Lake Forest College - Forester Yearbook (Lake Forest, IL)

Page 32 text:

airu when an undergraduate at the annual banquet tells how the students enjoy having us fossils come back and how much good it does them, give us a reason for returning. Have special football, indoor and baseball games, three events each year to which the alumni shall be invited. Let each literary society have a rally night tor its old members, to de- velop interest in the intersociety debate. Donlt think we are not interested in such things: we watch the Stentor lor the results. Remember that you, too, will soon be back num- bers, and on that account il such gatherings are to be of value to you now, make them a fact at once. They will help you and us-they will keep alive the College spirit and stir up enthusiasm lor our Alma Mater. SIDNEY A. BENEDICT, '88. The Paper Mills Co., Chicago. THE BEST COLLEGE TRAINING FUR THE PROSPECTIVE LAWYER All successful specialization must rest upon some firm broad foundation, and college days are the time when the professional man should be laying the foundation lor later specialization. What, then, is the foundation required for that form ot specializa- tion known as the practice of law? Speaking from observation, rather than from experience, I should say: First, that at the bottom ol the whole structure there should be genuine honesty. Honesty which is such because it is the best policy is not genuine honesty. It has continuously to consider, as the pricey' is increased, whether or not to be honest is still nthe best policy.U Genuine honesty is partly a question of ideals, and ideals are, or should be, one of the most valuable results of college experience. Secondly, the college training lor the prospective lawyer should be such as will develop a sound -H ' body., The practice of law is often acute contest. John H. 5. Lee As a lawyer of great gifts recently said, it requires Hboiler powern to conduct any considerable litigation to a successful conclusion. It is frequently the last ounce that wins. The prospective lawyer should therefore attempt, by some sane training, to obtain this reserve power. I emphasize the word sane, because in college athletics, as now conducted, the man ol' brawn develops his brawn while the spindling shanks becomes the book-worm. The thing indispensable in the law is a trained mind of good quality. Unfortunately, brain quality would seem to depend in great measure upon our ancestors. The training, however, is in our hands. What particular studies furnish the ideal training lor law, is, so lar as my observation goes, a matter of speculation. The practice of law does, how- ever, emphasize the importance of some studies: for instance, the success ol a lawyer de- pends largely upon his ability to present what he knows in a clear, convincing manner. Therefore, an intimate knowledge of the medium by which he expresses himself becomes essentialg such an appreciation ol words. their upedigreeu and history, as may enable him to use them with discrimination: such knowledge of construction and good writing as may result in some approach toward style. The result suggested involves the necessity ofthe study of various subjects, a more particular allusion to which is unnecessary. Again, law is an elTect, the result ol experience. To understand in a broad sense this effect, as exemplified in the given statute or decision, the lawyer should know the sur-

Page 31 text:

