Wellesley College - Legenda Yearbook (Wellesley, MA)

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A LEGEND, according to Webster — the almost uncontested source of all ■ ' - definition — is A story of a remarkable kind. Legenda, the Latin scholar adds, means to be read. It is, perhaps, a bit pedantic to cling to the letter of a definition, but Legenda, this year, has chosen that policy. The story of a remarkable kind is that of the Class of 1939, which is, in itself, not so very different from that of any other class. But in setting down the Legenda in a form as complete as it was possible to make it, there has been included the broader and more timeless story of many years at Wellesley. The traditional elements of 1939 ' s history extend far into the past, and in it, by inference, may be found a hint of the future. The story is not remarkable for its details, many of which are ordinary. If it bears the stamp of the unusual, it is in its universality, for in the history of one class are woven indications of the influences of all the others. Legenda is now truly to be read, containing as it does, the recorded memories of people . . . scenes . . . sunlight on the Tower . . . moonlight across the snow. The printed word is, perhaps, more reliable than the individ- ual memory. Legenda is intended to be a record of the memories of a com- munity of people, into which each person may read recollections which the words call up in his mind. The pictures, taken in action and not posed, are designed to supplement the words; to sharpen the images and the ideas which it is hoped the text will convey. According to the scholar ' s interpretation, then, Legenda has become A remarkable story ... to be read.

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a blind insistence on maintaining an unjust status quo, nor a solution which discards the basic ideals and standards governing human relationships. We do not have to solve the problems. We can pass them on to other generations. But the best that is in us, the ideals which we own, demand that we face our problems squarely and take forward steps. We must seek the solu- tion. College men and women as a whole realize that war is never a solution, but we are often surprised to find that few people outside our circles share that conviction. It is up to us to counteract mob psychology; our reason can and must control our emotion. When we entered college in the fall of 1935, all four classes consisted of war babies, born between the years of 1914 and 1918. Today in Russia, Germany, France and England — throughout the world, they are mobilizing those war babies, our contemporaries, our potential friends — or our potential enemies. We do not wish to kill them; we do not even wish to hate them. For, wherever educated humanity exists, there live the seeds of common ambitions and ideals. To share those ideals and to spread them, in sincere cooperation, is better than t o fight for them. Men die for eternal ideals; they live for passing and material ones. It is much better that we should choose to live for those eternal ideals which we have in common with all educated youth. We are a world minority, trained to be leaders in thought and action. It is our profound hope that in the face of selfishness, cowardice and sloth, we can be eenerous, brave and tireless. In June, 1,686 institutions of higher learning in the United States will graduate approximately 312,500 young men and women. But there are more of us than that, in the class of 1939. We must not forget our contemporaries at the Universities of Prague, Heidelberg, Paris, Moscow, Naples, Oxford, Copenhagen. As Germans or as Russians, their ideologies may differ from ours, but as young, thoughtful human beings, their ideals an ours. It is with steadfast hope that we dedicate this yearbook to the Class of 1939 throughout the world.

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•4 « Non Ministrari sed Mlnistrare