University of Virginia - Corks and Curls Yearbook (Charlottesville, VA)

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Corks anb Curls 19113113139 of engineering 621181135 HE mills 0f the gods grind slowlyi, and so does the Engineer. For the eternal question is ever to be answered; the question first asked by the Pharoahs; then 011 down through the ages, by Ptolemy, the Caesars, Stevenson,F1ankhna11d by the numerous scientists 0f todaygwhere is the ultimate end of civilization 1? In whose hands lies the answer to this question? Obviously and only in the hands of the makers of science. And today the whole world is an able witness of their endeavors. They have her girdled about with cables, and her entire nervous system is a network of wires. Her muscles are the giant indus- tries and her arteries the railroads. The traveler of today boards his train in New York and in a day has covered a distance that required the hardy toilers of yesterday half a cen- tury to accomplish. He meets no Indian nor bear, nor even a sense of desolation such as the first settler felt, when, with the light of hope in his eye and dreams of the great western Empire which lay before him, in his mind, he pushed onward t0 the unknown. But rather he crosses wonder- fully designed bridges, rushes through marvelously constructed tunnels, and is pulled by a mechanism that surpasses the conception of the ordinary man. Unlike Canute, we have harnessed the tides and thrown a halter upon the grandest works of Nature, that cities may be lighted and industries continued. And these men of Science, who are they ? The world of luxury knows them not, the world of sport is an unknown quantity to them. They are found where toil and sweat are factors of each other, where graft and p01- itics have no foothold. And this history has to deal with these men in their early state, when emerging from the realm of youth they cast their eye around and choose 24 Wnug.

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their profession. Then it is that their scientific instinct comes to the fore and points above to the temple of Fame. True it is that this temple stands very high above them and the road is beset with many a barrier. And on each side of the way, like fair sirens beckoning to destruction, are allurements and pitfalls covered with roses. Who but the first-year Engineer knows the agony of being seated at a drawing table in the tt Lab. l, on a sunny afternoon, while far in the distance is heard the rooting 0n the Athletic lield, and the Score is a tie in the ninth inning. Who is it that sings at the corner, goes to the tt show, ii pikes away his patrimony, and in fact does all the necessary requisites of the college youth ; certainly the Engineer was never: accused of all this. He grinds at night until the print runs together, but he eouldnit tell you the difference between Pitzeris p001 parlor and Irvingls livery stable. And all this that the future Laws and Meds. may ride home at Christmas and Finals in their private cars and airships. It was a small profession at one time, and the followers were few, but the ranks have grown steadily, until today we point with pride to ourselves and say, ttHere are the makers of destiny. We have survived the long journey with its many barriers, have overcome the mighty calculus, tamed the kinematics, and made the spirit of electricity to lie at our feet? And in the years to come the ranks will grow as they have grown in the past. The nations of the earth shall be linked together by a band of steel, the planets to each other, and the whole universe shall roll onward to eternity, pulled one way by the hand of Providence and the other by the Engineer. ' 25 corks anb Curls