Swarthmore College - Halcyon Yearbook (Swarthmore, PA)

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students the element of personality must be kept in abeyance, the sense of personal possession cannot wisely be indulged. Every feeling of admiration, of genuine affection for another that takes us out of ourselves is one of the good gifts straight from the hand of God to be enjoyed reverently and thankfully. But among students, the desire for personal appropriation of that which we admire or love is to be kept absolutely in check. There will come of this self-restraint not only safety from unhappy complications, but a strength and depth of character to be felt in the maturity of manhood and womanhood. This, then, is the opportunity of Swarthmore ' s social life, to promote that intercourse among its young people which shall stimulate sincerity and frankness, tempered with a delicate reserve and accompanied with noble behavior. 6 t £ o . - € y0 ' O( .

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the self-control which JOmerson names as an essential clement of Ijcnitifiil manners. There is abundant testimony ulscj from Swartlimcjrc f M-adiiates that the social life of the colle[, e is most valuable trainin for the social life of the world. The College Catalogue names the twenty ]jeriods of recitation re- quired each week in the courses of study leading to a degree. The social curriciilton includes twenty- one periods of social ojjportnnity afffjrded by the associations of the dining-hall. Three times every day the students meet in the great dining-hall as twenty or more separate breakfast and lunch and dinner parties, social clubs that may make the time set apart for meals a time for the practice of the fine art of social intercourse. Eat, as in the presence of the king, one of our mentors teaches us. The presence of the king subdues every selfish impulse to secure most and best of things. The presence of the king restrains the hand from childish trickery and modulates the voice to gentle tones. The presence of the king stimulates to thought and wit and pleasant anecdote. Thus, may Swarthmore ' s dining- hall be made a school of beautiful manners. Then there are other social occasions that are elective — the appointed social-hour in the recreation-time after dinner and the occasional formal re- ceptions. Of course, the value of these social opportunities depends en- tirely upon the spirit in which they are entered into. Social intercourse of men with men, of women with women, or of men with women, that has a basis of sincerity and frankness and mutual respect, is always a most im- portant factor in social cultivation. Every moment of social intercourse that calls out the best that is in us and holds us to our best, broadens and deepens the intellectual and the spiritual life. A very practical question is the limitation to which the social inter- course of students should be subject. Because they are separated from their homes, away from the natural censors of their friendships, all their inter- course with each other should be characterized by that fine reserve, that delicate respect for each other that does not allow of hasty, indiscriminate intimacies. There is another thought that may be helpful to The Hal- cyon ' s undergraduate company. In the association of young people as 19

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TJ} Year. S, one l:)y one, tlie years roll swiftly by in their relentless and unchangeable course it becomes the pleasant duty of each succeeding Halcycjn to chronicle a i)eriod of unjjrecedented growth and prosperity for Swarthmore, and to ];rophesy still greater advances in the future. In this position of combined historian and seer the ' 94 Halcyon congratulates itself that it has for its subject so bright an epoch of our history as the year which has just passed, and that looking into the future with a firm faith in the hands that are now guiding our institution through a period of change and advancement we are enabled to foretell yet greater fame and honor for that mother whom we all so dearly love. During the few years for which the class of ' 94 has been at Swarth- more, the changes which have taken place in the college, the great strides which she has made in all departments are such as a few years ago would have been thought impracticable if not impossible. The preparatory school has been abolished, and all interested in Swarthmore were glad to see it go. The only part remaining — the sub-collegiate class — has but a short life before it and may not outlive the year. The requirements of the curriculum have been steadily advanced, and in the recently issued Catalogue there appears for the first time the offer of a four years ' course in Greek, together with an advanced course in Latin, and many other additions of minor importance. The annual convention of the College Association of the Middle States and Maryland, which was held at Swarthmore during the last Thanksgiving recess, was in every way a signal success for our college, and must do much to increase her already wide-spread fame. Under the present administration the influence of Swarthmore is mak- ing itself felt in the world, and her sons and daughters, who ever watch her with solicitous care, cannot but feel gratified at the present position and bright future prospects of their Alma Mater. 21