University of Minnesota - Gopher Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

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2 . A , I education good enough for the highest while not too good for the loyrap lcd ' lowest. And for the accomplishment of this I appeal to you, gentle- men, as intelligent members of the most powerful body oi' workers in the commonwealth, to give it your hearty and effective support. We can not wonder that these words and this spirit, together with the wise foresight which provided for our present course in agricultural education, completely won the case for the University. .H Prcsifleni. Xortllrop nt lfV0rk ill his Ullice. While it has been practical questions, connected with the institution which has grown with unexampled rapidity under his wise management, which have largely engrossed the aim and thought of President Northrop in the fourteen years of his life in Minnesota, still he has made himself felt in otherlines. His course of lectures upon Shakespeare has been given several times at the University and always to delighted audiences, and 28

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I shall regard it as a sad day for the country when the ranks of the professions and of trade and of manufacturing and of banking can no longer be recruited from the sturdy, and energetic and honest sous ol' farmers in the country. The best blood in all lines ofaetivities in our large cities has come from the country and from the homes of farmers. Long may it be so, and lar distant be the day when through any compulsion, social or physicahesoteric or exoteric,sons of farmers shall be shut up to an education purely agricultural, and be forced, against their OW11 tastes and inclinations, to follow the occupation of their fathers. As the mingling of nationalities and creeds and pur- poses and tastes helps the process of assimilation in our national life, so the mixing of families in ditierent pursuits keeps all out of a rut, and adds to the life and activity of the whole. When, then, farmers complain that so many iarmers' sons go into other pursuits than tarming, they complain ol' what is for the best good ofall concerned. What we need to look out for is not lest farmers' sons should go into other professions, but lest fil1'l1lCl'S,XVllClll'lCI' the sons ol' farmers or not, should be uneducated and unfit for their work. And in closing he made this stirring' appeal: The State of Minnesota has many things of which she may justly be proud. Her territory is a royal domain of magniheent pro- portions. Her soil is of surprising lertilityg her climate is most invig- orating. Her people are enterprising, enthusiastic, united. Her rapid progress in material development,in populatiou,in wealth,eommands the attention, the admiration, the wonder ol' the whole country. Beyond her is a territory stretching from the Mississippi tothe Pacilie, the future homes of millions, whose wealth will pour itself in endless iiood into her borders. The State so great in material resources is hardly less great in her liberal provisions for education. She ought to feel pride in her highest institution, her University. What, then, shall the University of Minnesota be to the State of Minnesota? Shall it be a real university, or shall it,bc dismembered and divided, one part here and another there? Shall it be a university or a conled- cracy of high schools? Shall it be to Minnesota what I-Iarvard University has been to Massachusetts, Yale to Connecticut, and Princeton to New jersey, the University of the State and thus of national reputation, or shall it be one ofthe Universities of Minnesota and so unknown beyond the State? It is not the university ofthe regents who govern it, nor of the iaenlty who teach in it. It is the University of the State of Minnesota. To the State of Minnesota, therefore, I look with confidence for such wise and liberal action as shall preserve the University from mutilation, shall enable it to keep abreast the age in its learning and teaching, and shall make it an institution where all sound learning may be gained, where the rich and the poor may meet together on equal terms and may secure an 27 fzbyrapkzbaf.

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the course or separate lectures from it have been enjoyed by the people of several towns of the State. Of this course the King Lear is usually considered the finest. It is a most powerful rep- resentation of that great tragedy. Good judges who have seen the best actors of the day declare that never upon the stage have they seen the grand and pathetic character of this wonderful tragedy so vividly presented as in this lecture. The passion, the tenderness, the heart-break of the old king come living and real from the heart of the speaker, and the tones in which he utters Airs. CJ'l'llS .Y1Jfllll'01l. ' such lines as If ye yourselves are old, will cling to those pas- sages forever in the minds of those who have once heard them. The most diflicult to describe, because the most delicate and evanescent of all, is the happy humor of President Northrop, who that l1as sat in the University chapel as a student, can ever forget the rounds of laughter, the tumultuous applause, the joyous good-comradship which these sparkling sallies of the President produced. His wit never comes afterward,like the bright thoughts of most of us, it is always ready, always to the point, but always so apropos that apart from time and circum- stance it looses halfits charm. 29 yglbyraplzzbvl.