DePauw University - Mirage Yearbook (Greencastle, IN)

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Department of. Greek Are you a lover of the beautiful? And would you know the SOLIPCQ of beauty? Then study Greek. Do you like poetry? And would you know the home of poetry? Then, again, study Greek. Are you interested in lan- guage? And do you desire to find a perfect language? To you comes the answer: Study Greek. iVould you have mental discipline? Do you want. a keen, logical, analyt- ical, and, above all, an accurate mind? Then, by all means, study Greek. For it is these things that the Department of Greek stands for at DePauw. To make you a Greek scholar, to enable you to appreciate Grecian poetry, oratory, philos- ophy and beauty-that is one of the things intended. But, secondarily, if you do not care for this and want training in sound and precise thinking, then the department gives you opportunity for such training. While the physician, the engineer, the lawyer or the business man will find the study of this language val- uable, yet it will be of ample value to the teacher and to the minister. The teachers, especially those who do not intend to specialize in the sciences, should have at least a working knowledge of Greek. To obtain higher degrees i11 literature, language and philosophy in many universities, the students must have Greek credits. And to this class the depart- ment administers. Ministers, too, are given special attention. lt is trite to say a preacher should study Greek. It has come to be an essential in his professional Page 14 training. The department is of especial value to such students. Dr. Swahlen gives such students especial atten- tion and has his course arranged for their benefit. The charge is often made that the Greek language is hard. That is not true at DePauw. That it takes study and hard work to master the language is, of course, true. But any student of ordinary persistence and intelligence can easily master it. Doctor Swahlen has a system of instruction that eliminates all the difficulties. His maps, outlines and charts, and his clear and lucid lectures make the study of this most perfect language interesting, in- structive and pleasant. Doctor Swahlen may well be called the grand old man of the DePauw faculty. He has followed the profession of the teacher for forty-two years, and twenty-two of these years have been spent at DePauw University. His par- ents were of German descent, and the Doctor is an accom- plished German, as well as Greek, scholar. From the University of Pennsylvania Doctor Swahlen received both his master and doctoris degree. In 1867 he was elected to the chair of Greek and German at McKendree College, Lebanon, Illinois, and in 1873 became president of the same school. Doctor Swahlen, in 1887, was elected president of Kansas VVes- leyan University and professor of Greek at DePauw. He accepted the last named position, and although he has had many attractive offers, he has preferred to remain with the school.

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Deipartmen In the university world of shadowy ideals it is a note- worthy fact that the German Department deems its ideal a thing to make real. The prosaic phrase, '4The German I-Iouse,', contains this ideal. True, the abstraction has not yet become concrete, yet there is not a Freshman in the department, even though he is still struggling with the alphabet, who has not heard of 44The German House-3' idea. This is the plan: Built on the campus, its red tile roof, the dormer windows and overhanging balconies will make it decidedly German in appearance and set it in marked contrast with the other buildings. The Doric strength and beauty of its lines will be in harmony with the elegance within. The library will occupy, of course, a prominent place, for already the Bence Library is a large beginning. Then the auditorium will occupy the second floor, an auditorilun with a stage upon which '4Die Jungfraun and 4iEmilia Galottin may be enacted. This is not all. There will be a club-room and a dining-room for das Kaffeeklatsehen. This, in the rough, is The German Housew idea, and at present it merely symbolizes the spirit of the department. It is, in truth, a ufi01'll12l-117, department-Gerl man i11 ideals and tendencies, as though a Ger- man gymnasium had become a part of DePauw University. And it finds favor in the eyes of the students. Every summer students of this department tramp through Germany, only to return better pleased with their Work here. 1: of German Every fall 150 students enter the beginning course, and it is but a comparative short time before they, too, become imbued with the German spirit. The whole de- partment fosters this tendency. The German Club, Das Deutsche Bund, contributes to it, and, of course, the eur- riculum tends to make for the German spirit. The perusal of Storm's 'tImmensee,,' the study of Schiller and Lessing, familiarity with Goethe, and finally, the supplementary study of the modern school, brings the student into a comparatively wide knowledge of not only German liter- ature, but German life and customs, German ideals, and, best of all, the lofty and austere German character. I-Ierr Professor Harry B. Longdon, who is at the head of the German Department, has been teaching German for many years. To him belongs '4The German House idea. He studied for some time at a German university, is a member of the Goethe Gesellschaft, and is above all else a DePauw man. It is significant that the ma- jority of the great DePauw men of the last gen- eration have come under the influence of Pro- fessor Longdonas personality. It is noteworthy that the students of this de- partment receive the rudiments of the language under Associate Professor Minna M. Kern. Miss Kern has lately published a little volume, 'tGerman Stories Retoldf' which reveals her genius as a teacher and her noble woman- hood. Paige 13

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Department of' History When Fustel de Coulanges wrote MI-Iistory is no easy science, he expressed the firm conviction of Doctor An- drew Stephenson, who for fourteen years has been at the head of the Historical Department in DePauw Univer- sity. Doctor Stephenson has at all times clung tenaciously to the principle that if a student e11ters his department he wants to master the subject. If tl1is supposition is per- missable, the conclusion naturally follows that he wants to work. In the Doctor's words, 'GI-Ie must use his head, and not his feet? Under Doctor Stephenson's regime, the Historical De- partment has become one of the strongest in the Univer- sity, but it is by no means the most popular. This is con- sidered a compliment by Doctor Stephenson, illld in no sense a derogatory statement of affairs. The classes in European History, which the Doctor has dubbed tthis Baby class, because this is required of all those who wish to enter the department, are sometinies very large, but Dr. Stephenson has a way of singling out those who 'tget the motionf' As a result, the more advanced classes are not so large. Tlieimodus oyzcwmrlfi, or the system used in the depart.- ment, IS' not entirely original. The lectures de- livered in the class 1'0011l a1'e enforced bv collat- eral 1'eading, which is demanded of everv stu- dent. Fifteen hundred volumes of thd best works bearing upon the periods of history dis- cussed in the lecture have been gathered into the historical seminarium. This departinental, library 1S supported by an assessment of 581 a term, exacted by the University, and by fines which the Doctor assesses for missing books. '4This is a democratic institution,,' declared Doctor Steph- enson, uand upon the same principle that taxes are levied, the whole class is responsible for a book that is taken from the library.', These fines are assessed at the end of each term and the books are then 1'eplaced. Twenty-one courses are offered in this department: Three in European History, three in English Constitu- tional and Political History, three in United States Con- stitutional History, three in Historical, seminary course, three in Church History, which covers the period from the founding of the church to the establishment of the Papacyg three in Roman Law, and three in French Rev- olutional and Nineteenth Century History. The courses, with the exception of the European History courses, are given in alternate years. European and English History are required for a major in the department. ' Doctor Stephenson was graduated from DePauw Uni- versity in the class of 1882, was superintendent of the Public Schools ill Sparland, Illinois, for two years, taught Latin and Greek for four years in Upper Iowa Universityg was for two years instructor in history in Johns Hopkinsg associate professor in history at the Wvcs- leyan University, Middletown, Connnecticutg obtained the lcctureship on Medieval History at Bucknell, Pennsylvaniaq spent summer vaca- tions as historical student at Harvard and at Bodlean Library, Oxford, in England, and since 1895 has been at the head of the IIistor- ical Departnient in DePauw University. Doc- tor Stephenson now has a six-volume work on 'tThe History of Liberty, in the hands of the printer. Page 15