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

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courtesy. 1 Ic li.i!- llic liiicsl touiai c. 1 Ic is sleadtast in his i oin k tions. 1 Ic is generous lo a fault. I Ixliexe that he would give away his last dollar to hel[) a friend in need. He IS one of the lew men I have known ho has seemed to me lo lulK ' understand the real meaning of the word s irnpalhp. Professor Staples is a self-made man. I hat lac t should lie ,i stimulus to the young man who is fighting along hard lines. He has known what it is lo struggle against adversity. Born and bred of the best of a gracious and unique civilization, his young manhood was spent in the grinding days of reconstruction. Like many another youth in those stinting times, he faced a situation that demanded courage and energy and patience and purpose and steadfastness. His metal stood the test. He was never physically robust. His spirit had to battle with the infirmity of the flesh. et. in the face of all odds, neglecting no duly to family or friends, he struggled through his college course with high credit and began his fine career of service at the bar. i hose who have come into intimate touch with Professor Staples will be C]uick lo discover his interest in public affairs. He has been a life-long student of social, economic and political problems. Early in his career he was sent to the Virginia State Senate where he served with conspicuous ability. He has since that time been in intimate touch with many of the men who have fashioned the recent history of the commonwealth. His ad ice has been widely sought and greatly alued by them. As a student of the law. as an advocate at the bar. and as a teacher of the law, Professor Staples is doubtless best known to the general public. For many years he has been regarded as one of the most learned and able lawyers of Virginia. He has been, from the beginning, an untiring student of the law. He has the legal mind and the legal temperament. As an advocate at the bar. he was reckoned as a master of the Socratic art. I ha e frequently heard that he had lew equals in examining witnesses. As a teacher of the law. he is painstaking, exact, conscientious and thorough. I he students rally about him. I hey are with him m the class-room, on the campus, and in his home. I hey love him. I hey trust him. 1 hey seek his advice on any and on every conceivable subject, all the way from the complex problem of matrimony to the simple matter of suggesting the most available remedy for a bad cold. I know of no man who com- bines in a finer way the charm and grace of the old linic and the freedom and direct- ness of the new. This combination of tjualities m a teacher means, of course, that he is gifted with the genius of getting close to young men. It is a fact that service to young men is. with Professor Staples, an instinct, a passion, a creed. Such, under the limitations prescribed by the editor, is my simple tribute lo a tine man whom I would, in a single word, characterize as a brave soldier in the army ol the common good. 1 iere is a man who, in the clear view of his fellow-men, is daiK illuslral- ing the dignity and the majesty of the life of the Virginia gentleman. Of such stuff IS woven the true glory of institutions of learning. GtoKci:: H. Denny.

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bram cnn tapirs OME years ago the late President Harper of the University of Chicago was delivering an address of congratulation on the occasion of the inauguration of a college president. He startled many of his hearers when he suddenly turned to the new president (who had just been called from a professor ' s chair) and told him that in at least one particular he was making a tremen- dous sacrifice; that, as a professor, he had enjoyed the privilege of intimate friendship, of unreserved companionship, and of sympathetic understanding with his associates ; that, as a college president, he would be certain to find a changed situation; that, by degrees, he would drift mto a life of social reserve and loneliness, and, at times, of social isolation and exile; that the old intimacies would soon disappear, and the old companionships gradually lose their vital power. This is, happily, not the experience of all college presidents. I doubt whether it is the experience of the average college president whose happy fortune it is to serve in a homogeneous institution of high traditions. Certainly, it has not been my own experience. I have no sweeter memory of the life in Lexington than the memory of the intimate com- panionships of that life. I value nothing more highly than these friendships. They have meant everything to me. Of these friendships not one was tested more frequently, or in a larger number of ways, than the friendship of Abram Penn Staples, with whom I was as intimately associated as with anyone outside of my own family circle, and to whom I am as deeply attached as to any living man. If I were asked to name the most striking characteristic of Judge Staples (that is the affectionate title given him by universal consent), I should without hesitation say that it is his wonderful capacity for friendship, his unswerving loyalty to his friends, and his willingness to make sacrifices, if need be, to serve his friends. I have never known a student who entertained any doubt concerning the friendship of Professor Staples. Young men know that he is kindly and sympathetic in an unfailing way. He knows them per- sonally. He understands them and loves them. He recognizes the sacredness of human individuality. He recognizes the right of each human soul to work out its own destiny ; and he is the last man to lay upon it the hand of unnecessary or of unkind criticism. It can not be a matter of surprise that young men are quick to recognize the fact that in him they have a friend as well as an instructor and a guide. Professor Staples is a man of distinct and pervasive personality. He is an impressive figure. That is a great asset to any college. Have a University in shanties, nay in tents, but have great personalities in it, was the wise admonition of one of the world ' s great teachers. I have known few men of finer or more distinctive personal qualities than are possessed by Professor Staples. I would trust him anywhere and all the time. ou always know where to find him. He is the soul of honor. He is the embodiment of

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OA TEN T PACE Dedication 2 Abram Penn Staples 3, 4 Foreword 7 The Trustees 8 Administrative Officers 9 The Faculty 10-14 Library Staff 15 The Washington and Lee Law School 17-23 Senior Law — Class Officers 26 Stalislics 27-47 Junior Law — History 48 Class Roll 49, 50 Senior Academic — Class Officers 52 Stalislics 53-68 Junior Academic — Class History 69 Class Roll 70 Sophomore Class — History 71 Roll 72, 73 Freshman Class — History 74, ' ' 3 Roll 76, 77 Backward, Turn Backward — Poem. . . 78 Senior Engineering — Class Officers 80 Statistics 81-86 Post-Graduates — Class Officeis 83 Statistics 89-91 Acrostic 92 Student Organizations — Student Body Organization 94 Graham-Lee Literary Society 96, 97 Washington Literary Sociely 98,99 Inlercollegiale Debales 100 Burks Law Debating Sociely 101 I ' oung Mens Christian Associalion 102 Custis Lee Lngineenng Society... , 104 Chemical Society 105 Senate 106