Brown University - Liber Brunensis Yearbook (Providence, RI)

Page 20 text:

1 look at Savles F1all, at the John Hay Library. I scan the campus and meet the inanimate bricks and oray stones of Wilson, Meteali, Rogers, and Rhode Island. 1 am a Class en- compassed by cold, unyielding matter, bottled in the ivy covered croques of Providence en- gineers. What offer can they make me? How justified are these bricks and mortar in their existence? Inside there is life and I am a part of it. I ask and I am answered. My mind has many interests which have hibernated, hidden in crevices, suf- focated under the ponderous weight of frivo- lous inanity. They are shaken, awakened, dug from their holes and stimulated. I amaze myself with my abilities and shortcomings. I dumb- found professors with my ignorance and shock them with my intelligence. I sit through endless lectures, some dull, some inspiring. The ink runs from my pen and covers reams of paper with facets and figures. A river of knowledge flows past my head, seeps through my eardrums and saturates my brain in a con- flagration of confused ideas. In a moment I am sinking. In another T regain the surface, deliberate, inquire, investigate, catalogue my thoughts until understanding is mine. During a period of four years I continue to enter these halls. I battle with Kant and abuse the French language. 1 am liberal and scientific, and I am liberally examined. My mind extends into far reaches, distributed among vari- ous fields, yet concentrated upon one special interest. And always I am a Class that is con- sciously generating mental growth, The lights burn brightly in my rooms. Around me roars the busy world of Providence . . , the cars, the trains, the picks and shovels, the fac- tories. But all blend quickly into silence as 1 concentrate. Over the pages of countless books my eves tread noiselessly, halting, reflecting, absorbing the truth of the ancient and the modern, At times 1 am discouraged, reluctant to continue, I relax. The radio diverts my attention. A movie absorbs my interest, and I pick carelessly through a newspaper. Have I lost a moment? Is my time wasted? Or have 1 increased my education, rounding it on the hub of the world and its ever changing conditions? Success and failure both are mine, but success is captain of the two. Dean's List, James Man- ning Scholar, Francis Wayland Scholar, Sigma Xi, Phi Bera Kappa, scholarships, prizes, and honors have all been heaped on my brow. This I know: in four fruitful years the build- ings of Brown have shaped me into 1 Class that s intellectunlly marture: 3 Class thar s aware of its accomplishments.