Loyola University Maryland - Evergreen / Green and Gray Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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J. AMBROSE QUINN. Our authority on horticulture. Class Historian and Poet. ‘ Brose’’ and ‘‘Ed” Graham have made their way together from First High.

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thing of “having learned how to learn.” And it is precisely in this respect that the classical course differs from the modern practical courses. The latter seek to cram into the students a multitude of facts, that may, perhaps, be of use to him some day; the former system seeks rather to lay a solid foundation, upon which the student may later on build up a real educa- tional structure. For the college training, indeed, is but an introductory course in the great school of life. The editor of the Iron Age magazine, an authority of the first water in the business world, puts the matter briefly, but well. He says : “Our great corporations and manufacturing concerns se ek the college trained man, but in no sense do they desire him because of the smattering of knowledge he may be able to devote to their interests. They take him solely for the training of intellect he has gone through.” And this edi- tor goes on to say that records of the business world prove the superiority of the college man at 30 years of age to the man of the same age who entered business by the apprentice’s door. “The graduate may have been twenty-five before he donned a jumper,” he says, “but in the five years he learned more, with the college training he had as a foundation, than did the regu- lar journeyman in his fifteen years of actual work in the shops.” Supplementing this testimony is the experience of the Inter- Ocean, a well-known daily paper of Chicago, which instituted a thorough survey of the business district of that city, with a view to ascertaining the true business value of the classics. Speaking of the undertaking, the Inter-Ocean says: “When we began our quest dozens of wise men sneered at the colleges, and declared that the classics would avail a man nothing in business. Yet, as a matter of fact, we found that the number of college-trained men employed in the best positions was 34 times their proportion of the population.” Thus we see that even from a purely commercial standpoint the classics have decided claims for recognition. But they have also other advantages, which appeal not only to the business man, but to all classes and professions. Not only do they, from the very nature of their study, impart a training and balance to the mind that is invaluable to men in every walk of life, but they are indispensable to scholars and

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others who would investigate problems in history, philosophy, religion, literature, or practically anything else. They give us our technical vocabulary in all the sciences. And, finally, they open up for our inspection many of the greatest literary pro- ductions of all ages — works of oratory and pleading, poetry and the drama, that may truly be said to form the basis of all our modern literature. And yet these studies are rejected because of their lack of utility. How is it, one may ask, that the study of Latin and Greek is of such great value in building up and strengthening the mental and moral powers? The reasons can easily be seen. First of all, the daily translations from these languages into English is an excellent discipline for the mind, requiring, as it does, severe and systematic mental labor, close observation, and minute consideration and appreciation of details. And, just as bodily exercise develops and strengthens the physical side of man, so does this mental exercise assist greatly in the broadening of his intellectual side. Again, the transforming of thought from such tongues so widely differing from our own causes the student to develop a quickness and flexibility of mind, for the varying phases and idioms of the ancient world must be turned and twisted and made to fit our own times. And following upon this sharpening of the faculties must, of necessity, come a power of accurate and forcible expression, else the beauty and force of the ancient writers will not be felt in the translation. Thus these studies, while forcing the student to work and think independently, and to voice his thoughts with precision, at the same time open up before his eyes the storehouses of the wisdom of bygone days, and enable him to view and study the lives and achievements of men of other ages, and thus obtain a broadened outlook on life in general. The study of modern languages cannot well replace them. These latter- day tongues are of commercial value and nothing more. They are but poor developments of the two great mother tongues; their study does not require the same exertions of mind from the student, and cannot possibly develop the same discipline of mind and clear habit of thought. I shall quote a few opinions on the value of the classics from (21)