Aquinas Institute - Arete Yearbook (Rochester, NY)

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T H E A I! E T E €nglt$fj €bucatton anti tljc business ttibcitt HE young man of to-day who wishes to be successful in the business world must have a thorough knowledge of English. A good foundation in this subject should be laid in the grammar school and high school. It is true, of course, that the more English education the business man possesses the better will be his opportunities for “getting ahead”, for nothing is more embarrassing to one in a commercial position than is the lack of words or making a mistake in grammar. In almost every city in the United States, and particularly in our own city of Rochester, there are excellent opportunities to obtain a good English education. Study words, words, words and their uses, until such a vocabulary is worked up that we do not have to stop regularly to refer to Webster, or to any other standard dictionary. My advice to the student of business without a thorough knowledge of the English language is to obtain it as soon as possible or give up the idea of ever becoming a successful business man. Students of language state that the working vocabulary of the average person contains a scant three hundred words. You, the future business men of Rochester, are intimately acquainted with the three hundred old cronies who inhabit your craniums; but what do you do when you meet strange and unfamiliar words? What course do you pursue when you run across possible recruits to the battalions of words already at your beck and call? Do you pass these new comers by with a blank stare or do you hail them, find out their meaning, and place them at your tongue’s end, ready to be called upon when needed? When you stumble across a word you do not know, stab it with a mental pin and stick it in your memory. By all means gain an English education, even by dint of hard labor, and do not be doomed to disappointment as so many others have been in the past who tried to rise to high position without a supply of good English at their command. James Culhane, Commercial Department. § § Clap A war-lord quelled and gyved the world. Great pelf was his; his banners wide He flung from Rome to Zion-side, In regal splendor ever furled. Remaining years he spent in sin, In bouts of wassail, plunder, wrong. His realm was shook, he ruled not long— The worms of earth devoured him. A serf who tilled his land by day Trod the dirt that made the king. Spurned the slime that was the thing, And built his house with that same clay. O. t irml n-nix

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GEORGE ODELL SIMMONS '‘Simmie” 37 Engle Terraco Bleaned Sacrament Simmie. without a doubt, in one of our best debaters and thia he h«a demonstrated to ua. Beside being a debater he ia an all-around handy man, and on the whole a Rood stenographer He ia certain to be a aucceaaful buainoaa man. EDWIN LOUS TYRRELL Ed 670 Arnett Boulevard Immaculate Conceptic n Ed ia one of the amall members of the class If Ed doea decide to settle down to work he will be highly successful. Ed will probably be head floor walker in some big department store in the future. Here one minute, there the next, that’s Ed twenty-five

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T H E A K E T E l noU) Cijpself OUR years ago a friend of mine, Joe Rees, was in his fourth year in high school. He was an exceedingly likeable fellow, with what one would call a charming personality. Joe was a good piano-player and would let his school w'ork slide, if necessary, to play for his friends. But in spite of his slack ways he always seemed to be both influential and on good standing with the students and the faculty of the school. At graduation time something happened that was considered very unfortunate. Joe needed but ten credits to graduate and, out of five examinations, he passed only one. Of course he was withheld from participating in the graduation exercises. There was a great deal of discussion over this. Some said Joe got just what he deserved because he relied too much upon his ability to get by. Some of his friends went so far as to say that he was already shelved for a cheap position. There was no doubt that not being among the graduates was a hard blow to him. Not until recently did I know how it affected him; for shortly after the graduation exercises, I lost track of him. A few weeks ago while in town a friend of mine told me of Joe’s remarkable success in life. He is sales manager of an organization with a country-wide reputation. He has over a hundred men under him. In this field he has acquired the reputation of the liveliest and most diligent man in the organization. He has shown the old salesmen how' to sell. Since he came into the organization he has more than tripled the annual sales. When I heard these things. I was deeply interested. I went to his office and, w-hile we wrere talking of the old days, I reminded him that there were a lot of things that he did not take very seriously—his school work for instance. “What happened?” I asked. “Did the graduation exercises have anything to do with the great change that has come over you?” Rees laughed. “That had everything to do with it,” he answered. “When I saw all my class-mates on the stage and me not amongst them, it made me terribly sore at first, at what, I knew' not. Then I saw light. “It was my fault that I was not amongst them. Not that I had been unlucky. What was wTong? “For the first time. I tried to see myself as other people saw me, my bad points and my good points. Being able to make friends readily is a great asset but it is not everything. I had been letting little w'ork that I disliked slide. When down in black and w'hite it was a great shock to me. “That little analysis of myself was the turning point of my life. I resolved not to let the by-products of my mind go to waste. So to-day I get over ten times the profits of my labor writh just a little more energy.” Several things about Rees’s experience need to be thought over by us, especially the importance of studying ourselves systematically. This is the only way we shall be able to know our good points and how to strengthen them, to know our bad points and how to eradicate them. Earl Howard. twenty-seven