University of Minnesota - Gopher Yearbook (Minneapolis, MN)

Page 31 text:

1 [HTfuiiu ' (Iriftinj; dnw n ilie years, like an i ' hisi f ri ' fraiii luvinl oiui- aiul novor tdriiotlrii, it tliiats across our coiisriousiK ' ss and loaxcs a memory tlicrc that lingers l ' ore cr. l- ' rom it arc Imni our exalted ambitions and our liii;ii liopc lor a Inturc. c arc denied the power to see, to imderstand, and to appreciate all that is close about us. History is a better tale, more clearly and more sympatlieti- cilK I old, w hen it has lain a hundred ears. Famil- iar names and faces are incomparabU ' dear when they ha e passetl to the mist ' realms of the jxist. And while we are in college we forget, in the zest of lixing, to note the little things that sjieak in whispers to our hearts — the scurr - of dead leaves across a brown, wind-sweiit knoll on a goklen day in autunm, the drone of -oices and the echo of feet down old ImiIwcII ' s marble hall, the contidences of friends, freely taken and freely gi en. It is after we ha e left the campus and college days behind us, when we pass beneath the iron gatewa - no more, that something calls and calls to us with an insis- tence that cannot be denied -calls us back to stand once more in fancy beneatii the old oak trees com- muning softh with the western winds, and thrill with disembodied joy as we watch the sunset ' s mo- mentary scarlet flare go down behind the gothic gray of the Old Libe — something that is the Spirit of Nlinnesota. Long, long ago in sunny Circece, where the dawn of civilization was fairest and ga e brightest promise for a future of unbounded enlightenment and culture, the Uni ersit - had its beginning under the ideal conditions of which we like to dream. .Among the ancient gro -es, beneath a bine, blue sky, the philosopher, the scholar, the master walked and talked through the long southern day with the little band of students who were like thirsty wanderers at the fountain of his wisdom. There were dreams then, and thought communion, and slow meditation, out of which were e -ol -cd the b.isic theories and philosophies of our world. .And When: Minnesola begins — the campus gale To those who have served The beautiful facade and inipoMiig Jtiml ii iin- tuu- Lihtarx Page 25

Page 30 text:

Ilii h lights and shaiUm-s along the River Road It is the atmosphere of a place that rests in the memory. Of all the lasting impressions of four years at the Universi- ty, those subconscious associations that are generally termed atmosphere are universally more perpetual than any others. The knoll, the shady oaks, Folwell Hall, and the Old Armory are meaningless functions to the under- graduate when he views Miwiesota for the first time. But as he ages with the institution he somehow acquires the spirit of the place, the feel of the campus. There is a certain vague ideal- ism about it all which beautifies and makes more delicate the memories of his college days. SPIRIT OF MINNESOTA ' I ' Hl ' .RK is nniu ' , they tell us. They look upon the great 1 hriik l)uil(iiiigs, constructed with scientific anci im- personal perfection, the zig-zag pattern of campus walks where thousands daily come and go, passing in haste from hour to hour, dri ' en like silly mechanical toys throughout a destined space of time. They look upon this, and they sigh and they say that there is no spirit behind it all, that the cold brick walls tell only a barren tale of proud and greedy wealth, a story whose theme is speed and efficiencN , and whose hero is the dollar — a story without a soul. The - (k ' ljlore the age in which commercialism is supreme — an age in which lousiness men and not school men determine the policies and set the standards of our colleges and uni- versities. But who are they that speak thus? They are the c ' nics, the men who are ignorant of the beautiful histor ' of Minnesota ' s struggle and growth, and the men who lack ihat precious inner sight which permits of fine perceptions and sentiments. For school spirit is not alone a feeling in- spired by ivied walls and vesper chimes and storied ritual. 1 1 is that deeper, inner, intangible somethin« which perx ades a whole university and gives to an institution that is large and broadly impersonal, both by nature and by necessity, a soul. It has its beginning and its end in men — the men who once conceived the idea of a great school w here the youth from the whole country might come and partake of the wisdom of the ages, ancient and modern, and build up a race inbued with all the arts and all the philosophies and all the sciences that are the dear heritage of ci ' ilized man. It comes from those men who gave their minds, their en- ergies, their hearts to the long, hard task of making what was a dream of the unsettled eighties a reality and a splen- did growing thing, from those men who will, through the years, carry the work upward and onward beyond even the fondest imaginings of its founders, and, most of all, from the men who know it now as the place where the - are shaping their li es in an age of wonder. And Minnesota has such a spirit. It is the essence of our union. It is the cause and the justification of our pride in glorious achie ements and glorious men. Like a taint n kM . 41 ' . ■ V wKSps i L : ; •-, i?i« if - •V -- JF ,.- ' i - -J?- ■ ifv - i ' ' ' 4 ' - ' ' LKK ir.fP ' «, itr KJXji ' i f • ■ --: ■» ' ■ iS i Hp M HB v ' y B BPBBjI U «2jg l 1 1 . ■ 1 memmmm The natural l eautv of the knoll and Pillsburv monument in the fall Page 24

