Hiram College - Spider Web Yearbook (Hiram, OH)

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The class of ’97 has at last passed through the trials and tribu¬ lations incident to the publication of a “Spider Web.” Though it was spun under many difficulties, yet it has been a pleasant task. Classmates have come to know each other better and to feel the power of associated labor. As these new experiences have been thrust upon us, they have been a source of pleasure. A new field of work, with eager but inexperienced laborers, has proved to be an important part of an education. Though the hardy pioneers, who have preceded us, have blazed the trees along their trail, yet we have boldly turned aside from the beaten path of prece¬ dent and hope that others may yet carry the torch farther into the realm of the undiscovered. Doubtless many boards in the past have felt at the end of their year’s work that they were but prepared to begin a volume representing their best effort, but all are satisfied with one year’s experience. The novelty of a new Board, with bright ideas, necessarily adds to the interest which is always exhibited in the College Annual. To introduce all the features of the year’s work which will be cherished in the days of the future, has been our aim. Should any¬ one be disposed to criticize that which is published, let him rather rejoice that so much has been left out. Perchance a flying strand from the Web has caught you in its meshes. ’Tis useless to strug¬ gle; every effort will but draw the cords tighter. Fear not, for the Spider has no venom in his bite, but merely plays with his victim. The night has been spent in spinning, and as the bright sun rises in the East, may each one catch the sparkle of the sunshine in the dew-drops, gathered in the “Spider Web of ’9 7.” 9

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Class spirit, and what is true class spirit? Does it consist in binding ourselves together and making the class organization sim¬ ilar to the fraternity? An organization in which the individual mem¬ bers are so closely united, and their interests so nearly the same, that for a non-classman or a member of another class to be even a common friend is an impossible thing? Different attempts to organ¬ ize fraternities here, and the failure of every attempt, have certainly expressed very emphatically the feeling of the students in regard to such a spirit. Yet if we do not guard carefully our class organi¬ zations and our class spirit, there is danger of their partaking of the nature of the fraternity. Such a spirit will not be tolerated in Hiram, and any class which allows itself to be tainted even with the spirit of seclusiveness will not only lessen its influence and narrow its circle of friends as a class, but it will hurt the individual members and create a prejudice against those who hold the places which our differ¬ ent classmen should occupy. If we even want to use our influence for good we must learn to be interested in and see good in all. The college spirit must precede that of any other organization. Class spirit, in the broadest sense, is that spirit which unites the class organization with the other college organizations, and helps to form the unity of our college. ' fc There is a tendency among a large class of students today to neglect the training and benefits that can be received by a thorough course in mathematics. T nless the student is going to take up some piofession which requires a knowledge of the higher mathematics, he will pursue his mathematical studies perhaps through Trigonom¬ etry and oftentimes not further than through Geometry. That this Las become a noticeable defect in the average college graduate, is eiy evident to every observant person. A thorough education is supposed primarily to consist of a knowledge of the sciences, the languages, and mathematics, and not the least among these is the last. Indeed, the old Grecians thought it so important that the root of their word for it, nardavoo, meant “to learn.” One of the chief reasons given by students for not taking more 10