University of Maryland Baltimore Dental School - Mirror Yearbook (Baltimore, MD)

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Alas for the illustrious looking man. He does not see himself but from his own point of view. He feels the great importance of his opportunities as they unfold smilingly upon the possibilities of his life even as the morning-glory opens when warmed by the soft morn- ing sun. As time advances his outlook is widened, as though of a sudden he had been uplifted to stand on a higher plane. Now that the new prospect no longer awes him he has clearer conceptions of the future and is learning to compare values and stand by his conclusions so that his life as an industrial student has fairly begun. He now succumbs to the inevitable, for after he has attended a few lectures and heard dis- cussed such theories as Darwin ' s missing link, how the ancestor of man is supposed to have once roamed upon the earth in the form of a wild and ferocious animal, or in the being of some biped or quadruped that predominated intellectually above his fellow crea- tures, whereby his power of mind attained such habits that he no longer could sustain life in the dismal jungle, he battled his way out. making his abode e lse- where that he might develop by the power of evolu- tion unto a higher and nobler animal, the human form divine. After he has heard a few such startling dis- courses as these, he feels that he truly has entered upon a new field of education. He has also been instructed in the mechanism of digestion, how his boarding-house hash by the act of prehension, mastication, insalivation, deglutition and abnormal digestion was by the prolonged action of the digestive ferments assimilated and carried to the va- rious parts of the body to nourish its delicate organs and give them strength and nerve force to be spent only in such achievements as will compel him to toil unre- mittingly and burn the midnight oil. He has listened to the important and latest results of scientific pro- gress as compared with the past and has heard how the ancient alchemists spent their lives in search of the philosopher ' s stone that was supposed to have the power to transform an ocean of mercury into gold ; of how the old time physician instead of trying to solve the hidden mysteries of disease that had been dormant for ages, expended his energies in trying to discover the Elixir of Life, a renowed remedy which when found was supposed to convert the aged with gray hair and bowed head into a bright and sparkling youth. And again he hears poured forth in rhythmical elo- quence theories and rumors of theories until he is a product of imagination, also the modification in sur- gical methods the greatly improved results which are the outgrowth of modern scientific study, and how the average student in order to be able to take advantage of these high and elevated accomplishments must pon- der over his studies at least nineteen hours daily ad libitum. He has been instructed in immunity, classi- fication and temperament of teeth, the exciting and predisposing causes of caries, the precaution the love- making student should undergo when he is about to make his midnight departure and indulges in the sim- plicity of bliss, for it is then that the razor-backs from

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History of Class of 1903. EVERYTHING temporal has a beginning and like- wise a history. The first of October, back in the apparent dark ages of 1900, when the air wa s heavy with the fragrant odor of autumn leaves that had already turned from their infant green to a golden hue and the low stern threatening winds with their semi-softness were sing- ing their last lullaby to the purple violets that had long- since bowed their heads in silent prayer, found us in a new land full of pride and ambition, building great castles in the air that reached heavenward and dipped their tops in the blue of eternity, with firm resolutions sweeping through our minds like swift-winged night birds. Under such conditions we, a most powerful and all-wise assemblage of dentists so conceived, are gathered about the Baltimore College of Dental Sur- gery. Previous to our first lecture as we are clustered to- gether with minds thirsty for knowledge, we see in the midst of our illustrious band faces familiar to nearly all parts of the habitable globe. At times we are overwhelmed with joy, at other instances beset with a vague fear of the ordeals that are silentlv awaiting us. Then comes an inward and sinking doubt as to our ability to travel along with the cunning and clev- erness of him whom we regard as an intellectual giant that is likely to come forth with the power of a Web- ster or the genius of an Edison. We mount the old stairs that lead to fame in the footsteps of thousands that have gone before us. We march silently onward until we are seated in the rear of the hall. Then amid cheers and shouts our noble, stately white-haired pro- fessor enters wearing a dignity of carriage and a smile as bland as though the years had all been playthings. We gaze about us. The conception of our surround- ings is very gratifying and we look forward with rap- turous pleasure. The thought of mingling henceforth with so jolly and congenial a class of fellows is indeed a source of great pleasure. And in looking backward over the career of the class the Historian is impressed with the fact that the past events during our course here at College have been pleasant and interesting to place in the pages of memory. May they so live that in years to come we may look back with a delightful thought that our time was spent profitably, not alto- gether by the knowledge gained but in making many friends that will remain stable through life. In speaking more definitely of the general phe- nomena which characterize the student in tlie early part of his Freshman year it is indeed very humiliating.

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his Fairy Queen have a reunion with the willing work- ers from the approaching yawning chasm and make their habitation in the crevices and faulty formation of the organs of mastication, thereby increasing in population to such an extent that the Historian hesi- tates to relate the quantity lest the readers of this article should think him digressing from the path of truthfulness. After attaching a deep and literal significance to all matters pertaining to his advancement he wonders how one finite mind could hope to grasp all the knowledge suggested by such great and appalling names. He can now plainly see that what he does not know would contribute enormously to the literary world and that which he now hopes to know would fill two public libraries. After many months of diligent and studious work, laboring faithfully that we might reap our just re- wards, delighted April comes to relieve the monotony that had shrouded itself about us. ( )ne evening as the sun sank to rest in a flood of golden splendor found us once more free from study and care. We returned homeward with hearts full of joy and heads laden with knowledge to breathe again the sweet pure air of freedom. x s a Junior there is a marked difference in the stu- dent ' s earnestness and appearance from the year pre- vious. As time advances he lays aside his early piety and forgets his solemn obligations. He has discov- ered the relative merits in the choice brand of the long Havana filler, has at least a suspicion if not knowing the stern reality of the joys and pleasures of the flow- ing bowl. He has also learned that there is nothing under the bright blue sky more fascinating and amus- ing than to sit in the peanut gallery with mouth wide open and gaze down upon the beautiful fairies as they appear before him with the neatness and smoothness of a harvest butterfly until his mind is carried away in a train of thought and he imagines he is floating in a zephyrous and balmy atmosphere where every impulse is like a celesital respiration from the air of Paradise. In this state of mild lunacy he now muses. Suddenly he is awakened to the folly of his procedure and thoughtfully looks toward the far-off end which has already begun. Tossed as he may be by the toils of the past and bewildered with the vexations of the pres- ent he consoles himself with the thought that he has yet time to build up the future, and he fancies at least that he will build it boldly, saddened though it may be by the chance sorrows which he may encounter, but be looks forward with rapturous pleasure to the time when his Junior days will end gloriously crowned with crimson and gold. As age and experience mellow life into ripeness so the worthy Seniors of 1903, with their zeal and energy stand ready once more to enter into the intellectual ring and battle for supremacy. The start and change and fickle ambition of former days seem to have gone by. A calm and joyful quietude has succeeded. The future, which still lies before us, steep and rugged as