Washington and Lee University - Calyx Yearbook (Lexington, VA)

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from the generous hand of Washington, it has come through a succession of benefactions to occupy a position of eminence pecuharly the outgrowth of its own vigor. Receiving its first impetus from the able administration of the erudite Graham, learned preacher, able teacher, and skilled politician, it passed through a succession of vigorous hands until its destiny was laid at the feet of the immortal Lee. With infinite love and a courage born of strife, he lifted up the weakened form, gave it all the vitality of his wonderful strength, infused life into its depleted ranks and gave it the benediction of his name. And in after years there came other noble and generous-hearted men to lend it the power of their influence and to add fresh laurels to its fame. What is it that these great-minded men, her loyal, true-hearted Alumni and her faithful friends, have handed down to the Washington and Lee of today? Some one has asked, What is the Washington and Lee spirit? As clearly as though written on the pages of Time, it stands out in the lives of these men — the spirit of independence and self-reliance. The tradition lives at Washington and Lee that a man shall pass for a man, and anything less than man shall be made to feel the lonesomeness of his position. Regardless of his family connection, his fraternity, his society, or his belief, he must stand solely on his own merits. The student body of Washington and Lee, trained in the customs of a century, has no pets. It gives homage and honor solely where homage and honor are due, but it elevates no man at the expense of another. The strongest backing can not obtain for any one what he does not in some way deserve. Here as nowhere a spirit of democracy pervades the whole collegiate atmosphere. The snob has no place in the midst of such broad-minded and liberal practices. And a man, once established as such, thinks and does as he pleases at Washington and Lee. Every one is assumed to be a gentleman of honor until he proves himself otherwise. He thinks and believes as he pleases and there is no one to ram the shorter catechism down his throat or compel his attendance upon daily chapel. He acts as he pleases, and so long as he keeps within the bounds of decency there is no one to say, thou shalt, or thou shalt not. It is this spirit of trust and independence of action that has made possible the rigid adherence to and application of the Honor System so long in use here. Moreover, no man is allured to Washington and Lee. The University m FB

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Mountains with George Rogers Clark; Alexander Stuart, distinguished as lawyer and jurist, and many others who shone in private life, as soldiers, at the bar, in the senate, in the pulpit, as public leaders, and in the courts of Europe have left for future generations a rare inheritance of energy, vitality W and independence of thought and action. The first classical school west of the Blue Ridge was founded in I 749 in the heart of the Scotch-Irish settlements. That school was the origin of the noble institution which has come to be known as Washington and Lee Uni- versity, whose massive buildings cast their shadow across the continent and whose influence is as broad as the continent is wide. Receiving its first dowry £ii y :t

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it! itself stands upon its own merits. Men go to Yale, to Pennsylvania, to Vir- -x ji - y v -ik ginia, of course. No one enters Washington and Lee as a matter of course. ' vSv I Nvv x vt ' In some mdefinable way, for the University never advertises its offerings, her ' — ' •v% s wzs m i A students have made their selection, and rarely is the decision made for them; Washington and Lee does not want, does not seek, men who do not want her. Drawn, perhaps, by the ineffable charm of the name, attracted, perhaps, by the glorious record of the past, they come, but always of their own free will. Mr. John L. Campbell, than whom Washington and Lee has no truer friend. 1 ffimi»lii»fi m sag ' M %wmW£ M d m 1 1