Keuka College - Kiondaga Yearbook (Keuka Park, NY)

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10 THE COLLEGE RECORD. for science and the scientific spirit is that they are for- ward-looking, and the problem of literary studies is, it seems to me, how to teach them so that they may cultivate the forward-looking temper of mind. And I have tried to sug- gest how this may be done. To show that the masters of literature have been sensitive, observant, and thoughtful about human life and human prospects, not in the abstract, but in the dramatic present of their own day and country, is to set an example to every student, from which he will see for himself that it is his business to think about real things, effective things, that concern real things to-day. And to find that out for oneself, to possess it as one's own discovery, is, well, no student can do anything that is more stirring and that will do more to vitalize his college work. The student of literature must get the feeling for facts, for evidence and the contempt for sophistry. He has to guard against the disposition to fastidious preferences. No rule can be laid down for accomplishing these things. Every teacher must use his own intelligence and imagination as he best can. And if he is modern and progressive, he may know better what he wants to avoid than what he wants to accomplish. He should, it seems to me, seek to prevent the sluggish deference to tradition, that complacent blankness of imagination which supposes that the present can possibly be just like the past, or the future just like the present. He should make the philosophy of causalty not a living faith, but something clearly comprehended, because in this world things inevitably have consequences, and t he only way we can control the consequences is by controlling the conditions that produce them. And the only way to control the conditions is by knowing the resources, the instrumentalities with which Nature has provided us, and the systematic study of these is the patient labor of science, of sociology as well as physics, of morals as well as chemistry, of the science of curing and training souls as well as of curing and training bodies. The modern teacher, will, in a word, do his best to make his students look to science for the views of the facts and to the happiness of men on earth for their ideals. The spirit of science is not hostile to poetry; it is hostile

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THE COLLEGE RECORD. W tli.it, but those writers of the past were modern people in their own day, ami you will get their Spirit and their nics- sage all the better it' you too are a modern person, and if you get the spirit of tho workers who study the problems that are about us now, you need not change your line of work, but get the spirit of modern inquiry so that you may get at the heart and not merely the literary trappings of Spenser and Shakespere and Ben Johnson and Dryden and Shelley. The adviee was taken, as far as circumstances permitted, and the student began visiting courses in sociolo- gy, political economy and anthropology. The effect of it upon the English work was remarkable. What I call the reminiscent quality disappeared. The facts of history were not viewed as items in a tradition, because the student had become emancipated from the idea of tradition. Questions of literature were treated like questions of economics, in a free and independent way. The student felt, perhaps for the first time, that he had a right to really use his own mind, and only when study has this quality of self- reliance it is very profitable or very interesting. The difference is all in the spirit of the hour. Whether one studies poetry or comparative anatomy, the work can be done in what I call the spirit of science, that is, the spirit of dealing with facts and not with convictions which every gentleman and lady is expected to share. In science, opinions are respectable in so far as they have the evidence behind them, i. e., in so far as they have the marks of being true. The respect for evidence is a form of loyalty to truth, of allegiance to the facts, and studies that do not show entire respect for evidence and for facts cannot hold the respect of honest students. Education succeeds on its moral side where it cultivates the instinctive recogni- tion of sophistry and the instant contempt for it. One superiority of scientific training is that it gives those who go in for it a technique that they can use for a career. This is for many of those who believe in higher things than bread and butter, a ground for criticism. Anyone can look forward to very different things, to cheap and selfish things as well as to noble things, but what I am trying to claim

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THE COLLEGE RECORD. 1 1 only to sophistry. It is the spirit whicli is Leading lis to understand better and better the resources of our own dwell- ing place, this beneficent planet. FOUNDERS' DAY. HPHE twenty-second anniversary of the founding of Keuka College was celebrated Tuesday evening, December 10th. Members of the Board of Trustees and their families, ami, also, members of the Faculty aud their families took dinner with the students and regular boarders in the college dining room. It was an excellent manner to meet informally and to be prepared for the program which followed. The exercises of the evening were held in the chapel and were open to the public. Professor Mozealous presided at the organ, opening with a voluntary. Rev. Charles S. Emer- son, pastor of the Branchport Church, offered the invoca- tion. The address of the evening was delivered by Professor Charles D. Bean, of Geneva, who has recently been appoint- ed Professor of Law by Keuka, and his first appearance be- fore the student body was greeted by hearty enthusiasm. The trite subject, College Life, was handled in an original and interesting manner. It dealt , of course, with the experi- ences and incidents of undergraduate life, so familiar to every college graduate, but made clear that these are but secondary to the real purpose of an academic education. The deep purpose of every institution of higher learning was defined in the kind of a place its graduates fill in life. Pro- fessor Bean paid a fine tribute to the memory of Henry VI., who, founding Eaton College, endowed it with such a sum as to make its life secure so long as Windsor Castle stands. This noble school has contributed to the life of English students who have graced every walk of public se rvice. And it is but a type of the newer schools of this country, which, in their own time and way, will do no less for the Nation. After the address Professor Mozealous, accompanied by Miss Helen Space, sang. The historical paper for the occasion was written by Miss Ella J. Ball, and, on account of her absence, was read by