VALE ALUMNI WEEKLY
FOUR ELEMENTS,
Mir. Robinson’s Analysis of what is
Called the Yale Spirit.
[Being a speech delivered at the last New York
Alumni Banquet. by the Hon. Henry C. Robinson.
For special reasons it was impossible to reproduce it
exactly at the time.]
Mr. President: It would be ungra-
cious if we, who are enjoying your hos-
pitality this evening, should forget to
congratulate the New York alumni
upon this most successful dinner. In a
sense larger than a metaphor, your
metropolitan association represents
more than Manhattan, it speaks for the
whole territory of. Yale’s sons, which
comes pretty near being the earth.
Some days ago a senator from Ken-
tucky rose in his place in the U. S.
Senate to repudiate a bumptious re-
quest which had been made for his resig-
nation because he had dared to register
a vote in favor of truth and honesty.
His utterance of courage and manli-
ness were musical to the nation, al-
though somewhat unusual in our mod-
ern Senate. In his speech he declared
that he represented the whole people
of Kentucky, and not the members of
one of its political parties, and more—
that, in his votes in that honorable
chamber, he acted not only as a Sena-
tor from Kentucky but for the United
States as well. And so your associa-
tion represents us all, the alumni of
Yale. And this gathering with its
choice spread of smooth things to eat
and drink and smoke, selected I fear
without consultation with the N. J. W.
C. T. U., or even with the discreet Mrs.
Poteat, and the old choruses and the
new orchestral harmonies, and above
all this presence of hearty jolly men,
and yet men earnest and sincere and
enthusiastic for all that is good and
true, demand from us to you our salu-
tations and congratulations.
I have alluded to the Women’s Chris-
tian Temperance Union. The use of
the two words “Christian” and “Tem-
perance”’ by persons of presumably
good intentions is quite clearly a case
oi lucus a non lucendo. You cannot
always tell what a person is by his title,
nor what a thing is by its label. A
lawyer friend had an experience with
raspberry jam, of which he _ was
fond. He purchased some at his gro-
cer’s which pleased him, and he asked
his grocer for a recipe for making it.
The grocer communicated -with the
wholesaler at Boston, who again re-
ferred him to the factory at Kalamazoo,
Michigan. The lawyer had a corre-
spondent in that city, and after prom-
ising that the secret shouldn’t be wused
except for domestic purposes, the fac-
tory gave him the recipe. ‘‘The sub-
stance of our raspberry jam is tomato,
its color is obtained from aniline dyes,
and the seed is hayseed.”
It is quite unnecessary for the breth-
ren to be anxious as to the result of
this campaign of calumny. It will be
a short one, and disastrous only to the
attacking party. The campaign will
soon be in the condition of the mind
cure patient of whom I read. The
mind curist inquired of the son of the
patient what was the matter with his
father. The young man said, “Father
has rheumatism.” “You are mistaken,
my son, you mean your father thinks
he has the rheumatism.” A few days
later the mind curist called, and again
inquired of the son about his father,
and the boy said, “Father thinks he’s
dead.” |
THE INVISIBLE THINGS.
When we drop our knives and forks
we turn from things material to things
invisible. And after all, in spite of the
materialists, the invisibles are our larg-
est realities. First in order we drink to
Alma Mater, but our eyes may not find
her sheltering arms and her fostering
bosom we cannot touch. And then we
drink again to this sentiment to which
you have asked me to respond, the Yale
Spirit. Where is the camera which
shall shadow a likeness of the. Yale
Spirit, and where is the brush and what
are the pigments which shall paint its
portrait? How and where shall we find
it? We may go to the old fence, and,
if we cannot find it elsewhere, we can
see it at Dr..Dennis’s most hospitable
Norfolk home. We may whittle its
fibers, and we are taught again the old
lesson that no golden eggs are dis-
covered by dissecting the goose. We
to Chapel, sit ’neath the elms, walk
spe fe ee of the old Brick Row,
but neither mensuration, nor chemistry,
nor optics will reward our search. We
watch the blue blades of the crew, as
they dip into the waves and rise to the
sunlight with the accuracy of the pen-
dulum and the power of the driving
wheel; we look at the blue stockings
and blue ““Y’s on the breasts of the
boys, as the team trots down the field;
we see the flutter of a thousand blue
flags, and hear the rifle crack of a
thousand ’rahs, and the sonorous cho-
ruses of Brek-ke-ke-kex Ko-ax-ko-ax
and the oceanic roar of ten thousand
Ya-a-les, as the ball sails through the
goal post winging its flight to victory,
but all these things, material and
sensational, report to us that, until we
have added the invisible, sentiments
to the sensations, we cannot find the
Yale Spirit. Electricity is not locked
in the dynamo—the dynamo only sets
free the subtle and invisible power.
The spirit of ’76 is not in the Bunker
Hill monument, nor the bronze statues
of Washington and Putnam, but in the
patriotism and self-sacrifice of the men
who fought by the rail fence with Put-
nam, or crossed the Delaware, bled and
starved at Valley Forge, and triumphed
at Yorktown with Washington.
THE YALE SPIRIT.