Page 32 text:

Cyrus B. Norlhrop Maria L. Sanford tht ' re was a love of learning there, and a sympathy and understanding among students and master that was ital, in ' aluable, and beautiful. Hundreds and hun- dreds of Nears have passed and the nations of the world ha e grown. All has changed and become as if niightiK- magnified. Aristotle would be amazed and overwhelmed with exultation to step from the dim ages of the past onto the campus of our modern uni- versit -. He would not deplore the absence of obscure paths and dim glades. His heart would feel joy at the almost unimaginable magnitude of our resources, at the thousands of young men and women who seek eagerly to take them for their own. Hducation has gone a long way since those early days in Greece. It has very nearly approached that ideal of combined ma- terial efficiency and aesthetic perfection that has been in the minds of men from the beginning. Spirit is a term that is used vaguely and with arying connotations. School spirit has gained a meaning through popular usage that is uniformly as- sociated with bonfires and pep-fests, with strident stadium ells at the athletic contest, and with loud and boastful support of one college uncontestably su- preme over all others. But that is a false and a narrow ai)i)licalion of ihi ' word. In the .S|iirit of Min- nesota it forms so small a part. Our spirit is something bigger, more subtle, more sub- jective, more precious. It is a half-realized consciousness of all our liner sensiljilities. When we speak of our spirit we imply a deep respect and lo ' e for otu ' uni ersity, and a sympathy with all the men whose blended personalities have gone into its creation. That is what we mean by Spirit. And its keynotes are Service and Democracy. What was in the minds and the hearts of the founders of Minnesota when they fought for grants and for financial support for the little preparatory college that sprang up in the river- town of St. Anthony while yet the prairies rang with the shout of the redman and the smoke from campfires curled abo e the groves that flanked the shores of the Missis- sippi? What inspired Dr. Folwell, dreaming along in his grim little class room in Old Main, to see in his mind ' s eye broad acres covered with palatial buildings and secret plans for a Greater L ' nix ersity. ' ' It was faith, su- preme faith- — and lo e. These are the in- gredients of service. Service is fundamental in the li es of American university men. Its connotations are broad and inclusive. It is one of those things which are of the blood. W ' hen the Great ar swept the earth with its terrible warning, threatening all ci ilization. Ameri- can uni ersity men were not slow to spring to the defense of all that is most precious in life; llie ' were eager to offer their lives — while }et all hope and all glory and all accomplish- ment lay ahead, phantom figures shining ob- scurely through the blue mists of the future — to save what had been garnered at the cost of such high human endeavor from the har- ' ests of the ages, to preserve what had been realized from the conceptions of ancient Greece and Rome. And Alinnesota did not Characters and personalities are as integral a part of the spirit of a place as are those more intangible associations. At Minnesota there have been and arc a few great personages who have served as inspirations to students and alumni. The memory of tlie.se people, their per- sonalities, are intimately attached to the University. They permeate through the spirit of the place and give it at- mosphere just as do those larger, more general phases. .Such persons as Maria .Sanford, William Watts Folwell, and Cyrus Northrop have given .Minnesota character, background, and distinction. Dr. ' illiam Watts Folwell, .Minnesota ' s grand old man ' Page 26