who decided to enter business without 
 collegiate study, and within one or two decades 
 has ten chances for the larger success which 
 every man wishes to achieve, where the un- 
 trained man has one. I would not advise any 
 one to enter upon a college course in order to 
 be better equipped for making money. But 
 for a young man of good sense and business 
 capacity, a mind disciplined by thorough study 
 is a valuable possession, even when estimated 
 wholly from a business point of view. 
 
 In a debating society in a small New Eng- 
 [46] 
 
THE MAIN PURPOSE 
 
 land village a few years since, one question 
 under discussion was: "Which is to be pre- 
 ferred, education or money?" The society 
 decided, I think, that money was to be pre- 
 ferred. There were two boys in the village who 
 became deeply interested in that question, and 
 carefully considered the advantages and dis- 
 advantages of a college course. Both were 
 without means, and in ability and character 
 seemed then not very much unlike. One chose 
 to study and earn his way as best he could, 
 ignoring the thought of making money; the 
 other gave up further study to engage in busi- 
 ness, because it gave promise of a more imme- 
 diate income. These boys met not long ago 
 and compared results. The one who preferred 
 money to education had tried different kinds 
 of employment, each of which he had given up, 
 either because it did not satisfy him or because 
 advancement in it was slow, and he had just 
 taken a new position, in which he was receiving 
 the usual small compensation of a beginner. 
 The boy who preferred education to money 
 was a Junior in college, ranking well in scholar- 
 ship and paying his way by tutoring his class- 
 mates in their studies. His working hours 
 were several times less, yet his monthly income 
 was at least twice as great; and it should be 
 [471 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 remembered that he was devoting the greater 
 part of his time to his college studies and that 
 he took for earning money only the two or 
 three hours each day that he did not need for 
 his regular occupation. His chief compensa- 
 tion was not the sum which was paid him for 
 giving private instruction, but the mental 
 training which he was getting in college. It 
 does not follow, of course, that, if the young 
 man who chose to study adopts teaching as a 
 profession, the other who chose business will 
 not have a much greater income within the next 
 ten or twenty years ; nor does it follow that he 
 will. But if both become business men, it is 
 certain enough that the man with the trained 
 mind will be the one to receive steady advance- 
 ment. A student who pays his way in college, 
 and also ranks well in his class, is getting an 
 excellent training for business. 
 
 Your intellectual work should not be limited 
 by the requirements of the class-room, but 
 should include also a good deal of voluntary 
 reading and writing. In the college library is 
 stored as much as the institution is able to 
 gather of the thought of the wisest men, from 
 the earliest time to the present day. This 
 information lies at your command, as far as 
 you are able to make use of it. If you are 
 [48] 
 
THE MAIN PURPOSE 
 
 interested or can get interested in any subject, 
 the opportunity to pursue it is here. There is 
 far less reading of good books in college today 
 than there was fifty years ago, when there was 
 little to read except books, and those mostly 
 good. The over-supply of newspapers and 
 magazines has resulted in the neglect of the 
 library by the average college student, and the 
 percentage is not large of those who read good 
 library books, except upon the requirement of 
 the instructor. 
 
 To know a book thoroughly is to know the 
 author, and here is your opportunity to become 
 acquainted with the good and great of former 
 days. What an influence such an acquaintance 
 has on a young man's life! The great writers 
 have left us in their works the best part of 
 themselves. Shakespeare to us now is not a 
 man who lived three hundred years ago and 
 wrote plays for the stage, but rather a collec- 
 tion of unrivaled literature which bears his 
 name. What matters it to us what his personal 
 history was, when every thinking man has in 
 his own library the collection of literature into 
 which he put his thought? That volume in 
 your library is more truly Shakespeare than 
 the body of flesh which his contemporaries saw. 
 
 The books that you habitually read will be 
 [49] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 an index of your character and purpose. It is 
 wise, therefore, to begin right. As you can 
 read only a Kmited number of books, by all 
 means select the best. Life is too short to waste 
 one's time in reading bad or inferior books, 
 when there are so many which are excellent. 
 One's own self-respect, his regard for his home 
 and the companions and friends who believe in 
 him, should keep him from reading books which 
 are vulgar or immoral, or which border on 
 immorality. Everybody, of course, will read 
 the newspapers for the record of current events, 
 and the magazines to keep up with the progress 
 of the age. In addition, one should also read 
 the books with which every educated man ought 
 to be familiar, including some of the best works 
 of the historians, the biographers, the essayists, 
 the novelists, and especially the poets. With- 
 out the information and culture which such 
 reading affords, you will lack something in your 
 mental equipment which others will notice and 
 of which you will be too well aware. 
 
 Be thorough and systematic in your reading. 
 Read books that make you think, and read 
 them so as to become master of the author's 
 thought. After having read an article or a 
 chapter in a book that interests you, it is good 
 practice to write out the substance of it from 
 [50] 
 
THE MAIN PURPOSE 
 
 memory. Much careless reading lessens one's 
 power to reproduce what he has read. "Look- 
 ing at print," as Charies R. Brown calls such 
 reading, adds nothing to one's knowledge and 
 weakens rather than strengthens the mental 
 grasp. The man who regularly devours the 
 newspaper often cannot recall even a witticism 
 after an hour; much less can he give you the 
 thought of an editorial. 
 
 To become a good writer ought to be a 
 student's ambition. This power is attained 
 only by long and careful practice. The best 
 preparation for writing is thorough study and 
 an extensive and careful reading of good books. 
 It is of httle use to be able to write grammati- 
 cally, and even fluently, if you have nothing to 
 say. The thought may be very simply and 
 plainly stated and still be attractive and com- 
 mand attention. By reading good literature 
 and by practice under the guidance of an 
 instructor, you can acquire a style which is 
 your own ; and your own style is better for you 
 than a style imitated from some one else. 
 
 In the city or town in which your life is to be 
 spent, you will be looked up to as an educated 
 man. Even if you do not care now to become 
 a writer or speaker, you may be called upon 
 then to represent your community, or some 
 [61] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 part of it, in situations where it will be of great 
 advantage to be able to express your opinions 
 intelligently, either on your feet or with your 
 pen. You will wish then to have something to 
 say, and to be able to say it in clear, con- 
 cise and forcible language. Take advantage, 
 therefore, of the opportunities which college 
 now offers, either in the course of study or in 
 the student publications or in the societies, to 
 gain facility in writing and in speaking. You 
 will find few college graduates who will not 
 heartily commend this advice. 
 
 [62] 
 
Ill 
 
 HEALTH, RECREATION, AND 
 EXERCISE 
 
The possession of health should be a matter of hearty, 
 honest pride. I would have one hold himself ashamed 
 who has not a man's share of manly vitality. 
 
 —T. T. Hunger, 
 
 There is more spiritual misery and original sin in 
 imperfect digestion than in most human hearts. 
 
 — President Canfield, 
 
 Misce stultitiam comiliis brevem. — Horace. 
 
 The collegian's standard of purity in his sports should 
 be the highest. — Walter Camp. 
 
 In my school days, my lessons were better got in foot- 
 ball season, when loyalty to the captain compelled me 
 to interrupt the study for the game. 
 
 —Herbert W. Fisher. 
 
 Go forth under the open sky and list to Nature's 
 teaching. — Bryant. 
 
 When on the breath of autumn's breeze. 
 
 From pastures dry and brown. 
 Goes floating like an idle thought 
 
 The fair white thistledown, 
 O then what joy to walk at will 
 
 Upon the golden harvest hill! 
 
 — Mary Hovntt, 
 
in 
 
 HEALTH, RECREATION, AND 
 EXERCISE 
 
 No one expects a college student to devote 
 his time wholly to study. A great deal ought 
 to be gained from college which the class-room 
 cannot supply. There are opportunities for 
 usefulness, for self-improvement, and for enjoy- 
 ment in many directions, some of which will 
 not come again. Every student should include 
 in his plans some regular form of outside 
 activity. The mistake is in allowing this to 
 ab9orb so much attention that it becomes his 
 chief occupation. The youth who excused him- 
 self to the class officer for his low standing on 
 the ground that he had so much to do in ath- 
 letics that he had not time for "outside work" 
 had come to believe, for the moment at least, 
 that his studies were of secondary importance, 
 and that his duties on the team rightfully 
 took precedence of all else. He might have 
 expressed the same view by saying that he did 
 not intend to let his studies interfere with his 
 college work. 
 
 If one enters properly fitted, with good 
 [65] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 health and good habits of study, he can do his 
 class-room work thoroughly and also rapidly, 
 and have left all the time needed for outside 
 activities. There is no good reason why debat- 
 ing, or dramatics, or music, or competition for 
 the college publications, or any form of ath- 
 letics, should interfere with one's studies if he 
 has come with adequate preparation, lives 
 according to some plan, and is not dawdHng 
 when he thinks he is studying. The best 
 scholars in a class are often among the best 
 writers and speakers, and some of the very best 
 athletes have ranked high in scholarship. 
 
 One constant aim of every student should 
 be a healthy physical development. Whatever 
 other things you may sometime possess, these 
 will never be your own in the same sense in which 
 your body is your own. Other possessions you 
 will use and pass on to others. They may be 
 exchanged; they may even be destroyed, and 
 you suffer no real loss. If you do not like your 
 house, you may take it down and build another. 
 But your body is actually your own. It may 
 be strong, or it may have imperfections; but 
 one thing is sure, — it is your body, and you 
 will never have any other. It will be your pos- 
 session till your last day on earth. You may 
 destroy it, but you cannot replace it. When it 
 [56] 
 
HEALTH, RECREATION, EXERCISE 
 
 ceases to act, your place here becomes vacant. 
 As with all material things, the care taken of 
 it (barring accident) determines how long it 
 will last. You may abuse it, and it will break 
 down early ; or you may use it reasonably, and 
 it will last to a good old age. What it will do 
 for you depends not more on inheritance than 
 on care. Indeed, great length of life has 
 sometimes been due to bodily weakness in youth. 
 In my Freshman year I saw President Jere- 
 miah Day occasionally, at morning chapel and 
 at the Sunday religious services. He was then 
 a very old man. In his thirtieth year, when 
 serving as tutor, his health failed and he was 
 forced to abandon his work before entering 
 upon the duties of the professorship to which 
 lie had recently been elected. A fellow tutor 
 wrote to Professor Silliman, then in Phila- 
 delphia: "I have lately heard from Mr. Day. 
 He is no better, but rather worse. Dr. Dwight 
 told me a short time since that he had given up 
 the expectation of ever seeing Mr. Day in the 
 professor's chair. That such a man should be 
 cut off in the very bloom of life is to human 
 eye dark and mysterious." But Mr. Day was 
 not to be cut off in the very bloom of life. 
 From this experience he learned so well how to 
 take care of himself that he added to his life 
 [57] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 more than three score years. He lived to serve 
 the college fourteen years as a professor of 
 mathematics and twenty-nine years as presi- 
 dent ; twenty years after withdrawing from the 
 presidency, he died at the age of ninety-four. 
 Samuel Nott, a graduate of Yale College in 
 1780, was "feeble and sickly when young," but 
 by great care he became strong enough to con- 
 tinue unaided in one pastorate nearly sixty- 
 six years, and died as the result of an acci- 
 dent in his ninety-ninth year. Many similar 
 examples might be given. If men who inherited 
 feeble constitutions could by wise care be active 
 till seventy or eighty, what may not the young 
 man accomplish, by the same care, who has 
 inherited a strong constitution? 
 
 How few years you will have, at best, for 
 3^our life work! You will hardly enter upon it 
 before your thirtieth year; and if you last till 
 three score and ten, there will be left but forty 
 years of activity in your profession. And what 
 are forty years.? Made up of only ten periods, 
 each of the length of the brief course in col- 
 lege ! You will just begin to feel that you have 
 become master of your calling and are ready 
 to do your best work, when the body will begin 
 to show itself unequal to the strain. This is 
 not a reason for entering on your work earlier, 
 [58] 
 
HEALTH, RECREATION, EXERCISE 
 
 before you are mature and well prepared, for 
 that might shorten your period of activity 
 rather than lengthen it; it is rather a reason 
 for taking such care of the body that you may 
 long continue to be active and useful. The 
 vitality of a healthy body gives a man the con- 
 fidence to take up positions of responsibility 
 and the strength to meet successfully the duties 
 and overcome the obstacles which he will have 
 to face. To a college man, health should be the 
 first consideration. It is a question whether 
 it is wise for one without sound health to go to 
 college. While I would not discourage him 
 from making the attempt, I should say, unhesi- 
 tatingly, get health first and college later. 
 
 Whether a man is old or young does not 
 depend altogether upon the number of years 
 since his birth. In reckoning time, the Romans 
 looked forward as well as backward. In its 
 relation to your life and your usefulness, the 
 question of age depends more on the years 
 before than on those behind you. The essential 
 consideration is, how much of your vitality have 
 you used up, and how much have you left? A 
 student who graduates at the age of twenty, 
 with a body enfeebled by overwork, neglect, or 
 dissipation, and unable to resist disease, whose 
 Kfe is not likely to reach out beyond his thirtieth 
 [59] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 or fortieth year, is really older than his class- 
 mate of twenty-eight who has the prospect of 
 being able to do a man's work till he is seventy. 
 When considering a person's age, we always 
 ask, How old is he? i.e., how long since he was 
 born ; a more important question is, How young 
 is he? And this depends at least as much on 
 the years of his Hfe still remaining as on those 
 already spent. If a student in college, with his 
 opportunities to learn about himself and with 
 the equipment and time allowed him for physical 
 development, will give due attention to the laws 
 of health, he may reasonably expect to lengthen 
 his active life by many years and to be a young 
 man at fifty or sixty. 
 
 A man thinks as little as possible about his 
 health till he has lost it. The vigorous youth 
 does not believe that what has happened to 
 others will happen to him. He has a vague 
 idea that he is destined by the fates to a long 
 life, whether he takes any care of himself or 
 not; or he feels strong enough now and cares 
 nothing about the future. He will leave the 
 future to take care of itself. But because you 
 are strong, that is the very reason why you 
 should not dissipate the natural energy that 
 God and nature have given you. You are not 
 wholly your own; you are a part of the best 
 [60] 
 
HEALTH, RECREATION, EXERCISE 
 
 assets of your family, of your town, of the col- 
 lege in which you are being educated. You 
 owe it to all these interests to preserve your 
 body pure and strong for a service as efficient 
 and long as possible. If you have inherited a 
 strong and healthy body, you are under espe- 
 cial obligations to take care of it, as you would 
 of any priceless possession. Yet because you 
 now feel the glow of health, you naturally 
 tliink that no care is necessary, that you can 
 disregard the laws of health, eat and drink 
 what and when and as much as you will, neglect 
 exercise and sleep, and run into any form of 
 excess. You can do this if you choose, but you 
 will sooner or later pay the penalty. Though 
 the penalty be long delayed, it is sure to come, 
 and it will not be light. It is nowhere more true 
 than in matters of health that "the way of the 
 transgressor is hard," and that "whatsoever a 
 man soweth, that shall he also reap." Good 
 health is a birthright too precious to be bar- 
 tered away thoughtlessly. The secret of health 
 for you is simple. It is found in fresh air, pure 
 water, proper exercise, frugal and wholesome 
 diet, and plenty of sleep. If you will make 
 sure of these, and in addition avoid all forms of 
 dissipation and never worry, you will have little 
 occasion to think about your health. 
 [61] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 But one may have physical weaknesses which 
 he does not himself detect, and which, if not 
 corrected, may lead to serious results. The 
 colleges now furnish to the student the oppor- 
 tunity to learn by a physical examination where 
 his body is below the normal standard, and 
 what exercises he should take to strengthen the 
 weaker parts so that he may become a well- 
 developed man. This is a privilege which every 
 one ought gladly to accept. 
 
