St Johns College - Yearbook (Annapolis, MD)

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L TP' r p A- fin- ddress V55 BY NINTAN PINKNEY X .24 N the evening of july 29th, 1873, the Hon. Ninian Pinkney, a near relative V of Williain Pinkney, delivered, before a joint celebration of the Philo- kalian and Philomathean Literary. Societies, an address which is so highly expressive of the feeling which all good St. Johnis men have, and which is so strangely appropriate at this particular time that we feel we could do the students, the alumni, and the people of Maryland no better service than to publish it in our Rat Tat. YOUNG GENTLEMEN: Societies like those you have formed in the heart of a great Col- lege, which you ought to make immortal in the ages ahead, are very closely allied to that love of harmony which constitutes the charms of the names you bear. It is no exaggera- tion to say that too high an estimate cannot be formed of the value of such literary associa- tions when they occupy their proper orbit, and are properly worked in that orbit. They stimulate inquiry, arouse the faculties, call forth an energy of effort that would otherwise never be put in action, and awaken an intense anxiety to extend the area of knowledge and secure exactitude in the investigations made. , , There is stimulus in the classroom. ' In it there is a natural and irrepressible desire to excel. Every true young man who is lit to walk in academic groves and inhale the per- fume which for centuries has lingered around those quiet retreats, feels his pulses quicken as he looks out on the goal where the first honor of his Alma Mater awaits the successful competitor, and he labors to secure it. Not to share the stimulus of the classroom, to be unmoved by the thrilling associations that cluster around it, and pass through the curriculum of study without the kindlings of enthusiasm, is to demonstrate the fact that privileges are often wasted on the worthless which others less fortunate would most gladly enjoy and zeal- ously improve. But another sort of stimulus is needed- It is 'outside of the curriculum of study. It is voluntary, and on that account it is the more forceful. Literary societies sup- ply this stimulus. Books of instruction are needful. Live teachers, who are thoroughly imbued with the subject matter that is to pass under their review, are not less needful- The aptness to receive the instruction imparted, the docility of mind and the attentive ear are not less vitally important. But beyond this CI will not say above itl, there is the neces- sity for self-culture, which is not a provision. of the schools, but a voluntary organization which has its origin in the will of the students, and is dependent for its efficient outworkng on the unprompted energy they bring to the enterprise. Two such organizations you have. There is wisdom in the two-fold embodiment of the idea, for they act upon and are reacted on by each other. They stimulate effort, they exert a happy and healthful spirit of emulation, they exert a mutual restraint, and exercise a most wholesome discipline. An .9 I

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esprit du corps pervades them. They familiarize the mind to the forum and tend to develop the habit of thorough investigation and logical precision. They superinduce the spirit of caution which is wise to select its facts and careful to subject them when selected to the' touchstone of history. They cultivate independence of thought, and, taking the mind out of the rut, throw it more or less on innate resources. If proper care be taken in the prepa- ration that ought always to precede discussion, and proper time be given for a full survey of the whole field, the result will be the highest practical, personal improvement. I will not pause longer in the review of the pre-eminent importance of just such socie- ties as those which you have formed, nor need I say more than this, that the names unfurled on your banners are most appropriate and most eloquently expressive of the thoughts that underlie them. Love of learning and love of the beautiful--two things that are not always joined together and yet ought never to be divorced in a world where everything is full of instruction, at once suggestive and exhaustive, and thus full of beauty-beauty that is mirrored on earth and sea and sky-beauty of form as endless as the things of which those forms- are the clothing-beauty of hues, that are as diversified as the hues of 'the rainbow or the autumn foliage. I think I find a topic not wholly foreign to the societies you represent in some thoughts which I would suggest touching our Alma Mater, wherein you have the blending of the useful and the beautiful as they are nowhere else so exquisitely blended- She is a star in the blazing firmament as yet scarcely known by name to multitudes of our citizens. The con- sciousness, that a State, which is so justly renowned in the sisterhood of States, as this great commonwealth of Maryland, is dead to the pre-eminent importance of an institution ofilearning of the highest grade, born of the State, and fostered and sustained by the State, may well stir within you feelings of an indignant patriotism, and prompt you to see if you cannot acquire the tuneful tongue to rebuke and impeach the moral treason of the age- You feel the wrong which this supineness has inflicted, and with access to the gushing fountains of knowledge, and under the moulding hand of the most able and competent instructors, you find yourselves but a handful, whereas these halls should be crowded to overflowing. There is an appeal to the stern logic of facts to which no State should be dead- To suffer her y0u11g men tO go Out from her in quest of an education she cruelly withholds from them, is the basest treason. Treasure it in your hearts, and when you go forth, as yearly some of you do, be bold to rebuke the shamelessness of the deed. As long-as that noblest feature of our present form of government, the creation of the sages of '76 is preserved-the sovereignty of the State within the soverignty of the Union-stars beautifully blended in a milky way of freedom-we repeat, as long as State lines are not blotted out, and State identity is recognized, so long does it behoove the State to see to it, that her sons are trained on her own soil and in strict familiarity with her physical organ- ism. Young men are, in more than a hgure, the pillars of the State- The State is and ought to be the mother of her sons. When the William and Mary school was merged in the Col- lege of St. J'ohn's, and the State stepped forward and aided by her annuity, the efforts of private citizens who raised a fund that was truly wonderful at that early day, she gave an example of the intense interest she felt in the cause of education. As long as the faith of the State was kept, the College continued to send forth sons, of whom any State might be proud. The College failed-not because ofcmy defect in her organization or administra-- tion, but solely because she was left without the funds that were pledged to her on the faith and honor of the State- The fact that she was the foster child of the State, at a time when we were rocked in the cradle of independencef, consecrates the claim she has to the fos- Q2