Stanford University - Quad Yearbook (Palo Alto, CA)

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Stanford after two years — you a Inner lot than vc. Don ' t he conceited any of Quad ' • ° ' ' speak quite impersonally. It simply helped me U realize 1905 ' ' ' ' each year the L ' niversity is welcoming stronger material. The I ' ioneers of ninety-five set the pace. There has heen no step backward. These are Stanford ' s golden days an l the highest level yet will be reached in your Senior year. Naturally you wish to make the most of it — for yourself and for the University. The L ' niversity first : To the Senior there comes the final oppor- tunity to do his part in moulding the ' T ' ersonality of the L ' niversity — the phrase is President Jordan ' s — its force is apparent. V University must have personality else it cannot be great. Books, buildings, semi- naries, laboratories, professors, l resident above all — these contribute their share, but not these al one. Silently and imperceptibly every act of every Stanford student is affecting the Stanford spirit. This it is which enables a track captain, by his firm insistence upon loyalty to training rules, to influence the whole College for good. This makes it possible for a football coach to turn out a gritty team, and, by some psychic influence, to draw the whole Student Body to his support in the face of the greatest discouragement. The personality of no two great Colleges is the same. Stanford offers the same courses as do the other great American Universities ; she is furnished with the same equipment ; deals with the same problems ; aims at the same goal ; yet the Stanford spirit is not the Harvard spirit, nor the Princeton, nor the California. There is a subtle difference wdiich is at once apparent. Shall the Stanford personality be a mean or a noble personality? In a measure this rests with you to say. It is no one man wdio shapes the personality of the University. In your Senior ear especial!}- there rests upon you, as leaders, no light responsibility. Your influence you will leave behind you when your footsteps echo no longer on the Quad. There are High School students yet to enter College who will be affected by it, when, unconsciously, they raise or lower their ideals in conformit - with the standards of the spirit which }-ou have heljied to create. Now to more personal reflections, and let me devote one paragraph to the women of ' 05, and that in commendation. I am proud of Stan- ford women — royally proud. Ouite recently I have had occasion to recognize their superiority. It was at a City reception that 1 met a Stanford girl, only a l- ' reshie too, and we had a good talk. The room was crowded with society notables, most of them high strung and 18

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Stanford Quad 1905 In the Senior Year in{RE lingers with me et a horror of the paternal alumnus. Of all the lessons of my Senior year that one is most deeply rooted. No wonder either that it should so when I recall his visits to the Campus, his endless sertations on the glories of the past, and the patron- izing air with which he suggested methods of reform. You, men and women of ' 05, must know him too. Count yourselves happy if the species is extinct ! There, it is a relief to have stated my position on that point, for now you see that I cannot possibly adopt superior airs. Another thing that makes that impossible is my appreciation of this privilege. It is such a pleasure to an alumnus to feel that he is not c|uite forgotten. And then to be told that I didn ' t have to fuss with rhyme or plot but could write as I chose — as my correspondent put it, just talk to us ! That made the invitation irresistible. After such a gracious concession I begin to appreciate the privileges of my vocation. And yet it brings no temptation to write a sermon, for I don ' t feel ready to give advice — not the least bit. And yet my subject may compel me to be serious, for I am going to indulge in retrospect and recall the opportunities that came to the Seniors of ' oi. and which must conic also to you, in your Senior } ' ear. r ut first, congratulations are in order! At the Assembly a year ago, the last of the term. I was conscious of a splendid development of College spirit. It was a revelation to face again a Stanford audience

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chattering. In contrast niv companion was cool and well poised. In Stanford general terms we discussed the philosophy of self-possession, and tin- Quad I ' Veshman spoke warmly of the value of her College life. It seemed 1905 that some of the young ladies present had been her friends in seminary ilaxs. Tliey IkuI preferred Socict) to College. . moment later I met one of them! I refrain from comparisons, but 1 tell ou, girls, vou have clu)sen the better way. ini will, I am sure, be an honor to Stanford — the University where there is no co-educational problem. And now. fellows, I begin to realize that Uu.VD space is precious, and in what I have yet to say I must talk straight. Already vou have begun to anticipate the impending change. The awakening comes toward the end of the Junior year, when you see the Seniors making their final preparations to depart and leave you in possession. In an- other year, if you have not done so et, you must answer the question, What is it for? If you have been satisfied with a hazy idea of the general benefit of a College course as a means of culture, vou will soon find the truth of President Jordan ' s statement of the ideal of American education as personal eiifectiveness. The American L ' niversity of to-day seeks neither culture nor erudition as its final end. It values both as means to greater ends. It looks forward to work in life. It is most important to make a beginning, and this you can do in our Senior year. Ijegin to concentrate. For example : Alake the ' Varsity if you can but learn that athletics are a means and not an end. Some day we shall realize that the game of life is more than the game of football. We have work every da - more intricate than pitching curves, more strenuous than punting the ball. We must keep in trim for it. e must hold ourselves in repair. We must remember training rides. When this is done, we shall win not only games and races, but the great prizes of life. Widen your sympathies. If you are a fraternity man and graduate without knowing the ins and outs of I-jicina life, and cannot tell how many a good fellow is struggling against odds and making both ends meet, you have missed half the benefit of your College life, and vou will l)e forever narrow in your sympathies. Ilarbs, don ' t imagine that fraternity men are trying to be superior. Go half wav, or im also will be narrowed and embittered. A quotation from Emerson : ' I ' he man of talents affects to call his transgressions of the laws of the senses trivial, and to count them nothing considered with his devotion to his art. His art never taught 19