 Intellectual tasks are harder than physical, 
 and to keep in good condition a man who does 
 hard intellectual work must have recreation; 
 but the recreation must be wholesome and 
 healthful, and it must not be so absorbing as to 
 take the place of the regular occupation. Many 
 people at the present day seem to have adopted 
 recreation as their profession. Some students 
 get a certain degree of relaxation by turning 
 from their daily tasks to another kind of intel- 
 lectual pursuit. The mind, like the body, is 
 rested by change of occupation. But this is 
 not enough. At some time each day, — and if 
 convenient, at the same hour, — throw aside all 
 intellectual work and give yourself up for the 
 time to some exercise that affords entire relaxa- 
 tion. This will bring you back again to your 
 book or pen with your mind fresh and active. 
 [62] 
 
HEALTH, RECREATION, EXERCISE 
 
 Make relaxation a rule. If you try to get on 
 without it, the mind will lose its grip. 
 
 Each must discover for himself what is the 
 best kind of recreation and exercise; one pre- 
 scription will not fit all cases. What is one 
 man's play may be another's work. The man 
 who toils with his hands is rested and refreshed 
 by an evening spent with books, and the student 
 finds relaxation in doing things which are work 
 when done to earn one's living. You find relax- 
 ation in walking about the streets of the city, 
 but the postman does not. The student of 
 seventy years ago sawed wood to earn money, 
 and was satisfied with this for exercise. He 
 felt no need of gymnastics or athletics. But 
 most modern students would hardly accept as 
 a satisfactory form of exercise any kind of 
 activity to which a money value could be 
 affixed, even if it produced as good results. 
 The students of former days were round- 
 shouldered and dyspeptic. The modern forms 
 of exercise and recreation produce better 
 physical development. 
 
 Athletic sports are undoubtedly the best 
 form of physical exercise for most young men, 
 combining healthful activity in the open air 
 with wholesome recreation. They demand that 
 generous rivalry which leads to enthusiastic 
 [68J 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 participation. They teach also courage, self- 
 control, and loyalty, and are most important 
 helps in the development of a strong character. 
 They must not be made the chief interest in 
 college, but should be wisely subordinated to 
 the main purpose of college life. Under the 
 direction of a competent physical adviser, a 
 student should select those forms of indoor and 
 outdoor exercise which are likely to contribute 
 most toward his physical development and the 
 prolongation of an active life. It is quite pos- 
 sible for a young man who is too independent 
 to receive advice to take exercises in the gym- 
 nasium or on the athletic field which may do 
 him great harm. 
 
 In case you seem to have the necessary physi- 
 cal qualifications, you may be asked to try for 
 one or more of the athletic teams. If your 
 body stands the test of a thorough physical 
 examination, and if you are well up in your 
 studies, it may not be unwise to make the trial. 
 If, after long periods of training, you finally 
 succeed, you will have to sacrifice much ; yet, if 
 you can meet the requirements without neglect- 
 ing your studies, the strict discipline to which 
 you will have to submit will be worth all that it 
 costs. But unless you are able and willing to 
 maintain a good rank in scholarship and to 
 [64] 
 
HEALTH, RECREATION, EXERCISE 
 
 keep in strict training, you have no right to 
 compete for a place on an intercollegiate team. 
 You will prove false to the captain and the 
 coaches, as well as to the college, if any defi- 
 ciency for which you alone are responsible pre- 
 vents your playing after so much time and 
 effort have been spent in preparing you for the 
 final contest. If you ever have the honor to 
 represent your college in a championship game 
 or race, you will need all the strength and 
 endurance you have been able to store up. 
 Playing in a hotly contested football game, or 
 pulling in the last half of a close race, is about 
 the furthest thing in the world from recreation. 
 I believe in college athletics when rightly 
 managed, and do not see how any one who has 
 watched the change that has taken place in 
 the manners and morals of students since the 
 introduction of athletic sports could be willing 
 to give them up and go back to things as they 
 were. I do not believe there is any less study 
 in college on account of athletics. The time 
 that was formerly idled away, and the animal 
 spirits that were vented in destruction of prop- 
 erty or in dissipation, are now devoted to ath- 
 letic sports. But it is much to be regretted 
 that the intense interest of the public in inter- 
 collegiate contests has given such contests 
 [65] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 a greatly exaggerated importance; and if the 
 interest of students in college athletics could 
 be maintained without them, it would perhaps 
 be better if intercollegiate contests were given 
 up. It is not putting things in their right 
 proportion when the name of a college athlete 
 of twenty is better known throughout the whole 
 country than that of the head of the institution 
 in which he is a student, or of any man in 
 public life except the President of the United 
 States. 
 
 Both in the general management of athletic 
 sports and in the actual contests on the field 
 and water, all will agree that every participant 
 should on all occasions be a gentleman and show 
 courteous and generous treatment toward his 
 rival. While it is expected that both sides will 
 "play the game for all it is worth," the aim is 
 of course to win only by fair means. The col- 
 lege encourages athletic sports for the exercise 
 and training which they require, and not in 
 order to gain a victory over some rival insti- 
 tution. It is worth something to win, — no one 
 will deny that; but it is worth more to play a 
 clean, aggressive, manly game. It is worth 
 more to learn to bear up bravely under an 
 honorable defeat than it is to win. If defeat 
 comes, take it like men, and give generous 
 [66] 
 
HEALTH, RECREATION, EXERCISE 
 
 praise to the victorious rival. In the inter- 
 collegiate contests forty years ago, the losers 
 often tried to show that they deserved to win. 
 If the contest was on the water, they had been 
 fouled or had broken an oar; sometimes they 
 challenged the victorious crew to row the race 
 over again on the following day, well aware 
 that no attention would be given to such a chal- 
 lenge. If the contest was in baseball, the 
 umpire was unfair or the field poor. One grat- 
 ifying result of several decades of college ath- 
 letics is the commendable spirit now generally 
 shown in defeat. Today the defeated side is 
 expected to accept the result without question, 
 and to admit generously that the best team 
 has won. It is hard to do this, but it is manly. 
 To attempt any other explanation, when the 
 contest has been fairly decided against you, is 
 to act like children. The public generally has 
 no sympathy whatever with the attempt to win 
 by disconcerting the opposing team. The aim 
 should be to win by playing a good game, not 
 by making the other side play poorly. All con- 
 centrated efforts, whether by the team or by 
 its supporters, designed to "rattle" the players 
 on the other side are unworthy of college men, 
 and are generally displeasing to the spectators 
 on both sides. Any close contest will be hard- 
 [67] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 fought, but it must not arouse the spirit of 
 anger or revenge. One of the claims for ath- 
 letic sports is that they train men to self- 
 control under the strongest provocation. 
 
 For those who have not the physical ability 
 or the ambition to make the university team in 
 any of the major or minor sports, there ought 
 to be in the colleges, as there is in many of the 
 best schools, opportunity to engage in the same 
 sports solely for exercise and recreation. Col- 
 lege athletics are rightly criticized because they 
 offer their advantages to the strong only, and 
 do little for the average student. Gymnasiums 
 and athletic fields ought to be administered for 
 the use of those who need them, as well as for 
 the expert athlete and gymnast. Athletic and 
 gymnastic contests between departments, or 
 classes, or dormitories, or scholarship divisions, 
 are to be heartily encouraged. Not much good 
 comes from obliging men to take exercise that 
 they do not like. Whether of simian descent 
 or not, man seems to be by nature a lazy 
 animal, in whose view bodily exercise profiteth 
 little. But it would seem that, amid all the 
 various sports now common, if the opportunity 
 were offered, any young man might find at 
 least one in which he could engage with enthu- 
 siasm and profit. 
 
 r68] 
 
HEALTH, RECREATION, EXERCISE 
 
 For the general purpose of recreation and 
 exercise, there is nothing better for the average 
 student than a brisk walk in the bracing air 
 among the hills or by the seashore, with pleas- 
 ant companions. If you go alone, the thoughts 
 that trouble you at other times will trouble 
 you then. Have something interesting to see, 
 talk about your plans for life, and avoid dis- 
 cussion of subjects on which you disagree. 
 Cast away care and go simply to have a good 
 time. 
 
 An experience of over forty years has made 
 me a firm believer in light gymnastics for a 
 busy man, or for one who cannot take more 
 vigorous exercise. I began life with a weak 
 constitution, and at the time of graduation 
 from college had no expectation of living to be 
 an old man. Charles S. Royse, a well-known 
 teacher of gymnastics, my colleague at the 
 Chickering Institute, with sympathetic interest, 
 taught me such exercises as one could conven- 
 iently take in his room each day. His instruc- 
 tions and advice I have followed with great 
 advantage. This practice, with prudent habits 
 and a fondness for outdoor life, enabled me to 
 continue active service without interruption up 
 to the age of seventy. Such exercises, if taken 
 regularly, consume little time, while, by keeping 
 [69] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 one in a condition to do better work, they in 
 effect add to the working time of each day and 
 actually lengthen the working period of life. 
 
 [70] 
 
IV 
 
 SELF-DISCIPLINE 
 
^quam memento rebus in arduis 
 servare mentem. 
 
 — Horace. 
 
 He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and 
 sharpens our skilL Our antagonist is our helper. 
 
 — Burke. 
 
 Decide not rashly; the decision made 
 Can never be recalled. The gods implore not. 
 Plead not, solicit not; they only offer 
 Choice and occasion, which, once being past. 
 Return no more. 
 
 — Longfellow. 
 
 For gold is tried in the fire, and acceptable men in the 
 furnace of adversity. — Ecclesiasticus. 
 
 If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is 
 small. — Proverbs. 
 
 Work on, and be not disheartened 
 
 By the tasks that come with each day. 
 
 For failures but make us the stronger 
 To conquer what hinders our way. 
 
 — Mary B. Ehrmann. 
 
 Instruction does not prevent waste of time or mis- 
 takes, and mistakes themselves are often the best teach- 
 ers of all. — Froude. 
 
 Life is not so short but that there is always time 
 enough for courtesy. — Emerson. 
 
 Use doth breed a habit in a man. — Shakespeare. 
 
IV 
 SELF-DISCIPLINE 
 
 If one is ambitious to make the most of his 
 opportunities, both in college and in the after 
 years, he must be systematic about his daily 
 tasks. Working according to a fixed plan has 
 been well compared to skillful packing of 
 articles in a trunk. The systematic arrange- 
 ment enables you to put a great amount in a 
 small space. If you have no assignment of 
 duties to the different parts of the day, much 
 of your day will run to waste; but if the day 
 is divided according to the work that must be 
 done, you will do one thing at a time and each 
 in its order, and thus be ready to meet your 
 appointments. If you are systematic, you will 
 know where to look for a thing when you want 
 it. Half of the time of some men is spent in 
 looking for what they have mislaid, or in doing 
 over what ought to have been done at first once 
 for all. 
 
 It is easy to become systematic in college, 
 
 since so many of your duties are fixed for you 
 
 and the time definitely settled when they must 
 
 be met. Under the old system, when all the 
 
 [78] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 students in a class had the same exercises, even 
 the hours for study were arranged, and a period 
 for preparation was allowed before each recita- 
 tion or lecture. Now the day's exercises may 
 follow one another closely, with no interval 
 between for preparation. This is less con- 
 venient, but it is better for you to learn to 
 plan your own work a day or more in advance, 
 if necessary, than to have the periods for study 
 marked out for you by college authority. 
 
 Most of us seldom accomplish much in the 
 long vacation. We go home or to the moun- 
 tains or to the seashore for the summer, with 
 the intention of doing a good amount of work ; 
 and, if health does not forbid, there is no reason 
 why we should not. Three months of mere 
 recreation are more likely to unfit one for the 
 duties of the following year than to prepare 
 him for them. Every student knows how diffi- 
 cult it is to make the mind work at the begin- 
 ning of a new year. But the long vacation days 
 are mainly wasted because of our irregular and 
 unsystematic manner of life. Two fixed hours 
 each day spent in thorough study would yield 
 far better results than we now get from our 
 aimless attempts running through the greater 
 part of the summer, and the keen intellectual 
 effort would add greatly to the enjoyment of 
 [74] 
 
SELF-DISCIPLINE 
 
 the whole period. Moreover, a man takes great 
 satisfaction in working under the restraint of 
 a plan which he has marked out for himself. 
 The day spent without a purpose is the most 
 unsatisfactory of all. 
 
 You will of course try for many things in 
 college that you do not get. The great 
 majority of a class must fail in their efforts 
 to win the positions which they are ambitious 
 to attain. This is especially so in a large col- 
 lege. The positions are few, and the candi- 
 dates many. Failure ought not to be followed 
 by discouragement, but by greater effort to 
 succeed in the next attempt. It is failure that 
 stimulates us to our highest endeavors. There 
 is nothing that will so arouse an earnest man as 
 the sting of defeat. Suppose that you win 
 nothing in all your competitions. If you make 
 a worthy fight, the defeat is honorable, and 
 there is really no loss. The great object is 
 gained if the stimulus was sufficient to urge 
 you to do your best. Suppose you fail alto- 
 gether of social recognition, and have no 
 opportunity to know by personal experience 
 what are the advantages and disadvantages 
 of fraternity life. Is it not a great deal 
 better to be worthy of such recognition and 
 not get it, than to get it and not be worthy 
 [75] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 of it? Strive to be worthy rather than to seem 
 so. If disappointment comes, do not forget 
 that the object of all the experience in college 
 is to train you for the wider experience of life. 
 A man who has been defeated in every college 
 contest, or has failed to get the social honors 
 which he coveted, may go out, and ought to 
 go out, with a determination to win in his pro- 
 fession, which otherwise he would never have 
 had; and the defeats that come then he will 
 know better how to turn into victories. An 
 academical training would do far too little for 
 a man if he could win everything for which he 
 tries. No such experience comes in after life 
 to a man who is truly ambitious. If he aims 
 at the highest ultimate success possible for him, 
 he must be ready to welcome failure and disap- 
 pointment in the earlier years, and must rise 
 from the inspiration gained from defeat. 
 
