St Johns College - Yearbook (Annapolis, MD)

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A 'fs -s Mfrs-Qw. ' -- f.-.nb .If I L , , M- .A ,X .. I I: II...l - ,I -'I Illis-. in-KI: -n': s- 'f fix- A-.i.:...-J -'f. - -.-1 w- --I - .-.j, - - -- - .- 1 1.2 .-H . - - Q. w ' . . . . .' . I-vp. V - . . , - . - - .3J.f--F ,..- ,..sz:.f s....fF'f.i-5-.e.?'.iafiSf. ,-W-..L-.....,... .,..a..-Ex .,.'.s...,....,,..g.-.w V ,pi . .. , V ' ' ' ' - Q - -- ' - --....--.. ...al-,.,L...-1 . - V j , -. . 1- - fry' -- -.Q - .1 '-12'fy:'. ' - 1-:',2,iL,g4 -- ' F . 4...,.. T ,, .. .. .' - --L35---rf---'-4--f', -' -7 . . . n -Q. A . . , which so many of our citizens are wont to discuss the comparative merits of the different colleges of the land. What is of home manufacture is despised as worthless. What is foreign is necessarily good. And yet our Alumni are our passport to favor, and we feel that we need no other. Too much stress cannot be laid on this point. Without patron- age and a liberal outlay of means no college can Hourish. If the most infiuential and liberal of our citizens express their preference for an education acquired from without to that which may be acquired within the State, the College must languish. These gentlemen do more than refuse us their aid- They exert a most malign influence against us. For they dishonor St. Iohn's by withholding the confidence to which she is entitled, and by example, which is far more potent than words, they work against her. Let the State multiply her scholarships, and thus bring the highest grade of education to the poorest. Let this be done, and all is well. It is the misfortune of our race, that we are always prone to under- rate individual effort. ine power of the ocean is in the waves. The power of the waves is in the separate drops. It is the unceasing putting forth of small exertions that moves the world- The mountains are leveled, a spadeful at a time. Let each one fulfill his mission, and what would be left undone? A dollar a head would give us thousands. :All we want is a fair, open field of competition. I flatter myself that the time is not far distant when those who now send their sons to other States will feel the awakening of State pride and give to this venerable seat of learning the high sanction of their example, and the more substantial benefit of their patronage- But the Alumni must lead the way. They must assert her claim. They must make known to others what they know by experience, viz: that St. ,Iohn's is deserving of a place among the foremost colleges of the land. St. J'ohn's asks to be identified with People of the State. Your Governor is at the head of the Board of Trustees. Your Judges of the Court of Appeals, and thepresiding officers of the Senate and House of Delegates are members of it. Young gentlemen, your societies are giving demonstration that the tuneful tongue is not yet lost to Maryland, and in the subtlety of debate, with the power of word-painting to illustrate the ,line of the argument, and logic in beautiful combination. Learning bubbles time and again, won plaudits from an admiring audience. I would counsel you to bear in mind that your Alma Mater will need your persuasive tongue, and highest enthusiasm. Amid those other dreams of ambition, which are Hitting before you in the halls you so dignify and ennoble, be this the most cherished, the sweetest, the brightest, and the best, viz: that you are to consecrate your highest powers to the cause of education, and seek to keep this one particular star in the ascendant. I might have chosen a topic more popular, perhaps, and seemingly more appropriate if I had followed in the path that bore the giant footprints of Welling, or the orator of last year, the gifted and scholarly I-Iagner- But they were not as generous as Boaz to the glean- ers of his ripened fields. For they plucked every iiower that bloomed, and left only a barren waste behind them. My heart was full. I thought, and still think, that the theme was well chosen, the Philomathian and Philokalian in beautiful combination. Learning bubbles up at the fountain head, and the beautiful meets us in all surroundings. Young gentlemen, the idea has gone abroad that this is only an Annapolis school, and the result is that a tide of bitter prejudice has set in against her in some sections of the State. Citizens of Annapolis, I turn to you in this juncture. You must prove to your fellow-citizens that you desire not a petty local school, but a great State College. And surely 'Annapolis, the Athens of the New World, ever distinguished for the love of the beautiful, will spring to the work before her, and meet her just responsibility. One of the most dis- 95

