Drexel University - Spartan Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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continue to do so in the ages that are to eome. lly the diseipline of the l'lnglish-speaking peoples I mean the way we have heen edueated into our present, views and eonditions of life. Possihly I may seem inexaet, in speaking here to-night ot the lilnglish-speaking peoples, for I am going to make an assumption. I am thoroughly well aware that while the American people a.re the largest body of lilnglish-speaking people in point' of num- hers, they are not homogeneous in deseent, and many ot' them might not he willing to aeeept some otf the diseipline and some ol' the tradition that I am referring to to-night. And yet I make my assumption heeause I know that the great' majority ol' the Anieriean people will eonsider that what I have to say does eoneern them hy reason ol' their in- heritauee and their past. litany rills have tlowefl in to make the stream ot' your life,- rills from Holland and mo1'e than rills from the 'l'eutonie eountries and from southern lflurope. llut the great hody and stream ol' your lite took its rise in the home ot' the English-speaking peoples, and theretore I eau speak to-night as l intend to. 'l'here is that other great volmne ol' ltlnglish-speaking peoples that, remained in its old home and that has sinee then sent out its hranehes l'ar and wide over the earth, hranehes whieh have not yet, and I helieve never will, lose their eonneetion with the parent l'ountain. These two great streams separated. liarriers and mountains have risen hetween them, hut in these later days, in a happier time, ehannels have heen made l'rom one stream to the other, and there is a growing eommeree and intereourse hetween the two. Therefore, in speaking otf our edueation, I ean assume a eommon edueation, a eom- mon diseipline, that hegan in a period het'ore the two were dissevered. 'llo some extent, you ean estimate a people's past hy the men who heeame its heroes. In the haekground otf the lil'e ot' the lflnglish-speaking peoples in their priniordial eonnnon stom k there stand two great names, one historieal, and the other more or less mythieal, Alfred and Arthur. And ot' hoth these it: may he said that they l'ound their glory in redressing lnunan wrongs and in bringing order out ol' ehaosg that they sought to estahlish a realm in whit-h or- dered liherty, to some extent at least, heeame more evident, and in whieh the rudiments of a divine law were imparted to the national mind. Time went ou, and the hroadening endeavor ol' liherty to tind seope t'or itselt' in government and in the midst ot' the people was manifested, and with it eame a growing respeet t'or law. In the ages that we sometimes eall the Dark Ages, hut' whieh are not properly so termed, an intluenee from l+'ranee atfeeted the lives wolf our aneestors and un- questionably moulded their eharaeter. t'hivalry was an ideal in those days. Chivalry, l am aware, is eritieised as heing narrow, as eontining its virtues to a limited numher, as taking small aeeount otf the eommon man or woman. And yet ehivalry, the 4-hivalry ot' France and of England, did instil virtues of honor and ot' purity and of loyalty into those generations. Before -passing to a new element, I may just refer in a word to the 23

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THE CONVOCATION ADDRESS BY SIR ROBERT A. FALCONER, K.C.M.G. President of the University of Toronto. Mr. President, Trustees of The Drexel Institute, Members ot' the Staff, my Fellow Guests, Students of the Institute, Ladies and Gentlemen: That is a long introduetion, but this is the twenty-tit'th anniversay ol' the l'ounding ol' 'l'he ,Drexel Institute, and you may bear with me in a. long introduetion. I have to thank you very heartily, sir, fturn- ing to the Presidentj for the extremely kind way in which you have introduced me to your students, whom I had the pleasure and privilege ol' speaking to a little more than a. year ago. After the very etteetive presentation ot' the aims and principles of this foun- dation, whieh you gave yourself, sir, and the 1'eeord at onee 4-haste and impressive that. was given hy Mr. Tower otf its work during the past quarter otf a eentury, you will allow me, and I think 1 may speak for my fellow guests, to eongratulate you and all who have been eoneerned with the Institute most heartily upon the work that has been aeeomplished. You stand in this eity, in this country, as setting forth an aim that is in a eertain measure distinetive ol? the American people, and you fnllil that aim with consummate success. In asking me to speak to-night you gave me no subject, and while I thought that, our minds being as they are, eonstantly directed on the one great suhjeet otf the war, you might expect me in some degree to speak upon that., I nevertheless, upon t'ur- ther consideration, was of the opinion that perhaps it would be nnbeeoming in me to take this theme, and also for us in Canada, it is somewhat of an old tale. And then I turned to education, particularly as I knew that a large number of the leading representatives of the edueational institutions ot' the United States would be present to-night. But education itself is a haekneycd theme among us eollege men, as you a1'e aware, Mr. Chair- man, and it is pretty ditiieult to get mneh wheat out of straw that has been thrashed so often. Nevertheless, I am venturing to take as lny suhjeet The Qltlduc-ation of the lflng- lish-speaking Peoples. However, when I use the word edueation in this C-onneetion, I do not intend to deal with standards, methods of training, or programs and eontent of studies. When I speak of edueation I shall refer to the broad diseipline that has been given to the Iflnglisli-speaking peoples through that great master, l'lxperienee, who, with a, judgment at onee stern and benetieent, metes out rewards and punislnnent with a level hand to the peoples 11ot only in the present age, but has done so in the past and will - 22

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r L linest historical embodiment that the English-speaking people knew of chivalrous char- acter, Sir Philip Sidney, the hero of Elizabethan times, who set forth all that was lovely in holiness, in public service, in the artistry of life and in the performance of duty in every form and shape. Learned, gentle, winsome, brave, he was the embodiment of the best that has been contributed to us by that age of chivalry. People who expand in a generous way at the mention of the word chivalry, basking in the sunshine of it, begin to shrink as under a. darkening cloud, at the mention of Puri- tanismg and yet Puritanism has been more powerful in the life of the lCnglish-speaking peoples than chivalry ever was. Puritanism not only influenced Britain, these United States of America owe to Puritanism possibly the greatest impulse that they have 1'c- eeived from any quarter. Puritanism was often harsh and one-sided, but as embodied in Milton, we can recognize that such a gift came to us from a. kind Providence. Let 1110 quote from Macaulay these words as to Milton: He lived at one of the most memorable eras in the history of mankind, at the very crisis of the great conllict between liberty illld despotism, between reason and prejudice. That great battle was fought for no single generation, for no single land. The dcstinies of the human race we1'e staked on the same cast with the freedom of the English people. Listen to these few words from that sublime treatise of Milton, the Aireopagitica, the treatise that lilacaulay says every statesman should wear as a. sign upon his hand and as frontlets between his eyes : Lords and Commons of England, what nation is it whereof ye are the governors, a nation not slow and dull, but of a quick, ingenious, and pie1'cing spirit, acute to invent, subtle and sinewy to discourse, not beneath the reach of any point the highest that human capacity can soar to. It is the liberty, Lords and Commons, which your own valorous and happy counsels have purchased us, liberty which is the nurse of all great wits, this is that which hath rarilied and enlightened our spirits like the influence of heaven, this is that which hath enl'ranchised, enlarged and lifted up our apprehensions degrees above themselves!! When Puritanism in Milton utte1'ed words like these, the United States of America may well be proud that its past has d1'awn so much influence from such a source. Time went o11. I will not linger over events. There came the great breach. I will not consider the reasons, but the United States of America, in going their separate way, taught the other branch of the ldnglisli-speaking people a lesson that they had not known, by a discipline severe but salutary. But it was not only your fathers who did the teach- ing, who forced the lesson upon the other branch. You will 1'e1nember that the threaten- ing of your revolt became the fact which gave point to the teaching of Britons them- selves, and that there were men in lflngland who understood what was at stake. Let me , 24 '