 No one doubts the truth of the Old Testa- 
 ment proverb : "He that ruleth his spirit is bet- 
 ter than he that taketh a city." We excuse 
 angry words in children and in uncultured men, 
 but when an educated man loses his temper he 
 leaves an unfavorable impression that is not 
 easily effaced. When he has had time to cool, 
 he is himself immediately conscious of a loss of 
 self-respect, and is well aware that he has lost 
 [76] 
 
SELF-DISCIPLINE 
 
 the respect of other men. There is something 
 very humiliating in giving way to anger; one 
 says and does such foolish things. We forget 
 almost all the other follies of our early com- 
 panions and classmates, but the angry words 
 by which one has sometimes revealed the meaner 
 side of his nature we may forgive, but we do 
 not forget. Some regrettable displays of tem- 
 per might be avoided by following the old rule, 
 ascribed to Thomas Jefferson : "If angry, count 
 ten before you speak; if very angry, count 
 a hundred." If one can check the explosion 
 long enough to realize what a foolish thing he 
 is about to do, he will not do it. 
 
 If you have injured another by word or act, 
 whether deliberately or under the influence of 
 sudden anger, the only right thing to do is to 
 acknowledge it frankly and make all possible 
 reparation. This is far more important for you 
 than for the person you have injured. If you 
 let it go by unatoned for, he may possibly for- 
 get the injury, but the unkind act will not be 
 effaced from your own memory. The con- 
 sciousness of having done wrong often hardens 
 one's heart toward the man whom he has 
 wronged. Proprium humani ingenii est odisse 
 quern laseris. It is generally the one who has 
 done the wrong who obstinately refuses offers 
 [77] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 of reconciliation, and not the one who has 
 suffered. 
 
 I once had a friend who would have been a 
 universal favorite but for these two serious 
 faults. He was one of the most kind-hearted 
 men I ever knew; hardly a day passed when he 
 did not do something to lighten others' burdens. 
 But when under the influence of uncontrollable 
 anger, which was not infrequent, he would say 
 unkind and cruel things to those who happened 
 to differ from him. Yet, strange to say, he was 
 never known to apologize for his cruel words. 
 Even his harsh speeches could have been for- 
 given if he had expressed to those whose feel- 
 ings he had injured the sorrow which he must 
 have felt. I often call to mind, in contrast, the 
 loving act of a classmate who, on a cold winter 
 night, on Andover Hill, rose from the firelight 
 and crossed the campus that he might apolo- 
 gize to a comrade whose feelings he feared that 
 he had hurt by a thoughtless remark during the 
 day, but which, as it proved, his comrade had 
 not even noticed. 
 
 Failure to show appreciation for favors done 
 is a common fault of youth, which the expe- 
 rience of maturer years often corrects. It arises 
 sometimes from the erroneous feeling that the 
 favor received is something to which you have 
 [78] 
 
SELF-DISCIPLINE 
 
 a right, and that no obligation is due on your 
 part, as, for example, in the acceptance of tui- 
 tion scholarships or loans. It is no excuse to 
 say that your benefactor knows that you appre- 
 ciate his kindness and that it is therefore unnec- 
 essary for you to tell him so ; or that you have 
 much gratitude but cannot express it. I doubt 
 if we ever have more real gratitude than we are 
 willing to make the effort to show. There have 
 been students under financial embarrassment 
 who have received gifts of money from class- 
 mates or instructors without so much as a word 
 of thanks. We call them very ungrateful, and 
 so they are. But how many of us who have 
 been kept in college by scholarships or fellow- 
 ships have ever written letters of appreciation 
 to the persons who gave them? When the 
 founder of a large annual, scholarship, which 
 had already been awarded in twenty successive 
 classes, was thanked by the person to whom it 
 had been assigned for the twenty-first year, he 
 said, somewhat regretfully, that this was the 
 first word of appreciation of his gift that he 
 had ever received from a student. I fear that 
 many other donors of scholarships could say 
 as much, or more. 
 
 I know by experience that hardly one-half of 
 those who write to a college officer for recom- 
 [79] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 mendations, or for information or advice, even 
 acknowledge the receipt of his reply. Thank- 
 ing your correspondent in advance may save a 
 little time, but it is bad practice, if that is all 
 the thanks you give him. There is no valid 
 excuse for failure to write a courteous note of 
 acknowledgment for any favor received. I have 
 noticed that the correspondent most likely to 
 fail to thank you for services done him is the 
 one who urges you to answer his letter without 
 delay, as he must have the reply at once. He 
 has himself postponed writing till the latest 
 possible moment, and now expects you to has- 
 ten in order to make up for his slackness. 
 
 One of the worst enemies of success is indo- 
 lence. "He that drives away time spurs a fast 
 horse." The idea that enjoyment comes from 
 having Httle or nothing to do, is fascinating 
 but not true. It is even better to spend all 
 one's time in some healthy recreation than to 
 be idle. The surest way to get a diseased mind 
 is through idleness. The man with nothing to 
 do is never satisfied with himself. He is the 
 one to whom life becomes a burden, while he 
 himself also is a burden on the community. If 
 Satan does not find some mischief for his hands 
 to do, he will be a great consumer of other men's 
 time and will live upon what they produce. 
 [80] 
 
SELF-DISCIPLINE 
 
 We cannot be too much in earnest to free 
 ourselves from personal traits that betray inti- 
 macy with bad associates or lack of early home 
 training. Men whose business it is to learn 
 just what we are (prospective employers, for 
 example) will be taking our measure when we 
 think we are not under observation, and will 
 be greatly influenced by little things. A Sen- 
 ior of creditable scholarship lost a good place 
 in which I expected to locate him, because he 
 tipped his chair back against the wall and used 
 a toothpick during his entire interview with the 
 principal who had called on him at his room 
 fully intending to engage him. When talking 
 with you, a nervous man — and most Americans 
 are nervous — keeps his hands or fingers in con- 
 stant motion. So often does an inexperienced 
 public speaker. Such awkwardness prevents 
 him from giving his whole thought to his sub- 
 ject and takes away the attention of the hearer, 
 who watches his eccentricities and pays less heed 
 to what he says. Many of us have peculiarities 
 of manner which annoy our friends, and for 
 which they sometimes need to make apology 
 on our behalf. Some seem to be peculiar from 
 choice. It is well to try to be like other people. 
 There is no need of making any effort to be 
 singular; if we get rid of all the peculiarities 
 [81] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 of which we are aware, there may still be too 
 many left. 
 
 The man who thinks before he speaks gets a 
 reputation for wisdom, sometimes beyond what 
 he really deserves; but the word of the youth 
 who expresses positive opinions on every sub- 
 ject which comes up carries no weight, even 
 when he happens to be right, because he is so 
 often wrong and is usually ill-mannered. In the 
 class-room, as well as in private conversation, 
 it is best to be positive only about things of 
 which one is reasonably sure. No one covets 
 the reputation of being a bluffer, or of coming 
 to his conclusions by guess-work. Do not be 
 afraid to say you do not know; it is often a 
 mark of wisdom. 
 
 Do not underestimate the value of regularity. 
 Meet every appointment promptly, whether it 
 be with the Faculty or with your classmates. 
 The student who aims to be absent from class- 
 room exercises as often as he can, and to do as 
 little work in his studies as is possible without 
 being dropped, thinks that he is cheating the 
 Faculty; but when a young man pays to the 
 college treasurer a tuition fee of one hundred 
 and fifty dollars per year for the privilege of 
 attending recitations and lectures, by what pro- 
 cess of reasoning does he discover that the more 
 [82] 
 
SELF-DISCIPLINE 
 
 absences he can take from these exercises with- 
 out being dismissed, the more he gets out of the 
 college? Or, when it costs him thirty dollars 
 a year to take a course, on what ground does 
 he conclude that it is sheer loss if by poor cal- 
 culation he gets a mark in the course a few 
 points higher than he needs in order to pass it? 
 Be not unwilling to acknowledge mistakes. 
 To assume the responsibility for what you have 
 done, or have failed to do, and to apologize 
 when an apology is necessary, is characteristic 
 of the highest type of a gentleman. Many, 
 perhaps most of us, are more anxious to con- 
 ceal our mistakes or to show that we are right, 
 than to profit by the experience. I remember 
 well two of my early instructors, one of whom 
 would never admit that he had made an error, 
 though he did make many. The other always 
 cheerfully accepted a correction when he was 
 wrong, and took special pains to correct his 
 error later in the presence of the class. It is 
 not necessary to say that the class had great 
 confidence in the latter instructor, whose pur- 
 pose was plainly to get at the truth, and very 
 little in the former, whose aim was to justify 
 his own statements, whether they were right or 
 wrong. President Roosevelt says: "The only 
 [88] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 man who makes no mistakes is the man who 
 never does anything." 
 
 Make it a rule to finish what you begin. 
 Even though the object to be accomplished 
 proves to be not worth the effort, it is far bet- 
 ter, in your college days at least, to finish it 
 and finish it well, for the sake of the discipline. 
 You will learn to plan more carefully before 
 taking up another task. If you have made a 
 serious promise, do not fail to keep it. When 
 you have selected a course of study that proves 
 undesirable, do not ask leave to change it, but 
 continue it to the end. The experience will 
 teach you that you must not sign your name 
 thoughtlessly to an agreement that you do not 
 intend to keep. The men who fail to accom- 
 plish what they design to do, and are able to 
 do, are the ones who lack the persistency to 
 stick to an undertaking till it is completed. 
 It is persistency that wins. "Unstable as 
 water, thou shalt not excel." 
 
 From the beginning of your college days, 
 you have to make many important decisions, 
 some of which will affect your whole life. In 
 making them, you must have a mind of your 
 own. It is wise to get all the advice you can, 
 but no one else can decide your questions for 
 you. The important thing is to plan so deliber- 
 [84] 
 
SELF-DISCIPLINE 
 
 ately that the decision will be final. After a 
 decision has been definitely made, a reaction 
 regularly follows, and all the arguments 
 against the plan you have adopted come up to 
 convince you that you have decided wrongly. 
 This is the weakness of human nature. Do not 
 give such thoughts a place in your mind. 
 Later, when you meet with difficulties and hard- 
 ships that you did not foresee, hesitate long 
 before allowing them to weaken your determina- 
 tion to follow the course which you have delib- 
 erately chosen. If another man's calling seems 
 to you better than the one which you have 
 selected, it is generally because you know all the 
 unpleasant things in your own and see only 
 those that are pleasant in his. You see his life 
 only on the outside. 
 
 A habit is formed by doing over and over 
 again the same act. This act may be involun- 
 tary, and sometimes we discover that we are 
 under the control of a habit formed quite 
 unconsciously. Occasional good acts, though 
 commendable in themselves, do not indicate 
 that we are going forward in the right direc- 
 tion; that is revealed only when the same 
 actions become habitual. Grood habits are a 
 sort of balance-wheel in one's life. They keep 
 one going steadily forward, doing his work, 
 [85] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 Kttle influenced by things that would hinder 
 his progress. We are all creatures of habit, 
 and we are and forever shall be what our habits 
 make us. Habit has been called second nature, 
 but its power seems sometimes even stronger 
 than nature itself. When good habits have 
 become thoroughly established, they are towers 
 of strength that are hard to overthrow; and 
 when one tries to break off an evil habit that 
 has been long indulged, he discovers what the 
 Prophet meant when he wrote : "Can the Ethio- 
 pian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? 
 Then may ye also do good who are accustomed 
 to do evil." Such is the tendency of nature 
 that bad habits are formed without effort, while 
 those that are good are established with diffi- 
 culty and maintained only by a persistent 
 struggle, just as a field will grow weeds luxuri- 
 antly without the help of man, but the best 
 grain only by constant cultivation. 
 
 The problem for the most of us is, how to 
 get rid of habits that are evil. Good resolu- 
 tions cost little, and are generally thought to 
 be worth about what they cost. There is noth- 
 ing to be said against them, when they are 
 made deliberately and in thorough earnestness ; 
 but they are rarely made with any determined 
 purpose to put them into effect. One should 
 [86] 
 
SELF-DISCIPLINE 
 
 get thoroughly convinced that the habit to be 
 overcome is not necessary to his enjoyment, 
 and that he will be better off without it. The 
 determination to get rid of it must take pos- 
 session of the mind, and must enter into the 
 plan of daily life. Most resolutions do not get 
 below the surface, and have therefore no last- 
 ing control over the conduct. When the first 
 temptation comes, we think with Rip Van 
 Winkle, "We'll not count this time"; and there 
 is no chance of a victory after that. I remem- 
 ber a boy in the Academy who kept writing in 
 his diary the resolve to give up the use of 
 tobacco, which he knew was injuring his health; 
 but he came suddenly to the end of his days 
 when the habit was still on him, because he never 
 took the first earnest step to carry out his reso- 
 lution. An old farmer of my acquaintance, 
 speaking of an indolent and shiftless neighbor, 
 said : "For ten years he has been telling us that 
 he is turning over a new leaf; what he needs is 
 to turn over a new leaf and keep it over." When, 
 under the influence of emotion, one resolves to 
 begin anew and do better, he can easily turn 
 over a new leaf; but it is far from easy to keep 
 it over. There is only one way to make sure 
 that it will not turn back again, and that is 
 to hold it down till the new position becomes 
 [87J 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 habitual; and even then it needs constant 
 watching. But what a person has done once 
 he can more easily do a second time; and when 
 an act has become habitual, he may continue 
 to do with positive enjoyment what at first was 
 difficult or distasteful. I have often quoted as 
 an example the student who, after a year of 
 great irregularity, made a sudden change 
 which I little expected, and attended practi- 
 cally every college exercise for the remainder of 
 his course. He told me afterward that he soon 
 found it easier to go to everything than to be 
 irregular. 
 
 Any effort for reformation must be positive. 
 If the mind is well occupied with ennobling 
 thoughts, there will be no place for evil 
 thoughts. Not many bad habits have ever been 
 broken off by simply resolving to give them up. 
 A good habit must be put in place of the bad. 
 If one is indolent, it is not enough to resolve not 
 to be indolent; he must inaugurate the habit 
 of industry by marking out his work and ful- 
 filling at the appointed times the tasks which 
 he has set for himself. The story is familiar to 
 all, of the working man, who, in order to keep 
 his resolution to give up drinking, went to and 
 from his work every day by a longer route that 
 would not lead him past the place of temptation. 
 [88] 
 
SELF-DISCIPLINE 
 
 An evil habit grips a man with iron force, 
 though he will not believe it till he tries to break 
 the bonds. The habit that it is now hard to 
 conquer was begun by a single act, perhaps 
 done thoughtlessly, perhaps against the admo- 
 nitions of conscience and in defiance of home 
 training, perhaps to be thought manly and 
 independent. However strongly it may be 
 entrenched, it can be overcome. The ambition 
 to make the most of one's self, in order to honor 
 one's father and mother or one's college, or to 
 help to make the lot of humanity better, will 
 give one strength to conquer the worst habit, 
 as the experience of many young men, in col- 
 lege and out of college, has shown. 
 
 Profanity is an inexcusable and useless habit. 
 In no case does it make one's words more con- 
 vincing. It is generally employed by those who 
 do not take the trouble or do not have the abil- 
 ity to express themselves in pure and forceful 
 English. It is no longer indulged in by gentle- 
 men, and is to most people vulgar and repul- 
 sive. It is the mark of a certain kind of men- 
 tal inferiority, and one addicted to it greatly 
 lessens his influence with his fellows and stands 
 much less chance of securing a desirable posi- 
 tion or of gaining promotion. 
 
