Baltimore City College - Green Bag Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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over their youthful experiences, and to renew their youthful enthusiasms. The formation of such an attachment may well be deemed a fortunate incident in the life of any man. Not only will it furnish a bright link to join him to a delightful past, but it will provide l1im the golden opportunity for devotion to an ideal. The college to him will come to stand for many things which purify, ennoble and elevate. No abstract moral doctrine could have the effect, none could be so readily absorbed into his being and become so powerful an influence upon his life as his veneration for college traditions, his love for college ideals. In fact, the step from the ideals of a college to the ideals of the intellectual and spiritual world is not so long or so difficult, and the mind which admits the one is preparing for the other. The conceptions have an inherent connection, a sub- stantial identity, and though it be a paradox, we may safely predict that the less will soon include the greater. Such, we believe to be the result of the growth of a liberal and enlightened college spirit, and we think its iniiuence makes decidedly for social and moral advantage. For the true conception of this spirit combines unselfishness, loyalty, enthusiasm, devotion to honorable tradi-. tions and noble ideals. Anything less is dispiriting and humiliating. We cer- tainly onght not to regard such extravagances as sometimes occur, whether from the novelty of a newly acquired independence, or from -the recklessness and prodi- gality of fun-loving youth, as a true expression of the meaning of these words. Rather are they a pardonable misinterpretation, to be modified and corrected as experience widens and character matures. Again, it is undoubtedly possible to mistake a popular caprice or prejudice for public sentiment, and likewise, a sentiment may arise within a college com- munity and be mistaken for college sentiment or spirit. The question may well be asked, then, whether a whimsical devotion to such a manifestation may not become a sacrifice of personal independence. For such mistakes in conception with their attendant blunders in action there is but one remedy-raise the tone. Apply the test contained in the inquiry: Does this question or agitation affect the general good, the college community, or is it the result of personal ambition and self-seeking? When the judgment has calmly and dispassionatelv decided, we will find college'spirit on the side of the right. Its main concern is not to uphold the embryo agitator and demagogue, nor to further the immature ambi- tions of any man or set of men, but to furnish to fairness and justice the strong and generous support of youthful sentiment and enthusiasm. There is then every ground for a firm and abiding faith in college spirit, every reason for deeming college life without it blank and void. Its power welds into a symmetrical and harmonious whole the many diversified elements consti- tuting the college community, and makes the college itself a power for progress and culture. . ' WILBUR F. SMITH. I2

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College Spirit. X.-ACTLY what is meant by college spirit is difficult to state in a four or five- word definition, and yet to every college man the term has definite and significant meaning. 'Many a student, who would hesitate to put into words his understanding of the term, would have little difficulty in applying the test contained in them to any given action or utterance. His conception of their content has developed with his college life, and he is conscious of the existence of a code, not titled, articled and numbered, but none the less definite and accurate. The fact is, this thing called college spirit is practically a kind of public spirit in miniature. The college is the student's community, and within its confines his communifty sense is first awakened and developed, and his consideration of what is for the best interest of this community is first claimed. Regarding many ques- tions, tests are to be applied and decisions -demanded, for which previou-s experi- ence has been by no means a preparationg there is novelty, there may be con- fusion in the situation, but there are also interest and mental stimulus. The point of view is radically changed and materially elevated, self becomes less insistent, steps are taken and courses decided upon because they are believed to be for what We may call public welfare, and the training of the future citizen as a member of a community has begun. Very few, we think, will deny the ben-ent of this enlarged outlook or the advantage attendant upon this extended activity. All will concede, rather, that the training in this college or public sense is one of the most valuable features of a college education. Imagine, if you can, the case of a student absolutely lacking in college spirit. Let him be an absorbed, a devoted student, but still a kind of literary recluse without interest or activity in college affairs. Whatever pride every man of the college may feel in such a student's ability and attainments, there will be linked with it a sense of disappointment, a regret that the power of this man has not been made pervasive and communi- cable--a feeling that his absorption and concentration in self have wilfully abridged great opportunities for usefulness. We can hardly expect such a stu- dent to become, by any normal development, a public-spirited citizen. We believe, however, that to every man his college means more than merely an educational facility, and we know that there is abundant authority for the opinion that the attachment of a student for his college is sincere and lasting. To confirm this opinion we have but to take the testimony of eminent alumni when they steal away from engrossing occupations to become boys again, to talk II

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A , r All 1- 1 LW' af N L 'r. 4' A ' g ,kf 'U , f f x? 1 Y 2 8 4 ,,.. Rickety, rex, rex. rex, Riclcety, rex, rex, rex, Hullabaloo. I-low cl' ye do? We are well. How are you? City College ! D l 1. I-Ioo, Rah, Hoo, I-9-o-2 Ripa, Rapa, Loo, Loo, Yam, Yam, Razoo, W Rub-a-dub, Zip! I-Ioky-poky, Domy-noky, Teacher-man, We hopey-chokey Yip! Woo! White! Blue! Nineteen-two. Amnis, axis, callis, crinis, Quaero! Praeter, prima, semper, summus, Vero, Ferat umquam, Peribat numquam, Noleat quisquam, Hoo! Rah! Hoo! City College, City College, Nineteen-two. Chee-hee! Chee-ha! Chee-ho! Rip-a-stacka, boom-a-racka, Hulla bulla, fire-cracker, Garbage-man, tin can, Rubber-neeker, dish pan, Back lot, red hot, Greased line, soap pot. White and blue, Nineteen-two, Rah! Hee! Ha! One, nine, nought, two. Two, nought, nine, one, We're the class that has the fun, Hip, hip, hurrah, a tiger too, Our grand old class, Nineteen-two.