Macalester College - Quid Nunc Yearbook (St Paul, MN)

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ing apology for inflicting his Canadian feelings upon us, he quoted Scott's well-known lines: UBreathes there a man with soul so dead Who never to himself hath said This is my own, my native land. It was with a burst of applause, both loud and long, that we greeted our beloved President. It gives us keen delight to remember that the President of the United States, the Greatest Nation on Earth, or under it, was to us plain Tom Flinn: for he had insisted that we should so address him. It seemed odd though, for Tom Flinn. had been a slight little fellow of about 120 lbs., and the President weighs almost 250. However, he was the same friendly, jolly old fellow as of yore. We remember that during our Junior year, Tom Flinn was a, marked man, for he was captain of our foot-ball team, but we did not dream that he should be captain of the American people. The Presi- dent told us, with charming modesty, the principal events of his busy career. He declared that, in spite of the statements of his biogra- phers, he had never been a brilliant student, sweeping everything be- fore him, and so strenuously applying himself to his books as to find no time for pleasures or sports. He was sorry to disappoint those who had looked upon him as a model for all school-boys and college-stu- dents in America. He had just been an ordinaryboy, and had some- times even tiunked. It was a treat for us to hear a President admit that: for had we only trusted to his biographers, we would have been compelled, either to become traitors to our country by doubting the word of our President, or to do violence to ourselves by subjecting our memories to a severe strain. However, the President did strain the truth when he declared that it was by no great effort of his own, and by no inherent ability above that of his fellows, that he had reached his lofty position. Ile blamed it all on luck, declaring to the last that he was plain Tom Flinn. VVhat a treat to hear a President talk like that! But we were sure that Toni would do so when he reached the VVhite House. Mr. Flinn has never married. XVe believe that from babyhood he ha.s been suffering from an inborn dread of the fair sex. Mr. Geib, as in the old days, sat next to Mr. Flinn, and rose in re- sponse to his name. Mr. Geib was also received with applause, for there were none present who did not honor this gentleman, who, by his quiet, plodding toil had become the honored advisor of many of the wealthiest men of his time. At the bar, Mr. Geib had never been a great success, though in his early years he had pleaded many cases, but as a legal advisor he had outstripped every lawyer in Philadelphia. lle also had stories to tell of days filled with unrewarded drudgery. but finally crowned with success. Like many a, young man of the law, he was judged a false and scheming man, until his sterling in- tegrity had overborne all prejudice. Mr. Geib was returned to Con- gress in 1920, when still a young man, and we have all felt that, though he was so close a friend of President Flinn, yet nothing but his own great worth exalted him to the position which he now so ably F4 'Q

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