University of Pittsburgh - Owl Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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cribbing would be unheard of; it might say that Students would show a proper regard for property and not cut their initials on the arms of chairs, that they would show a proper consideration for others and walk and talk quietly in the halls; it might even designate Students as “searchers after truth, who, above all things, desired — vaguely, yes, but beautifully and earnestly—desired to learn and propagate the best that is in everything. Perhaps a paper on Pitt spirit ought to say these things and much more, for all this is talk and leads nowhere. But, as has been intimated before, there is a certain vagueness in the quality as it manifests itself at the University which dc' fies exactness of definition. Besides, most people, even if they cannot phrase the thing for themselves, recognize the quality when it does exist, and in this case, when it does not exist to any great extent, most Students arc conscious of its lack of presence. Very often people are heard to say that here at Pitt there can be no real school spirit because there is no real canv pus life, that the buildings are too scattered, but that when the Cathedral of Learning is built and there is a campus minus Steps and hills, with dormitories on it, then a mysterious something or other shall emerge from somewhere or other and enfold us all; and where before there was no school spirit at all, there suddenly shall be school spirit, and everybody will be most happy forever after. This, of course, is a matter of con' jeCture and remains to be seen. But do these people mean that the Cathedral of Learning—in the baldest terms, a mere Structure of stone and mortar—shall have the power to make Students yell more lustily at football games, and that this sudden and concrete development of the spirit shall Stop the increasing dis-satisfaction Students are experiencing with the rather artificial school life? And do they mean that this building shall develop in people qualities that never existed before, make poets from clods, and high priests from ordinary laymen? The building itself, of course, means much, but it is rather the people who will give life to the Stones—for all that the Stones shall be very beau-tiful to begin with—who will create whatever spirit there is in them to create, nothing more, nothing less. And there is at this University now a rare opportunity to create the inclusive spirit it now lacks, and opportunity to do things. “It is not our fear that we may do something wrong, but that we may do nothing —a wise motto, but the fear of doing something wrong, it seems, remains a fear, and nothing is done. Students are in an attitude of “watchful waiting —waiting for something to happen, something that is sure to happen, if they wait long enough and watch hard enough. And all the waiting these days seems to center about the new building they shall one day have, which shall suddenly revolutionize learning, and viewpoints, and many other things. In the meantime, the opportunity slips by. It is indeed a fine spirit that would conceive and build a Cathedral of Learning, but it isamuch finer spirit that would be worthy of animating the mere pile of Stone and mortar into the living symbol of the spirit which in turn created it. I 27 I

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QCHOOL spirit, or Pitt spirit, is a rather dubious thing to write about if only for the reason that here at Pitt the quality is a rather dubious thing itself. The subject, too, is worn thin; it has been much mulled over and talked about; it has been alternately praised for its presence at the la St football game or decried for its absence, till Students are likely to resent even the mention of the phrase “school spirit and to be utterly unaware of its broad and general relationship to the University as a whole. As a matter of fact, a “spirit of any sort is an ambiguous and elusive thing, and even such a seemingly unghoStlike” one as a school spirit is no exception. Pitt spirit, whatever it is, cum be hedged in by no definitions. The only definite statement that can be made about it is that it either exists or it doesn't. And as far as most Students are concerned, it doesn't, and for them the matter ends there. Perhaps this isn't fair. People are aware that a sort of Pitt spirit, mild and somewhat weary, does exist. One goes to a pep” meeting, is exhorted at, accepts all exhortations meekly, resolves to show some spirit, yells, a bit sheepishly, and leaves the meeting wondering what it was all about, yet feeling virtuous and self-righteous beciuse one's duty has been done. Or, perhaps one Struggles out of a football game, battered and hoarse, but proud to be battered and more than proud to be hoarse, for these conditions are the outward and concrete signs of the elusive spirit. Inwardly, if the proper side has come out victorious, there is a glow, a desire to slap the no less battered shoulder of one's neighbor, and to exchange colorful, if somewhat hoarse, greetings. In fact, it is a fine thing to do one’s duty, since after all one is more comfortable for having done it; and it is a most interesting thing to be hoarse, but being hoarse for the glory of the football team is not only interesting but also noble. Thus, in a small way, one cm assume an heroic attitude and say, “I did my bit to win the game,” and feel entirely happy. These remarks are not intended to disparage football games, or the feeling that pervades during them. No amount of talking or writing about school spirit will make people who attend the games stop their shouting. They enjoy shouting too much. But too often, Pitt spirit is measured by the amount of noise a body of Students can make at a given athletic event. If the noise is a big one, the school has a satisfactory spirit; if the noise is but a mere echo, then the school spirit, in the words of the public, “leaves much to be desired. All this is true enough, but it is only part of the whole truth. Real Pitt spirit ought to be inclusive. And right here, the proper question is “What ought it to include?” This is not so easy to answer; at least after the Statement made above that a spirit of any sort is an elusive thing, one would be wiser, perhaps, not to attempt an answer. A constructive bit of criticism on Pitt spirit might, among other things, say that, with a good school spirit, such a thing as [26!

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SCHENLEY PARK WE stood on the bridge and looked across to the hundreds of lights floating in the air. Their standards merged into the night, invisible, and the lamps were stately ivory moons, slowly passing and repassing black trees that thrust slim tenta' cles into the fog of light. Before us, out of the formless mass of a house, a white light swayed over the pitch below. NIGHT IN one long line of flame the sun goes plunging down, and a sombre twilight floats earthward. The darkening sky oblitep ates the trees, a few moments before Streaked with gold, and makes them silhouettes, etched clear and Strong, their bars of gray to be erased by the coming of night.Caught in the branches of the trees, the wind whispers broken cadences, and a leaf falls slowly, then swoops down with a soft rustle. [ 28 }