Princeton University - Nassau Herald Yearbook (Princeton, NJ)

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Class Day Oration insignificant incidents in his life are recounted, as well as great events, the lowly beginnings, as well as the proud results, and the hard-won honors. And the knowledge of the few and humble early advantages of many has acted as incentives to thousands of youths. Would you receive benefit from your reading, would you be lifted to a higher plane of life, would you have the best that is in you quickened? Then read the biographies of men who have done something for the world and humanity, of men like Washington, who, when asked to become the king of the land for whose freedom he had done so- much, put aside me-re selfish honor and would have none of royalty, and in so doing passed the understanding of the self-seeking, ambitious Napoleon. Would you read of will, nerve and iron-like force? Then read of Cromwell, who, with the might of a religious host, changed the current of English history 3 or read of Bismarck, who, with a rule of ironjf consolidated Germany and made it one of the greatest powers of the world. If you would know of a unique, solitary figure of history, of him who, perhaps, more than any other found his own peculiar niche in this world's work, read of the American, Abraham Lincoln. Read of hundreds more of the noble of the earth, study their individuality, study their per- sonality, conceive of their deeds in the acting, have your ambi- tions lired, and learn to be a man. Every m'an's biography is Written, it may not be on the printed page, to be read by thousands, but in the minds and hearts of the small circle of acquaintances. Yet its induence is felt. Hence how necessary tha.t'vve should study and com- pare the lives of others, learning from their failures and re- ceiving hope froin their success-es. Fellow-classmates-May the story of each of our lives be worthy to have inscribed on its title-page-: A Princeton Man. 30

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age, you obtain a knowledge, a general understanding of the importance of that age 5 of its causes and eiects, and of its prominent men: but it does not take vital hold on your imagi- nation, a hold which is apt to incite you to action. Read a biography of one of its leading characters 3 the record of a man who helped, or perhaps made the age famous. The period assumes a new significance, workings that were only hinted at in the history are made clear, an interest and impulse is aroused which the direct story of the aims, failures and triumphs of the man alone can create. There are many kinds of men and consequently there are many kinds of biography. There are histories of men noted in social, military, literary and political life. By means of this Wide range' of choice you have the opportunity of contact with differing opinions, you see questions from many standpoints, the conceit is taken out of you, you are made to think and the breadth of the mind is immeasurably increased. You may not have thought much of life, but you may yet be awakened to its reality, to a realization of service due, for the force of reality is experienced in biography as in no- other form of literature. And an appreciation of this fact is inva.luable, because life is real, although its true import may not have occurred to us while here in the university as it is bound to when we leave these college walls. Then, a ready, a fruitful knowledge of biography cannot but be of practical benefit in helping you to find your- self and to know your surroundings. - The study o-f man' never fails to fascinate. Who is there who does no-t enjoy sitting in a great railway station, watching the thronging hundreds of all class-es and conditions. Involuntarily the eye roams through the continually changing crowds, until it lights upon some one marked man, whom it follows as far as it can see. This is reading character, biography, not on paper, but in the face, Hgure, dress and general bearing of the man. ' The individual man has been, is and will be the maker of history. It is onlyby reading a definite record of his life that we get a true, a just sense of the bigness or smallness of his nature, of his trials and troubles, of his failures and successes. 29

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Glass Qllnem HENRY GODDARD LEACH Gio ihimzfwulwn I O bid your fancy turn and wend with me Along the beaten track of time once more Until you hear the cry of Liberty! Anch Nassau's heroes arming for the warg The morn' they heard the call of Lexington There trod yon road to Tusculum a youth Whose brow portrayed the battle now begun, The bitter inward struggle after truth, Whetliel' in War to Waste his- glowing life Upon a cause whose justice often seemed In doubt, or 'neath the elms apart from strife, To build the temple that he fondly dreamed. To-day he sought the mansion on the hill, Yllhere dwelt great Witherspoon, the statesma To feel the tonic of ani iron will And hearken to the bidding of old ageg To Tusculuml upon the road grown wide, The pathway bordered green, that bears the n Of h-im whose silent feet have sanctified n-sage ame The gentle dale through which he often came. II To Tusculum! our hero, Harold Dorn, Passed through the woodland to the open 'field All Nature felt the thrill of Spring that morn, Unfurling flags of tender green revealed The coming host of gladness and' of peace, The tranquil joy of Nature soon consoled The wild unrest his he-art would not release, He listened to her voices manifold, The carol of the robin- on the rail, The whisper of the breezes in the rye, The plaintive tenor of the mead'lark's hail- All these were blended' into one long cry:- 31 1