Temple University - Templar Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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acteristic of her academic work. Those who love music, as this child did, have hearts to be and to dare the best and the noblest. “And she believed in God, duty and immortal love.” The belief in God sanctifies human life; the belief in duty governs human life; the belief in immortal love awakens hope in the human breast, and hope is eternal. Elsa Faust believed in duty. Duty rests upon a sense of honor. “Honor,” she was wont to say, “Honor! what would a man be who lacked honor?” Unfaltering obedience to parents and a confiding spirit made her especially dear in her home. I have been over my roll books—the record shows promptness, accuracy. Her own note-books and exercises are complete and orderly. She died suddenly, yet there are no unfinished tasks. Such fidelity was a result of a true sense of duty. There was a way of love about Elsa and a way of being loved that was all native and consistent—aye, a part of herself. She had the talent of friendship, and she believed in friendship. Every one in the circle of the school feels the loss of Elsa. The children in the neighborhood trooped to greet her, even the little tots have sorrowed at her passing. The belief in immortal love ennobles human life. It precludes pessimism and doubt and discontent. There is no more potent factor for personal life than the belief in the power of immortal love. Elsa's response to this power cannot be questioned. It was a part of that dawning sense of the great higher things of life that had. more especially dur- 14

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I want to base what I have to record about Elsa Faust upon this short, but most suggestive, description. Notice her—tall, strong figure, with head held well up, and with quick, elastic step. Coloring dark, with eyes that gave immediate response and were deep enough for dreams to live in. Sec her greet friends right and left; catch again in memory the tone of that healthy laugh. To laugh so from out a jxire soul makes the world brighter. No student of mine ever responded more thoroughly, not only to the best that I could give, but to the best that the great books brought her. Last autumn, when her class were reading from Tennyson and from Milton, one could not but remark the mastery that the poets attained over Elsa. Her face would lighten, her soul thrill as we read line after line of matchless verse. The poems became to her a rich delight, a treasury of all beautiful thoughts. ❖ Beauty awakened Elsa Faust—beauty in poetry, beauty in nature, and beauty in music. No mean soul ever loved music. Poetry is triumphant art, but music, as Browning so aptly teaches in ‘‘Abt Vogler,” is the touch of the finger of God. Melody is born in heaven. Music passes out of art and art’s laws, and builds a palace all heavenly. To the study of music Elsa gave from two to four hours each day. Schumann, Bach, but especially Mozart, were her favorites' In music, as in letters, her enthusiasm and ambition knew no bounds. The more difficult inventions of Bach stirred her determination to master them. Her exercise book in nar-mony shows the same untiring fidelity and accuracy char- 13

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ing the last few months, been rising on her soul. This it was that made her ambitious of culture and cheerful in work, and that made her cling to the purer, nobler side of life, for she realized that the things which are not seen are alone the things which are eternal. After all is said, it seems to me that this young woman's life is a striking example of the value of intense earnestness. Not even in play could she be thoughtless or indifferent. Intensity was her way of doing all things. One day a quotation from Buddha was incidentally spoken in class. 1 find it treasured in one of Elsa's books, and it is verified in her own life: “Earnestness is the path of immortality, Thoughtlessness the path of death.” But let us remember that “she is not dead, but sleepeth;” and that He, the Lord of life, has taken her by the hand and said. “Talitha oumi—Damsel, T say unto thee. Arise!” CLARENCE STANLEY MC INTI RE 15