Girard College - Corinthian Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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“My deeds must be my life. When I am dead my actions must speak for me.” SIjp GLnrmthian [ 6 ] January

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In Parting To The Graduating Class of January, 1943 ■ Every other group of boys that has left from Girard College during my thirty years of service here has gone out primarily with the thought of its own success in industry, business, or professional life. You young men leave with the certainty that in some capacity you are going to serve your country in the preservation and in the perpetuation of its institutions, its traditions, its ideals, its very existence. Frankly, we would so much rather have you pursue your vocational and your avocational interests in a world of order, of peace, of security. We wish you might set out upon the plans you made for yourselves when you selected your courses of study here at the College. It is challenging to you, however, to know that when your nation needs your brain and your brawn you are ready to give them in unstinted service and in loyal devotion—to offer to industry or to the armed forces of the state your native abilities, your acquired knowledge, your developed skills. It is for us a tremendous satisfaction to believe—yes to know—that you will acquit yourselves with honor, with dignity, with courage, with grim determination wherever the government of the United States feels you are most needed. What a thrill to hear of you as we did of a former captain in our battalion who ranked tenth recently in a selective service examination of three thousand eight hundred and sixty-two candidates! Yes, we know that distinction will come to you in the shipyards of the Delaware, on the islands of the Pacific, in the waters of the Mediterranean, above the clouds over Europe, in the engineering courses of our universities, at your desks in offices of war enterprises, in the mills and factories of war production and that you will make good. We shall be proud of you. It is always a pleasure to hear from the boys who leave Girard, but how anxiously we will want to hear from you—to learn of your work, your triumphs, your services to the nation, your sacrifices! We pray for the day when you can again return to the constructive activities of daily service in a world of free worship and free speech—a world free from fear and want—freedoms you will have helped to secure for all peoples of the earth for all time. Of one thing we are sure: wherever you serve and whatever you do, the name of Girard will bring to you fond memories and the desire to do credit to the school that was for so long a time your very home. The time for advice and admonition is past: you are on your own. Set for yourselves standards of daily living, of achievement, of ethical and spiritual ideals, and live up to them. Measure yourselves by the best you know. May the homes to which you now return be richer and happier for your presence. Look back upon this home at Girard with affection—this home which will always be ready to help you with your problems and will forever glory in your successes. Sincerely yours,

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To Stephen Girard To most people the dawning of January 21 will mean just another day, but to the Class of January 1943 it will be something of great personal significance. It means the sad termination of a period of years during which we have grown from small boys to young men, the time when we must go out to face the turmoil and strife of the present-day world. We ' ve fought, played, and loved one another side by side as brothers through ten of the formative years of our lives. The friends and acquaintances we’ve made at Girard are countless. Our experiences have been manifold and varied. Our education has finally been brought to a point of termination, but the thought uppermost in our minds at present is that we now have the chance to fulfill the desires and wishes of our great benefactor, Stephen Girard. It is he more than any one else who has made this wonderful school possible, and it is to him that we extend at this moment our deepest expression of gratitude for what he has done to enrich our lives. From cabin boy to philanthropist Stephen Girard worked his own way up among high ideals, perhaps the greatest one of which was to build for boys a school in which facts and things would be well taught. He has accomplished all that in the greatest legacy of all time. Now that we have come up through that school, and have finished its course of study, we can go out into the world with clear consciences and gain names for ourselves and Girard that any school on this earth would be proud to possess. No doubt, if Stephen Girard were living today, he would look upon the alumni of his college, his students, and his school with satisfaction and happiness, for what is happiness but the by-product obtained from work well done? My deeds must be my life. When I am gone my actions must speak for me.” No saying or ideal of Mr. Girard should be cherished by the members of this class with greater seriousness. What foresight and vision was his when he planned this foundation as it is and selected the site of the old Peel Hall Farm which was on the outskirts of Philadelphia in 1831. And what vision on the part of The Board of Directors of City Trusts to have since that time invested the legacy in a manner that guaranteed appreciation and growth! Girard College has grown into the largest boarding school on earth, and naturally we believe the finest. Have his students and alumni paid him the proper tribute in their accomplishments and characters? We believe they have, and thousands of them have passed through the gates into outside lives of honor and usefulness. And now they go on to frontiers of freedom throughout the world. The Class of January 1943 will attempt to carry on these ideals and actions of Stephen Girard until the name Girard outshines all others. May we often pause to think of the Founder with admiration and respect. May we keep him enthroned in the loftiest towers of our hearts. Whether for God or for Country— or for both—when the call for service comes, let no man of January 1943 hesitate or falter! 1943 [ 7 ] (Eorintljtan