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semblance of a reason. Our College possesses a vast advantage in its location, the power of association, and in its being born of the State. It is in the Capital of the Commonwealth, on the shores of the most beautiful of rivers, and within view of the grandest of bays- It is withinxreach of the great forum, where, now, as of old, there is a constant exhibition of the highest displays of legal eloquence and logic-the Appellate Court of Maryland. It touches the Naval Academy where the General Government is discharging the duty it owes to those who are to be the future guardians of our commerce, and the defenders of our national honor on the seas. It is near the Capital of the Union. It is full of historic memories. It was here that Washington returned to the shades of private life, after having carved out a nation's independence. It was here that the memorable burning of the tea in the Chesapeake took place, which ante-dated the world-renowned heroism that was displayed in the harbor of Boston. Such is the spot our fathers chose for the site of St. Iohn's. We will not discuss the uses which the State might and ought to make of such a legacy bequeathed to her by such sires. The academies, fied from our public schools, might become in turn the feeders of the College, while the higher culture of the College might be made to How back, from the fountain head to the remoter members. We stand in need just now of a broader and profounder statesmanship-which, know- ing the value of the diamonds that are still deep hidden in the mines, is resolved to dig them out, and polish them for future use-a statesmanship, which regards young men, when properly trained and educated, as the bulwarks of freedom. Imbue your minds, and fire your hearts with thoughts like these. Here the Philomathean and Philokalian meet and mingle. This is emphatically the cause of the people. It is their interest to have education made cheaper, and brought within easy reach of all- You must soon mingle with them, and it becomes you to prepare yourselves to be the custodians of that, which underlies their power, and can alone fit them to meet the destiny that awaits them. To make St. Iohn's a power in this land, two things are requisite-gifts b ythe people, if only one dollar a year, and the patronage of the people-private gifts and private patronage-funds for build- ing, and the endowment of professorships. Weneed the poor man's sympathy and aid, as well as the more abundant largesses of the rich. Drops make up the ocean- Dollars make up the mint. The grand idea, which our fathers inaugurated, can only be made a reality by concert of action, and individual effort. The people must endow while the State is lavish of her wealth. What have the people done? Nothing, no, absolutely nothing. Princeton, Yale, Harvard have received their thousands. St. J'ohn's, nothing. This is marvellously strange. Who doubts that a grand hall should be erected at once? What name so appropriate, to use the language of Judge Tuck, as the People's Hall- We plead for our Alma Mater, not because she is our Alma Mater, but because she is native to the soil, beautiful for situation, and worthy of the patronage of the people. It has become very fashionable in our time to measure the value ofa thing by distance. Educated abroad sounds grandly on human ears. The parchment of Princeton, Yale or Harvard is thought to possess a peculiar charm- Is this philosophically true? Does dis- tance lend enchantment to this view? Will the glitter of a foreign college outweigh the less unostentatious attraction of home associations, provided the mental and moral training is equal. It is a marvel to me that, with all her disadvantages, St. John's has kept her place gy the side.-of the foremost colleges .of the land. But the fact is so. Home influence and ome associations against foreign habits, tastes and customs. 'This is the question. I say to the people of Maryland, attend the commencement exercises, and see for yourselves. It requires a good deal of 'philosophy to witness, without indignation, the' complacency with 94

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tinguished of our Alumni, your son, honored wherever known for his wealth of mind and h rt Judge Tuck has pledged a thousand dollars. Another, not an Alumnus, your adopted ea 2: . . . son whose ripely cultivated intellect has, on So many occasions, fascinated you with the com- bined flowers of rhetoric and logic, has pledged another thousand. Annapolitans, can it be that you will not appreciate the wisdom of the choice, that made this venerable city the seat of the College? Iwill not believe it. I am one of those who think that the people's ' b tl C should lead in ork should be done by the people. Not the monied few, ut ie masses W . this Great work of educational reform. Let the streams of your beueficence, formed of single D d meet and mingle with the State's benefaction, and the Collegelis safe- Many a .dia- rops, Q, mond now concealed from human view will be brought forth and set in the country's crown to enhance her ancient glory. . a . ' The spirit of the olden times is not dead.. Philomathians and Philokahans, there is power enough in you to fan it to a brighter flame. V Forty' odd years ago I dreamed golden dreams as I wandered through those consecrated grounds, and listened to the echoes of the past as they whispered through the branches of the grand old poplar, and one of the brightest of those dreams was the rising of St. Iohnls from its ashes. That dream is but half ful- filled. The hour has been too long delayed, and I now turn to you, her gifted sons, to help us to make it a grand reality. The eloquence of years is concentrated in one brief hour. By the memories of the past I implore you too seize hold of, use and improve the present opportunity. Key, Thomas, Murray, Johnson are blending their tuneful tongue, with our feeble advocacy-the living and the dead- They all commend her to your care, your sym- pathy and pecuniary aid. 1 Yours is a grand destiny if you are wise to meet it. You may fix stars in the firmament of thought, and noble activity, that will burn on forever. You may add to the lustre of the past new names, to grace the scroll that shall bear no other motto than this-the College cradled in the revolution, whose destiny is onward and upward- Young gentlemen, you are living in a great age-an age of extraordinary mental activ- ity, full of the wealth of invention, and teeming with the fruits of knowledge, gathered on every field of thought. It is in age, however, whose very intellectuality constitutes a peril, against which it becomes you to watch. It is a glorious part. It is above the envy of the most envious. The present is before you. On its proper use and wise husbandry depends the future. It was my privilege to listen to a debate between your two societies. The subject was one of absorbing interest. It was characterized by great power on both sides. Facts, the result of close investigation, and careful research, were marshalled' with great skill by each of the contestants. I felt proud of the talent I witnessed and consider the discussion one of the strongest proofs of the value of such literary societies to the College and the State- Young gentlemen, the theme was well chosen. The question you debated stretches for- ward, and penetrates the vast and unexplored future. It is a question to be determined amid the accumulation of stars in the blazing constellation. The sovereignty of States Evithin the sovereignty of the Union, withlno conflict of powers and no just cause of con- ict-the M agna.Cha1'te1' with the broad shield of the Habeas Corpus, and a pure judiciary, with nerve of will to declare the law and nerve of will to execute it, or 'else the total fxlipiiliiitliose stars, and the fatal. jar in the complex machinery of the government, which liberty be 103 iillgiggggiiiiidEEJO'CgS11gwan tgelzlvlll of one man will become the law, and you discussed was C1 - .1151 W - ie e of your debate was broad-the question 631' 35 P0531 C- The echoes of your eloquence have died away on the 96