 Intemperance, gambling, and unchastity so 
 [89] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 utterly ruin one's chances for success in any 
 line, either in college or in after life, that the 
 only course for a young man of sense and ambi- 
 tion is to keep entirely clear of them. One who 
 ought to know has left us the only safe rule 
 to follow when tempted to any evil path : "Avoid 
 it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away." 
 You will be a better man for making Sunday 
 a day of rest, a day for public worship, and for 
 thought of the family at home; and on no 
 account can you afford to lose the special 
 opportunity which this day affords for thor- 
 ough acquaintance with your classmates. 
 Whatever view you may hold regarding the 
 obligation to observe Sunday on religious 
 grounds, you should habitually abstain from 
 work on that day on the ground of health and 
 of public welfare. "The Sabbath was made for 
 man, and not man for the Sabbath." I believe 
 that in the end one will accomplish more by 
 working only six days in the week than he would 
 by working seven. The body soon breaks down 
 if it is not given periods of rest and change. 
 No one doubts that the working man should 
 have his Sundays free from toil, for religious 
 observance and for wholesome recreation, or 
 that a quiet day is better for him than one of 
 excitement and disorder. The college man 
 [90] 
 
SELF-DISCIPLINE 
 
 should set the example by a proper observance 
 of Sunday himself, and should use his influence, 
 publicly and privately, that the same may be 
 secured and guaranteed to others. 
 
 If a young man enters college with well- 
 established habits of industry, honesty and 
 purity, no temptation to go wrong ought to 
 have any power over him. If he is known to his 
 classmates at the beginning as a man of cor- 
 rect habits, they will expect him to remain so, 
 and he will escape the solicitation to evil to 
 which the irresolute man, who has no mind of 
 his own, is exposed. 
 
 A man whose health is sound, whose mind 
 is filled with good thoughts, and whose char- 
 acter is beyond suspicion, has personal pos- 
 sessions that have actual value. Bodily health 
 is mainly the result of intelligent care; mental 
 health is the natural condition of a well-occu- 
 pied mind. Trustworthy character is not 
 inherited, though many ethical traits may be, 
 and is not acquired by listening to discourses 
 on morality, though they may be helpful, but 
 is developed by long practice in doing thor- 
 oughly and honestly our daily duties while try- 
 ing to live a correct life. 
 
 [91] 
 
V 
 
 COURAGE AND HONOR 
 
I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue 
 enough to maintain what I consider the most invaluable 
 of all titles, — the character of an honest man. 
 
 — George Washington, 
 
 When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; 
 When health is lost, something is lost; 
 When character is lost, all is lost. 
 
 — Anonymous. 
 
 No circumstances can repair a defect of character. 
 
 — Emerson. 
 
 Many men build as cathedrals were built, — the part 
 nearest the ground finished, but that part which soars 
 toward heaven, the turrets and spires, forever incom- 
 plete. — Henry Ward Beecher. 
 
 Gentlemen do not cheat, nor do they deceive themselves 
 as to what cheating is. — Walter Camp. 
 
 Few persons have courage enough to appear as good 
 as they really are. — **Guesses at Truth." 
 
 There ought to be in all college life rigid, unsympa- 
 thetic honesty, like that of the bank or the counting- 
 room. The perpetual effort after personal righteous- 
 ness should stand as an abiding expression of the reli- 
 gious life. — Charles R. Brown. 
 
V 
 
 COURAGE AND HONOR 
 
 There is no influence in college so hard to 
 resist as public sentiment. When this is right, 
 as it is on most subjects, it is a mighty power 
 for good ; when it stamps with its approval acts 
 that are morally wrong, and defends them on 
 the ground of custom, good men ought to have 
 the courage to oppose it openly. One may at 
 first be deceived in regard to the moral stand- 
 ard of the college, and beheve that it is repre- 
 sented by the small circle in which he moves. 
 He should not imagine that questionable con- 
 duct and character are approved by the college 
 at large because some of his companions openly 
 show their approval. Sometimes a few men in 
 the early part of Freshman year put them- 
 selves forward and for a time appear to their 
 followers to set the standard for the class. 
 They study but little, pride themselves on their 
 skill in questionable methods and their knowl- 
 edge of shady places. If they are able to 
 remain in college, their influence will be short 
 lived. The great body of students in college 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 are upright and honorable, and have no respect 
 for men destitute of moral principle. 
 
 When a young man goes wrong, we some- 
 times hear it said in his defence, that he has 
 been influenced by unfavorable circumstances. 
 People generally understand that this is no 
 defence, but only a poor apology for the feeble- 
 ness of his character. It is not complimentary 
 to him to say that he has been influenced by 
 unfavorable circumstances. What can life be 
 to one who yields to every influence and has no 
 moral standard of his own? As a rule, a man 
 who cannot resist temptation in one college, or 
 one profession, or one city, would not in 
 another. In any other situation he would find 
 the surroundings also unfavorable for the devel- 
 opment of his character. If present circum- 
 stances are not favorable to him, he must make 
 them so by some change in himself. The ten- 
 dency everywhere is for a good man to grow 
 better, and for the bad man to grow worse, and 
 it does not so much matter where the man is. 
 The same influences help the one and hinder the 
 other. If a man is ruining his health by glut- 
 tony, he will not be benefited by merely mak- 
 ing a change of climate, and one cannot change 
 his moral nature by changing his residence. If 
 he finds present circumstances unfavorable, let 
 
COURAGE AND HONOR 
 
 him get a settled purpose to do right, and he 
 will find the same circumstances helpful. If he 
 has bad companions, they did not force them- 
 selves upon him without his consent ; if he visits 
 questionable resorts, he does not go except by 
 his own free will ; if his habits are bad, they were 
 not formed against his protest, and he certainly 
 will not admit that he cannot change them 
 whenever he wishes. 
 
 The consciousness of a weak or cowardly 
 act may torture a person for years. Some are 
 by nature resolute and fearless, but courage 
 is not wholly an inborn quality. It is gained 
 from experience in the presence of opposition 
 or of danger. Many of the soldiers who fled 
 in the panic at Bull Run became seasoned vet- 
 erans before the war was over. It is only on 
 the courage that has been often tested that one 
 can absolutely rely. It takes a higher kind of 
 courage to encounter opposition and ridicule 
 in defence of the truth, than to meet an armed 
 enemy. The excitement of the occasion, the 
 co-operation of others, the fact that friends are 
 in peril, the determination to avenge an insult 
 or injury, either personal or to a cause which 
 one has at heart, tend to make a man fearless 
 in time of danger. But one who would risk his 
 life to save a person from drowning may lack 
 [97] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 the moral courage to stand alone in a company 
 of his classmates in defence of what he knows 
 to be right. It takes moral courage to do right 
 when your daily associates do wrong, to live up 
 to your convictions and follow the teachings 
 of the home when others make light of them, 
 to decline to assist the man of social promi- 
 nence when he asks you to write his essay for 
 him, to be a companion of a classmate who is 
 unpopular, to keep expenses within your allow- 
 ance and risk the loss of social standing. The 
 weak man, goes with the crowd and does what 
 the others do, not bothering himself about 
 moral questions. 
 
 It calls for a high kind of courage to take a 
 stand openly against evil in a college commun- 
 ity, but a faint-hearted man can be strong in 
 his opposition against either good or evil as 
 long as his identity is concealed. College senti- 
 ment ought not, and generally does not, sanc- 
 tion anonymous publications attacking persons 
 or things that the writers dislike, but there are 
 some whom public sentiment does not reach. 
 The individual attacked by an anonymous 
 critic is not the only one who suffers. If the 
 writer of the article escapes suspicion of being 
 the author of it, he does so by casting that sus- 
 picion upon other people — other members of 
 [98] 
 
COURAGE AND HONOR 
 
 his class perhaps, or of his society, or of the col- 
 lege. If there is ground for public criticism of 
 individuals or of an institution, the criticism 
 should be made in an open and manly way. A 
 man with no courage can be very bold in mak- 
 ing unjust charges in print, so long as no one 
 else knows who makes them. An unsigned com- 
 munication, if read at all, generally has less 
 influence with the reader, because he does not 
 know the author's motive in making it and sus- 
 pects that it is unfair inasmuch as the writer 
 lacked the courage to make his attack openly. 
 Would it not be better if all communications 
 in the college press about college affairs were 
 given over the names of their authors? If an 
 article is worth printing, the writer ought to 
 be glad to acknowledge the authorship. There 
 will be no danger of too much freedom of the 
 college press when the contributors assume the 
 responsibility for what they write. 
 
 "Honesty is the best policy"; but he who 
 has no higher motive for square dealing has a 
 false standard and may be dishonest whenever 
 that becomes good policy, or whenever he is 
 sure of escaping detection. Any man will 
 speak the truth when he thinks it for his inter- 
 est to do so ; an honest man is one who will tell 
 the truth no matter what it may cost him. We 
 [99] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 are often more anxious to appear honest than 
 to be so. All wish to be thought honest. Let 
 the heart be right and the conduct will not be 
 blameworthy. We ought to build our lives 
 like the ancient temples, for the Deity who sees 
 everywhere and not alone or chiefly for the eye 
 of man, who sees only the outside. He who 
 pretends to be what he is not, is a hypocrite; 
 so also is the man who will urge others to live 
 up to the standard which he does not follow 
 himself. The thoroughly true and sincere man 
 is the one to win our affection and rule our 
 lives. 
 
 When a child has done wrong, his first 
 thought is concealment and denial. If he is not 
 corrected, he is Hkely to become habitually 
 untruthful. It will be fortunate for him if he 
 is taught early that it is wrong to cheat and lie ; 
 later he will learn by his own experience also 
 that it does not pay in the end to do either. 
 There is no place for a liar among men of any 
 race or class ; confidence is everywhere withheld 
 from one who has been proved to be a cheat. I 
 remember a young man who lost the honor 
 which it had been the ambition of his college 
 life to gain, because he told a lie to save six 
 cents. He deserved to lose the honor, for he 
 showed himself unworthy of it ; that small act, 
 [100] 
 
COURAGE AND HONOR 
 
 which he thought shrewd, betrayed his real 
 character. A college student whose conduct 
 leaves room for doubt about his honesty has 
 no social standing, and in any college a student 
 who is known to steal from his fellows would 
 be forced by his classmates to withdraw from 
 the institution. 
 
 It is hard to understand, therefore, how 
 young men who have been selected to be trained 
 in our educational institutions that they may 
 become public servants and leaders, and whose 
 standard of honor is so high when dealing with 
 one another, can ever have tolerated the belief 
 that dishonesty in dealing with the Faculty is 
 not a serious offence. That this belief has been 
 too generally held is shown, if in no other way, 
 by the numerous efforts among the students 
 themselves to establish a so-called honor system, 
 under which a person guarantees to be honest 
 when he has been put on his honor. Any honor 
 system is much to be preferred to habitual dis- 
 honesty, but it is not creditable to student life 
 if it does not recognize a higher motive. We 
 must be truthful and honest because it would 
 be wrong to be untruthful and dishonest. One 
 objection to an honor system, as often advo- 
 cated, is that it seems to be assumed that when 
 the student has not been put on his honor, he 
 [101] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 does not feel under obligation to be honest. 
 When you sign an agreement not to cheat in 
 an examination if supervision by the Faculty 
 is removed, is it not to be understood that you 
 think you have a right to cheat, if you can 
 without being found out, when a supervisor is 
 present? A gentleman is always on his honor. 
 For a gentleman there is only one standard of 
 honesty, and that is perfect honesty, always 
 and everywhere, even if men in general are dis- 
 honest. What ground is there for the position 
 sometimes taken, that a student is justified in 
 cheating in his examinations, if he gets a 
 chance, because he is watched by his instruc- 
 tors? The purpose of supervision is not to 
 detect and punish wrongdoing, but to guard 
 against the temptation to do wrong. The col- 
 lege student today is treated as a man, and is 
 subject only to the kind of supervision which a 
 man everywhere ought to welcome. It is not 
 likely that he will ever again be where he will 
 be watched so little. When I go to the polls to 
 vote, the supervisor carefully checks my name 
 on the list, because the State fears that if its 
 citizens are not watched, some of them may vote 
 more than once, and we know that there is 
 ground for this fear. When I receive pay- 
 ment for a bill, my debtor asks me to give him 
 [102] 
 
COURAGE AND HONOR 
 
 a receipt, lest I demand payment a second time. 
 If I overdraw my deposit at the bank, the bank 
 will not honor my check. If I go on a journey, 
 the conductor will not take my word that I 
 have paid my fare, but demands my ticket as 
 evidence; and he himself is obliged to punch 
 the ticket, not because the company suspect him 
 of dishonesty (if they had this suspicion they 
 would not employ him), but because they know 
 that it is not wise to expose even the most 
 honest man in their employ to the continual 
 temptation to be dishonest without adequate 
 safeguards to protect him. The United States 
 Government will not forward to you a letter 
 from your father until it has canceled the 
 stamp, fearing that you or some one else will 
 use the stamp again if it is not defaced. When 
 a bank official is caught in stealing from the 
 bank, did you ever know him to attempt to 
 justify his crime on the ground that he was 
 watched by the bank examiners? The watch- 
 fulness of the examiners is his protection. If 
 he complains of them at all, it is because they 
 did not watch him more. There are citizens, 
 we know, who would be glad if supervision 
 were removed; if there were no lists of voters 
 at the elections; if the banks would cash their 
 checks without regard to the amount of their 
 [103] 
 
COURAGE AND HONOR 
 
 deposits; if they could ride on the train with- 
 out being asked to show their tickets; if they 
 could hold positions of trust with railways and 
 with banks, and be left on their honor. The 
 good citizen does not object to supervision; 
 and why should he? When it is so easy for a 
 man under great temptation to begin the ruin 
 of his whole career by one false step, we ought 
 all to be thankful for any safeguards that help 
 us to keep from evil; and the evil, remember, 
 is not in being caught, but in yielding to the 
 temptation to be dishonest. 
 
 Even if the majority of men the world over 
 were unreliable (as they are not), that would 
 be no reason why you and I should be. The 
 country is looking for men who can be trusted ; 
 men who will not lie for their own profit, who 
 cannot be bribed to do what is wrong. It has 
 been said that such men are rare, especially in 
 public life. If that is so, there is the greater 
 reason why the record of college men should 
 be clean. It seems pretty certain that honest 
 men in positions of trust will be less rare in the 
 years to come. It is getting to be dangerous 
 for men in official positions to be dishonest. 
 Recent events have made it evident that the 
 dishonest public servant is to be relegated to 
 private life, or to prison, and that men of 
 [104] 
 
COURAGE AND HONOR 
 
 established character are to be put in high 
 positions. But it is not true that men gener- 
 ally are dishonest. The comparatively few 
 who are so become conspicuous examples, and 
 we sometimes hastily judge all by the excep- 
 tions. If it were not for the well-nigh univer- 
 sal confidence in the commercial honesty of 
 mankind, modem business on its present scale 
 would be impossible. 
 
