Indiana University - Arbutus Yearbook (Bloomington, IN)

Page 13 text:

To Our Readers (HE STAFF of the 1902 Arbutus has striven to make the best possible use of the available materials. If some dear reader should be dissatisfied, let him congratulate himself upon having escaped the con- demnation which will be visited upon us, and bide his time until he is permitted to take the lead. We have endeavored to cover the ground. Everything has been fish which has come to our net. For the follies, the vanities, and the nonsense which make up the larger part of the book, we have no ex- cuse to offer. We are all responsible. One seldom apologises for his own flesh and blood. The good things (if such there be), are accidents, which are said to happen in the best regulated families. Genius can not be stifled at Indiana University. The padding has all been chosen with the greatest care. None has been inserted until vouched for by high authority. Our readers of the college world, of the faculty, and of the great beyond should deal gently with our mod- est efforts. To the college reader it is all only a picture of his daily life. He will welcome it to the degree in which he has entered into the various and varied activities of the college routine. He will criticise it in so far as he is egotisti- cal and partisan. He will not be hurt at any exposure of his fads, foibles, and fashions. He will be wise enough to enjoy any laugh that is raised at his own expense; and last, but not least, he will buy a copy and gladden the heart of the business manager. The members of the faculty (who seldom read and never buy an Arbutus) will, we hope, not take us more seri- ously than we take ourselves. They will find here, no doubt, much youthful exuberance, traces of bygone indiscretions, feeble attempts at satire, glorifications of all those excresences upon college life (fraternities, athletics and the like) which leave a trail of conditions to the credit of their devotees. But let them not despair. Rather should they remember that all evil is only good in the making, and patiently await the time when their salaries shall be larger, and their sympa- thies consequently broader. Of the outsiders we can only hope that they may see us as we see ourselves. There is a certain blindness in human beings which consists in being unable to see things from other people ' s points of view. The college stage seems ludicrously small, but the tragedies and comedies which are passing are not less real to the participators than those that give zest to the great drama outside. We hope you all love us none the less for anything we may have said of you.