North Central College - Spectrum Yearbook (Naperville, IL)

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Lines Commemorating the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of North Central College by HARoLn E. WVHITE Reverend Mother of many sons and daughters Noble and fair, whose stainless names gleam bright Among the vaulted corridors and rafters Of the years,-their greatness is thine own by right Of birth and nuture. When from humble home Or opulent they sought thy fostering breast- Rich with the classic lore of Greece and Rome And sacredly shielded with the stateliest Truths of law and gospel, prophet and seer- Thou in the modesty of motherhood Brooded like a spirit over their dear Ambitious and desires to make the good Wlax strong and integrate with heart and brain ln scholar, physician and priest who now defend That trust, keep faith, nor lie in wait for gain: And thou shalt glory in them to the end. As life flowed by thee, shallow, or deep and strong- Flotsam and jetsam faltering on the wave- Not thine the indolence that waited long Before it stretched a human hand to save. No supercilious hauteur looked askance On penury, if it but showed a brow Of faith and hope and sturdy diligence: No niggard stepdame to her children, thou. No meagre politician held thy purse Or set a limit on th mind and tongue: To thousands thou liast been a faithful nurse, And thousands honor thee-the old, the young, Of various creeds and various enterprise, Wfho found thee equal in thy ministry To all, and admonition in mild eyes Enjoining just and lawful liberty. Forgive if I contrast thee to the State, VVhere often party interests spurn the needs Of human hearts, and often virtues wait Upon expediency, and power breeds A multiplying swarm of sycophants W'ho coin the laborer's toil for tax and give Returns in rhetoric that only rants Of freedom and the equal rights to live: Where often honesty must plead her cause While crime's accomplices assume the role With skill to tamper, and divert the laws To let the public thief keep what he stole. And what of those who levigate the crime Wflth blinding clamor that our race is young?- A libel on the culture of the time: The Pilgrims came with Shakespeare on their tongue, A people's moral government their guide, Religious liberty heroically won When Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley died: No shifting sand our house was built upon! Foot-loose from Europe and all old-world hates, No land so free as this to bring God's peace On earth, yet so remiss she anticipates No higher destiny than her own ease. Three centuries pass, with all that they afford Of stern apprenticeship for times like these, Yet doubtful, like a battered vessel moored, Fear we to venture far uncharted seas? Wvhat fear had they to dare the pathless deep, Who formed the compact for a newer state, Shouldered the waves and made the vessel keep Her prow to windward in despite of fate? Ah, never had this land a greater need Than now, for such as thou, to emulate The simple culture and heroic deed That pioneered the athways of the great, And for thy voice, that echoes the divine, To bring the nobler age: A voice that checks The tremors of our times and gives design To learning larger than our intellectsg With purpose strong to mould a people's mind In honest frugal living, and to vow Eternal war on all that makes unkind The heart of man- -This is the duty now! What good is learning-more than a foolish tale- That lifts no load, creates no new desire To make the better man in us prevail?- A light that dazzles but does not inspire. O, splendid Mother, thy chiefest task and first Has been the sowing of the germs of truth, Eliciting a spiritual thirst For righteousness, and garnering the youth For willing service in a human cause And rare obedience to eternal laws. Those tenets of the inviolable home, By vicious satire ridiculed and shamed. Thou hast still cherished, for the time must come When every base detractor shall be tamed. And little minds that shun the Holy Book And legislate it from the public schools Shall learn from thee the truth that they forsook For shadows mirrored in the glass of fools. O, teach us that the heathen better knows To con the scriptures of his pagan cult Than we where all religion freely flows Know that whereon our liberties were built. No love of truth that shuts the Gospel out, And blinds itself to its poetic bliss Can long avoid the ultimate of doubt Betraying the Teacher with a Judas-kiss. To thee, dear Reverend Mother, this high praise- In all thy ways to make thy children wise Thou hast not scorned the faith of olden days Nor smothered it in sly apologies. Behind thy ministers the two-edged sword Of Reverence stands, guarding the golden gate Of wisdom, lest one presumptuous word Despoil the treasure of the soulis estate. Wieak is the verse that suffers one false noteg So let this harmonize the major theme,- Thy liberal teaching has not been remote From present or from future needs that stream Tumultuous from ethereal heights and flow In the main currents of thy country's weal, Whence rise brave deeds and deeds that few may know But which all people ultimately feel. A little leaven leaveneth the whole: That little, year by year, within the mass, Becomes the nation's magnifying soul Whence her true leadership must come to pass. fContinued on page 142.l 12

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CALVIN L. WALTON A.B., Ph.D. The senior class takes pleasure in dedicating this twenty- seventh volume of the Spectrum to Calvin L. Walton whose genial spirit has enriched the lives of three and a half generations of students. 11

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