Rome Free Academy - De O Wain Sta Yearbook (Rome, NY)

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8 THE SENIOR ANNUAL. may enter, while he who is careless, let him be so still. In this respect it is that the spirit of modern life accords with the old-time ‘Behold | before thee open door. ”’ word, set an Life’s chances multiply and freedom to decline them grows. A hundred and one compulsions fall away. We will suppose you are an academe graduating today and away to college on the morrow. What is the position £ of the now-a-day college but that of an open door? A college used to be a compulsory institution and was prone to open the door of opportunity for culture and thrust the student through. In the earlier day he was forced to come daily to chapel and say his prayers; now the opportunity is simply pre sented, the privilege of worship and religious exercise stand, not as a part of college discipline, but as a supreme opportunity. ‘‘ Whosoever will” is a motto of the What, in fact, is the elective system— religious university. a classification of study according to individual taste—but a multiplying of doors? A great university shows its greatness in no way more than by its multiplication of doors, that the young student may choose for himself a way into some field of intellectual endeavor. And then when those doors are thrown open and the boy makes his response, the university does not compel the allegiance of the indifferent. Like the great- God above, the great school simply points to its door of oppor- tunity. calmly waits for the student’s choice, and quietly says, “ He that is lazy, let him be lazy still.” It may be that this academe goes not to the university but out into the world of business activity. Herein the sphere of human industry, what does the in- | of his interest, athletics. telligent citizen ask of the state, what does. the most advanced statesman seek but an The socialist asks more,— to guarantee to all citizens, open door ? for the dead level of assured comfort, that the state shall fix all the details of individual industrial success. Socialism says that the lazy shall not be lazy still, that and does not, shall drink of the industrial But wisdom tells us that the land is best governed when whosoever wants, whosover waters freely. the door of opportunity stands wide open, equally helpful to highest and The state, like the great university, will say, lowest—a door no man cut shut. “ He that is lazy shall have the free- dom to be lazy still. ” Now character as a force, or its lack is shown by those who stand by these If one loiters there or doorways of life. the through with avidity, we have a sign, the of The self-made man is the man capable of self-help, unchecked and by affluence of opportu- nity or poverty in the same. He it is who goes through the door he chooses. No great university can in itself make a scholar, neither can the man deprived in air of indecision presses one way or other, worthy note. unfeebled of early advantage fail of scholarship in the end if he thirsts. Professor James speaks of the boy who wasa dullard in his class, apparently, yet was a walking encyclopedia of sporting He was the most brilliant scholar in his class in the line facts and figures. Other doors of the university than this swung open to him in vain; he would not pass through. Others need not only a deepening interest but a stouter reli- ance upon the principle of self-help. Ericsson, the inventor of the Monitor,

