Valparaiso University - Beacon / Record Yearbook (Valparaiso, IN)

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THE FACULTY PROF. J. F. ROESSLER PROF. A. A. WILLIAMS PROF. L. F. BENNETT RRQE M.- L- WEEMS

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PRESIDENTS ADDRESS Arthur W. Duston ELLOVV Classmates, Ladies and Gentlemenel face the performance of this honored duty with considerable fear and apprehension, realizing as I do, an incapacity to discharge worthily the responsibility before me. Would that my talents were adequate to this occasion. However, I willingly proffer them to you, and though the real essence of the program is to follow later, I trust that we may with pleasure briefly note some of the things which immediately concern us as members of this Scientific Class. To the heart which is awake to the spirit of this occasion springs a feeling mingled with joy and s0rr0w,-joy in the anticipation of success that we will achieve in'the application of truths we have learned, sorrow in the thoughts of separation. In many respects it seems to me, this is a wonderful class. With our one hundred eleven members, a number unsurpassed by any class within the history of the University, representing twenty-seven great states and three foreign lands, we can, I think, with- out overstepping the bounds of modesty7 at least feel a sense of class pride. During the brief period in which our associa- tions have been in common, our fellowship has been a source of much strength and culture. Our past dif- ferences we can now enjoy. We can appreciate them as being helpful and inspiring, stimulating to action our otherwise dormant faculties. This occasion naturally turns our minds back to the field of the Scientiiic Course which we are just completing, and with but a transient glance th ere appears to the mind of the observer a world of wonder and admiration; wonder in the vastness of the field of science and, knowledge and admiration for those who so willingly sacrifice social pleasures that they may bear new truths into the world of civilization. Reverently do we feel toward those who have so carefully worked out these laws and their universal application. We are living in the age of a great revolution. No longer are we to be governed by tradition and superstition, by ideas inherited from minds long deniiss. Fact and fallacy, except perhaps in thier superficial aspect, are being Viewed with a greater and greater degree of divergency. Men have hoped for years that conditions might eventually be thus. Steadily and irresistibly modern science has been en- larging its domain, like a masterful conqueror des- tined to bring under its sway the whole world of truth. Wherever science has placed its flag super- stitiion, falsehood and ignorance have tied. And we as lovers of truth are grateful for every bit of terri- tory which it has wrested from them. It has brought to mankind vastcr and nobler conceptions of the world and the universe, a new power oven nature, new weapons against disease, a new understanding of the distant past and a new unity among men. In another and not less glorious way it has exercised a profound influence for good. It has taught the golden value of truth, modesty and candor. It has promoted a greater respect for morality by teaching people to think in a straight line, to recognize a real cause for all phenomena and to obey naturels laws or suffer punishment. The supreme importance of science to civilization can be full appreciated only by those who have given their entire service for the pro- motion of- its cause. As zealous students we have also found much pleasure in the richness of literature. It has broad- ened our intellect by acquainting us with the manners and customs which disclose industrial characteristics of a people. Many of us have learned to find unfad- ing joy and lasting friendship with some great author who has voiced emotions in harmony with ours. Literature in all its glory cheers and sustains. inspires and uplifts and lights the path for all of us. In our research through the lore which we have in- herited from the minds of the past. our ambitions have been one. And whatever course we choose as a sourse of our livelihood when we leave this institu- tion. we realize that we must ever direct our ambi- tions toward that ideal of which the memory of our maker is a lasting symb01,ethe ideal of truth. Our days in Valparaiso University are now almost goneedays which once seemed would carry away all our troubles and leave us free and inde- pendent. Yet when we can no longer know their pleasures, no longer share their abounding treasures, but are launched into the sea of strife and struggle our spirits will cleave to remain with them. As we leave 0111 Alma Mater we go freighted with happy memories of student days and with the kindest re- gards to Professor Kinsey and all our instruetons who have with such earnestness endeavored to inetil within us a fervent passion for all things pure and true.

