Swarthmore College - Halcyon Yearbook (Swarthmore, PA)

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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

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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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Swartl rqore (College. Its Origin, and Some Notes upon its Early History. CHAPTER I. FROM the time of the first settlement of Friends in this country, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, they have been conspicuous for their solicitude for the proper education of their children. With them in those early days education and religion went hand in hand. Wherever a Friends ' settlement was found the school-house and the meet- ing-house were erected side by side. In these schools all alike, whatever their station in society, received the same training in the rudiments of learning, and in the middle of the week the exercises were suspended, and the children with their teachers attended the religious meeting close at hand. It should, however, be observed that Friends ' schools, both those under the care of the meeting and private schools, were never of a narrow, sectarian, or proselyting character, and that they have always been attended by very many who were not members of our religious society. Early in the present century the Lancasterian system of schools, from which our public school system took its rise, was introduced into this country. From that time Friends began gradually to depend upon the public schools for the early education of their children, many completing their studies in these, while some were sent to various good private board- ing schools maintained by Friends, a very small number continuing their education in some of the colleges of the country, none of which were under the care of our branch of the Religious Society of Friends. The discontinuance of our private schools became so general and its effect upon our meetings so obvious that at length, near the middle of the century, a new interest in the reorganization of both our common schools and those of