University of Minnesota - Gopher Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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xzbyrapbzbaf. And in closing he expressed this wish, which all his relations with the thousands of students who have since gone forth from the University have helped to realize: I hope that all our students, as they graduate and go out into the world, will look to this place as to what was once their home, and what in a very high sense was their birth-place, that they will have pleasant memories ofsoinething besides recitations and lecturesg that they will recall many a word of counsel, of encouragement, of inspiration, given to them by tl1C instructors outside the lines ol' daily The West Lane District School, where President Northrop rcecircll his first instrzu.-tmu 1'0UtiUei and that, HS the .Years pass on, they will love to come back to ns and encourage us in our work, by showing what noble men and women they have become. That is the kind ofloyalty to the Univer- sity we should seek to inspire, a loyalty horn ofthe remembrance that here, in the very crisis oflife, kindness and sympathy were experienced, here intellectual power and moral earnestness were acquired, and here an inspiration to a true life was given, an inspiration whose voice has been heard in all the years that are past, and, they know, will never be silent in the 'years that are to come! ' 24-

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A very common demand at the present time is that education shall bei'practical'-a very just demand, indeed, if by 'practical' is meant 'llSCllll,'-lJl.Il1 a very degrading demand, indeed, if 'practical' means merely 'money-making! This country is prosperous enough, Minnesota is rich enough to give an education to her sons and daughtersg and if through over- valuing wealth or undcrvaluing learning, this education is not gained by the youth ofour commonwealth, a most terrible mistake is made. The life is more than meat: thc man is more than his environment. 7lu nhore is Il scene tnken from the Hrrm npon which President .Yorthrup was horn. The education ofthe students in the University will be but a part, and not necessarily tl1c larger part, of the good which the University will do. Its iniiucnce ought to be felt not here alone in the academic building, but in every school in the whole state. It is not the common school which pushes up the Universityg it is the University which pushes up thc common school. lt does this by setting up a higher standard of excellence in scholarshipg by opening wider and more interesting fields of studyg by creating a better and more positive taste for learningg by holding out inducements to every scholar to pursue his studies longer and avail himself of all the advantages of education furnished by the stateg and by stimulating scholars and teachersalikc to do good and faithful work, by the prospect ofreward in admission to the higher work ofthe University. 23 Qzbyrapbzbal.

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Never did President Northrop's power of earnest speech show itself in a more marked manner than in his address on agricul- tural education delivered before the Minnesota Horticultural Society in January, 1887. A great danger threatened the Univer- sity. It was proposed to separate the Agricultural School from the State University, and make it an independent institution under entirely distinct management. The idea had been brewing for years, its advocates had appealed strongly to class prejudice, The Old ll'cIl on the Nurtllrop llunlcsteml. and at last the plan was pushed by a strong political party. Then it was that the wisdom and tact of the President inani- fested itself. He did not stand alone in his efforts. The whole weight of Governor Pillsbury's powerful influence was thrown into the scale, and thus the unity of the University was preserved and the state was saved from the curse of two or three weak, struggling institutions, instead of one strong and vigorous. No farmer who had ever grasped his hand could be made to .25 Qzbyraphzbaf.