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CLASS ORATION Robert H . Bogarte VOLUTION. is the mightiest and loftiest process E known to mankind. It not only affects the entire vegetable kingdom but sways power- fully all animal life from the simple protozoa to that complex and noble creatureeinan; We have good reason to believe that every variety of life originally sprang from the lowest form of protoplasm and passed very, very slowly through higher states until it iinally arrived at a certain temporary destination. This change from one condition to another has been, as far as we can see, ultimately for the better. Necessarily there have been forces acting on and delaying this upward procession, but happily they have been minor forees and only retarded advance- ment rather than caused retrogression. What then could be nobler or more niajestie than this constant progression of all life toward perfection? Man is the highest being this process has as yet produced, so it now rests with him to make an ap- proach nearer the ideal. Anda indeed, there lives no real man but that desires to benefit the environment in which he exists. In contemplating this undertak- ing he is immediately confronted with the question, how shall I set about this task? what can I do that will yield the greatest returns? To me the answer is inevitable; he can do nothing more sublime than in tentionally to aid this process of evolution. With this in View it will be necessary to know how a mere individual can assist in that great movement. Per- haps the only clue can be found by going back and examining the history of evolution. From what sources and how has it received its impetus through former ages? Take for example the fish: long ages ago it was the highest form of life. By some accident or infin- eneed by some supreme power. have it as you will. a small group of these animals were separated from the rest of their kind and placed in a new environ- ment. Here the conditions necessary for life were greatly different from those to which they were ae- eustomed, so different in fact. that many could not survive them and died. Some few. however7 slowly adapted themselves to the new surroundings and in doing so beearne slightly changed in form. Through ages and ages they gradually grew more habituated to the various influences until at last they developed into an entirely different animal. Thus by the power of those few who separated from the rest of their class and stood alone, life was advanced one step nearer perfection. This is the clue for which we have been searching. Man can perform his greatest function by standing aloof from the masses, that is, by Independence. Heretofore the most remarkable change has been, probably, the physical. XVe ean not intention- ally change our physical being but it is possible to better our social, moral and aesthetic natures. This is undoubtedly best accomplished by independence. Every man and woman is endowed with some origi- nal genius and it is in the cultivation of this that our h ope lies. Unfortunately, however, it seems to be the tendaney of the individual to suppress this godlike instinet and'rather force himself to follow the deep eut gorge of precedent than stand on a loftier spot and believe things as he sees them. If this tendaney predominates, the progress we have already made will not only cease but we shall recede again to a lower. stage. If, on the other hand, we can produce men strong enough to have. faith in their own: thoughts then, in accordance with the rigid laws of evolution, we must develop into a higher state. In choosing a station in life men too often fail to ask themselves, what would suit my character and disposition? or, what would allow the best and high- est in me to have free play and- enable it to thriveh Instead they feebly ask, what is suitable to my posi- tion? what is usually done by persons of my station? Too often they subjugate themselves to custom rather than encourage any inclination except for what is customary. The trouble is men think their social and other conditions are good enough for them because they were good enough for their fathers be- fore them. It is no detriment that they should travel the conventional highway; indeed, precedent ought to be followed to a certain extent, otherwise self-re- liant men with their advances would be of no use e:- eept to themselves. The harm lies in the fact that they accept conditions as they are, unqualified, with- out scrutinizing them and applying them to their own well being. If one of these meek advocates of custom, who believes it turbulent and riotous to be independent and oppose the common trend of things. would take the trouble. to examine the source of the very customs he follows he would find that they sprang from the soul of one or two men, who stood alone and were even persecuted for their independ- ence whieh afterwards proved so blessed. Emerson and Carlyle both insist that every institution is the shadow of some great man. A single man with a great. strong individuality has power enough to speak his beliefs, and others, hearing the same senti- ments voieed that they themselves possessed but weakly crushed, soon take courage and follow tliis hero. The greatest institution we have. Christianity. has more constituents than any other body, still it is a stream whose source and impetus came from one lonely man. And so throughout we find society divided into a comparatively few sects each one real- ly glorifying a single self-reliant individual. How true it is, then, that Hall history is the biography of a few great men?H men who have engendered our