ever useful purposes my rhymes have served to Alma IVIater's sons and daughters in ex- pressing the devotion and loyalty which form so Iarge a share of an institutionis real life, I place them with joy as a votive wreath on my College motherys head, a small tribute of the great debt we all must leave so largely unrepaid. IVIost happy am I to conclude by adding the testimony of my own experience to the prophesy of my verses: though in my studies at Rome, literally and theologically nby land and sea divided, old associations retain their place in my heart, and the love of truth imbibed under the patronage of Lake Foresfs motto, uchristo et Ecclesiaefi allows me, in my new Alma IVIater, as a Catholic Priest, still to sing, uFor God, Lake Forest, Victoryf' Falls of Schuylkill, Philadelphia, Penn. ALVAH W' DURAN' '93- THE LITERARY LIFE College dormitories are often pretty full of as- piring embryo authors. In my day it was epidemic. Lloyd Bergen had it badly-so badly that his sweet little ten-year-old sister caught it and gravely as- sured me one day that she was writing a novel, but had all the characters killed off, and she wanted to know if she couIdn't use the trance on a few so as to bring back enough of them to finish the storyl Professor I'IaIsey's class-room was a dangerous place: many an author took fatal courage, merely because HLittIe Johnn didn!! unsheath his dagger. I thought uthe great American novelu ought to be written and felt some sense of duty in the matter. When at last I was driven from all that I wanted most to do, and was called to do so constructive work that others wanted me to do, I fell upon those glori- ous times when America has realized her greatness and her men are realizing, too, that her history has . . Burton Alva Konkle never been written, and that her archives are almost unexplored. A distinguished historian was once asked to write a history of Pennsylvania. Oh, said he, Hit will be a long time before that can be doneg a great deal of monographic work is needed first. The student who has attempted monographic work in history and has tasted the delights of a first-hand touch with original sources-seen men and events live again-has had a unique experience with Truth. Swarthmore, Penn. BURTON ALVA KONKLE, '87, THE RELATION OF STUDENTS AND ALUMNI The relation of student and alumnus should be very close, the closer the better: we are all one family, just a few years difference in our ages. College life stops with Commence- ment, but the spirit of that life abides. From the standpoint of the graduate it is unfortunate we do not return more frequently. There is nothing the alumnus enjoys much more than a gathering ofthe clans, ancient and modern, where he can tell how he ducked uCIemU or stole the Semi horses, or how our team won a game from Chicago. We pose as heroes and assume the hero worship- what could be more flattering to our pride? It is strange we cIon't return more often and probably we should do so if we only had the idea that it is worth while. If it is not uhot

Page 33 text:

rounding conditions. In other words, he should have a general knowledge of history. Such a general knowledge underlies also the special work in history now recommended in various universities Ior those intending to study Iaw. OI course the Iawyer who is most successful in the best sense of the word, is some- thing more than a mere Iawyer. I'Ie is a man of general information, a thinker, a cultured gentleman. To this result, all the training and experience gained by a college course, in some degree contributes. JOHN H. S. LEE. '95. First National Bank Building, Chicago. BREAKING INTO NEW YORK IVIen Irom the outside have, in the past twenty years, pretty much taken possession ot Father V Knickerbockerys house and home and are Iargely I running his business. They are erecting his buildings, teaching his children, entertaining him, doctoring him, preaching to him and guiding him within the Iaw. The man who breaks into New York Iinds his struggle to be with others like himself more than with the fellows who are born here. The strangers have entered and have set the pace and it is fast. Some one said, in poetic phrase, that Iiie was the process of siiting individuals to their true levels. The process is quickly completed in New York. Speaking generally, results alone count. The question is-Can you do it or can you not? The contest is sharp and without Iet-up, and it has its baIeIuI consequences. The young man finds himself reluctantly but inevitably directing every eliiort toward a single end-business-foregoing the social and the senti- mental. The liner Ieelings and tastes give way to the development ol Iaculties potent Ior material success. Charles Green Smith I'Ie who has broken into New York Iinds a life oi boundless interest and fascination, but he has Iost the peace and sanity oi the simple Iiie and the open trustliulness of his earlier days. I'Ie has probably become cold, reticent and guarded. He may question whether he has a net gain or Ioss in the result. CHARLES GREEN SIVIITH, '95. 49 Wall Street, New York City. CIVIC DUTIES OF THE COLLEGE IVIAN Intelligent and disinterested support ol oliicials who try to do the right thing as they see it, is perhaps the prime need in politics today. By this I mean the support given by men who are capable ol comprehending public questions and who wiII disregard their own prejudices, and their immediate minor advantage or disadvantage. Given this kind of support, we shall soon have honest olhcials. The average business man is not lacking in intelligence, but the college man has been trained by the study oi economics, sociology and ethics to recognize his duties to others, he has been warned of dangers by the historians and has absorbed the ideals of the poet. As he has been Iead along the path of Iearning the better side of him has been developed and fortilied until he is weII Iitted to fight against the onslaught oi sell-interest and to exercise judgment in performing his civic duties.