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

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I am not prepared to dispute the assertion that a vague something called luck sometimes plays a large part in the lives and the triumphs of men. Neither am I prepared to dispute the averment that some men are made by the opportunities which present themselves and of which they are keen enough to take advantage. But I do dispute the theory that men may idly await the smile of fortune to be be- stowed upon them, or that men may purposely loll in the shade of inactivity, expecting and hoping that some passi ng opportunity may arouse them from their lethargy. Luck does guide the footsteps of some men seemingly favored of fortune. Opportunities, often un- looked for, do cross the pathway of a few of the human species. But unless these men have worked and learned well the exacting lessons of existence, all of their chances are ephemeral, their lives and ex- amples are for naught and they will have lived in vain. Without such men, and the history of them, the world is better off. They constitute a drag and a brake upon human progress, and for the same length of time that they live and their examples continue the ultimate realization of the eternal and undying purpose of creation is thwarted and delayed. Work ! Honest endeavor is the only medium that has yet produced lasting results, and that has made worth while the life of any one of the beacon lights in the history of progress. Through what countless ages of travail, through what centuries of labor, through what untold aeons of development did this world pass before its answering blossoms greeted the sunbeams of the first morn ! And, after that, through what myriads of cycles ; through what inconceivable periods of ceaseless persistency, with a thousands years but as a day in the sight of the omnipotent Creator, did the com- pleted world advance before the first man stooped to lave his earth-soiled hands in the waters that gushed from the sides of his newly-hewn cave ! And then, the fleeting years that rolled into their round of unmarked centuries, through all of which the offspring of that first man struggled and bled and died in his attempts to overcome the almost super- human difficulties which he had faced, before the rush of a great whirlwind, terrorizing men into a trembling fear, heralded the coming of Prometheus with his stolen celestial fire to illumine civilization ' s birth. Then the onward march of civilization. Down through the centuries we have heard the groans and cries of the tortured ones. We have seen cities taken and retaken by hostile and warring bands. 21

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Address to Class 1911 By W. W. Parker, LL.D. HE problem that presents itself before the mind of the average young man starting out upon his life journey is often appalling, and always serious. Upon the young man himself devolves the solution of this problem, and whether or not he shall be correct only his whole career will demonstrate. It is not my intention to burden you with preachments nor to weary you with a rehearsal of platitudinous statements, yet I consider that the result of all the experience of which I have been the subject and of all the experience of which I have been the observer will well serve to enlighten, to strengthen and to support the courageous efforts of the young men who tonight find themselves face to face with the world, with the world ' s ambitions, the world ' s successes, and the world ' s disappointments. It has been said that the world owes every man a living, but he who seeks to receive a fair remunera- tion for his services must be a good and a persistent collector indeed. Do not misconstrue my meaning, I am not seeking to discourage any one of the members of this class. My sole purpose is to lay bare the truth as I have found it, so that a full and complete realization of it at the beginning of these men ' s life careers may so warn them, so prepare them, and so embolden them as that they will be able to look the whole world in the face without flinching. Deception is unfair, howsoever good the intentions of the deceiver may be. It is unfair to tell the weary, worn, and footsore traveler that the mirage of a great city, which he has seen seemingly but an hour ' s journey ahead, is in fact a great city where he may find his haven of rest. He may be buoyed tem- porarily by the prospect, but when the real truth dawns upon him his last state will be worse than his first. Worst of all is it eminently unfair and lastingly harmful for any man to deceive himself. Men should look conditions squarely in the face ; learn the real meaning of them ; seek to know their purpose and their results, and then, if baneful, strive and plan and struggle to circumvent them; and if good, to take advantage of them and ride the wave of opportunity to success. 20

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We have heard the clash of steel against steel, the martial beat of the drum, the resounding echo of the bugle. We have heard the lamentations and the agonizing wails of despair as Rachel has mourned for her children. We have seen nations rise upon the ruins of nations only to fall in turn and be supplanted by others. We have heard the booming of great cannon, and have seen many mighty ships, with a hundred jagged holes through their graceful sides, go hurtling down the fathoms to their graves amid the mud, furnishing the obliterated sepulchres of vast hosts of men launched, in a moment, into eternity ! And c ivilization was marching on ! We have walked the streets of that truly amazing city of Athens and have gazed in enraptured silence upon her marvelous treasures of art. We have ascended the steeps of the Acropolis, and there, with the beautiful city stretching at our feet, in the shade of the magnificent Parthenon, the golden words of Plato have been wafted to our ears, borne upon the wings, of a gentle summer zephyr. Under the azure sky we have wandered, and, treading the well-worn pathway of those who had gone before, we have entered the Lyceum where, with bated breath, lest our very inhalations might be discordant, we have listened with transcendent delight to the philosophy of Aristotle. Dreaming over thoughts too deep for our understanding, we have then pursued an involuntary and unnoticed way until the rythmic resonance of the waves breaking upon the shore has aroused us from our reveries and we perceived a solitary figure pacing back ond forth along the sands. Halting ere our shoes should press upon holy ground, we have stood in a transport of ecstacy with every nerve a-tingle and the hot blood growing hotter as our hearts urged it rushing through our veins, as we heard the me- lodious discourse of Demosthenes re-echoing above the roar of the sea, while all the gods of Elysium drew nigh to listen ! And civilization was marching on ! We have toiled over the stones of Rome. That eternal city within whose walls the peoples of the world have gathered and where the history of every kindred and of every clime might be read. We have passed over the lava pavements, beyond the fountain where gladiators were wont to bathe their blood-stained bodies, and have ascended to the heights of the Capitoline hill.