St Johns College - Ozanam Yearbook (Toledo, OH)

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THE OZANAM 37 prise. However it is the greatest of them all. Because it is instructive it is constructive: and because it is constructive it is a medium of prosperity. We ought to be proud of it and make more of it. It deserves a place in our life equally with the more energetic neigh- bors among whom it is situated. It is our public library. F. T. W. The Classics and In this Clay Of USC- The Student ful and superficial education, the ten- dency seems to be to drop every branch of study not directly beneficial to the student. Consequenlty the future lawyer or journalist forsakes the sciencesg the future doctor or engineer forsakes the classics: and the future business man forsakes almost everything. Of course dropping the sciences is not such a grave matter. Even the science teachers themselves will admit that their class is not the most important in the process of educa- tion. But ignoring the classics is a far more serious affair. In the first place, the classics have been for many centuries the principal factor in training the mental powers of young students. It stands to reason that the constant pursuit of a difficult and exact study will familiarize a mind with concentration and exactness. And what can be more exacting than the study of the classics, in which a single letter may ruin a whole sentence, or give it a wrong meaning? Any student of Latin and Creek will tell you how far, how very far, these studies are from being easy. It stands to reason that the constant and conscientious pursuit of a diflicult branch of study will create charac- ter, if for no other reason than simply because the pursuit of that study is difficult. As we all know, it goes against the grain to do any- thing hard, and when we have overcome this natural tendency to laziness, we are said to have character and self-control. The expe- rience of hundreds of years has abundantly proved that this is one effect of the study of Latin and Greek. If studied correctly, Latin and Greek will help us morally. In the poems and stories by the ancient authors we read of the lives and customs of the Creeks and Romans, their virtues and their vices, and how these helped or undermined their persons and their govern- ments. Naturally, unless we be of stone, we are impressed by the fact that a clean living people has ever been a successful people, and that a land of vice and corruption has always ended in a failure. There is no better teach- er than experience, they sell us: and the ex- perience of the ancients will benefit us, if we are willing to take a lesson from them. Another reason for studying the classics is to improve our English. We are frequently asked how Latin and Greek can possibly in- crease our knowledge of our native tongue. Stop to consider the fact that four-sevenths of our English words are derived from ancient Latin and Greek and you have a sufficient answer to the query. But that is not all. By studying the syntax of the classical languages we see how they agree with, or differ from, our own, and by learning their constructions we get a better insight into the construction of English. It is undeniable that the classics give the student a culture and refinement to be ob- tained by no other means. In the study of them one associates with the best and noblest personalities of ancient times. First in order are Cicero and Demosthenes, egotists un- doubtedly, yet nevertheless men of principle and cleanness, in an age when morality was almost unknown: again there is Virgil, quiet, retiring, a real poet, and a philosopher of the highest degree attainable without a knowl- edge of the true Cod: these and many others like them are the companions of the classical student. ls it any wonder that he is sur- rounded with an air ofquiet refinement and dignified culture? And yet people will ask why we study

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a . 1 X X ll with use Editors II Downtown Many busy scenes are ever In Tglgdg happening in our downtown section. There big business interests vie daily with one another in an ar- dent struggle for growth and influence amid a constant tingle of silver and gold. Even the casual visitor can hardly fail to be im- pressed by all this if he exhibits any interest whatever as he ambles about. Here are the magnificent hotels to which an almost endless line of cabs hurriedly ar- rives and as quickly departsg where the trav- eler is met at the curb by neatly uniformed bellhops who burden themselves with every available piece of luggage, and yet somehow manage to open the door and bow him in. There are massive office buildings which cast their cool, imposing shadows over wide circles as the day ages. From the cigar store in the lobby one can see swift elevators noise- lessly depart to the quiet of the floors above, laden with human freights, each engrossed in his own affairs. Across the way through the broad win- dows of a bank many clerks are seen busily engaged in their pecuniary transactions. F ar- ther down the street one pauses to view with interest the many spacious display windows, each splendidly arrayed. They awe us, these windows do, and we wonder at the brilliant originality of the man who would appealingly make use of such costly gowns, suits, silks and furniture. The opulence of such dis- plays hypnotizes us: speaks softly and entice- ingly, until we are often enmeshed in the com- mercial net within. The immaculate restaurants where people scurry for a quick repast, the numerous thea- ters Haunting, on gaudy posters, their enter- taining wares, the policeman's whistle, and the rush of vehicles are all emblems of com- mercial activity. They exemplify prosperity and we are proud of them. Yet there is another building within easy walking distance of all this bustle of which we can be justly proud. To many who pass it by on their way to work it may be only a landmarkg a spot as quiet as the worn cannon which adorns the corner of the lawn. It is a dark brown edihce of stone overgrown in summer by a heavy green climber of some kind, and surrounded by a well-groomed lawn and some shrubbery. Trees border its sidewalk. An unpretentious building, it opens its portals only to those who care to enter. It holds forth no enticing offers. It stands for service, neither begging nor banning anyone. We enter to find ourselves at once transferred from the noise and din of the city to a sweet, tranquil atmosphere where even the noise of many feet is muffled by the absorbant floor covering. Comfortable arm chairs and broad- topped tables are conveniently placed about. The walls are lined with books and book- cases: other racks set perpendicularly to them form cosy little nooks admirable for quiet reading or reflection. Tall windows reach from above the book shelves to the high ceil- ing and afford an ever fresh atmosphere and an abundance of exhilerating sunlight. One cannot refrain from appreciating one's won- derful resources and convenient advantages. One can laugh with the wits, sing with poets, or simply gorge oneself with current fiction. Books of every description on almost any subject are within easy access. We are in the company of the sages of all time. So supple and fleet is the imagination that we can roam in books from the frozen barrens of the arctics to the swelling tropics around the equator. We can jump from philosophy to science and from science to fiction. We can imbibe the greatest reflections of ancients. There are works for all. Yet this is a spot which would probably be overlooked by a chance wanderer among the sites of enter-

