DePauw University - Mirage Yearbook (Greencastle, IN)

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eparimenfo Greek REVEREND WILLIAM FLETCHER SWAHLEN, A. M., Ph. D. EDWIN GIBSON. Assistant Notwithstanding the I'-act that this present age is one of extreme com- mercialism in which there is a swing of the pendulum from the study of the standard classics toward the pursuit of scientific investigation and technical Icnowledge which fetches N the Almighty Dollar, yet the value of the cIassics remains as far as a factor in a weu-grounded mental development and finished education. The Greek Department in Depauw University has always had its share of the student Iaody, sixty memhers heing enroIIed init for this year. Out of the present Senior Class twenty per cent. are majoring in Greek, some have made it their minor and others have taken not Iess than one year of coIIege worIc in the department. The work is not required for graduation and those who enter for it are presumed to come out of a sincere inclination for mastery of the elements of the Greek Ianguage and Iiterature. The first two years' work emhraces what is the hard part of any Ianguage, namely, a mastery and an acute appreciation of syntactical reIations. Similar work is pursued through the first year of the coIIege courses with selected readings from Homer, Herodotus and Thucydides. The remaining courses. of which there are nine, have to do with the Iiterature of the Ianguage. The drama, hoth comedy and tragedy, and oratory and philos- ophy are given careful and critical study for their great thought and high Iiterary excellence. our heritage from the greatest peo- pIe of antiquity. Q Dr. Swahlen is an earnest, conscientious teacher, and is highly respected and Ioved hy everyone who comes under his instruction. The influence ot his life upon many young men and women. who have sat in his class room. cannot he Iimited to time and space. He has a IcnowIedge ofhis work which is so inspiring that his students are Ied and not driven. His educational preparation has heen most rounded and thorough, emhracing the constructive influence of five educational in- stitutions. In 1867 he was elected Professor of Greek and German in McKendree CoIIege. Leh- anon, Iuinois. and in 1873 was elected president of the same institution. In 1887 he was chosen president of Kansas Wesleyan University and Professor of Greek in DePauw University. He accepted the Iatter position and entered upon his duty in Septemher. 1887.

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Deparimeni of Political Science PROFESSOR JAMES RILEY WEAVER. A. M.. S. T. B. I URING the Iast two decades, few greater changes hoth in suhject matter and universities. In these a hroad IIIOFC CSCI! year. the P1'El.CtIC3.1 phase of degree. the formal and theoretical so unduIy versity. tremist SCICDCE In whiIe Iceeping pace with the generaI in either direction. Although one of is a noted example ot' conservative 1881 Dr. Ridpath. then tiIIing the chair in poIiticaI phiIosophy. hased on the text- VfooIseyqs International Law, which he In 1886 Professor Weaver was elected to the Languages. which he iiIIed till 1890. when hy of History and PoIiticaI Science. Then the introduced. heing among the first institutions University courses. In 1893 the chair was under Professor Stephenson. at which period institutions in society, if any, have shown and method, than have our American coIIeges and Iiheral culture has prevailed more and education has wisely suppIemented, in a marked prominent a few years ago. DePauw Uni- progressive movement. has not hecome an ex- recent growth. the Department of Political evolution in aII these respects. of History, introduced two eIective courses hooks of V7ayIand's Political Economy and taught until 1885, the period of his resignation. chair of PoIiticaI Philosophy and Modern a reassignment of work he was made Professor suhjects of Sociology and Socialism were in the United States to offer these suhjects as divided and History made a distinct department Professor Vxfeaver further expanded his department hy adding Jurisprudence, Evolution of Economic Theory, and one year of advance work in the Seminarium. The Department as now organized. comprises four distinct though somewhat cIoseIy correlated suhjects, viz: one year of Sociology and Socialism: one year of PoIiticaI Science proper. emhracing Theory of the State, Jurisprudence and International Law: one year of Economics, covering PoIiticaI Economy. Taxation. Money and Banking, and the EvoIution of the Economic Theory: and Iastly one year of advance worlc in the Seminarium, viz: The investigation of original and unsettled poIiticaI, social or economic prohlems. The unity of the departmental work is hased on the science and philosophy of organized society in general. on which depends the Science and Philosophy of the State. or society politicauy organized. Then foIIoWs the more specialized applications of economicaI subjects. it heing held hy the head of the department that the scientific-phiIosophic I undue empiricism on the one hand and ' the other. The purpose af the depart- titic method of investigation. to guard to provide a practical training for pro- N end the Iihrary or Iahoratory method suited to enahle the student to hecome Q method is the onIy safeguard against too great philosophical specuIation on ment is essentially to develop the scien- againstaone-sided, hiased judgment and fessional, puhlic or private Iife. To this has heen adopted. heing pre-eminentIy seIf-directive in thought and research. , . - A I .- .4 1 W I ' ' . mann.. .

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Department of English Liierafure FRANCIS CALVIN TILDEN. Ph. B.. A. M. T is a commonplace of today that the methods of studying science have heen revolutionized in the last decade. It is less generally known hut equally true that the methods of studying literature havelheen radically changed in recent years. There was a time. not very far haclc. when even the teacher of literature in college saw in literature nothing hut art- something to create pleasure more or less lasting. emotionally. Passages were to he committed to to he recognized: hut as a department it was looked went. to history. philosophy or the classic languages. one might say. rather. that this View of literature deeper. Literature is still loolced upon as one of heauty that was once considered its only excuse heglnnlng to he realized that literature is hoth something to he appreciated xsthetically and memory: heauty of form. phrase and thought were upon as distinctly inferior. as far as mental training In a way this view of literature is past. Or. has heen superceded hy one that is hroader and the arts. It still has. for teacher and student. the for heing. But in addition to that heauty it is history and philosophy: history more suhtfle than that which deals with changing constitutions. philosophy more true than theories of Kant or Hume: a history and philosophy hased upon the thought and emotions of nations and individuals. The teacher of literature strives to do two things. He strives hrst to produce a cultivated and appreciative taste for the hest things in letters. He strives further to End. what all literature surely holds. the tendencies of thought. the customs and manners. the very essence of life of the time in which the literature was produced, Literature is no longer a reading of heautiful lines and a hlind wandering in a realm of unscientihc criticism. It is a study. requiring all the acuteness of intellect that is required of history and philosophy. and aslcing further a continual exercise of the emotional nature not demanded hy the other studies. ll At Depauw this view of literature has heen very popular. The department has continually increased. tiJ1,in 1903. the room used for so many years proved too small. and the department was given Philo The numher of courses has increased fill it is now possihle to talce. in the regular classes of the department. an undergraduate major. and in addr- I f ' ' A 'N X tion sufhcient graduate worlc for a Master.s degree. f Professor Tilden. the head of the department. graduated from DePauw in 1897. The two years following were spent in graduate worlc at Haward University. In 1900 he was elected to chair of English Language and Literature at South Dakota University. In the same year he was aslced to hecome the head of the department of English Literature at DePauw. o nnhllz. 'f. 3.m-IL '