Wentworth Institute of Technology - Tekton Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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muon neF ci:m-4 umm THE TEKTON QUOTE FROM NEWSPAPER According to the records kept by the librarian, the ten most popular books in the school library are: james Davis-The Iron Puddler. Harry M, Franck-A Vagabond Jour' ney Around the World. Mark Twain-Life on the Mississippi. Rudyard Kipling-The Light That Failed. B. T. Washington-Up From Slavery. Michael Pupin-From Immigrant to Inf ventor. R. Sabatini-Scaramouche. Edward Bok-The Americanization of Edward Bok. Life of Westinghouse. Dr. Wilfred Grenfell-Autobiography of a Labrador Doctor. It is the librarian's observation that the two busiest men in school, who are also outstanding scholars, have read the most books. They have felt the thrill and stimf ulus of great life stories, as Professor Ver' non suggests. The theme of Professor Vernon's lec' ture might well have been that old provf erb: Tell me what you read, and I will tell you what you are. That biography is an important adjunct to religion because it emphasizes the great' ness of the human soul was recently pointed out by Prof. Ambrose W. Vernon of Dartmouth. He stated that the tendency of modern science has been to minimize the signin' cance of humanity, and added: Astronomy swallows us up in immeasf urable space. Geology, with its unimaginf able aeons, belittles the insignificant gener' ations of men. Amid the austerities of physics and the intricacies of chemistry we wonder how we could have been interested in watching 'the clock beat out the little lives of menf Nor does one's scorn of his humanity gain much relief from biology, the liaison department between things and men. Evolution, its fundamental tenet, subordinates individuals to streams of tendf ency. Individuals turn into curious prof tuberances in which the untiring forces knot themselves in a necessary lassitude be' fore they push further in their endless course. Even psychology treats us as inf stances rather than individuals. The study of biography is important in offseting this attitude and in refenforcing religion, because it nxes men's minds on the unique greatness of the human soulg because it points out that the progress of the world has in large part depended upon the energy and insight of individual souls, because it demonstrates that the great movf ers of the world have been preponderantly religious men, because, as it enables us rev' erently to enter into their company, it ref produces in us the religious experience, because it convinces us that it is the prof gressive and independent among the religf ious men who have had the most inspiring influence, and because it leaves us awaiting and expectant of further and more inevit' able triumphs of the divine spirit in the hearts of men. HIGHLY EFFIOIENT Caller: How is your new assistant get' ting along these days? Chemist: Oh, fine, he's got things so mixed up now that I couldn't do without him. PLUMBING GLASS Butler is heartbroken because he cannot go to live at Winthrop so as to be with the rich young widow that he took to the last school dance. How about that girl back in Leominster? --nf 33

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ff1Si5'JI -- - V - f'f u Qu Y K . .mega THE TEKTQN WHEN DCES OLD AGE BEGIN? A man reaches the prime of life at 27 years. But even then his hearing is on the downfgrade, as that sense is more acute at seven or eight years. Such is the belief of Prof. Karl Pearson. A few years ago Dr. Eugene Lyman Fiske expressed his opinion that our bodies begin wearing out at the age of 12. So authorities disagree. But the average man undoubtedly reaches the pinnacle of his physical pow' ers before he is 30. Thereafter he slowly deteriorates. His health may be good. But the endurance of youth is on the wane. Old age really begins in the cradle. That is, our care and environment in infancy determine, to a considerable extent, the number of years of strength and health will be available to us before we begin to go down hill physically. Yet despite all we can do, the summer of life is brief. In his early thirties a man begins to realize instinctively that he canf' not stand exposure and strain as he could in his teens and twenties. Cf men between the ages of 21 and 31 who were called up under the Selective Service Act, 38 in every 100 were rejected on account of physical defects. Qld age- deterioration, which is the forerunner of physical dissolution-had sunk its talons into them. However, man is in the late autumn or winter of physical condition before he reaches the summertime of mental devel' opment. It is a rare man who has any pronounced degree of wisdom and good judgment be' fore he is 35 or 40. In this way nature compensates us. As our physical powers weaken, our intellect' ual powers strengthen. But only up to certain point. Ultimately comes senility, when mental faculties lose their powers and brilliance. . Lightfheartedly man squanders the best part of his life. Qld age begins to overtake him usually before he really gets down to business. Small wonder, so few reach the top of the hill of success. For youth, while it may work hard, rarely exerts itself to the limits of its powers. The years that are wasted are the most important of all. . 7 ' WliNTWOIi'I'Il +- THE OLDER WORKMAN By EDGAR A. GuEsT Brave boy, be not discouraged at the start, For fame and fortune are the gifts of years, The product of long periods of smart, Of cruel disappointment and its tears. You see success and all you hope to be Combined to grace the pathway of a man, And you are keen to stand as high as he, But he was young, like you, when he began. You envy him the skill which he has earned, And all he owns you would possess today1 But there is much by youth which must be learned, For you, his goal lies twenty years away! Vxfork hard, nor waste in envy, fleeting time, The older workman has the greater skill, The mountain, eager twenty cannot climb, The wiser man at forty surely will. Think not that you should come to fame today, It is too soon. There is no youth alive Vsfho by a single sweep can brush away The years which wait to make fortyffive. Those who have reached the goal which you desire Have suffered much and 'battled down the way, ' If you can cross those years and never tire At their age you can be as great' as they. -at 32 pw-

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nwimmghigm-- 7 nf-. --a w .4 -- K-mm THE TEKTON THE EVENING SCHOOL IN ACTION Above we give a picture of the Institute during an Evening School session. It ref quired an hour's exposure. If more of us could find it possible to give up an evening hour or two during the winter we might learn a bit concerning a most interesting, and perhaps the most useful, work the Institute is doing for men in industry. During the year past we had an evening school of 1012 men, by far the great majority of whom were studying along lines connected with their daily work. These are just such men as you will be after a few years on the job. Since we have no Evening School Alumni Associaf tion that school says very little collectively. They say a good deal individually, and that is usually very much to the point. They like our coursesand method of instruction. Their very good attendance records show it if they themselves say nothing. The comf ments of several hundreds of men yearly almost universally favorable lead us to believe that they are pleased with their work. When any course in a school can accommodate only a third of the men applying for it, the content and method of that course must perforce be what students of the subject are looking for. That is the situation in many of our Evening School courses. It would be interesting to compute the average number of year's attendance of evening school men. Nothing of the kind has been done in our evening school, but we know of several men who have attended for six consecutive years. When you conf sider that this has been done often amid the difficulties of loss of a job, with several small mouths to feed perhaps, and with the sickness, which besets us all at times, to contend with you will come to respect the character of our evening school men which prompts them to improve their minds and skills under such handicaps. Very few of us realize the effect of the evening school grind. After February lst it seems to get you, and with the bad weather of that month and March we usually lose a large number of evening school students. This year there has been practically none of that falling by the way, -+Ni341'+