Sarnia Collegiate Institute and Technical School - Collegiate Yearbook (Sarnia, Ontario Canada)

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96 THE COLLEGIATE any event keep an untarnished rec- ord-the thought which I desire most to convey to you is that you should al-ways keep your character as unsullied as undoubtedly it -is at the present time. Keep up your in- terest in sports and I play them whenever possible, in nine years at the Bar, six years and a half of which has been spent in the prose- cution olf' criminal offenders, I am very positive that the percentage of althletes or at leastiof persons en- gaged in some form of athletics, who become criminals, is practically negligible, Sports are one of the greatest deterrents of crime. Al- ways go straight in whatever bus- iness or profession you enter. Maj- or crimes have so increased -in the past deca-de, not on-ly in the United States but also in Canada, Qwhere fortunately the increase has been much lessj that it behooves each of us who believes in the present form of civilization and those' principles for which our Anglo-Saxon fore- fathers lived and died, to see to it th-at respect for law from everyone in our c-ountry be upheld, without obedience to law, our governments must perish, which is un.thinka'ble, hence, as you go forth from the S.C. I., always bear in mind that obed- ience to law is an absolute essential to y-our own well-being and safety as well as to the well-being and safety of your country. Your conduct will reflect the standar-d of your schoolan-d if you go on to any of the universities, and I hope that you will, your conduct there, and your conduct when you graduate therefrom, will reflect the standard o-f your school, each of you thereby is constantly writing your own letter of recommendation, while environment and heredity un- dowbteldly contribute in many ways ho your 'fut-ure, the bulk of the .fut- ure depends upon yourself, there are some things you cannot buy, such as honesty, loyalty, unselfish- ness, friends, love and many other quaLities,'an.d these are the things which develop your character, to each of you, is given 'the privilege of choosing y-our own life and what you will make o-f it and in whatever line of endeavor you eventually land, and wherever you eventually locate, your force in the community will be for go-od or for ewil, just so far as you desire it t-o be and dependent largely upon your own will and con- duct. I fear you may think I am Ser- monizin.g -which is farthest Ifrom my thoughts, as one grows older, he sees so many places in life, where he might have done differently, that it behooves us all to st-op on-ce in -a whiile and check up on where we are going. You do not realize 'how for- tunate you are in having had the op- portunity to attend a first class in- stituti-on such as the S.C.I. -while you are attending it, tenor twenty years from now, you will realize it. If a glimpse of what each of you will be doing fifteen years from now could be given you, I wonder if you would 'be satisfied, to make sure t'hat you will be, and that y-ou will not have any regrets, always work as hard as you can, -because the sum total of success whether in worldly go-o-ds or in other merits, is depend- ent upon work and obedience not only to law but to your religious faith. When I graduated 'from the University of Michigan, Dr. Burton, a tremendous man of energy who died while yet a young ma-n, and who before his death became pres- ident of said university, said among otiher things: Attainment is the death of ambition , no truer words were ever spoken so I trust that we will all live an-d strive t-o t'he end that we may yet accomplish something worth while, an-d do not let defeat whip you, one of the best things which can happen to anyone is to get a first class beating now and again whether it is in a sport or one's business and the reaction s'h-ould .be healthy, if -one is the opt- imist he shou-ld be becau.se you can- not always be a winner and yet, in defeat, a football team or an indi- vidual can be tremendous and ob- il:

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THE COLLEGIATE 95 do an act which will detract from the honor of your school. I almost feel that I am getting old, when I realize that Mr. Dent is the only member of the faculty wh-o was on the staff when I was a stu- dent and yet, a recent photograph of him, reveals that he is younger today than he was at that time, due to the present absence of the Van- Dyke beard with which all of us who struggled with chemistry and physics in 1910, were so familiar. Needless to say what we learned under him, has since served us well on many an occasion. I cann-ot pass without a word about our beloved D.M. who passed on to such a just reward last year-in my profes- sion, I can safely say that his teach- ing, particularly of Latin, has been of constant service. Twenty or twenty-five years ag-o in Ontario, the thought was that a university education was only pos- sible for a so-called rich man's child, today, that thought, I am sure has entirely vanished. Institutions of learning have grown steadily in numbers in the past twenty years, and numerically the studenlts have likewise grown. It is the except- ional student today wh-o d-oes not get a university training, therefore, university training is a practical necessity. With-out it you willlbe handicapped and competition in pro- fessions and in business nowadays is so keen that most -of us cannot afford -to have any more handicaps than th-ose with which we'are al- ready endowed. Hence, plan now on obtaining a university. education whether or n-ot you have ever plan- ned so be'fore. Do not let a lack of finances stop you. In the bulk of the great universities in America, both in Canada and in the United States, at least half of the students are seflf-supporting. I do not sug- gest that you plan on workin-g while you are at a university. Very few prolfesfsional col-le-ges desire students to earn their mone while lin colle e . Y -3 I because you will be kept so busy- withyour college sch-ool work, that you will need all your s-pare time for necessary recreat-ion, instead of outside work to support yourself. But instead, if necessary, earn your money for your education in your vaca-tion periods, and it can be read- ily accomplished. Because of -rthe opportunity af- forded thereby to meet people and to learn the proper way to do so, selling -such as house to hfouse work, demonstratinfg, and other var- ieties thereof, are heartily endorsed, selling provides not only a fine method of earning money but also provides fresh air, plenty of exercise and go-od business training. Those who are graduating this year are entering into the more ser- ious phases of their livers, at a time when opportunities are greater th-an at any time in the past, Cana-da to- day is on the verge olf a tremendous further development, the growth of the United States, where I have spent most of my life since gradu- ation from the Collegiate, has been so rapid 'that to mention it, is super- fluous. Possibly the professions to- day, in most of the provinces of the Dominion, are fairly crowded and yet, I do not seriously consider -that professions can ever be over-crowd- ed because there is always room for one more, lif such one has the will to survive by hard work. However, as compared to the 'opportunities of twenfty years ago, there are so many additional avo-cations and profes- sions, such as the five-l-ds -off aviation and radio, the tremendous develop- ment in the electrical vworlfd and the tremendous growth 'in the insurance field, tha't I can only say to each of you who work hard: success must crown your efforts. i A reasonable amlbiti-on for each of you is to be successful-and to be successful, you must obtain a reas- onable sh'are of this world's goods, begin no-w, to learn to save money because money gives you confidence and power to accompllish things in your business or profession, yet the making of a lot of money, is not a necessary element of success, in

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THE COLLEGIATE' 97 tain a tremendous success, I do not mean, that one should be a good loser -in the thought that one should not mind losing, I don't be- lieve that any o-f you or any other nor-mal person likes to l-ose-at least I have never met one y-et who did- but to be a good loser if defeated, by taking sto-ck of yourself, to know w'hy you met -defeat, so that the next time tlhe same opposition arises, you can overcome it. And -as you go further into the world o'f -business, it will be dlriven into your very being that the great- est joy in the world is a work well done. I can remember in my own life, when work did not appeal to me 'any more than it did to any nor- mal -boyg today there is n-othing I drea-d more, than to be idle. I hope that each of you wi-ll eventually land into a 'business or profession which you grow to love-if you do, and work hard in it, you will become s-o engrossed in it, that you will forget your troubles every day that you are busily engaged and -at tlhe end of the day, you may be physic- ally tired, 'but you will be mentally refreshed with the thought that you have accomplished something by hard work, and hard work is the measure of success for each of you, not only for yourself individualy, but for your community, your prov- inc-e and your country. Finally, let me sa-y that you should not be too provincial, cynical or jealous in your thoughts of your neighbors and friends. If you have not already don-e so, you will event'- ually rea-lize t-ha-t nearly everyone else is too busy trying to make a living himself or herself to interfere witlh you providing you are honest and dec-ent-and fthat we must as- sume for you always. Frequently you will hear ridiculous claims made not only abou-t your neighb-ors .and friends but about your communities and y-our country, some -of these claims -ar-e made by self-seeking politicians-so-me by troulble makers and other Bolshevistsg allways bear in mind that iwhoever makes such rash statements, must 'have some peculiar selfish reason for so doing and wherever you are, do a-ll within your power to stifle such statements as they lead to trouble. Before long, some association of the alumni -of the S.C.I. should be formed. Such an association has been proven to -be of 'great :bene'fit both to the students, the -alumni, and the institution, in other schools and I trusit that something of such nat- ure will soon be a part of the S.C.I. I am sure it wouldbe of vast bene- fit. This is a work, which the o'lder students of your s1cl'1ool, together with the younger graduates, can readily accomp'-l-ish by some co-oper- altive work, I believe, and it would be mutuallly b-eneficial undoulbtedly. . In closing, let mle express my sin- cere appreciation of the privilege o-f saying these few words to you-I wish you' all the best of success not only for yourselves but for our dear old school-Jkeep a stiff upper lip and a good square jaw to the world, regardless of what happens, 'and the honor and success of our s-chool and yourselves will con-tinue to increase with the passing years. Sincerely yours, Laurie O. Telffer L.L.B. ,2O Michigan. i No rintroduction is necessary to Norman Paterson, graduate of ,2Q, who kindly consented to write -a letter on behalf of the recent graduates. S.P.S., Toronto, Marc'h 17, 1930. ' confess, -have been f-orced into the Dear Collegiate: The privilege of writing for the Collegiate again -brings back a background of my mind durin-g t-he past year. It is surprising, and un- fortunately so, how one loses track host of me-mories, which, If must A of events after a year of absence. 1, , iaihllwlf lm..