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THE SENIOR ANNUAL. f This last year has been notable be- cause of its many suspensions. We conclude that the good work of the last term is owing to this fact. Freshmen, when you have been here for a year or two, you will begin to see the value of a little study now and then. At a meeting of the class of Igo1, held at the home of Miss Clarabelle Lawton,the chairman, William B.Eames, appointed various committees. Miss Anna Briggs was then elected gamnol- ogist and Stuart Smith necrologist. It was decided to hold the alumni ban. quet June 27. The new pictures in the study hall have been much admired and greatly appreciated. Three of them are the gift of the Wednesday Morning Club. They are “The Courier,” “Moon Beams,” “Over Pathways, Waste and Wild.” The picture of the lion is the gift-of Mr. W. R. Huntington. For the last two years the usual sing- ing on Friday afternoons has been omitted. Let the faculty remember that we can sing, and that we wish to do so. What the school needs is new singing books. A change would be acceptable, and a greater interest would then be taken in that part of the exercises. The beautiful flag which now adorns the study hall is a gift of the late Arthur W. Soper of New York. While at the Paris exposition, Mr. Soper purchased six of them. One was given to Hamil- ton College, one to the Rome High School and the others were given to his friends. The flag is made of the finest silk, It hung on the American build- ing at the exposition. | School building. 6 We have now been in our new quar- ters for three years, but as yet we have seen nothing of a flag-staff. The little flag in the attic window does not mate- rially add to the beauty of the High A new flag pole is more than a luxury, it is a necessity, if the dignity of our fine building is to be | preserved. The Open Door and the Self-Made Man. In recent newspaper discussion the phrase, “an open door”—a Bible | simile—has come greatly into use. The | word door finds its synonym in oppor- tunity. The carpenter left the door in the old school house to pass through, in an out. Opportunity is a door in an | otherwise closed wall of fate opening to the fields beyond. It is a door, an open door. Sometimes we think of this oppor- tunity not as opened for us, but as a | door we incidentally open for ourselves. | most fundamental In the relation between himself and the power that undergirds him, man con- ceives himself as a solitary toiler, un- toiled with, with this hidden power But in the Bible use the is simply passive. of the phrase, “an open door,” fact mentioned that the highest power in the history of | man is constantly opening a door to | ingly and really lessen. him and pointing the way in. This power is spoken of as aggressive. One thing, however, life does not do, which is to drive us through the door. By every open doorway a statue of Pa- tience rises to tell us that the power that opened it can wait. The oppor- tunities will multiply and the entice- ments also, but the compulsions seem- He who will

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THE SENIOR ANNUAL. 9 had two rheumatic arms as old age came on, and so much did he dislike to call upon any one to aid him that he effected a contrivance whereby he could pull on his overcoat unaided. Too great reliance upon the assistance of others would, he thought, not only lessen the intensity of his energy but enfeeble the force of his originality. Professor Freeman, the great historian, caught up little John Richard Green and swung him upon his back fora ride because he found that he knew so much of architecture. The boy had saved his pennies to bribe sextons to admit him to famous churches and en- gaged there to rub brasses, all for the chance to study the beautiful edifices. The boy, who in that spirit, will help himself is sure to swing upon the sup- porting back of some good providence. If Benjamin Franklin could have done so much without college, or Shakes- peare, how much more with? The self- made is the one help spirit is strong though advantages Riches often stand in the poverty. Early de- man whose self- are few. way more, than privations have ample compensations and save us from many a servile lean- ing upon authority. Stevenson speaks of going to the head of his class by some lucky guess, where his boy mates kept him for a time by liberal prompt- ing, until even he wearied of the fierce light that beat upon those upper benches. They then ceased their prompting, when he slid rapidly to the foot, where he belonged. The intel- lectual stalwart, however deprived, is ever rising by force of his own potency of spirit to his proper level, and the in- tellectually unthirsting, though affluent of opportunity, can not be artificially held up, but at last sinks to the lower | ajar. | entered | life of the University. level of his nature. Success of any kind is an outcome of some form of self- help. During the academic year now clos- ing Arthur W. Soper has died, and lies buried almost within reach of the old academy bell, could it still be rung. He was not a graduate, though a member of the academy back in those years | . : when Professor Moore was principal. Though his school days were limited, they were marked by that energy of pursuit choracteristic of his entire life. To him life was an open door always Sixty-three years of activity From the time he office until those crowning metropolitan success, as door after door opened, he The line of endeavor he chose he followed and then the close. swept his father's years of a glowingly, resolutely. | so persistently that his success was bountifully assured. One Phase of College Life. What is College Life? Can any one | define it, giving its true signification? It is far from the ordinary life. It stands in a sphere of its own, alluring, hopeful, full of promise and youth, It is not the It is found only in the smaller colleges. The purpose of this essay is to touch on but one side of this spirited life of four years in a small college. We will treat of the close association of professors with stu- | dents and the students with each other. Some one has said: ‘‘It matters not what your studies are, it all lies in who your teacher is.’’ The best teacher is the one who comes nearest the students. Whether this is accomplished in ex- | pounding the mysteries of the Greek verb or standing over the student in the chemical laboratory, if the instructor