Bethel University - Spire Yearbook (St Paul, MN)

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GRADUATING CLASS V. I.-. l«.. K»-, iff V Bethel Academy fitefcy ' tyl2. lh l.ilwil-r'Velirt

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THE ACORN jng questions. The mind of a child craves thought and he. should be led upon thought. You should be glad to assist the child in interpreting the facts which he sees. The illustration of the children which I have just pointed out to you illustrates uniquely the scientific spirit. It is the spuit of observing facts, arranging Tacts, and then finding out why and how. It is common sense put into application. Scientists are often charged of stepping beyond their bounds. If a scientist is one who sees, then thinks, and then concludes, pray tell me. from what in the realm or human life and experience will you exclude him. I think that people should use common sense in all things. A man possessed with the spirit of science has faith to search out all things. He says to himself that if any thing Is Truth, “I must know why”. If any thing is not Truth, T must know why . There is one field, however, with which he has nothing to do and that is the field in which he cannot make any observations, nor collect any data, nor do any thinking. That place we call unreal. The scientist deals with all things real and leaves the unreal to give wings to the foolish. It is supposed that a scientist jumps at conclusions very quickly, but no true scientist who has any respect for himself will make a hasty conclusion. Me always submits the facts and you may draw your own conclusion, he prefers to retain his opinion. I'or instance, suppose you do not believe that the earth is round. Well 1 submit these facts to you: 1. The shadow of the earth on the moon is round. 2. People hav sailed around the earth. 3. A ship sailing into harbor first presents its top and lastly the hull. Personally l do not care whether or not you believe me when I tell you that the earth is round, but i would think that you had a very quee. mind if you believed the facts pre- y seated above, and yet retained your belief that the world is flat. Such a contusion of thought would be a very good instance to show oncoming insanity. The scientist believes in gathering facts, infinite m number, and then submitting them to the minds of thinking people. You may believe or you may disbelieve or you may be indifferent. One of these three you will do. Which one the scientist does not care. But a thinking man will receive the facts and believe. This spirit has come to stay because it is the natural process of the mind working to discover. It lias made its mistakes but like a good book-keeping system, the works of the scientists are always open for correction. It has been destructive to nothing but the false. It lias removed only that which should be removed. it has made human life more desirable, human thought more accurate, human powers greater, humanity itself sacred. How cruel it would be for a human father to shut outside the eager children from his shop! How beastlike would he be if he damned up the stream of questions and made his childrens' minds stagnant! The wise parent will Invite the child to enter, arouse his curiosity, and draw forth the questions. The scientist is the man who has become as a little child, desiring to see, to think, and to conclude, and has entered the .Kingdom of Truth. He has no fear, nor doubts in his soul that he will be punished for investigating. And like the child in another way. he proceeds without any preconceived ideas. He has no whims, no prejudices, nor any mischief in his method. He i I ways selects a method whereby he can remove prejudice. Surely the Infinite Loving Father will be as gracious to him as a loving human father will he to his children. The move anxious the child is to see. o think, and to conclude, the more the father loves the child.

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the AC 0 R X 11 CLASS HISTORY Mamie Lindblom, '12 ELLEN SWANSON. Miss Ellen Swanson, the valedictorian of our class, was horn March 2U, 1894, on a farm near Russell, Minnesota. She received her early education in a country school, the Prairie Star, and besides she has had private tutors at her home. . She spent the first twelve years of her life on the prairies, with the exception of being in Chicago a few months, when but six years of age. In 190( she came to Minneapolis and entered the Garfield Public School from which she graduated in the year 1908. During the four years when she went to high school she has been very restless, always striving to receive the best. She entered the South High School of Minneapolis in 1909 and attended there one year. The next year she directed her steps toward Central High School, but after one month her name was seen in the • West High” register. Here she remained one and one half years. Modest Miss Ellen ' was not satisfied until she came to Bethel Academy, where she enjoyed to linger in the B. A. halls. She has not yet made known to the public what her ambition in the future is to be but it is thot that if she does not enter the university she will take up dress making. The class joins in wishing her success. She has chosen as her favorite flower the blue violet. Her most enjoyable subject, as it has been shown, is spelling; probably she will teach that branch in B. A. in the near future. GUXHILD HAGSTROM. Miss Gunhild Hagstrom. the sunbeam in the school, took up as her abode, August 8, 1892, a place in St. Paul when she was too young to choose where she wished to live; but as she grew older she has learned to love and appreciate the beautiful, so she has, as yet, not changed her situation. Little “Gun” first sipped from the fountain of knowledge in the St. Paul Public Schools. She, after years of strenuous work, received a diploma from the Phalen Park School, in 1907. Thence, wishing to continue her education, she decided to wend her way toward Bethel Academy. Ever since she began her course in B. A., in 1909, she has gained many friends, not only among the students, but among all with whom she lias associated. Miss Hagstrom has been a true and loyal member of the Alpha Beta Literary Society, and as critic of that society she has given good criticisms and suggestions that have been beneficial in their results. She has served faithfully as President of the Athenaean Society. In St. Paul she is widely known as a star-declaimer, and owing to her talent the A. B. L. S. and the A. B. A. Societies have been favored with many selections. Miss Hagstrom iias always been interested in school work. In her studies, we think, she finds laboratory work the most enjoyable. Pier favorite flower, the white daisy, is well chosen and typifies her character well. Among her favorite sayings is, “Small things amuse small minds.” Miss Hagstrom intends to enter some training school for kinder-garten teachers. The class feels assured that she will enjoy the life of a Kinder-garten teacher. MAMIE LINDBLOM. In the state of Iowa, on a farm not far from Swea City, January 5, 1SS9, a great event happened which has greatly changed the course of our nation's history, a little