 Whatever may be said about the feeling in 
 colleges many years ago, it is no longer true 
 that a student can be untruthful in his deal- 
 ings with college authorities without losing the 
 esteem of those for whose good opinion he 
 ought to care. I do not believe that it has 
 ever been true that a man known to be dis- 
 honest in college has had in after life the full 
 confidence of his classmates, or that he would 
 be put by them in places of financial responsi- 
 bility. I have known college students thor- 
 oughly in one institution for forty years, and 
 the hundreds of them who are in high places 
 today are the ones who, when in college, left 
 no doubt as to where they stood on questions 
 that involved truth and honor. 
 
 In a short time, school and college days will 
 be over, and you may be seeking a position. 
 Then you will appreciate the value of a good 
 [105J 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 college record. If you are an applicant for 
 any business situation which is worth having, 
 the firm will not consider you till they know 
 what you have done and what you have stood 
 for in college. Most of all, they will want 
 evidence regarding your character and habits. 
 College afi'ords a pretty sure test of a young 
 man's character. It is a little world in itself, 
 presenting in miniature the same ambitions, 
 the same temptations, and the same disappoint- 
 ments that beset us in the great world outside. 
 He who enters here is wise if he puts himself 
 in the way of influences that will help the 
 development of a manly character. It is not 
 unnatural for a young man in his strength, 
 and with but limited knowledge of the ways of 
 the world, to feel confident of his abihty to 
 stand firm against temptation. It is true, 
 also, that the power to resist evil must be 
 mainly in one's self, and that no external 
 influences can develop very strong character 
 in a weak man; but when a youth goes out 
 from home and school to enjoy the larger 
 liberty of the college, he needs all the support 
 he can get from Faculty guidance, from the 
 restraining influences of former associations, 
 and from good companionship. To become 
 indifferent to the messages of affection and 
 [106] 
 
COURAGE AND HONOR 
 
 devotion that come from the fireside where one's 
 childhood has been spent, or from the school 
 which is second only to the home, and to follow 
 after companions who will soon count as zeros 
 because they are bold only in things that are 
 evil, is one of the surest ways to lose everything 
 in college that is worth having. 
 
 If you are so fortunate as to have a father 
 and mother living, let one who lost both father 
 and mother when he was so young that he does 
 not remember to have seen either of them, 
 advise you to make it a first principle to keep 
 always on terms of confidential relationship 
 with them, and to do nothing which you would 
 not gladly let them know. You will not 
 always be able to go to them as you can now. 
 For your own sake, as well as theirs, do not 
 willingly cause them sorrow. Remember their 
 solicitude and their prayers in your behalf, the 
 sacrifices they have made for you and are still 
 making, and their long-cherished plans to give 
 you what you now enjoy. Their hearts are 
 bound up in you, and nothing else will give 
 them so great joy as to see you grow to fvdl 
 manhood, appreciative of what they have done 
 for you and fulfilling their bright hopes. 
 Your companionship with your father ought 
 to be the most precious of your life. If he is 
 [107] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 a college man, he will live over his college life 
 again with you. By and by you will learn to 
 appreciate him as you cannot possibly do till 
 you yourself take up the tasks of a mature 
 man and get some idea of what his burdens 
 have been. 
 
 With all the disregard and neglect of church 
 attendance, there is more practical Chris- 
 tianity in America today than there was a 
 century ago. There is help for the poor, 
 sympathy for the lonely and sorrowing, care 
 for destitute and orphan children, hospitals 
 for the sick, homes for the homeless and friend- 
 less. In the early part of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury, college students came mostly from reli- 
 gious famiUes, and yet less than one fourth 
 of an entering class, on the average, had made 
 a profession of religion; and while there was 
 willing attendance on the numerous religious 
 exercises, the college atmosphere was unfavor- 
 able to personal religion. Now a large 
 majority of each entering class are church 
 members, and all have respect and admiration 
 for a courageous, religious man. A good pro- 
 portion of the class engage in some active 
 form of religious and charitable work. Hatred, 
 revenge and jealousy, that formerly were not 
 uncommon, are more and more despised, and 
 [108 J 
 
COURAGE AND HONOR 
 
 have been replaced by the spirit of love and 
 helpfulness. 
 
 Religion is essential for the development of 
 a well-rounded man. Thought on the great 
 themes which it presents helps to make one 
 strong and broad-minded. It gives him the 
 best motives for living, helps him to overcome 
 his faults and to make the most of his life. 
 There is nothing good in a man that religion 
 does not help to make better. If it is of the 
 right type, it will stimulate him to do all his 
 work better; it ought to make him a better 
 son, a better friend, a better student. It urges 
 him to take care of his health, as well as his 
 character. It calls upon him to do his daily 
 tasks well, and does not require, and ought 
 not to allow, him to neglect these even to 
 engage in religious or charitable work. The 
 college studies, if he is pursuing them from the 
 proper motive, are the first Christian work 
 given him to do. Religious work done by those 
 who neglect their college studies is generally 
 not done effectively. The sincerely religious 
 man is "diligent in business," as well as "fer- 
 vent in spirit." It is a great mistake to try 
 to help others by lowering your standard of 
 conduct so as to be companionable with them, 
 I have seen that tried many times, but never 
 [109] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 with success. Your influence over your fellows 
 will depend upon the correctness and reason- 
 ableness of your own life. You can be com- 
 panionable with any classmate if you are 
 manly and sincere. 
 
 I do not see how any one can feel satisfied 
 with a life in which religion has no part. The 
 Christian religion exactly meets man's wants. 
 It comes to him with the spirit of forgiveness 
 and the love of a divine Father. It presents 
 to him the opportunity to have a share in the 
 world's regeneration, the greatest work in 
 which man was ever engaged. What the world 
 needs is that all men should follow the example 
 of the Master, and work unselfishly for the 
 common welfare. The world is moving in that 
 direction, and there will be far more of the 
 spirit of Christ on earth one hundred years 
 hence than there is today. When you assume 
 the duties of a man among men, and take 
 positions of responsibility, where everything 
 depends on your integrity and your power to 
 resist evil influences, you will feel the need of 
 the support which religion gives. How much 
 more you will do in the world, and how much 
 more satisfaction you will take in your work, 
 if your motives are the highest ! I would that 
 every young man, while in his strength, might 
 [110] 
 
COURAGE AND HONOR 
 
 know the joy that comes from working in har- 
 mony with the Power that makes for righteous- 
 ness. 
 
 [Ill] 
 
VI 
 
 AMONG CLASSMATES 
 
Nil ego contulerim iucundo sanus amico. — Horace, 
 
 A slender acquaintance with the world must convince 
 every man that actions, not words, are the true criterion 
 of the attachment of friends, and that the most liberal 
 professions of good- will are very far from being the 
 surest marks of it. — George Washington. 
 
 Friendship is an order of nobility. — Emerson. 
 
 The mind never unbends itself so agreeably as in the 
 conversation of a well-chosen friend. — Addison. 
 
 That best portion of a good man's life. 
 His little nameless, unremembered acts 
 Of kindness and of love. 
 
 — Wordsworth. 
 
 A day for toil, an hour for sport. 
 But for a friend is life too short. 
 
 — Emerson. 
 
 A man that hath friends must show himself friendly. 
 
 — Proverbs, 
 
 Gravis est culpa tacenda loqui. — Ovid. 
 
 A moral, sensible, and well-bred man 
 Will not affront me; and no other can. 
 
 — Oowper. 
 
VI 
 AMONG CLASSMATES 
 
 Although you go to college primarily for 
 the intellectual advantages which it offers, yet 
 that part of your education which comes from 
 the life of the community is not to be under- 
 valued. Association with men from all sections 
 of the country, and from foreign countries, 
 will help you to get rid of narrowness and 
 provincialism; and the awkwardness and angu- 
 larity which you may have had at the begin- 
 ning will be gradually worn off by constant 
 attrition. Some of the most helpful influences 
 of the four years will come from your class- 
 mates, with whom you live the daily life amid 
 the old traditions. The college room, the 
 campus, the athletic field, the dining hall, the 
 chapel, the gymnasium, the college publica- 
 tions, the religious and social organizations, 
 the intercollegiate contests in athletics or 
 debate, do as much for the development of 
 some men as the instruction of the class-room. 
 Without the intellectual side, the social life 
 would lose its charm ; but when both are ration- 
 [115] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 ally blended, they make an ideal college life, 
 which is one of the choicest privileges to which 
 a young man can aspire. 
 
 In sizing up a classmate, the first question a 
 college man asks is. How does he carry himself 
 toward other men? Is he large-hearted, a man 
 of generous impulses? If in his intercourse 
 with his fellows he looks out for himself first, 
 if he is ungenerous in his treatment of any who 
 stand in the way of his advancement, if he is 
 unwilling to sacrifice his own interests for the 
 good of the whole, if he is ready even to injure 
 another's chances for the sake of helping him- 
 self ; if, in short, he uses other men solely for 
 what he can get out of them, he will in the end 
 be without influence and will have no real 
 friends. College is not a congenial place for 
 a man whose horizon is limited by his own 
 selfish considerations. On the other hand, true 
 nobility of soul will atone for many disagree- 
 able personal qualities, and even for some 
 deficiencies of character. Generous treatment 
 of others and an unselfish disregard of one's 
 own comfort will give any young man a warm 
 place in the hearts of his classmates. 
 
 A college student cannot long pass among 
 his classmates for what he is not. On account 
 of school or family prestige or other favorable 
 [116] 
 
AMONG CLASSMATES 
 
 circumstances, he may have during the first 
 months of Freshman year a special advantage 
 over his fellows which he does not deserve; but 
 reputation thus gained is apt to be short- 
 lived. Some of those who pose as big men in 
 Freshman year look exceedingly small in 
 Senior year, — if, indeed, they survive till that 
 time. Before one finishes his college course, 
 his classmates will know pretty accurately what 
 sort of a man he is. It is possible for him to 
 deceive the Faculty, and he may deceive his 
 family, but he will not deceive his classmates. 
 Nowhere does a man's inner life lie more open 
 to his companions. If he is brave, generous, 
 and honorable, his classmates will know it ; and 
 if he is jealous or selfish or cowardly or impure, 
 they will know that. In later years a man's 
 classmates will remember him as he was in his 
 Senior year, and will keep the estimate of him 
 which they formed at that period. The proba- 
 bility is that one's character will remain 
 through life essentially what it is when he 
 leaves college; but if it does not, the reputa- 
 tion with which he goes out will cling to him, 
 and if he becomes afterwards better or worse, 
 it will not be easy for his classmates to appre- 
 ciate the change. 
 
 Sometimes a youth on entering college fool- 
 [117] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 ishly attempts to make himself popular. He 
 begins by trying to associate with those that 
 are popular or that he thinks likely to become 
 so. Perhaps he pays a high price for a room 
 in a house where it is expected that the popular 
 men will live. He endeavors to imitate them, 
 but, like most imitators, generally succeeds in 
 reproducing only their weaknesses. He may 
 aspire to athletic or other responsibilities in 
 order to help his own social standing. What- 
 ever he may gain with this end in view, he will 
 not secure the object on which he has set his 
 heart. Popularity, like happiness, is not to be 
 found by seeking it directly. The pursuit of 
 it is Kke following the end of the rainbow. 
 The really popular man is the one who com- 
 mands the admiration of his classmates for 
 his character and for what he does for the 
 college and for those whom it is in his power 
 to help. The one who pursues any object for 
 a selfish end, whether it be scholarship, social 
 honors, or athletics, will not be highly esteemed. 
 The way to become popular is to be worthy 
 of popularity. If a student is unselfish in his 
 treatment of others, kind and polite to all with- 
 out regard to their social standing, has the 
 courage to live up to his convictions, controls 
 his temper, and is always truthful and honest, 
 [118] 
 
AMONG CLASSMATES 
 
 he will have all the popularity in college that 
 the most ambitious man could desire. 
 
 He who wishes to be an agreeable companion, 
 and to make friends among his classmates, 
 must be gentlemanly, trustworthy, kindhearted, 
 discreet, and considerate of other men's time. 
 
 If a college student has not the feelings and 
 manners of a gentleman, the deficiency is gen- 
 erally ascribed to lack of proper training at 
 home; though this may not be true. By his 
 boorish and arrogant ways, a youth often 
 brings dishonor on his parents which they do 
 not deserve. But if his manners are bad, he 
 will have the credit among his classmates of 
 doing as well as he knows how. True polite- 
 ness springs from a generous heart, and is not 
 characteristic of a selfish man, though such a 
 man may understand and follow the rules of 
 etiquette. To be on all occasions a gentleman 
 requires self-control, patience, good- will, and 
 a readiness to deny one's self for another's 
 comfort. The true gentleman loves his neigh- 
 bor as himself. He will not, therefore, try to 
 get the better of his neighbor, but will be care- 
 ful not to say or do that which will give him 
 pain. He will not only show a deference to 
 those above him, but will take especial pains 
 to treat with courtesy those who are less fortu- 
 [119] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 nate than himself, whether they be his class- 
 mates or his servants. I have never forgotten 
 how politely one of my classmates went to 
 the assistance of a poor colored washerwoman 
 who had slipped on the icy pavement and 
 dropped her laundry basket. Because she was 
 only a colored woman, most young men would 
 have smiled and passed on. The man who 
 treats with derision those who are condemned 
 by unfavorable circumstances to a Hfe of toil 
 has no right to a place among gentlemen. 
 
 Horace mentions among the characteristics 
 of manhood the ability to keep to one's self 
 secrets that ought not to be revealed. This 
 should also include not only what has been told 
 you in confidence, but everything that has 
 come to your knowledge which it would harm 
 some one else to have disclosed. Why is it that 
 people are so fond of telling something new, 
 especially that which discredits others and 
 tends to detract from their reputation? If you 
 praise a classmate to one of his acquaintances, 
 you almost expect him to reply adversely and 
 go on to give you the unfavorable side of the 
 man, in the spirit of the old Greek who voted 
 to ostracize Aristides because he could not 
 bear to hear him always called "the Just." It 
 is far from easy to find a man in whom you 
 [120] 
 
AMONG CLASSMATES 
 
 can confide and feel sure that nothing will be 
 disclosed. It seems to me that the obligation 
 to keep what has been entrusted to you in con- 
 fidence is so great that no possible considera- 
 tion, not even that of public utility, can be 
 strong enough to justify you in being false to 
 the trust. 
 
 If you are inclined either to make or to 
 listen to unfriendly criticism of other men, it 
 will be well to remember three things: that he 
 who talks against a classmate to you, will also 
 talk against you to him; also, that those who 
 are most severe in their denunciation of others 
 are generally the ones whose own characters 
 and lives will least bear inspection; and again, 
 that a man is very likely to criticize others for 
 the faults of which he himself is guilty. Be 
 especially careful not to speak unkindly of 
 those who have tried to injure you. College 
 men respect and admire one who has such a 
 fine sense of honor that he will not, by word or 
 deed, injure another, though he is known to 
 be his enemy. "Love your enemies" is the best 
 rule everywhere, not only for their sake but 
 for your own. Acts done for the purpose of 
 injuring another's reputation harm chiefly the 
 one who does them. Envy and jealousy belong 
 to the meaner side of human nature, and are 
 [121] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 among the sins that Christ especially con- 
 demned. 
 
