Girard College - Corinthian Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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“Let Freedom Ring!” Freedom! their battle cry ,— Freedom! or leave to die! Ah! and they meant the work, Not as with us ’til heard, Not a mere party shout; They gave there spirits out; Trusted the end to God. —George Henry Borer ffloriuthtan [ 8 ] January

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The Principal’s Message TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CLASS OF JANUARY, 1944 : Recently a considerable number of younger boys have been running away. They tell us that they are bored, that life here is dull and uninteresting. For every youngster that runs away a score of letters come pouring in from our boys in camp, in Europe, in Africa, in the Pacific. This is a typical letter: On this Thanksgiving day, more than ever before, do I realize how much I have to be thankful for. Among those things were the training I received and the friendships made in Girard College. Something to hold on to so many thousands of miles away. Another boy says: Anyone from Girard has a head start on everyone My science and mathematics at Girard helped me immensely in all the tests we had When I was in the dental chair for the first examination my doctor called in several of his associates and they marveled at the dentistry in my mouth My drill instructor said all my work bore out Colonel Hamilton’s recommendation and now I am acting platoon sergeant.” None of you young men has wanted to get out of the College in many a moon, but none of you can feel just yet the nostalgic love for Girard that is never absent from the letters of our boys far away. You stand somewhere between the freshman who wants to run away and the graduate who looks back to Girard with love and devotion. And perhaps as housemasters and teachers our pride in you is not so great as it will be in a few years when we see you returning to Girard from the activities of war or peace with clear eyes, fine physique, confident speech, reasonable achievement, bearing testimony to the worth of the training received here. Today you are at least conscious of having triumphed over the monotony of routine, the daily tasks of the classroom, the rigor of a rather demanding discipline, the desire to run away from it all. Already, too, the Mephistophelian aspect of your teachers and officers is beginning to fade and their human qualities are being recog¬ nized. Memories of happy hours on the playing field, on the rostrum, in the class¬ room, at social gatherings, and about the table crowd upon you. And very soon you, too, will look back upon these years of training and ordered life and will call them blessed. And as for us! Well, we have little fear for your vocational success. We covet for you far more than that. We want you to form a few fine lasting friend¬ ships based on your own worth and your recognition of the worth of others. We want you to be courageous enough to make immediate sacrifices for the larger good. We are anxious that you develop a keen sympathy for the wants and needs of your fellow man. We crave for you the ability to laugh and play in such a way as to enrich your own lives and the lives of those with whom you live. We do want you to meet the challenge of your civic responsibilities without selfish bias, and with true knowledge and understanding. And we do pray that your lives eventually may be softened and sweetened by the glory of happy family ties, and that for your daily tasks you may be given the strength needed that can come only from deep religious conviction and spiritual faith. Sincerely yours, ig44 fflormtfytatt [71

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Class of January, 1944 IQ44 fflnruttljian m