Sir George Williams University - Annual Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

Page 59 text:

itw' M -' The other evening there sat in my office a young man whom I had never seen before. He said that he did not see how he could do it but that he wanted to attend college. When I asked him why he looked rather shy and then braced himself and said, You may think I'n1 crazy but I look at life this way. I have only one life and when I get to be sixty or seventy I want to be able to look back and feel that my life has counted for something worth while. I hope that that is the way you feel today. Hedonism, in all its various forms, is one of the prevailing philisophies of our age. The pursuit of pleasure is a natural reaction to the perplexing combination of circumstances which face such an age. But hedonism always has a sting in its tail! Whether it be the ancient precept, Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow ye die or the modern counter-part, Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it's later than you think , the hedonistic guides are always .Iob's comforters. I would rather say to you, t'Work and strive for tomorrow ye livef' A thoughtful student, a member of this class, recently said to me that in college we are taught to question all things and that is good for us except that we never question very seriously the prevailing basic materialistic philosophy of our age. Well I would like to question it today. I still suggest that A man's life con- sisteth not of the abundance of things he possessethu. I still suggest that faith and love are your greatest possessions - faith in divine purposes in the universe, faith in yourselves and faith in the unity of mankind as the children of God. Finally, may I warn you, as I have previous classes, that education is notan imperishable commodity. An old teacher of mine once wrote that nothing, except religion, disintegrates as fast as education once the seeking for it stops. You have, I hope, the foundation of a good education but whether you let it disintegrate or build upon it depends on you. You stand at the threshold of the second half of the twentieth century. In spite of its problems the world, to you, should be young, challenging, and fresh as the dawning ofanew day. In this spirit may you, Go forth to serve thy country and mankind .

Page 58 text:

H. F. Hall, B.A., Dean Delivered to the Class oI195O at the Baccalaureate Service Sunday May, 28. BACCALAUREATE ADDRESS One dictionary defines a baccalaureate address as a farewell speech to a graduating class. If that is the case it is perhaps not inappropriate that an official of the College, rather than an outsider, should be asked to give the address. How- ever, this places a heavy responsibility on me for it means that I have to speak for the faculty and, in the second place, it means that this is my last chance to talk with you at least officially. As to speaking for the faculty, I feel sure that I cannot adequately do so. There is little chance of agreement among them with most of which I shall have to say. That is probably a good thing. It means at least that you have been exposed to various points of view and that whatever shortcomings you see in us you can never accuse us, as an institution, of trying to indoctrinate you with one particular philosophy of life. At least there is something which I can say to you with which, Iam sure, the whole faculty will agree. That is that it has been stimulating to know you and that we sincerely wish you well. The class of 1950 is the largest in the history of the College. Your convo- cation will be the fifteenth at which I have had the honour to present the individual members for degrees and the fifteenth at which Principal Norris has presented the degrees, Every class has its own characteristics and you have others beside that of being the largest. Many of you are veterans of the world's greatest conflict which closed five years ago this summer. Some of you are graduates of the College's Claremont Division through which so many young men and women Call veteransj obtained admission to this and to other colleges. Many of you are members of the now historic J and S classes who worked along with us through hot summers andlong winters to gain what you have now achieved. The memories of those stren- uous but fast moving months and years will always be a part of your college exper- ience. Many of you are evening students who have had an even longer college life. l'm sure I shall be excused if I say a special word of commendation to those few who were established undergraduates here before the war and who went away to serve in various capacities and are now, after further years of effort, achieving a long-sought goal. Many of you are, of course, not veterans, for a whole college generation has had time to come and go since the war ended. Perhaps you too deserve special commendation for it must have seemed to you, at times, that the veterans were getting all the attention. To say the least it must have been trying not to be able to call the Bursar's office to collect a government cheque at the end of each monthl Now you are about to graduate, what can I tell you? May my last word be one of encouragement and of inspiration. Not all will agree with my ideas but may I ask you to believe that they are deeply sincere? After an orgy of examinations, accompanied I fear by a certain amount of cramming, it would not be difficult to carry away the idea that to many the mere ingestion of the raw materials of knowledge is the most important thing. Far be it from me to deprecate knowledge, but of itself it is of little worth. Though I have all knowledge I am nothing? As I see it the greatest need of our uneasy, mater- ialistic world is apractical belief that the development of persons is the greatest thing in the world.

Page 60 text:

+ 45-J-eg. First meeting of the Vets Luneheon Club. Q 5 P .i .N - ixirza. Q 5 2 X K , ,,.. .A L'i1 Abner and Dais y Mae ng interviewed for The Standard. X x x w 5 i 5 Q., :Viv h ,ry , Z n K ' .1 v , ,xi . 'X 7 7' Y ' ,. ' A is ' I sf' ' . 3315 A -I V , 9 A I -5-2 3,.5g' lv A , ' ' in X 1 ' . 1 - ,-. Q ' ar-1 ' . Al, 1- .,,l. - 5 ' A px A: i CAMPUS CAPERS ,nr N .sf E ga it 9 x .9 z L. Qt gg Q7 iS,,,3fgsaf?f'f e . wuwzxtq was V fi? pam Mmm ig - xi. .H S ' 'if . ' 45'-12 V. iuihklapnnm-Sl kg.. , .,.. ..-sf.-...-.-r,....-. One of the Friday Afternoon G eorgian Lounges. Drama group in Out of the Frying Pan. 57 As! 'Q