McMaster University - Marmor Yearbook (Hamilton, Ontario Canada)

Page 10 text:

GEGRGE PEEL GILMOUR B.H., BD., M H., D D. Chancellor

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TO Ilaenrp jfranklin Barnes william jfinlap Qilhen iiubn Igenguugb EACH OF WHOM HAS GIVEN McMASTER OVER THIRTY-FIVE YEARS OF SINCERE AND FAITHFUL SERVICE, THIS VOLUME IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED.

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ACLHC2! Ol 3 Qdffdge HHN Cardinal Newman wrote: lt is the' fault of all of us till we have duly practised our minds to be unreal in our sen- timents and crude in our judgments, and to be carried off by fancies instead of being at the trouble of acquiring sound knowl- edge, he uttered one of those troublesome truths that never cease to rebuke us and to remind us of our profession that we can be satisfied with nothing short of the truth. lt makes us also weary of sentiments loudly proclaimed around us. What, for example, is more unreal than much that calls itself realism, what more crude than many of the judgments that profess to be final? It should move us also to a special grati- tude to our university. We realize dimly how grateful we shall become later in life for the undergraduate years in which we were permitted the voluptuous self-indul- gence of expressing assured but fallacious opinions and were privileged to dissolve the foundations of society, religion and mor- als in our discussions without having to face responsibility for the result. But as under- graduate years draw to an end, it is too early to anticipate the mellow influence of memory. lt is instead time to recall that we are now supposed to have duly practised our minds , to have sucked the deceptive sweetness out of youthful cynicism, and to have learned to take responsibility for any- thing we propose to destroy or to establish. We are expected to have learned a little caution without having lost our sense of righteous indignation and divine discon- tent, to be true radicals, concerned with the roots of things not their surface passions. As for acquiring sound knowledge , we should have learned that no knowledge is sound that is not built of bricks of informa- tion cemented together with the mortar of character, and that half-baked bricks and untempered mortar are alike despicable, however pretentious the facade we build. Soundness is an affair of the soul as truly as of the reason. We talk glibly about intel- lectual honesty, but know in our hearts that we must also have moral honesty. Neither is honest without the other. To the class of l947 I extend my grateful thanks for their help in managing our in- ternal affairs here in a crowded and difficult year, and my prayerful wish for their useful and rewarding labours hereafter. lf into the words useful and rewarding I personally read a definitely Christian meaning, it is because that is both my personal convic- tion and the purpose of the academic foun- dation to which we all belong. l am confi- dent that it is or will become your conviction and purpose also. G. P. GILMOUR.