University of Vermont - Ariel Yearbook (Burlington, VT)

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8 THE ARIEL, 1908 will ever have any of the traditions and the atmosphere which are the choicest heritage of every great institution of learning: traditions and atmosphere may not find a congenial home in surroundings that are so splendid, and under con- ditions where life runs on so easily. So far as we definitely know, there is only one process by which an institution can become spiritually great, and that process involves sacrifice, trial, devotion, poverty and a bitter struggle before ultimate triumphs. As I see it, a college endowed with unlimited millions, which has no such traditions and memories, no truly great names and really great lives, is poor indeed. I do not claim that the institution which came into being yesterday, full-armed like Minerva, will never develop this atmosphere, but that it will is doubtful and contrary to the majority of human experience. By these standards the University of Vermont is rich. The physical body of the college is beautiful, but the soul of the institution is more beautiful, it dwells in the men and women who have passed through its class-rooms, who cherish its traditions, who revere its great names and reverently cherish its fine examples of self-sacrifice, unsellish devotion and courage. Here is its wealth. Here is its promise for the future. Here it has a grip on the hearts of men. This is the University. Cherishing these traditions and husbanding this wealth, we shall deserve and ultimately get endowments of the ordinary and necessary sort. The traditions of our New England colleges are the finest possession of this country. That is a bit of dogmatism which no great number of men may agree with. The man most likely to appreciate its truth is the one whose work in life takes him into the thick of a iight which is far removed from the spirit of those traditions and hostile to their tendencies. By traditions I do not mean reputation. The two are not the same. The world generally may think it knows the traditions of an institution merely because it has some knowledge of the distinguished men whom it has trained. Examples of its product are pointed out-the jurist, the man of letters, the man of science- but that by itself does not constitute an atmosphere nor create traditions. The alumnus of the institution sees a different picture and is appealed to by quite different influences. The distinguished statesman, the jurist, the preacher, the doctor, may to him or her mean little. They are sources of some pride, they are evidences of sound training, but they do not touch the heart and make no claim on affection. Traditions and memories that create atmosphere go back to the class-room. The impression that endures came from contact with a personality.

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THE ARIEL, 1908 7 Efubn fiillstnnrtb Guuhrinb BY lD.XRWIN P. TQINGSLEY HAT is the University of Vermont? A corporation? An institu- tion chartered by the State, owning' certain lands, buildings and equipment? A home of sound learning? A college with a numer- ous body of undergraduates, and a representative and honorable body of men and women who have completed its courses? Yes, the University all that. But no one query, nor all put together, however completely they seem to cover the question, really tells what the Uni- versity is. It is supposed in these modern days that the future of a university or cola lege: the question of whether it is to be a source of light and leading-depends almost altogether on the number of its buildings and the extent of its endow ments. Wfe have seen universities, so-called, spring up in a night. Some of us who are familiar with the poverty of our own Alma Mater, who know in part the history of its heroic struggles through a hundred years, are at times disposed to forget the richness of our own heritage and to envy those institutions which have been blest by the modern way of doing things. Swept off our feet by the rush of modern life, we sometimes admit that in this day and age the millions should come first, and the university or college will then follow as a necessary consequence. Still, to the great body of educated men, and especially to those whose date of graduation goes back twenty years or more, Alma Mater is some- thing which has as little relation to equipment and endowment as love of country has to national wealth. The Scotchman loves Scotland, but certainly not because of its natural wealth. He loves his native country because of its poverty, because of its traditions, because of the bitter struggle which has developed the iron in the Scotch blood and the fiber in the Scotch brain. Indeed, it has not been demonstrated yet that the most splendidly equipped university, created yesterday,

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THE ARIEL, 1908 9 The influence that abides was derived from some wise, gentle and strong soul with whom the boy or girl came in contact day by day for a period of years. Here occurs a really creative process. The boy discovers himself. Unsuspected powers develop. New ambitions awake. The outlook on life changes. Life itself changes. Happy those seats of learning whose history shows the presence of one or more' such personalities! Doubly happy those institutions where such men have made their appeal year after year, reaching from class to class, even from generation to generation! Wfhere this condition exists we have a spiritual relation best described by that sublime sentence in the opening words of the Book of Genesis: And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. The University of Vermont is what it is largely because of a succession of such personalities in its history. JOHN ELLswoR'rI-1 GOODRICH, to whom this issue of The Ariel is dedicated, is one of these rare men: one of that small, possibly diminishing group, who have created colleges without money. .l-le began to teach in 1853, and has studied the unfolding mind and soul almost without interruption ever since. ln the University his work has covered an unbroken period of thirty-five years. He has, in some fashion, impressed himself upon every class which has graduated within two generations. This is the great fact that makes him a personality. This is the fact that overshadows his attainments as a vvriterff clergyman, public speaker and citizen. Indeed, all other facts in his life have their full meaning fProfessor Goodrich has Written some good verse which has never been published. He contributed to the History-of Chittenden County 4188355 to the New England States f18975g to the ninth and tenth editions of the 'Enoyclopaeclia Brittanicaug to t'The Vermonter and 'fVe1-mont Reviewi' articles on the University and Vermont Immi- gration. He edited the Revolutionary Rolls of Vermont for the State, and compiled or edited the General Catalogues of 1870, 1890 and 1900. He delivered an address on' Ira Allen, t'Founder of the University of Vermont, in 1892, which will always be a part of the literature of the college, and the following year he established Founder's Day. He enlisted in the Union Army in 1864, and is amember of the Loyal Legion. He was ordained a Congregational clergyman in 1864, and the University conferred the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1897. In 1905 he edited the very creditable volume containing a report of the proceedings and the addresses delivered during the One Hundredth Commencement of the University 619045.