Towson University - Tower Echoes Yearbook (Towson, MD)

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THE TOWER LIGHT S Design for Inspiration LEON L. LERNER N a world hectic with cocked guns and marching armies and vicious browbeating and violent threats, it is hard, indeed, to find a subject fitting for inspiration. Shall we speak of the love of man for man? But in Europe man kills man. Shall we pronounce our faith in justice and right? But elsewhere Justice is torn out of the heart of those who profess to believe in it, and Right lies sniveling in the giant hand of Might. It is not a bright picture we face on this lit-cle planet of ours, humanity has good reason to be gloomy and sad. And so now, as in all dolorous periods of world history, we are offered plans and suggestions and patterns to follow. It is difiicult to know where to turn or what to do. The great mind of the world is crying out now, as it has been doing for the last twenty years, for guidance, for succor. Feverish eyes are being cast in a thousand directions for the hand that will enucleate a prescription for relief and salvation. Will the plea go unanswered? Jeremiah arose to answer the supreme question of his agei Buddha delivered his message to a world that had been desperately in need for one of his calibre, Confucius put an end to the plaguing doubts of his time, Christ drove back encroaching shadows of darkness. Here is evidence that in the past, burning questions have not gone unanswered, questions similar to those that parch our tongues today. Shall man kill man? Shall love and respect and honor be buried in the muck of outright selfishness and sheer hypocrisy? Shall human life be placed on the lowest par of value or on the highest? From the evidence of the past there is good reason for believing that for us, too, a way out will be found. Who will find the way out for us? It will be the teacher, even as before it was the teacher, Jeremiah and Buddha and Confucius and Christ. Here is the greatest concept for us who have chosen our life's work in this field of teaching. Our spiritual progenitors have cast the die for us, and we have their footsteps to follow. Theirs was a job of enlighten- ment, so is ours. Theirs was a job of dispelling fears and superstitionsg so is ours. They developed the understanding of man's behavior, we label the same, psychology, and apply it as we can. They were led to set standards for thinking and for doing, the teacher in the community is expected to do -the same. That we deal with children only enhances our position in the whole human race. Mencius, the Chinese philosopher, wrote: 'tThe great man is he who never outgrows che heart of a child. And so, in touching 11

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THE TOWER LIGHT 1 - 1 Falls Road toward Baltimore-a quiet country road along which one delights to linger. In the southwestern part of the country near the Patapsco River, about three miles east of Wwdstock, we turn left from the Old Court Road to the Wrights Mill Road which follows the crest of the hills on the north side of the Patapsco River Valley. Here, six miles from Bal- timore, is the settlement known as Quaker Hill, settled by Quakers from Massachusetts in 1807, and still distinctive for the sturdy stone houses. The view from this elevation-valleys, ranges, and a long winding road Over the hills to the east-is beautiful particularly in early fall when the foliage is in varying shades of change. The descent from the crest of the hill is two hundred Hfty feet in one-third mile, accomplished in many curves. No wonder Quaker Hill is a favorite grade test of motor power for prospective purchasers of automobiles! Leaving State Highway 26 at the Police Sub Station we follow the Deer Park Road. After traveling about three miles we reach a section of the country very different from any other in Baltimore County. Thin flat stones cover the ground so closely that only scrub oaks and short stiff grass can grow. On one side of the road are dark, curiously formed stones sought by rock garden enthusiasts. There are great ravines sug- gesting earthquake disturbances, and geologists have repeatedly made trips to this region to study the soil and formation of the rocks. From the roadway looking south we have a magnificent view over parts of Howard and Carroll Counties, supplemented on a very clear morning by mountain ranges and Montgomery County in the distance. The beauty spot nearest the College is the Towson Nursery. No, we need not wander there in imagination, for it is so accessible to us. Let us begin at home and work out to the beauty spots farther from us. If we look hard, we may discover some new ones which we shall delight in recommending to others. Nofe: This arfirlc is an adapfafiofn of an address given by Mrs. S. Wfalter Perrim' of Ranrlallsfowrz, Maryland, to Miss Trm1ffJa1n's Rural lli70llIE'77,S Group. 'EQQT 10

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THIS '1'OWliR LIGHT upon the child mind, we touch the universal mind. It is a challenge of a kind. The teacher will recall, perhaps, the words of August Strindberg, I find the joy of life in the powerful, terrible struggles of lifeg and the capability of experiencing something, of earning something, is a pleasure to me. The tradition she carries on will afford the teacher a cause to live for, to light for. In any event, she will know that her work is an attempt to answer the confounding questions of our times. It is an inspiration that leads to begetting a design for living, a design for which the whole world is hreltlilessljr waiting. CECQ? Timely Thought As this is written they say, NWHI' clouds are darkf, But to us of this young generation war is something historical that happened when we were too young to remember-or something contemporary that is going on across the ocean, recorded in our newspapers. But those dark clouds may bring a fearful storm that will sweep us, too, into the conflict. If war comes, then we will know what it is . . . This time it will be our school chums, our brothers, our sweethearts, who will have to make the glorious sacrificev. It will be ur who will be doing the endless sewing, the constant serving-the awful watching- and the hopeless waiting. It will be our children, little ones whom we have lovingly taught for the development of rich, happy lives, whose chances will be blighted, Whom we may find lying even as we now see others in unspeakable news pictures. If another war comes . . . -no, that is not something we can dismiss as something that couldn,t happen again in a ucivilizedl' world. Human reason has been known to fail when We trust in it most. Let us pray for peace-but not with idle folded hands. Let us stir peace sentiment-but not by taking oaths never to fight for our country. Peace can come only through the universal understanding and living of the message that the Prince of Peace brought for mankind-if all will but accept the terms of world peace. 'QQCZQQF Did you know that at present more than twenty per cent of the teachers are men? 12