IIT Chicago Kent College of Law - Transcript Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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7 NZ Page 34 Y if 1 Ivalxfiicffnnvr ,H Background for the Law HON. NINIAN H. WELCH. No one begins the study of law with the sole and primary purpose of becoming wealthy. Law students, whether they admit it or not, are actu- ated to begin their studies by a lofty idealism. They thrill underthe story of the attainment of human liberty. They realize that autocracy never willingly yielded any of its choice privileges. They learn that liberty was gained step by step, through countless ages. They dramatize in their minds the conflict between the castle on the hill and the cabin in the valley. They come to a realization that humanity's leaders and champions, in all of the long struggles, have largely been lawyers. They read ofparliamentary struggles in august congresses and humble assemblies, and note, with delight, that most of the minds that lead are legally trained. 4 They read history with a new interest and discover with unconcealed joy that the language in which is written the Magna Charta, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution, is the language of their law books. ' They are thrilled by the conquest of the lawyers who have gone before. One must not getz lost in the material meshes of the process of becoming a lawyer, and lose the bright, shining vision which gleamed in the sky at the beginning. I This is a material age. Chicago is a material city. It is located at the head of five great sweetwater seas, and at the gateway of the widest, richest prairies on the planet, its location ought to make it romantic, but it has smoke-belching engines in its front yard and cannon-like chimneys shooting the blue out of the sky everywhere. , A The marvelous idealism of leadership, which actuates the men and women who study law, must not be lost to the world. The law student, with face clear and pale from abstemious living, must not be lost in our present soul-killing materialism. The farmer boy leaning back between the plow handles in his father's field, sees, through the purple haze of Indian summer, the corn shocks turn into tower and turret in some great city of dreams and opportunity. The young folk of the city, in counting house or on a campus, dream of the fields of contest, and see, in vision, the thickest fighting close about the nodding plumes of their own war bonnets. Students of law should never lose the shining vision which lured them at the beginning. I There is less danger that students will know too little law, than that they will be unwise in dealing with men and women. Wisdom comes only frompexperience and a thoughtful consideration of everything, in its every relation. ' ' One cannot superlatively charm or conclusively persuade and convince his fellow man unless he have a rich resource of knowledge-wisdom, per- sonality and character. He can best do all of this by communing with all K--'Y 1925

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r - 5 E of the best minds and souls of all time. A knowledge of books gives him an intimate acquaintance with the kings of thought, the masters of fancy, the magicians of music, the story tellers, and the teachers by parable. One dulled by the grind of the dreariest monotony may have at his elbow the embalmed wit, fancy and philosophy of the most charming, in- tellectual and soulful persons who have ever graced the earth, all he needs do is to open a book and he has opened a door. Law students, men and women, while you are reading and grubbing in the law, forget not the background of culture which you need foryour hapl- piness and for your extraordinary accomplishments. Forget not, while you are learning the logic and philosophy of the law, to become imbued with itshistory, and to remember'the art which walked hand in hand with it as it was developing. Everyone, if only for the sake of happiness, should have as rich a back- ground of culture as it is possible to have. Appetites and passions will be- come jaded and faded, andthere will come times when one must seek solace and happiness within. 'Fortunate are the ones whose inner chambers of mind and soul are beautifully and resourcefully furnished. U . Anyone who highly hopes to sometime become a leader, or who visions himself with listening juries or senates at his command, must cultivate him- self thoroughly and endow himself richly, so that humanity can see in him the qualities of leadership and greatness. Mediocrity should be shunned as a pestilence. Everyone should have his eyes on the purple heights of power and performance. A thorough knowl- edge of law with a rich background of general culture will make it possible for the most humble to build out here on earth some of the visions that he, in his better moments, has glimpsed in the sky. Vlfhen I would know thee, my thought looks Upon thy well made choice of friends and books. 'Then do I love thee, and behold thy ends, In making thy friends books, and thy books friends. Ben Jonson 192 I . '-'rv lx Vi l JY l 1 4 R Page 135