University of Mississippi - Ole Miss Yearbook (Oxford, MS)

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Ellie Hnuinvrzitg anim Uhr Stair UPERFICIAI.. observers and half-baked agitators have continually decried aristocracy. Realizing the evils wrought by an aristocracy of birth or wealth or other forms of accidental prestige, man in gen- eral listens acquiescently to those who have identified the fundamental idea of aristocracy with that caste. And yet, not only is true aris- tocracy-the aristocracy of character- an organization of leadership for the salce of the state, but even caste, when it happens to be radical and protective of the only true nationality, that based on kin- ship, may become a means of growth if not a means of grace. just as the names Puritan and Metho- dist were once put for- ward as terms of reproach and subsequently became titles of honor- and this is true even of that noblest of names, Christian -so we University folk ought to accept the reproach of being aristocrats and try to turn an accu- sation into a badge of high honor. A university ought to be an organization of the aristocracy of character whose worth is measured by its service to all the folk. A true democracy is a 'nation of kings led by its lcingliest. ln fine, a university ought to be a training school for leaders of men and movements. judged by its ability to produce leaders, the University of Mississippi has a past by no means lacking in dignity and usefulness. And how could there fail to be developed notable leaders, when such men as Lamar, Hil- gard and Barnard were the trainers, and such men as Secretary Wright and Bishop Galloway among the trained? University men and their influence entered into the very warp and Woof of the State's most notable history. Not only on the bench and at the bar and in the forum, but on the field of battle, I4

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in the elysian fields of poetry, under the starry skies of science, amid the fields of human character white to the harvest-in these and in many other realms and spaces our University folk have proved their mettle and helped their kind. Nor should we cease our retrospective glancing without noting our Uni- versity's work in holding up the standard of culture and scholarship during times when she must have been sorely tempted to degrade her standards in order to gain ephemeral popularity. But her history has been one of steady . ,' V ,-ip, i ,Lx 1237, T if. -fp ,,. W .,., ga ,. ,,.f ,Y ' -,1-,A .yu -' I- ,Av 4 -I t, ,,,. - V I I I- r .. t wtf? '37 1.-Vi..5,5 gi: 'Ls.'3 ?1- 'Lg fr . -- - i ,- 1. A 'f' -.41 'yd' 41.49-' v 1s'ff a5-.L -.ln -If .-gp'-T' 4 '- if , W - 7. -57515- M4-7352-J,.'i.M 'iii-wifi 1.-4ffiZd.l'.miFf1'f 1 . 1-fm. . - ence has thus penetrated into every nook Even illiterate day laborers will come to standard-raising, and the pro- cess still goes on. The Uni- versity may be said to have created our high school sys- tem, by raising her stan- darclkand the phrase has a double sense-by abolishing her preparatory department and thus declining to compete with the high schools, and by introducing the system of all affiliated schools. Her influ- and cranny of the State. realize that the University's ideal of the cultured gentleman is every way compatible with com- mon sense and business ability, and that a slate university is a training- school for leaders in all vocations. Mississippi is, perhaps, the most intrinsi- cally democratic state in the Union, and is, therefore, in greatest need of foster- ing her aristocracy of character. In a democracy the leader may come from any walk in lifeg hence the University stands and has stood for access to the highest culture for all the people of the State. And yet, and yet-it must be confessed that the University has not always and altogether been true to her democratic-aristocratic function. At times and in cases undue respect for birth and wealth and sham ideas about the privileges of vicious gentlemen have caused the University to lose favor with the people at large. Never has the University government stood for aught other than a true ideal, but, until very recently, the fulness of time had not come for the University's self-conscious insistence on living up to her ideals. The frank acceptance of the honor principle, the firm organization of the honor systemg 'the knitting together of Faculty, students, alumni, high schools with one another and with the enlightened people of the Stateg the 16