Oberlin College - Hi-O-Hi Yearbook (Oberlin, OH)

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V5-..r speak of The Oberlin Man. It is upon this complexity of citizen- ship, upon this composite of manhood, that Oberlin's hope for the future must be built. It is the Oberlin man, in the things he does and the things he stands for who controls our future reputation and strength. Every college has a typical man. We hear them spoken of often, the Harvard Manf' the Yale Man, the Cornell Man, each embodying th.e public judgment of the college he represents. Nor can we expect to escape being crystallized into a type. But we need not fear it. Every college has of course some men who are freaks and faddists, some who bring ridicule upon their Alma Mater. But we are blessedly free from many of the standard varieties. Oberlin Men are in the main a good lot, of whom we can well be proud. A fact which was made most strikingly apparent when we saw them all together at the love-feasts. 5' Of music, of religion, of culture, of the theory of education and of life, of all the things interesting to the one one-hundredth of one per cent there were talks and conferences without end. But in spite of the great number of these addresses and meetings all were well attended and interest in each seemed equally keen. 5' Oberlin without music would be like Oberlin without a rain, and this week of all weeks had its share. Concerts were given by the Musical Union, the Glee Club, the Combined Glee Club, and the Conservatory. All of the concerts were given in the new chapel 16 '

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T H E H I - O - H I 1 9 1 0 Those who engineered the celebration intended it to be typical of the wonderful growth and importance of Oberlin College. They were determined that Oberlin, past and present, should Hnd herself, that those of the past should know what the present is doing and that those of the present should know what the past has done. It was a big idea, and the idea gave impetus and power to a big effort. 5' . First among the events of the week of more than local interest, were the various conferences, dealing in their entirety with almost every important branch of education. Here as elsewhere there was an embarrassment of riches. The addresses were masterly in every way and there were gathered in each conference the strong repre- sentative men of the profession. Perhaps the most important, and perhaps the most interesting of these was the civic conference. Rarely, if ever, does an audience have the opportunity of hearing in the same afternoon the addresses of two such sane and clear- headed observers of our nation-life as Theodore Burton and Norman Hapgood. And the fact that Mr. Burton is an Oberlin alumnus gave an added touch of interest to his part in th.e conference. It is of such Oberlin men that we are most proud, it is from such men that we get the impulse and inspiration to future usefulness and power. 8? Many such men gathered at the society love-feasts. There perhaps, as nowhere else, enthusiastic students past and present came into close con- tact and real fraternity. ln Peters Hall over seven hundred men of th.e three societies met to greet their brothers in oratory and debate. There was given the opportunity of seeing together a representative band of Oberlin men. And it was a sight to inspire one. Not alone thelfull- stomached citizen with limitless bank stock, nor the stern preacher who has fought out his tight on a different line, but every varying degree of stature and occupation was there to show what we mean when we ' 15

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T H E H I - O - H I 1 9 1 0 and the visitors could admire the building, while they listened to the music. Both th.e library and chapel were near completion by June nineteenth, and everybody displayed the liveliest interest in their architecture and practical usefulness. The Olney Art Collec- tion had been moved from Cleveland some little time before and was on exhibition in the library during the whole of Commencement week. -The chapel, rising in its exact symmetry and simple mag- nificence fulhlled in the hearts of the visitors Keats' wonderful syno- nym for a thing of beauty. These substantial evidences of the growth of Oberlin and the generosity of h.er donors, were very fittingly brought to a Hnished state when so many of Oberlin's sons were back to see them. Further comment upon them is useless: they stand witnesses themselves of their usefulness and beauty. 8'6 Of the most unusual feature of the entire week, the alumni dinner, it is difficult to write satisfactorily. It was such a mammoth undertaking that a brief comment is pitifully inadequate. The mere seating and feeding of three thousand people is a task to challenge our admiration. The great crowd was divided and subdivided according to numerals, and from all parts of the tent as the dinner progressed came the rival yells of the classes, from nineteen eightn away back to the fifties, and perhaps even farther. There could, of course, be no unified yelling, and as the event proved, no unified singing, but President King and Madame Johnston brought out a universal applause as they walked through the crowd from one end of the tent to the other. The mere bigness of the throng was intoxicating, as it always is, and everyone felt inclined to vell for Oberlin, for Prexy, or Madame J., or something, from pure joy at being present. Speeches under these conditions were of course impossible, and the frac- tion of the diners who were fortunate enough to have tickets, adjourned to the First Church. to enjoy the post-prandial feast of wit and cleverness. 83 The climax of the festivities and gayety 17