Girard College - Corinthian Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

Page 7 text:

An Open Letter To Stephen Girard Dear Mr. Girard: After a life spent in following high ideals and hard work as a habit, you passed on in the year 1831. In spirit, however, no one could be so much alive as you are today; this is concretely expressed in our great school—Girard College. Your influence has affected the lives and fortunes of thousands of boys and men. It is we, the beneficiaries of your generosity and vision, who now discharge the honored duty of offering you our heartfelt thanks and appreciation. We of the Class of January 1944 leave our beloved home, classmates, and friends not to go into a normal and peaceful world, but into one torn with strife, war, and man’s inhumanity to man, where more than ordinary character development and preparation for life are required. For all this we have been prepared over the last ten years, and we are ready. You, Stephen Girard, have never sent your sons insufficiently prepared for the challenge, adventures, problems, and opportunities of their future. For this preparation we shall be eternally indebted to you. We thank you, Stephen Girard, for a fine American education. Our course of study has been such that we who wish to enter higher institutions of learning may do so. Others of us are ready to make our way in the world of shops, offices, industry, and commerce. What we have learned here should enable us to succeed on the job, advance ourselves educationally, appreciate good libraries, good music, and good art; and, best of all, become worthy citizens of our democracy. Furthermore, we wish to thank you for a personal development all-embracing in physical and moral values. Hard play, good food, fine medical care have been ours; the result is goo d health. A clear sense of right and wrong, fair play, consideration for others, and respect for religion not our own have been so well inculcated that we ought not to err much in the years to come. No longer shall we have such guidance at hand; we are now on our own. The spirit of all this should remain a beacon light in our time of trial and need. We thank you, Stephen Girard, for that precious, intangible treasure that spreads intrinsic meaning, real purpose, and genuine worth along the pathways of life’s daily tasks. We refer to the treasure of friendship. Our fondest memories will be of classmates, living with them over swift enjoyable weeks in Allen Hall, and especially our closest friends, tested and true, whom we know so well through all phases of our life here. Yes, comradeship in the deepest sense of the word has been ours. And so, on this Commencement Day, our emotions are vibrant. Memories and hopes entwine among our heart strings. But for you the meaningful beauty of this day could never exist. From the bottom of hearts, through tears and smiles, we thank you for everything. Sincerely and faithfully yours, The Class of January 1944 1944 [51 Slje (Enrinttytatt

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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