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

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PROF. M. E. BOGARTE PROF. KATHRINE CARVER ' PROF. J. H. CLOUD

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advancement by farsightedness and independence. Moved by this same idea, Lowell said: Count me oier earth,s chosen heroesr-they were souls that stood alone, While the men they agonized for hurled the contu- melious stone, Stood serene, and down the future saw the golden beam incline T0 the side of perfect justice, mastered by their faith divine, By one Inan7s plain truth to manhood and t0 Godls supreme design. But as has always been the ease in evolution, we find in this matter of independence two opposing forces. One group of individuals uses its originality for im- provement and the other is merely a dragathe heaviest burden the truly great men have to bear. Someone has called the one a god and the other a beast. As I have suggested before, the beast is in- dependent without being great. To be truly great one must possess this faculty of independence, but at the same time must be able to sympathize with and assimilate the predominating authority. This is the god. He is broad enough to see the right as well as the wrong in everything and follows this right as far as will assist him. At the same time he insists on his own originality and supplements the deficiency in custom with this. The beast can not appreciate the tendencies of his time and stands obstinately alone - he is isolated, not truly independent. Tennyson eX- pressed his feeling concerning these men when he said, ttI envy not the beast that takes His license in the field of time. Unfettefd by the sense of crime, To whom a conscience never wakesW Here, then, lurks the danger of independence-the retarding force, the beast, lacks sympathy. But as it has before been true that these negative forces have been subordinate to the upward movement, Why should we lack faith and fear now that the beast can triumph over the god? No, this is no reason for sup- pressing what spontaneity we possess. Nor should one become discouraged if at iirst he is taunted or abused on account of his seemingly radical ideas. Everyone lives in a universe of his own and perhaps your world is so far ahead of your aeouserys that he is not able to recognize the good in it. All great men dwell in a universe so much in ad- vance of their age that sometimes it takes posterity centuries before it can sympathize with their lofty thinking. These are the men who are first to plunge into an unknown chaos and snatch us from the claws of custom. They are the motive power of evolution. Because they have broken their fetters and become a mark for the society which has not yet succeeded in reducing them to commonplace, why should they be termed ttwild,l or tterratie any more than one should complain of the Niagara river for not flowing evenly down its course like a sluggish Dutch canal. It is not that they are eccentric but that we are weak. The ordinary man lays his original idea aside because it sprang from his genius and is, perhaps, contrary to custom. We should not be satisned to entrust this great divine gift of independence into the hands of a few, who through its power become heroes. It is ours7 and we should employ it. Progress and the attain- ment of perfection will never be realized through the ideas of others but in the independent development of ourselves. ttNot in their houses stand the stars But oler the pinnacles of thine W

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CLASS HISTORY Myra E. J ones NE definition of history is that it is a record of events, and as that is usually dry and dusty, I promise no deviation from the ordinary so I advise you all to provide yourselves with whisk brooms that you may prepare to enjoy the program following. Again history is either sacred or profane, since this is not sacred you may use your own judg- ment, and describe it as you will. It Surely is not hard to select a number of his- torians in a Class like this, after our iinstruetion in English history, and doubtless from our prophet you will learn of many wonderful historians now in the embroyonie stage of development. In after years when the inevitable and baffling examination ques- tion: name three great historians and one of the principal works of each, is presented, the name of your humble servant and the Chronicle of the Class of 1910 will come to your mind and head the list. Of course I could easily write out the history and read the pedigree of some, but to attempt the life history of all the members of the class would be impossible, so I will endeavor only to give the hap- penings of the greatest importance concerning the class as a whole. In history little opportunity is offered for wittieisms, so anything of that nature which came to my mind I immediately passed over to the poetess and prophet. This explanation will ae- eount for the extraordinary brillianey of their pro- duetions. Ten, twenty and thirty years ago there appeared throughout the common schools of the United States and other parts of the world, one hundred and thir- teen exceptionally bright children. These young;r people overcoming many diflieulties on September 20, 1909, assembled at Valparaiso University with the determination to' secure a diploma or two, a MB. SW degree and whatever else they could, un- known to the public. There were sixteen more who lacked the necessary amount of determination and fell by the wayside. In the beginning siX were married, and it is told by good authority that eight more are contemplating the entering of bondage; and the honeymoon trips will be homeward to ask forgiveness and a little change. A number of us were here together last year, but then, adoring the Senior Scientifies, had little time to think of each other. During the administraa tion of Griffith and Brauehla all became acquainted and a feeling of eomradship was established which has lasted all year. During the presidency of Shafer a number of most interestiing meetings were held. Then we had opportunity for practising Parliamentary Law. Many a Scientific who was too busy to attend class, owes his grade of eighty or eighty-two, in Parliamentary Law, to the knowledge he absorbed from the class meetings. It was here we learned more than in the regular oration sections, who were the real orators of our class; and we have some, noted throughout the school, who are said to possess Cieeronian pro- elivities. Here were revealed plots, eounter-plots and conspiracies Vieing with those of Catiline, the details of which even in my official capacity I was unable to learn. During this term, after much debat- ing, the famous by-laws were passed, that they might be set aside in case they should ever need to be used. After six months of cold weather it seemed a shame to think of enduring winter all summer, but the rule of winter lasted until the weather was such that even the suggestion of winter was a relief. The baseball season was opened May ninth with a class rush, the Seientifies and Engineers versus the Lawyers and Pharmies. The Lawyers were in com- Inand of the back stop at University Park and some had spent the night there. The momentum is equal to the mass times the velocity, and when the mass is seventy-flve Seientifres plus thirty Engineers, with a velocity too great to be registered, the Lawyers, with even their slight knowledge of science and mathe- matics, figured out the momentum to be unlimited or irresistible, and as they were not the much talked of Himmovable body77 were forced from their strong- hold, and the ruin of the back-stop was in control of the Seientiiics. The ball team through the season has had the support of the class especially the girls, who at next to the last game very nearly started a class rush, which would have ended, of course, with honor to the Seientifies, as did the game that day and so many other days. Owing to the contesting of some of the games by the Engineers ; they won more points dur- ing the season than any other team. Now the pen- nant, which belonged to the Scientific Class last sea- son and in reality does this year, instead of decorat- ing the headquarters of the Engineers, wherever that is, is not to be seen there; for the much talked of pennant exists only in theory; practically it is nihil. The first entertainment of the year was a social, the last Tuesday of the term. It was presided over bythe God of merriment. This was equaled only by the social of the second term held in Eloeution Hall. One of the numbers on the program worthy of men- tion was the Priscilla and J ohn Alden stunt executed by two of our worthy faculty. The social event of the third term was a banquet at Altruria. Here our professor in English attributed any faults and deficiencies of the members of the faculty to the fact that they had no literary training with him. We may do better. Surely one thing learned in Litera- ture class, besides courtesy, cannot be forgotten nor