 While you will abstain from saying things 
 that hurt the feelings of others, you must 
 expect now and then to have things said to 
 you that will cause irritation. The most manly 
 way to meet ill-natured remarks of ill-mannered 
 men is by silence. To reply in kind or to show 
 resentment by being yourself ungentlemanly is 
 never wise. Sometimes a student who has 
 received at the hands of the Faculty treatment 
 which he considers unjust, gives expression to 
 his injured feelings by refusing to recognize 
 members of that body on the street, thus mak- 
 ing a display of a side of his nature which it 
 would be wiser for him to conceal. 
 
 One should learn to profit by the unkind 
 things said to him, and get something more 
 from them than training in patience and self- 
 control. If one has criticized me, though it 
 be in the spirit of anger, it is pretty certain 
 that there is something wrong about me which 
 ought to be corrected. One may perhaps learn 
 even from men who reveal what they know 
 when under the influence of wine, and an angry 
 man may speak truths, unpleasant though they 
 be. When a man criticizes me severely in an 
 outburst of anger, instead of trying to defend 
 [122] 
 
AMONG CLASSMATES 
 
 myself either to him or to my own judgment, 
 I ought rather to look into my own conduct 
 and character to see whether there is not some 
 just ground for his criticism. 
 
 However much we may desire to help a class- 
 mate, there are services which, for the most of 
 nSy it may not be wise to undertake. Expe- 
 rience has shown that it is generally not safe 
 to venture to tell a friend his faults, though 
 this, when it is done in the spirit of kindness 
 and 18 gratefully received, is the most helpful 
 service we can render him. Now and then a 
 man of rare tact has this gift. But generally 
 when men tell us our faults, they are moved by 
 jealousy or by anger, and not by love. We 
 all have faults enough that we should be quick 
 to correct if we could only see them as they 
 appear to others; but most of us dislike to be 
 told of them, seeming to prefer to cherish 
 them and let them grow worse. 
 
 8uu9 etdqu§ attributui §tt tror: 
 §§d non vid^mut mantiea quod in t$rgo tit, 
 
 I should hesitate a long while, also, before 
 attempting to correct a conceited or arbitrary 
 man in his statements, although I knew for 
 certain that they were wrong. It would only 
 irritate him. Instead of being corrected, he 
 [128] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 would stand his ground and vigorously defend 
 himself, and the argument between us might 
 easily lead to unpleasant personalities. 
 
 One should not be obstinate in defending his 
 opinions, except where a moral question is at 
 issue, nor should he assume that everything 
 must be false which he does not believe. He 
 should avoid ostentation and be ambitious to 
 know, but not to display his knowledge. He 
 should not get the idea that the world, and all 
 things in it, were made for him alone, or that 
 all wisdom was born with him. As children 
 perhaps we had this view, but when we became 
 men we put away childish things. 
 
 An Oriental student not long in America 
 called one evening on a college family. As he 
 was taking his leave, he was urged to call again 
 "very soon." Assuming that all polite things 
 said in American society were to be taken liter- 
 ally, and not wishing to be remiss in social 
 etiquette, he called again (probably after con- 
 sulting his dictionary) in half an hour. We 
 readily excuse him for his misunderstanding ; 
 we should probably do much worse in his 
 country. But there is no excuse for your 
 classmate who seems to have nothing to do but 
 loaf in your room. One ought to be on friendly 
 terms with all his classmates, and visit with 
 [124] 
 
AMONG CLASSMATES 
 
 many of them in their rooms and in his own; 
 but he who makes his calls too long or too 
 frequent will soon become an unwelcome visitor. 
 Though he may be received politely, he will be 
 voted a bore. A business man may put up in 
 his office, "This is my busy day," and keep it 
 there every day in the year ; but a college man 
 cannot, without rudeness, show such lack of 
 cordiality to a classmate. However much it 
 roay go against the grain, when he comes to 
 your room you have to treat him courteously. 
 It would be ungentlemanly and unkind to do 
 otherwise. When serious work must be done, 
 there is always a refuge in the reference library, 
 where conversation is forbidden. 
 
 When I began my duties as a college 
 instructor, I thought, as many young instruc- 
 tors do, that j^ was my mission to bring about 
 better relations between the Faculty and stu- 
 dents, and urged the Freshmen to call upon 
 me. On going to my room one day from the 
 morning recitation, I found a Freshman wait- 
 ing at the door. I was glad to spend a few 
 minutes with him, and tried to make him feel 
 that he was welcome, evidently with much 
 success. He seemed to enjoy the visit, and I 
 soon began to wonder how long it would last. 
 The few minutes extended to half an hour, 
 [125 J 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 then to an hour, and still on to two hours and 
 more. Ten minutes before the noon recitation 
 he rose to go, and said: "I see it is nearly 
 twelve o'clock; I shall have to go now. Per- 
 haps my call has seemed long, but the fact is, 
 my room is more than a mile from college and 
 I had no other place to stay between recita- 
 tions." 
 
 Man cannot live without friends. If he is 
 not appreciated by his fellows, he will find 
 friends among the animals, sometimes more 
 faithful than those of his own race or family. 
 To be worthy of friendship, we must show the 
 friend-like qualities that we expect to find in 
 others. An insincere man cannot have a true 
 friend, because he cannot be a true friend him- 
 self; nor the selfish man, because he wants 
 friends simply for his own advantage. Jeal- 
 ousy destroys friendship. If you are all the 
 time apprehensive lest your friend slight you, 
 and are moody at his fondness for others, your 
 company will be unnecessary, and perhaps 
 annoying. If you have a friend whom you 
 prize, try to be worthy of him. Do not be 
 discourteous, nor flippant, nor irreverent. He 
 will value you less for such lack of good breed- 
 ing. Do not argue with him in order to justify 
 yourself; you may justify yourself to your 
 [126] 
 
AMONG CLASSMATES 
 
 own satisfaction, but lose his esteem. Do not 
 be curious about his private affairs ; if he wishes 
 to tell you, he will do so. 
 
 If the best definition of a friend is that given 
 by a boy, as John C. Goddard has said, that 
 "a friend is a fellow who knows all about you, 
 and yet likes you," then college friendships 
 should be best of all, for nowhere else can a 
 fellow know more about you than in college. 
 For this reason it is nowhere more important 
 to choose one's associates cautiously. What 
 you become in college will depend much upon 
 your choice of companions at the very begin- 
 ning. You cannot be closely attached to a 
 friend without feeling his influence over you. 
 You become fond of him, his manners, his 
 method of doing things, and soon you uncon- 
 sciously begin to be like him. If he is a worthy 
 man, you grow better for the influence; if he 
 is a bad man, you- grow worse. A company of 
 bad men will be more openly vile than any one 
 of them would dare to be alone, and even one 
 bad friend may easily work a young man's 
 ruin. Others will judge us by the friendships 
 we make. "He that walketh with wise men'* 
 may not in all cases be "wise," but people gen- 
 erally will think him so; and however worthy 
 in other respects he may be, no one will have 
 [127] 
 
AMONG CLASSMATES 
 
 the full confidence of the college at large if his 
 intimate companions are evil. 
 
 If one does not form life-long friendships, 
 the fault will generally be his own. Almost any 
 young man of good character and cleanly 
 habits, who is sincere and not conceited or 
 selfish, can find good and true friends among 
 his classmates. If a man has not the capacity 
 to make friends (and there are those who have 
 not), he will have many lonely hours and will 
 long for some one who can sympathize with 
 him. Such a man must not be left to bear his 
 burden of sohtude alone. His lack of social 
 qualities has perhaps come through no fault 
 of his. It may be from an inherited shyness; 
 it may be the result of a childhood without 
 playmates. Here is a chance to help a class- 
 mate, and perhaps to save him. Become his 
 friend, because he needs you. Cheer him by 
 words of friendly appreciation. Draw out his 
 good qualities. The helpfulness of one class- 
 mate may do more to develop him than all the 
 other influences of the college. 
 
 The motive of the true friend is not per- 
 sonal advantage or enjoyment, but helpful- 
 ness to others. A man with this supreme 
 motive considers every one his friend and 
 "neighbor" whom it is in his power to help. 
 [128] 
 
AMONG CLASSMATES 
 
 My heart has long been filled with gratitude 
 to a friend whom I saw but once, whose name 
 I never knew, and who did not know mine. 
 More than fifty years ago, I entered one after- 
 noon a crowded car in the Boston station, on 
 my way to Worcester. A young man a few 
 years my senior kindly shared his seat with 
 me. After the manner of young men, we got 
 into friendly conversation, chiefly about our- 
 selves. My companion had recently grad- 
 uated from a law school and was a clerk in a 
 Boston office. I had been obliged, not long 
 before, to give up my studies at Andover from 
 lack of money, and had no hope of being able 
 to return. My companion, who was a college 
 man, at once took an interest in me, perhaps 
 as in one who might some day become also a 
 college man. He showed a great deal of sym- 
 pathy and was anxious to help me. By way of 
 encouragement, he told me something of his 
 own history. That very morning I had been 
 consulting a distinguished lawyer of Worcester 
 about the validity of the will of a relative in 
 whose small estate, if he had left no will, I 
 should have had some slight interest. The 
 distinguished lawyer had given me no en- 
 couragement, but had assured me that the 
 will was good and that none of the prop- 
 [129] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 erty could come to me. I showed the copy 
 of the will which I had with me to my 
 newly made friend. He read it carefully, 
 asked me a few questions, and told me that 
 the document was worthless, giving his rea- 
 sons. On his advice, I returned that after- 
 noon to the office of the distinguished lawyer 
 whom I had interviewed in the morning and 
 told him why the will was not good. He con- 
 sulted a law book, and at once agreed that the 
 young graduate of the law school was right; 
 but, though he admitted that he had told me 
 what was false, and that I had told him the 
 truth, he kept the fee which I had paid him in 
 the morning. A mere statement of the case, 
 as explained by the young law clerk, satisfied 
 the one in charge of the property, himself a 
 lawyer long in practice, and without further 
 question I received my fourth of the small 
 estate. The sum thus obtained enabled me to 
 continue my preparation and enter college. 
 This service, rendered me by a large-hearted 
 young man whom I met by the merest chance, 
 was apparently the means of changing the 
 course of my life. I was helped not only by 
 the material aid which came to me through 
 his advice; I have never lost the influence of 
 his kind and sympathetic words. As I have 
 [130] 
 
AMONG CLASSMATES 
 
 not been able to repay him, I have tried to 
 extend his service by helping other young men 
 and thus passing on to them in some form the 
 good that I received from my brief acquaint- 
 ance with him. 
 
 While one should be friendly toward all, he 
 can have only a very few intimate friends. 
 You will be fortunate if you find in all your 
 class even one or two in whom you recognize 
 true nobility of character, to whom you can 
 entrust in confidence your thoughts and plans 
 and know that their hearts are full of love and 
 sympathy. Outside the home, there are per- 
 haps no friendships that can compare in inti- 
 macy and affection with those of college chums. 
 The ties between them often become as close 
 as those of brothers. A good roommate will 
 be your companion in study and in recreation; 
 he will rejoice in your successes, and encour- 
 age and help you when in difficulty. Without 
 such a roommate, you will never know what 
 some of the most delightful experiences in col- 
 lege life are. It is not good for a student to 
 room alone; he may have more time to himself 
 and less interruption, but the loss will far out- 
 weigh the gain. If he finds it hard to get on 
 with a roommate, that shows that he needs 
 one ; it is part of his education to learn to get 
 [131] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 on with people. If he shuns the society ol his 
 classmates, he is likely to grow less compan- 
 ionable and neighborly, and become so much 
 shut up within himself as to develop peculiar- 
 ities that will do him harm. It is well, also, 
 to leam to study in the presence of others. 
 Much of one's work in later years must be 
 done wherever he can find a chance to write or 
 think. If, when in college, he can study only 
 in seclusion and silence, he may find himself 
 later under a disability that it will take a long 
 time to remove. I do not speak without expe- 
 rience. During three years out of four I 
 roomed alone, and have ever since regretted it. 
 In my Freshman year, a Sophomore kindly 
 shared his room with me. He helped me to 
 start aright, and his sunny disposition was a 
 blessing to us both. I needed the influence of 
 such a roommate. Though we now Hve more 
 than a thousand miles apart, we are still the 
 best of friends. 
 
 As locating officer for more than thirty 
 years, I esteemed it one of the privileges of my 
 position that on many occasions I was able to 
 bring together at the beginning of Freshman 
 year young men as roommates who found 
 themselves agreeable companions, who kept 
 together through the four college years, and 
 [132] 
 
AMONG CLASSMATES 
 
 have remained life-long friends. Some of the 
 pleasantest associations of one's academical 
 life are those which center in the college room, 
 where joys have been enhanced and sorrows 
 lightened because they have been shared by a 
 congenial roommate. 
 
 [188] 
 
vn 
 
 PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE 
 
Quam quisque norit artem in hoc ae exerceat. — Cicero. 
 
 What ruins a man is throwing himself into a pro- 
 fession that does not suit him. — Bacon. 
 
 No man without absolute integrity ever ends his career 
 as a great merchant. — Charles Stuart Smith. 
 
 He who has a high ambition to spend himself in noble 
 deeds, without thought of self, will have an ear to the 
 church's call. — President George B. Stewart. 
 
 Probably no other profession demands the complete 
 absorption of one's whole life as does the medical pro- 
 fession. To the earnest, aspiring man or woman, to 
 whom the thought of service is an inspiration, no other 
 profession has more to oflFer. — George F. Shears. 
 
 The lawyers of the future will not be mere pleaders 
 before juries. They will save their clients from need of 
 judge and jury. — President Jordan. 
 
 Congenial labor is the secret of happiness. 
 
 — Arthur Christopher Benson. 
 
 Blessed is he who has found his work. Let him ask no 
 other blessedness. He has a work, a life purpose; he has 
 found it and will follow it. — Carlyle. 
 
 Let me live in a house by the side of the road 
 And be a friend to man. 
 
 — Sam Walter Foss, 
 
vn 
 
 PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE 
 
 The year following my graduation from col- 
 lege was spent in teaching at the Chickering 
 Institute in Cincinnati. There was now before 
 me a definite plan of life, in which my first 
 obligation was the removal of my college debts. 
 When, before the end of the year, I was able 
 to write to Professor Thacher, who had greatly 
 befriended me, that I owed no man anything, 
 I felt a satisfaction to me before unknown. 
 The end long hoped for had been gained, and 
 the friends who had kindly assisted me had 
 been repaid, as far as money could repay them. 
 I had returned to the work that I loved and 
 had followed for several years before entering 
 college, and was free to continue my studies 
 unencumbered. My college debts, which aver- 
 aged nearly two hundred dollars each year, 
 would have hindered me greatly in my subse- 
 quent work if they had not been removed at 
 once. 
 
