Elmhurst College - Elms Yearbook (Elmhurst, IL)

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The Possible You Look here, my son, and a le.:;son gain From the ripening seed of the humble grain. It ' s just hke you. How wonderfully it grew ! Ere long its every cell will contain The rosy cheek, the brawn, and the brain Of the boy and the man in life ' s campaign That ' s ever new. Yourself, like the seed of the fruitful grain, Shall be to the world a growing gain, A bounteous revenue, For the many and not for the few. With others of similar fibre and grain The ranks of men you are to sustain On a higher and ever higher plane, Yet none like you. From the little seed of the humble grain, That to copy another will disdain. Take now this cue : I ' m not like you. Like a different strand in rope or skein, My separate nature will I maintain, And scorning the echo, the repeat, and refrain, Myself with myself imbue. But to look alone at the lowly grain, It would be foolish and almost profane, For a type of the possible Y ' ou. How wonderfully you grew ! And soon the saplings along the lane. Between the fields of golden grain, Their marveling necks and heads shall crane To the lofty view. The sturdiest oak to the golden grain. To the leafy choir along the lane. When the day is due. Shall bid adieu. To furrow the ocean ' s shifting plain, Old Neptune ' s mountains to cleave in twain Or to dance on the rivers meandering lane, Whence the tide withdrew. Where the billows come rushing dow n amain, Far away from the native field and lane, That oak shall be you. Part ship, part canoe. And the captain ' s part and the crew ' s pertain Likewise to you. ' Twould be in vain To shun the toil, the labor, and strain, And the storm to eschew. 23

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WESLEY N. SPECKMAN, PH.D. Professor of Biological .Sciences, 1921 ; A. B., Baldwin- Wallace College, 1889; A. M., Baldwin- Wallace College, 1898; Ph.D., Taylor University, 1900; Summers of ' 06, ' 07, ' 11, ' 12, ' 20, University of Chicago. Instructor in: Philander Smith College, 1889-1892; Blinn Memorial College, 1892-1896; Principal of Metropolis High School, 1896-1898; Taylor University, 1899- 1901; Kansas Weslevan University, 1901-1909; Arkansas Conference College, 1909-1911; Baldwin-Wallace College, 1911-1917; President New Lyme Insti- tute, 1917-1920; Park College, 1920-1921. ROBERT G. LEONHARDT Athletic Director, 1920; Elmhurst College, 1917; Eden Theological Sem- inary, 1920. ALFRED G. DIETZE, A. B. Tutor at Elmhurst, 1921; Elmhurst College, 1918; Eden Theological Seminary, 1921 ; A. B., Washington L-niversity, 1921. 22

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Oh, listen not to the melting strain Of the siren luring captain and swain, The very ship and the crew, A wandering course to pursue, Much rather strive witli might and main Against the tide and the hurricane Than aimlessly drift on the glassy main Of dreamy hue. The song and the dream are but links in the chain So deftly wrought by that daughter of Cain. And be the sky never so blue, ' Tis a screen for the sulphurous hue, Foreboding the story of Sodom again. Your red life blood she would seek to drain. A pestiferous corpse ' midst the heap of the slain, Is this a possible You? No, no, my son, God did ordain You should to the heavenly land attain. Where dreams come true. Where the sky is eternally blue. You ' ll find the fields of golden grain Awaiting you, and the peaceful lane. The harps are tuned for the sweetest strain They ever knew. And even here an endless train Of vessels filled with the goldenest grain Shall come to you By the upward view, A store of renewed and welcome gain To the battle-weary arm and brain And the heart, aye, the heart of finest grain, To the heart of the possible You. Put on your strength, for strength shall reign. And now go forth to the martial strain No one may rue : The foe subdue, The tempter eschew. And whatever you do, Be true, be true, To the actual God and the possible You. — Prof. Carl Baxter. 24