Clarendon College - Wester Yearbook (Clarendon, TX)

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The Mission of America in a World Wide Peace l-las the land so dreamed into existence become by the material prosperity what European critics have with too much justice renamed 'fthe land of the almighty dollar? Are we Americans of today fully competent to meet the issues with which we are con- fronted in the same spirit in which true Americanism was founded? America performed the first great task laid upon her. She wrought herself into a great nation. The men and women that came forth to people her had learned the lesson of time by the experience of old historic errors. They had learned of what humanity consists, and on virgin soil, cumbered with no rotting foundations of feudal and ecclesi- astical systems, they builded a new state of freshly quarried stone-its beams and rafters smelling sweet of the limitless forests, untrodden by kings, potentates and princes. The same spirit that drove them hither and anchored them in the wilderness domi- nated in l 776, when we defended ourselves against oppression and won. Again in l86l it labored fiercely to ricl our broad shoulders of the heavy burden that stealthy ages had bound upon them: and succeeded, tho the knife with which the bond was severed entered deeply into our own living flesh. Thus America was emancipated and redeemed. The period that followed has never been paralled by any other nation. The United States proved to be a land over which a gracious hand of providence had emptied a horn of plenty. l-ler wilderness was cleared and settled: her deserts smiled and her ranks were filled. She became devoted to the arts of peace, in touch with the commerce and trade of all nations, enjoying the freedom of civil and religious liberty-a liberty heretofore considered as a fabled goddess, existing only on the fancies oi poets-a liberty the glories of which are chanted by a hundred million of people. It was during this period that a great body of trade and industry grew up, and which seemed to move without an inner soul. It had and has no ruling or guiding spirit within it. It was out in a vast inorganic mass which only seeks to grow larger. Under its immediate appearance of prosperity we have learned to live our personal lives so rapidly, and so many events have crowded in on one another in this age of' electricity and turmoil of governments that we have become prone to imagine that effects follow causes more closely than they used to do. But wrong methods of solving economic problems are not followed by good results any more than they formerly were, nor are the processes of evolution to be hurried because we are breathless and impatient. Around us at the present time the darkness and confusion of human affairs are almost beyond parallel. A crisis in history has no doubt been reached. We seem to see not only the disruption of national affairs, but the clashing ideals of races, the spreading and deepening of hatred and strife, and even the breakdown of Christianity itself. The questions now involved in the present war have long ago been overshadowed by the war itself. We no longer talk of who will win, for we know that all have lost. No matter how it comes out there can be no victor, because the accumulated wealth of centuries has been swept away as by storm. The labor of centuries has been mortgaged so that future generations will be born to an inheritance of poverty. No conceivable indemnities or accessions of territory can possibly compensate either side for the loss of property, and Europe can never recover from 'the loss of ten millions of her ablest men. ln the face of such devastation it is absurd and wicked to talk of net gains and 'ultimate advantages. It is not true that America is rejoicing at the self destruction of ti-l

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I 2 Q1,, s X ' oooo A A'A 'AA A'h' M e 'L i ' i e .sas ' e e eeeee eeee A is , Qiiiifi' 'N r Domestic Economy Three years ago, Clarendon College, believing that a combination of literary and industrial training would result in the soundest culture and highest degree of efficiency, created a Department of Domestic Economy. The fundamental purpose for which this department was established was to prepare the young ladies of our college for the duties and responsibilities of life. I The Domestic Science Department is well equipped with an electric heating appa- ratus. We hope soon to add a set of dishes to the equipment, in order that the course in serving may be made more practical. The aim of course is to place food preparation on a scientific basis and to systematize methods of work. A new sewing machine was installed for the Domestic Art girls last year and they are accomplishi'ng great things in this line of work. , Altho the first term was spent in learning the use of thimbles and in needle-work, they have now graduated in that art and are fast becoming expert seamstresses. t 12 ,R sswr X S 'ii'ii, ffffff 'i i fff:f..Q.Qfffff 'iiii'i Q.flffQfQfffffiffiffff fff,.f.fffff'iffQff..ff.f.Q.f , W 'ii' f ffffffffifff i,',' W 'fffffffw G

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Europe. leflaterial prosperity may advance when one side or the other falls, but we are not gainers, and the future is full of foreboding. We are forced to ask ourselves, can we survive if European civilization is destroyed? It is true that all Europe is our Fatherland, not any one nation of it. Each one has contributed to our commonwealth, and we have drawn our life from every land. Germany dwells in the gentle Rhine, our Ireland sees the sunny shores: while France pursues some course divineg Norway speaks thru our mountain pinesg Italy waits by the western orine, and broad based under all is planted England's oak-hearted sons, men as rich in fortitude as ever went world-ward from an island wall. We cannot rejoice whole hearted in any victory, for it means a blow to some country to which we owe a debt of gratitude for help in time past, religious reforms, political laws, institutions, counsel and guidance that has enabled this new nation to rival the old. No, it is not a vain imagination that leads us to connect ourselves with the whole world. We are links in the great chain that begins with the origin of our race and runs onward thru successive generations, binding together the past and the present and at last terminating with all things at the throne of God. We cannot adopt a policy of secluding ourselves from the suffering world, tho some find many plausible and soothing arguments in its favor. There is nothing Christian or divine in it. Could there be a more flagrant breach of neutrality than the declaration of an embargo? It would be abject national selfishness, it would be saving ourselves at the expense of the world. It would be closing ourselves up within the boundaries of pros- perity, and saying to the rest of the world, suffer to your hearts content. We'll bear no burden, share no pang of your suffering. Qur comfort is our only concern and you shall have none of it to ease your sore distressf, ls this the spirit of America? Are we so steeped in selfishness and pride? When American liberty first raised its voice, where in its youth it was first nutured and sustained, it should still live full of its original spirit. For this to remain true we must :maintain our ideal. The people of every nation know something of our ideal. Its rays have illuminated the shores of every land, and it has been a shining light to all the world. Cut of this American spirit comes the spirit that shall shape and advance the world's des- tinies. The patient brooding spirit of mankind inspired by our faith and hope in divine order will yet bring into control the power of brotherhood now obscured in the bitterness of the present war. We are standing upon the verge of a terrible adventure. Five times this land and its people have gone down into the shadowy valley of war and has trod in suffering its bitter ways. Once more we find our feet upon that pitiless path. We have been patient until patience seems to have lost all show of virtue, and it is during this period that we must show to the world what we are. l know that if we do enter this struggle that it shall be for no other reason than the overwhelming hatred of the ruthless and merciless spirit of those we are called upon to fight. But as a nation that furnished to the world its first spectacle of sovereign states obeying a national supreme court, we must lead in proposing disarmament and in inter- national supreme court. Thus the solution ofthe real problem of world peace is in our hands. The world breathlessly waits for America to move. We must be the first to tear clown from its world old position of supremacy the hideous idol of war, beneath the outward glitter of whose tawdry trappings lurk death and disaster. We must be the first to lead the nations to that simple and chaste temple where in transparent purity, rugged beauty, and resplendent glory, world peace sits enthroned! 65