 I say to any student who has to pay his way, 
 do not borrow if it can be avoided. A college 
 [187] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 debt will impose a burden on you when you are 
 in no condition to bear it. But if you must 
 graduate in debt, the first thing to do is to get 
 square with the past. Even if you must post- 
 pone further study for a year or more to earn 
 the money, the delay will be a less evil than the 
 incubus of a debt when you leave the profes- 
 sional school. Then is just the time when you 
 will need a great deal more money than you 
 can earn, and when you will have nothing what- 
 ever with which to meet long-standing obliga- 
 tions. Moreover, it is exceedingly discourag- 
 ing to be forced to economize in order to pay 
 for the necessary things of life, like food, cloth- 
 ing, lodgings, which one had years ago but of 
 which nothing now remains. If after repeated 
 postponements you are able at length, by strict 
 economy, to make settlement, you will feel like 
 saying, as did one of my early companions 
 when he paid his landlady a board bill long 
 since due: "Take the money if you will, but it 
 seems to me just like throwing it into the fire!" 
 He who enters his profession with a debt 
 which he is making no plans to repay does not 
 give much promise of an honorable and useful 
 life. If one graduates in debt, his first duty 
 as a gentleman and a Christian is to pay what 
 he owes. This duty should be discharged 
 [138] 
 
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE 
 
 before he establishes himself in a home of his 
 own, and before he gives to charity. He has 
 no right to use for luxury or to give away 
 what really belongs to another. Among those 
 who have enjoyed the advantages of our insti- 
 tutions of learning, there are not a few who, 
 when in great need, have been able to secure 
 loans from private individuals — sometimes 
 from classmates or members of the Faculty, 
 sometimes from friends of the college — which 
 they have never repaid, and seem to feel under 
 no obligation to repay. Many of these do not 
 even acknowledge the receipt of courteous 
 letters of inquiry regarding their obligation. 
 One readily forgives the unfortunate debtor 
 who says frankly that he has nothing with 
 which to make payment, but what can be said 
 for him who treats with contempt the friend 
 who has helped him when others would not? 
 Other students in limited circumstances suffer 
 greatly from the unsavory reputation of such 
 delinquents. It would not be difficult to find 
 persons who would loan money willingly to 
 college students, without interest, if it were not 
 for an impression created by so many bad 
 debtors, that students who are anxious to 
 borrow are often unwilling to pay back. 
 
 There is a feeling on the part of a consider- 
 [189] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 able number of students that they have a right 
 to all the financial help, in the way of loans 
 and scholarships, that they can get. This 
 attitude, together with the lack of appreciation 
 not infrequently shown, has led many to ques- 
 tion the wisdom of granting pecuniary aid in 
 any form. But among students of very limited 
 means are some of the foremost scholars, the 
 ablest writers, and the most promising young 
 men in the colleges. Many of these could not 
 continue their education without the aid thus 
 furnished, and they are the ones whose services 
 the church and the state can least of all afford 
 to lose; but how to administer the funds so 
 that only the deserving may be aided, is a prob- 
 lem of much difficulty. The donors of scholar- 
 ship funds have generally not provided for 
 repayment of the money advanced to students, 
 leaving that to the honor of those who receive 
 it. But if you accept financial aid in any form, 
 though you are under no obligation to treat it 
 as a loan, you should have the purpose to return 
 it to the college if you are ever able to do so 
 without hardship, that it may be passed on to 
 others. If you really appreciate the assist- 
 ance, you will hardly be willing to receive it 
 without planning to do at least as much to help 
 some one else in similar circumstances. 
 [140] 
 
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE 
 
 As you approach the close of your college 
 course, your thoughts will turn more and more 
 toward the future with its opportunities and 
 responsibilities. Among the questions that 
 present themselves, the most important con- 
 cerns the special line of service to which your 
 life is to be devoted. Nothing need be said to 
 convince you that this should not be decided 
 without very careful deliberation. Your com- 
 fort, happiness, and usefulness depend on the 
 choice you make. Before selecting a profes- 
 sion, you should be sure of three things: that 
 it is the one for which you are best fitted ; that 
 you will not find its duties disagreeable; that 
 it offers the future which you desire. 
 
 Many of the failures in life are due to the 
 attempts of men to do work for which they are 
 not qualified by nature or by education. There 
 are men in business who would have done better 
 in the professions, and a great many men enter 
 the professions who would have done much 
 better in some kind of business. Some have 
 gone into business for themselves and lost all, 
 because they lack the capacity to organize and 
 direct, and can work to advantage only under 
 the supervision of others. As a general rule, 
 a man will not fail in any occupation which he 
 understands if he is of trustworthy character 
 [141] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 and has plenty of energy and persistence; but 
 one cannot do his best if he misses his calling. 
 
 You ought also to find out whether you are 
 likely to be satisfied with a profession, before 
 you choose it. After you enter it, you are 
 expected to become absorbed in it, devoting 
 your best energies day after day, and year 
 after year, to mastering its problems. You 
 will live in it. Will it be congenial? Will this 
 daily contact with it satisfy you? Will its 
 methods satisfy you? Will you be contented 
 to remain in it to the end, to make your repu- 
 tation in it? 
 
 Ask yourself also whether the occupation 
 which you have in mind will offer you the future 
 that you desire. Does it present to you a 
 worthy career? If you propose to spend time 
 in learning a business, an important question 
 is. Will that kind of business continue to be done 
 twenty years hence, or will it have to give place 
 to something more modern? If you think of 
 preparing yourself to teach a certain branch, 
 you want to know whether that branch is one 
 in which there is and will continue to be a 
 demand for instructors. 
 
 Nature has so plainly chosen some men for 
 their work that they themselves hardly need 
 to make a choice. Professor Newton told me 
 [142] 
 
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE 
 
 that from boyhood it was evident that his life 
 was to be devoted to the study and teaching of 
 mathematics, and that he never once thought 
 of any other occupation. GifFord Pinchot 
 came to college intending to become a forester, 
 and began in the first term of Freshman year 
 special study in preparation for his future 
 career. A young man is fortunate if his native 
 talents, the plans of his parents, and his own 
 inclination combine to mark out his vocation 
 for him beyond a doubt. But with the great 
 majority of us, it is not so. Partly by expe- 
 rience, and partly by the judgment of teachers 
 and others interested in us, we have to dis- 
 cover in what direction our natural qualifica- 
 tions seem to point. With some, the chief 
 question is not. What am I best fitted to do ? but 
 What opportunity does each profession offer 
 me? For such as these, the decision is often 
 based on the amount of the expected income. 
 It may prove a great mistake to reject the 
 calling for which one finds he is fitted, on 
 account of the smallness of the income; the 
 chief end of life is not to get a large salary. 
 What one does for the world is of far greater 
 consequence than what he receives from it. It 
 has gratified me much to know that among the 
 young men who have consulted me in recent 
 [148] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 years about their work for life, a large part 
 do not seem to be looking at the pecuniary 
 rewards or the honors, so much as at the oppor- 
 tunity to influence and help others. 
 
 A young man spends several years in school, 
 and several more in college, that he may pre- 
 pare himself for the work to which he is to 
 devote his life. If by the end of his second 
 college year he is undecided as to what the 
 nature of that work is to be, he ought to make 
 a study of the different callings that will be 
 open to him, that he may be in a condition to 
 decide, before his college days are over, in 
 which he is most likely to find a place that he 
 can worthily fill. Many parents have sug- 
 gested that there ought to be courses of lec- 
 tures in colleges, from which this information 
 can be gained. As long as there is no such 
 opportunity, you will have to get the informa- 
 tion in some other way, but you should not fail 
 to get it. You must not drift aimlessly into a 
 profession, or choose one because a relative or 
 classmate has done so. What will be a wise 
 choice for your friend may be most unwise for 
 you. Have a plan about your life, and choose 
 a profession after you know something about 
 it, and because you really believe that you will 
 like it and be useful in it. 
 [144] 
 
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE 
 
 One is at a great disadvantage who comes 
 to the very end of his college course unde- 
 termined as to what his future is to be; such 
 indecision will cause him much unhappiness. 
 He will very Hkely spend the next year, and 
 perhaps several years, in doing little or noth- 
 ing, or in work that will have no bearing on 
 the occupation which he finally adopts, — if, 
 indeed, he ever adopts any. The longer the 
 choice is delayed, the harder generally it is to 
 decide. Martial, in one of his epigrams, repre- 
 sents Laurus as likely to reach the age when 
 men ought to retire before he has made up his 
 mind whether he will be a teacher of rhetoric 
 or a lawyer. It would be well, as has been 
 already suggested, if a college student could 
 have some pretty clear idea about his profession 
 by the end of Sophomore year. If he has spe- 
 cial fitness for any calling, he can generally 
 make the discovery by that time. An early 
 decision will help in selecting courses for the 
 last two years. While I do not believe it wise 
 for most students to take up purely professional 
 studies in college, I would have them choose for 
 Junior and Senior years some academical 
 courses that would be in the line of the work 
 to be done after graduation. 
 
 My advice to young men who are in great 
 [145] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 doubt about their profession has been this. 
 Select the kind of work which you think you 
 are best quaUfied by nature to do. Fit your- 
 self for this as thoroughly as circumstances 
 will allow, and follow the leadings of Provi- 
 dence. It is probable that your life will be 
 spent in the work which you have selected, but 
 it may not be. Providence may call you else- 
 where ; if so, you will find that the preparation 
 which you have made has fitted you for the 
 service to which you are called. There seems 
 to be a plan about one's hfe which he has had 
 no part in making, and which he does not 
 understand till his work is nearly done. Then, 
 looking back over the whole, he realizes that 
 he has been guided to make choices that have 
 combined to give his life a completeness which 
 he did not anticipate. 
 
 All useful work is honorable. At Rome, 
 certain forms of business were not thought 
 consistent with the dignity of a Roman citizen ; 
 but in America, no useful occupation is degrad- 
 ing to a true gentleman. The man who makes 
 shoes, or builds houses, or sells merchandise, or 
 raises corn, if he puts his best self into all that 
 he does, is serving God and his fellow men just 
 as truly as the man who preaches the gospel 
 or who heals the sick, and he may be doing as 
 [146] 
 
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE 
 
 much, perhaps more, to help make the world 
 better. He is doing an important part of the 
 world's work. It is not what your business is, 
 but what you put into it, that determines your 
 influence over men. I have known business men 
 whose methods were so honorable, and whose 
 lives were so filled with the spirit of Chris- 
 tianity, that they have influenced my life as 
 deeply as any minister or teacher. 
 
 Important as it is that we ultimately reach 
 the work for which we are best fitted, yet the 
 value of the choice depends on our motive in 
 making it. The noblest calling pursued for 
 unworthy ends is inferior to the humblest ser- 
 vice done for a high purpose. To live to amass 
 wealth for its own sake is selfish, but if the aim 
 is to acquire a fortune that it may be used in 
 the service of humanity, the purpose ennobles 
 the work. The danger is that when you have 
 gained your fortune, it will be harder for you 
 to devote it to the service of humanity than 
 you now think. The more a man has, the less 
 in proportion is he disposed to give for the 
 public good. 
 
 Besides the regular professions, there are 
 
 many pursuits open to college graduates who 
 
 have special natural qualifications. Among 
 
 them may be named civil, mechanical, electrical, 
 
 [147 J 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 mining, and sanitary engineering; business in 
 all its forms; forestry; agriculture; journal- 
 ism; music; art; architecture; and advertising. 
 For the most of these some training may be 
 had in the undergraduate, and more in the 
 graduate courses. 
 
 The young man who plans to accomplish 
 anything worth doing in any profession or any 
 business ought to have good health, good men- 
 tal equipment, and a strong moral purpose. 
 
 The competition in every field of activity 
 today is so keen that one who enters will need 
 all the sustaining power which vigorous health 
 can supply. All degrees of dissipation are 
 hindrances, and excessive dissipation makes a 
 successful career impossible. 
 
 If you are not more than an average stu- 
 dent, the kind and amount of mental effort 
 which you are thus far showing in college will 
 not enable you to get on to advantage in a 
 professional school. When it comes to the 
 actual work of your life, success will depend 
 greatly on your ability to think clearly, and 
 decide quickly and wisely. It is the man with 
 a well-trained mind who brings things to pass. 
 
 No* man whose integrity is questioned can 
 have any standing in business, and no man of 
 impure character and low motives ought ever 
 [148] 
 
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE 
 
 to enter one of the learned professions. The 
 profession will not want him when his character 
 is known, as it soon will be. What right has 
 a low-minded and unprincipled man to be a 
 pleader in a court of justice, to have access to 
 our homes as a family physician, to comfort 
 those who mourn, or to teach the young? 
 
 To the young man who wishes to put in his 
 life where it will count the most possible for 
 Christ and the world, the ministry will appeal 
 beyond all other professions. Here his best 
 years will be exclusively given up to the great 
 work to which the energies of all good men 
 ought to be devoted — the regeneration of man- 
 kind. There is certainly no calling higher or 
 more useful. No other work, when it is fin- 
 ished, will be looked back upon with greater 
 satisfaction. The preaching of the gospel has 
 been the great human agency in the establish- 
 ment of modem civilization, with its institu- 
 tions of charity and reform. 
 
 But men are not called upon to enter the 
 ministry who have not, and are not willing to 
 get, the necessary qualifications. The Chris- 
 tian minister must be a man of God in heart 
 and life, and should be to such a degree unsel- 
 fish that in all his dealings with other men he 
 will consider his own interests last of all. He 
 [149] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 ought to be courteous, apt to teach, tactful, 
 and discreet, "telling the truth in love." He 
 will need the sympathy of a loving heart when 
 he is called to meet the penitent and the 
 bereaved, and much patience to deal calmly 
 with the ill-tempered, the fault-finding, and the 
 conceited. While his position as a clergyman 
 will place him on a level with the best men in 
 his congregation, he must be willing also to 
 treat as equals those among his people who 
 have no social standing. He ought to be well 
 educated. Men who could not pass an exam- 
 ination for admission to a good medical or law 
 school, or for a high school teacher's certificate, 
 and some who have not even education enough 
 to teach a district school, have felt called upon 
 to preach, without waiting to get the training 
 necessary to fit them for their work. Most of 
 them, "having no root, withered away." If 
 one is called to the ministry, he is not called to 
 enter it without the mental and moral equip- 
 ment which will enable him to be a leader. 
 
 In choosing this profession, one should feel 
 drawn to it on account of its spiritual charac- 
 ter and its opportunities to help other men. 
 A man without the personal qualifications 
 which the sacred office demands may attain a 
 reputation as a preacher, and be a good busi- 
 [150] 
 
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE 
 
 ness manager, but he cannot hope to do the 
 work of the ministry as the Master wishes to 
 have it done. It was once thought that every 
 student who was especially interested in reli- 
 gion ought to go into the ministry; but good 
 men are wanted in all professions. Some of 
 the best Christian work is being done by teach- 
 ers, lawyers, physicians, and business men, who, 
 amid the demands of their regular calling, find 
 time and means to devote to services of charity 
 and religion. Where would have been our 
 churches, colleges, schools, hospitals, and mis- 
 sions, if there had been none to give of their 
 substance for humanity's sake? 
 
