Lincoln University - Lion Yearbook (Lincoln University, PA)

Page 12 text:

Dean of the College | JOSEPH NEWTON HILL To the Men of the Graduating Class of 1951: One is not frequently called upon to stand ready and poised to set flight without knowing the cause and direction of the journey. Yet the plight of the world today makes me feel that this is your unusual predicament. Let us hope, however, that after four years of study you are almost ready, in body and in mind, to move forward, and that neither man, nor disease, nor war will inhibit you. Let us hope, too, that you are really poised to set flight, and I mean poised— with the very nice connotation that the word suggests—that you have obtained the excellent sense of balance, the sense of mental equilibrium, with dignity and proper bearing in all things. The word poised means so much more than that earthbound state of being which marks most men who are merely posed, superficially, for flight. Finally, may I express the hope that as you take flight you may not set out on the hum-drum passage of a mercenary or of an artless journeyman, but that you shall startle, actually or symbolically, this dull earth, by pouring forth from a full heart such “profuse strains of unpremeditated art as Shelley vainly hoped would lift man out of some of his perplexing surroundings. It is seriously your flight, men of 1951, and in spite of the perilous times, I do hope you will soar as well as sing, and eventually make the happy landing that you have kept focused as the fairest of your brighter visions. J. Newton Hill Dean of the College tight

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Dean of the University HAROLD F. GRIM It is my belief that to be successful in life in the fuller sense one must do three things—work hard, keep sweet, and be honest. Recently I heard Jesse Owens say over the radio “This is the greatest country in the world. I am convinced that this truly is a wonderful country. We are living in a marvelous time in which to really strive boldly and effectively to develop hard working, kindly considerate, helpful lives, being somebody, somebody who honestly faces the problems confronting our age with feet on the ground. You have some training but that is merely begun. Keep growing. One, as the activity of the time is reviewed, is moved to believe that there is tremen dous need for careful thinking. You are trained to think. With faith in your training you can think through the basic challenges, coming to recognize true values and acting upon your conclusions. There is great opportunity now to be Somebody—Try to be Somebody. I close with Mary Beard’s trite statement “Action without study is fatal. Study without action is futile. Seven

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Dean of the Students JAMES BONNER MACRAE To the Members of the Class of 1951: You are going forth from your Alma Mater in a time of world-wide crisis. In this respect your class is not unique. In the ninety-seven years of Lincolns existence, many classes have gone forth into conditions that were extremely difficult and uncertain. Lincoln men have a tradition of acquitting themselves honorably and nobly in crisis situations. You, I am certain, will carry on that tradition. It is probably well to go ahead to plan your future as if there were no uncer- tainties. The knowledge of the future is not given to mortals. Men have always had to adjust and re-adjust to a changing world. If your world changes more rapidly, you must increase the tempo of your adjustment. The ability to adjust is a mark of intel- ligence. The man with a plan is better able to adjust than the one, who because he knows not what tomorrow may bring, leads a planless existence. Nine James Bonner MacRae