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38 THE 'OZANAM Latin or Greek. What good will it do you? they ask. It won't make you a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer, or any- thing else for that matter. Such people should be informed that a person with in- tellectuality, with skill in conversation which results from a knowledge of his language when coupled with intellectuality, with char- acter and morality. with culture and refine- ment, will make an infinitely better doctor, engineer, baker, lawyer, or Candlestick maker. L. W. K. Cheerfulness The quality Of being cheerful exists in every normal person. That is to say that each and every one of us can whistle to the tune of lt Ain't Gonna Rain No More even though a cloudburst is turning our streets into rivers. In our every day intercourse we have, no doubt, run across many different kinds of peopleg some normal, others peculiar. There is Mr. Crabb, fault-finder, growler, pessimist -call him what you will: and we loathe him, we detest him. Have we not the right to avoid such a person when we see his unwel- come countenance peering from around a cor- ner, or spy him darting from a nearby place of business? As an opposite example, take Mr. Pleas- ant, a cheerful sort of person whose agreeable character makes him a likeable chap. Every time we come across this Mr. Pleasant he seems to be smiling, with an inexhaustible supply of wit and humor. This may explain why we are willing to include the Pleasants among our intimates while we rigorously ex- clude the Crabbs. This brings up the question: How do others receive us? We prefer our friends to be cheerful, but do we make the effort to be amiable ourselves? But are we, ourselves, Crabbs or Pleasants? We are the directors of our own lives, for the class to which others assign us depends largely on how we act. Let us learn then, to discount the miseries and discomforts of our lives and at the same time to appreciate the goodness, gladness and beauty. A certain doctor, a specialist in nervous diseases, is said to have found a new remedy for the blues. His prescription may be summarized thus: Keep the corners of your mouth turned up: then you can't feel 'Blue'. However, a more simple direction for this is: Smile: keep on smiling, don't stop smiling. It may sound ridiculous, but it isn't. Just try it. Moreover our cheerfulness and amiability is a help to others as well as ourselves. A cheerful person creates, as it were, a whole- some moral atmosphere in his vicinity which exerts an invigorating influence on those around him. We'll admit that it requires self-control and self-denial to maintain a cheery exterior under all circumstances--in sickness, in pain, in sorrow, in poverty, in unpleasant sur- misunderstanding, and .in roundings, but real, sincere cheerfulness im- plies something more than natural tempera- mentg it means self-denial It is no secret that we are and self-control. all refreshed by the presence of cheerful persons: so why not make earnest efforts to be helpful to others by our own cheerfulness and amiability. We can all acquire greater cheerfulness by assuming the right mental attitude toward our environment and circumstance, by look- ing habitually at the bright side of things, by training ourselves persistently to see the good and the pleasant things in our common, daily lifes Some persons seem to have eyes only for the disagreeable things. Overlooking their blessings, they brood over their trials and misfortunes. A good suggestion in regard to any past trouble or set-back is this: Let it go! For- get itl If you had an unfortunate expe- rience yesterday, forget it. If you have failed in one or more of your studies, forget, and do