 The physician holds an office not less sacred 
 than the ministry itself. He is responsible 
 for the health and for the lives of those who 
 trust themselves to his care. A mistake in 
 judgment or a lack of attention may produce 
 fatal results. He comes to the home in time 
 of anxiety and sorrow, and his opportunities 
 to help and bless by his skill and presence are 
 not surpassed by those of any other profession. 
 There is nothing selfish in the practice of a 
 good physician. He answers willingly the call 
 of the poor man who cannot recompense him, 
 and when he discovers new remedies or new 
 methods that seem to him better than the old, 
 [151] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 he gives the information freely to his fellow 
 practitioners. He does not live for himself; 
 he, perhaps more than any other man, is a ser- 
 vant of his fellow men, sacrificing his own time, 
 his comfort, his health, and sometimes his Hfe, 
 in order to save them. In this he is a follower 
 of the Great Physician, "who went about doing 
 good," "heahng all manner of disease, and all 
 manner of sickness among the people." A posi- 
 tion of such responsibility demands thorough 
 medical training. Who can estimate what evils 
 the human race has suffered at the hands of 
 half-educated physicians, and of ignorant 
 persons who have called themselves "doctors"! 
 He who would become a physician should have 
 skill and good judgment which will not fail 
 him in a crisis; he should be a man of great 
 discretion, with a high sense of honor, who can 
 keep to himself things that ought not to be 
 told; a man with a sympathetic nature and a 
 cheerful disposition, who will bring by his 
 presence sunshine and hope. 
 
 It is important to lay in college a broad 
 foundation for medical studies, — the broader 
 the better, if you do not begin the professional 
 training too late. It is well, also, to make your 
 professional studies broad and inclusive, even 
 though you expect in practice to follow a spe- 
 [1521 
 
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE 
 
 cial line. To a few men of unusual ability and 
 thorough scientific training there is given the 
 great privilege of adding something to the 
 world's stock of knowledge. The world owes 
 more than can be estimated to the specialists 
 who, for no reward beyond the joy of accom- 
 plishment and the appreciation of their fellow 
 workers, have, after years of patient investiga- 
 tion, made discoveries that have lessened suffer- 
 ing and lengthened life. To render a service 
 that can thus bless mankind may well be the 
 highest object of one's ambition. 
 
 Teaching is also one of the most useful of 
 the professions, and likewise one of the most 
 poorly paid. If you are by nature fitted to 
 teach, are willing to live the simple life and 
 forego the opportunity to gain honors and 
 wealth, you will not be likely to find any posi- 
 tion where your influence will count for more. 
 But teaching is the last calling to be selected 
 on the ground of failure in other pursuits. 
 Teachers not infrequently become dissatisfied 
 with their calling. The remuneration is small, 
 and the class-room duties become more and 
 more monotonous and irksome. I advise any 
 young man who proposes to devote his life to 
 teaching to get a place in a school and serve 
 as an instructor long enough to be sure that 
 [158] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 he will enjoy the work, before taking several 
 years of graduate study to prepare for teach- 
 ing as a profession. 
 
 Assuming mental equipment, the best teacher 
 is one who has been bom with the instinct for 
 teaching and can maintain order by his pres- 
 ence. No one ought to teach unless he is sym- 
 pathetic, patient, and of unblemished charac- 
 ter. He should have a love for boys, and be 
 able to see something good even in the worst. 
 To reach his pupils so as rightly to influence 
 their lives and win their respect and affection, 
 he has as great need of personal religion as has 
 the minister of the gospel. A teacher should 
 have a knowledge of human nature and be 
 skillful in imparting information. He should 
 be free from prejudice and from sarcasm. It 
 hardly needs to be said that he should be an 
 accurate scholar, and have a love of the truth 
 for the truth's sake. To secure and hold a 
 good position he must be master of the subject 
 which he teaches. An instructorship in a school 
 that prepares for college demands a year or 
 more of graduate study, and the opportunity 
 to teach in college is open only to one who, if 
 he has not already a doctor's degree, has at 
 least been thoroughly trained in his depart- 
 ment of study in a graduate school. 
 [154] 
 
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE 
 
 A few years spent as an instructor in a good 
 secondary school sometimes form an excellent 
 preparation for administrative work in col- 
 lege; but success as a schoolmaster or in the 
 ministry is no longer considered a recommen- 
 dation for a college professorship. Whatever 
 one's ambition may be, it is unwise for him to 
 begin a long course of preparation for college 
 or university teaching unless the professors 
 under whom he has specialized have discovered 
 in him unusual capacity for training other 
 men or special fitness for investigation. The 
 position of master in a good school is as useful 
 and honorable as a college professorship, and 
 that of headmaster is generally more remuner- 
 ative. He has a better opportunity to shape 
 the lives of his pupils. The impressions of the 
 school are retained when those of the college 
 are forgotten. Much of the best educational 
 work in the next half century will have to be 
 done in the secondary schools. 
 
 The law is a good profession for men of 
 ability and character, but many are drawn 
 into it who are unfit to assume its responsi- 
 bilities, whose purposes are wholly selfish, and 
 whose influence tends to lower it in the public 
 estimation. It is not a good profession for a 
 man who is easily discouraged by defeat, or 
 [155] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 for one who is ill-tempered or small-minded. 
 It offers no inducement to an indolent man, or 
 to one who wants long vacations. To become 
 a good lawyer, one needs alertness, a capacity 
 for clear and concise statement, common sense, 
 good judgment, and a sincere desire to get at 
 the truth. Honorable success in the law is 
 gained only by incessant application, early and 
 late, through a long period of years. 
 
 In the large cities, and to a less degree in 
 the smaller cities and towns, the business of 
 the lawyer is quite different now from what it 
 was when the fathers of this generation of col- 
 lege men entered the profession. No large 
 proportion of those who graduate in law at the 
 present day will practice in the courts. The 
 great industrial corporations, which are ab- 
 sorbing the business of the country, employ as 
 assistants numbers of men who have been 
 trained in the law schools. Their aim is to 
 avoid law suits whenever possible. In modern 
 business, men with large capital or small want 
 sound legal advice, but they shun the courts 
 on account of the cost and vexation incident 
 to litigation. Title companies and trust com- 
 panies now do much business that was formerly 
 done by lawyers. 
 
 Many graduates in law seek positions in law 
 [156] 
 
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE 
 
 offices, large or small, expecting that the prac- 
 tical experience will do for them what hospital 
 practice does for the young doctor. Some of 
 these may become members of small firms; 
 some, who have the necessary qualifications, 
 may become specialists. A few of the ablest 
 and best-trained will reach the high levels. 
 But with the large numbers already in the pro- 
 fession, many who now enter it will have to be 
 satisfied with limited practice, or with service 
 under other men, or with some line of business 
 for which their law studies have only in part 
 prepared them. The young lawyer finds it 
 hard to start out for himself in a great city. 
 Only those who have a good degree of per- 
 sonal magnetism, and who know how to make 
 friends easily and to gain the confidence of 
 other men, can become well enough known to 
 get clients. Those without these gifts, though 
 not lacking in intellectual ability or education, 
 are very likely to remain in the service of law 
 firms as salaried clerks all their lives. 
 
 If you take up the practice of law, set your 
 standard high and do not depart from it. 
 Enter the profession with the purpose to 
 become distinguished in it. It is a worthy 
 ambition to become a great lawyer, but you 
 will never attain this eminence if your practice 
 [157] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 is doubtful or if you choose law in order to 
 become a politician. Promotion in the hne of 
 your profession you will of course desire; but 
 honors outside, if they come at all, should come 
 unsought. If they come in this way, it will be 
 on account of your character as a man and 
 your professional standing. You will never be 
 worthy of such a call if you are governed by 
 low motives or prefer the honors and emolu- 
 ments of office to high rank in your profession. 
 
 A young man who is fond of mathematical 
 studies, is accurate and systematic, and has a 
 good degree of mechanical ability, will be likely 
 to succeed as an engineer. He will need sound 
 health, based on a strong constitution and cor- 
 rect living. He should also be urged on by 
 an ambition that will make him eager for hard 
 work. 
 
 The student who has specialized in some 
 branch of engineering, if he is a man of good 
 habits and has done his college work well, may 
 reasonably hope to find some place open to 
 him on his graduation. Though his advance- 
 ment for a time may be slow, it will not be 
 uncertain, if he is found efficient in his calling 
 and sticks to it. But it will amply repay one 
 of marked ability to go on with graduate 
 studies in his specialty, at least far enough to 
 [158] 
 
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE 
 
 get the higher degree to which they lead. A 
 thoroughly trained engineer will not have to 
 wait for a call. The work of the engineer is so 
 important to business interests and to the 
 safety and comfort of man, that it cannot be 
 entrusted to the untrained and incompetent. 
 
 A large proportion of the engineers sent out 
 by the universities enter the service of the rail- 
 roads, where young men are appreciated and 
 advanced according to their merit. Many of 
 the railroad officials were first employed by the 
 roads as civil or mechanical engineers. Rail- 
 roading must be learned by practical expe- 
 rience, and the offices are filled almost wholly 
 by men who have acquired a knowledge of the 
 business in subordinate positions on the road. 
 What railroad employee has a better chance 
 of rapid promotion than the well-educated man 
 with special mechanical or disciplinary talent 
 who begins as an engineer.? The field open in 
 electrical engineering is particularly inviting, 
 and is constantly and rapidly widening. Tech- 
 nically trained men are wanted by the electric 
 railways — in particular for the electrification 
 of steam railways — by lighting and manufac- 
 turing corporations, by the telegraph and tele- 
 phone companies, — wherever, in fact, the elec- 
 tric current is generated by any kind of motive 
 [159] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 power and transmitted over long distances to 
 factories and cities for municipal, commercial, 
 and domestic uses. The demand for thoroughly 
 educated electrical engineers is so great that 
 the best schools are able to place all capable 
 graduates in desirable positions when their 
 technical training and apprenticeship are 
 completed. 
 
 Something over one-third of the college 
 graduates of the present day go into business. 
 To most, the ambition to accumulate a fortune 
 and to become industrial leaders, appeals 
 strongly. Many desire the active life and the 
 satisfaction that will come from seeing the 
 visible results of their labors. Some hope to 
 produce that which will add to human comfort. 
 A large majority of college graduates are sons 
 of fathers who did not go to college, and many 
 of these choose business because their fathers 
 were business men. The college graduate who 
 goes into business must be willing to begin at 
 the lowest round of the ladder, and not feel 
 that his education exempts him from learning 
 anything that the uneducated beginner has to 
 learn. If he enters it with this spirit, he will 
 find his college education of real advantage. 
 In these days of great combinations, strong 
 men with trained minds are in demand; but, 
 [160] 
 
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE 
 
 whatever mental equipment one may have, he 
 must not expect to rise to a very responsible 
 position without much practical experience. 
 
 Unless the young man who is looking toward 
 a business career has very evident personal 
 qualifications or the strong influence of family 
 or friends, he may not have much opportunity 
 for choice of place in which to begin. There 
 are always openings for the few best men, and 
 almost any firm would make a place for a young 
 man of exceptionally high qualifications; but 
 to the majority of us, average men, no such 
 opportunities come. The most we can hope 
 for is a fair chance to start. We must earn 
 promotion before we get it. Take the best 
 place which is offered you, and show by the 
 excellence of your work what kind of man you 
 are. Do not be afraid to do more than your 
 share of the work. Do not object to anything 
 asked of you on the ground that you are not 
 paid to do that. What you want is to make 
 yourself as useful as possible. When you are 
 fitted for it, you will find advancement, either 
 where you are or elsewhere. If you are ambi- 
 tious for a first-class opportunity, do not let 
 the amount of the salary influence your decis- 
 ion. The best compensation during the first 
 year is found in the opportunity to learn the 
 [161] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 business. As a rule, places that pay most at 
 the start offer the least chance of advancement, 
 and will be the least desirable from the stand- 
 point of income twenty years hence. 
 
 He who desires to become rich will not be 
 likely to have his wish gratified in any of 
 the learned professions. There are, indeed, 
 examples of physicians, surgeons, and lawyers, 
 who from their professional services receive a 
 large income (that is, large for a doctor or a 
 lawyer) ; the great majority, however, get no 
 more than a comfortable living, and a large 
 proportion hardly that. But there is a higher 
 kind of satisfaction in being able to appreciate 
 things that are above material good, and his 
 life will be one of great joy who by and by 
 finds himself well established in his calling, 
 adapted to its duties, and steadily winning the 
 respect and confidence of other men. 
 
 Failure to do your part in the world's work 
 may come, not only from attempting to take 
 a position beyond the reach of your ability, 
 but also from shrinking, through lack of self- 
 confidence, from a position which you can and 
 ought to accept. It requires a great deal of 
 courage and faith to step into a place of much 
 responsibility, but when such an opportunity 
 comes, you ought to have the accumulated 
 [162] 
 
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE 
 
 strength and wisdom of well-spent years which 
 will enable you to meet the emergency. If you 
 are in your proper field, and doing your work 
 to the best of your ability, you need not hesi- 
 tate long when such an opportunity is pre- 
 sented. If it be rejected, it may not come to 
 you again, and the call shows that in the judg- 
 ment of others you can fill the place if you will. 
 It is a very trite suggestion to young men 
 that they are soon to take the places of those 
 who are now doing the nation's work; but it is 
 one which ought not to be forgotten, certainly 
 not by college men, who are lifelong debtors to 
 institutions of learning, either maintained at 
 public expense or endowed by gifts of former 
 generations. They have been selected and are 
 being trained for this very purpose, that they 
 may take the places of the strong men of today. 
 Unless they prove incompetent, they are to be 
 the leaders of the next generation. They will 
 be to a great extent responsible for the quality 
 of men in the professions, for the methods of 
 business, for the standard of morality in public 
 and private life, and for the position which we, 
 as a Christian nation, hold among the nations 
 of the earth. To take up and carry forward 
 the work being done by the men of this genera- 
 tion will be no light task, but the opportunity 
 [163] 
 
FROM SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE 
 
 appeals to all earnest young men. Perhaps no 
 one ever does all that he hopes to do. Life is 
 short, and strength may fail ; but when a young 
 man of ability, who is willing to do hard work, 
 sets out with his whole heart to attain a definite 
 end, he is reasonably sure to accomplish enough 
 to make the effort worth the while. 
 
 A college graduate cannot live unknown. 
 The college, the class, the town in which he was 
 born, the community in which he lives, will 
 follow his career with friendly interest. Sooner 
 or later, in the class history and obituary 
 notices, if nowhere else, the important facts of 
 his life will be written out, to stand as his 
 record for future generations. This public 
 recognition is a call to a life of activity and 
 achievement. 
 
 Be loyal to your college. Remember that 
 when you graduate you go out as its represent- 
 ative. You cannot avoid this responsibility. 
 In enrolling your name on its list of alumni, it 
 accepts you as one of its sons, and men will 
 judge of it by what they know and think of 
 you. It is true that men generally will be more 
 apt to notice the evil than the good. If your 
 life is a bad one, they will point to you as the 
 kind of man that your institution turns out. 
 You have it now in your power to repay the 
 [164] 
 
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE 
 
 college to some extent for what it has done for 
 you. For this end it is not necessary to do 
 some great thing that the world applauds. If 
 you are a good man and a good citizen, capable 
 and honorable in your calling, and upright in 
 your life, with an intelligent and self-sacrificing 
 interest in the public welfare, ready to do your 
 part toward making the government of your 
 city and state clean and worthy of respect, you 
 will honor your college and will render to your 
 fellow men the service for which you came to 
 college to prepare. 
 
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