Princeton University - Nassau Herald Yearbook (Princeton, NJ)

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The Nassau H erald very atmosphere of this place bespeaks service rendered the nation, and there is no greater encomium We could ask to be passed upon Princeton. When We think of all the men she has sent forth and the part she has played in the making and the keeping of the nation, our hearts fill with pride that we too are among her sons, soon to enter life commissioned with her orders for service. When, fifty or seventy-five years hence the final records of the Class of IQIO will be gathered together, and all of its members shall have departed save the last one of us left to perform this final duty, I sincerely hope that that historian, whoever he may be will not undertake to estimate the success of this Class byithe amount of Wealth its members shall have gained, nor by the positions or fame We may have vvon in selfish pursuits. But in so far as he can find that the 240 men now graduating from Princeton rendered service to their country, stood for upright Democracy and aided society in her efforts to advance, to that extent may he say that the Class of 1910 was successful, was true to the ideals of her Alma Mater and demonstrated the proper Relations of University and State. 26

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Class Omtiou of the nation. Life and energy were not bestowed upon us to be harbored, buried in a napkin or hidden under a bushel. If they are dealt with thus they are soon dissipated and vanish. He that loseth his life, loses himself in work and endeavor to aid civilization in her grand march of progress, He it is that finds life, finds the true art of living. For such services we must have trained men and the ques- tion at once arises, where are they to be trained? I know of no institution better fitted nor any upon whom this duty is more incumbent than the academic universities of the country. The charge is often made that the usual college education is worthless, that it is made up of four years spent in ease and comparative idleness. Modesty forbids one to answer the charge, but of this I feel confident that when the universities of the land shall have caught the full significance of the service they owe the country, these accusations will no longer be made. Unless the college shall take the youth as he comes to it in allhis spirit of bigotry, snobbishness and self-centered- ness-3 mould him, teach him, remake him, and send him out into life a trained, democratic, public spirited citizen,-I say, unless it does these things it is unworthy of any support and has betrayed the trust committed to it. To whom else are we to look except to the colleges for the political training of our youth. This most important phase of education has too long been neglected and left in the hands of professional politi- cians. lt is about time some of the colleges substituted courses on Business Methods in City Government or National Legislation as It Should Be for such courses as The Topo- graphy and Monuments of Greece as Described by Pausaniasu or Self-realization and the Ethics of Idealism. We may well be proud that from a fair judgment of the facts, Princeton appears to have been the first university of the country to realize the duty she owes the nation, for if four year's residence here teaches a student anything it is that he is to go forth into citizenship to work for the political well- being of his country and to make of himself a statesman, in the true sense of the word, whether in public or private life. The 25

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Ivy Oratien. JAMES BRECKINRIDGE WALLER, JR. g, ELLOW CLASSMATES of 1910, and 7 Friends of Ours and of Princeton: V ' We are gathered here to perform a simple ceremony which shall commemo- x sy fy rate our graduation from Princeton Uni- S versity. As we plant this ivy, we think of our love for Princeton and of the 515552 5 ' spirit of friendship which binds our class together. The life of this plant shall sym- f' bolize to us our lives as Princeton men. jill?-IITQ-.L We, too, shall draw strength from Prince- ton. We, too, shall climb upwards, and, 7 T as we climb, we, too, shall do honor to -V Qld Nassau. It is fitting that on this occasion we should consider the significance of our graduation. Behind us lie four formative years of our lives. What have they meant to us? Before us lie our years of manhood. How are we prepared for them? What shall they mean to us? These four years have been years full of true development. Through application, whether grudging or eager, to our studies, we have acquired a trained mind by which we hope to adapt ourselves to whatever life may have in store for us. We have been enriched from the wor1d's store of knowledge. Great, new fields have unfolded themselves before our eyes. We carry away with us an interest in learning. More vital in their action upon us have been the associa- tions and friendships which we have formed here. We go away trained not only in mind, but in the relationship of man 27