Where and what then is the Yale
Spirit? Pick up the seal of dear old
Alma Mater and read its legend, Lux
et Veritas. In the invisible sentiments
which these words enshrine, the Yale
Spirit has its inmost home.
Light! At daybreak the Yale Spirit
waits for high noon, and at sunset it
looks for another sunburst “with new
spangled ore’ to “flame in the forehead
of’ another “morning sky,’ and in
hours of midnight darkness it cries to
the watchman, “‘Watchman, what of the
night,” and listens in undoubting faith
for the reply “The morning cometh.”
Truth! The Yale Spirit waits by the
everlasting rocks of Truth, upon which
billows of lies and bigotry and selfish-
ness and despotisms and wars and an-
archies and chaos break in froth and
foam. It hears truth—harmonies in
law—the laws of science and religion
and progress and civilization. And to
the final judgments of truth uttered
after full and fair trial, it yields obedi-
ence—no matter at what cost of preju-
dice and bias, no matter what record of
semi-sacred traditions and philosophies
are tumbled into the waste basket.
But the Yale Spirit is not complete in
the motto of the seal. To the founda-
tion words Lux et Veritas, it adds ‘“‘et
fortitudo,” which translated, for the
benefit of the fading memories and in-
complete scholarships of the alumni
brethren, mean “sand.”’ This is the
quality which wins debates after many
a defeat,—a quality in this regard incar-
nated in many an undergraduate, and
conspicuously in that accomplished
professor, scholar, and loyal son of
Yale, Arthur T. Hadley. This is the
quality which carries the batsman
to the winning run when two men are
out and when two strikes are called in
the ninth inning; it scatters flying
wedges and guards back formations on
the gridiron, and it has carried'‘the blue
to the front in so many a fight, moral,
intellectual, and physical, and so many
times in face of so many odds... I sup-
pose that it was for the exercise of this
quality that the Mexican girl, who was
caught in a shocking accident, was ex-
ploited by the Mexican newspaper,
which wrote, “that she was frightened
to death but retained her courage and
coolness.” |
Let me warn the Crew that they must
prepare for new and trying ordeals. It
is not unlikely that Captain Cook, God
bless him! will have to go in the near
future farther than to New London or
the Hudson or even Henley for honors.
Recently I read in a newspaper about a
certain Continental Emperor, remark-
able for his youth, and—begging pardon
of the Class of 1901—for his freshness.
You remember that he sent his brother
in uniform to the Asiatic seas and har-
bors. Do you know the text of Scrip-
ture which he selected for his chaplain
in celebrating his own imperial birth-
day? “Be still, and know that I am
God! I will be exalted among the
heathen!’ This emperor, who has come
to the front in so many characters, as
statesman, and warrior, and diplomat,
and art critic, is now posing as regula-
tor of rowing in the Berlin institutions
of learning. He limits the races to
twelve hundred meters. Probably some
[Continued on 6th page. }
A YALE
INSURANCE
COMPANY.
From a college standpoint, Hartford
isa very warm Yale town. From
a business standpoint, it is a very
warm insurance center. It is
not so surprising, therefore, that
one of the most active of its
companies —a company whose
policies are SO very attractive
and reasonable in form, and
whose financial strength is so
assured — is permeated with Yale
influences. This is indicated in
the personnel of its officers and
in its sound and successful way
of doing things.
In the next issue the Alumni Weekly
will print a picture of its new
| building, and thereafter. will
tell some more things about
this company — the PHOENIX
-MUTUAL LIFE. Z
HOME
Life Insurance Co.
OF NEW: YORK.
GEORGE E. IDE, President.
Wm. M. St. JOHN, Vice President.
ELLIS W. GLADWIN, Secretary.
WM. A. MARSHALL, Actuary.
F. W. CHapPin, Med. Director.
- EUGENE A. CALLAHAN,
| General Agent
STATE OF CONNECTICUT.
23 Church Street, - + New Haven.
Cuas. ADAMS.
Yale ’87.
LEOPOLD H. FRANCKE.
: Yale ’89.
ALEX. MoNBEILL. WM. S. BRIGHAM,
Yale ’87%,
ADAMS, MCNEILL & BRIGHAM,
BANKERS & BROKERS,
44 Broad Street, - New York.
Members New York Stock Exchange. Stocks
and Bonds Bought and Sold. Investment Securi-
ties a Specialty.
**Long Distance Telephone, 947 Broad.”
ALBERT FRANCKE,
ale 91S.
L. H. & A. FRANCKE, .
BANKERS AND BROKERS.
50 Exchange Place, we New York.
Members New York Stock Exchange,
Buy and Sell on Commission Stocks and
Bonds dealt in at the New York Stock Ex-
change. Also Miscellaneous Securities not
listed on the Stock Exchange. . :
Long Distance Telephone, 1348 Broad. —
Guaranty Trust Co.
of New York.
NASSAU, CORNER CEDAR STREET.
CAPITAL, Ve = . $2,000,000
SURPLUS, © © © $2,500,000
ACTS AS TRUSTEE FOR CORPORATIONS,
FIRMS, AND INDIVIDUALS, AS GUARDIAN,
EXECUTOR, AND ADMINISTRATOR, TAKES
ENTIRE CHARGE OF REAL AND PERSONAL
ESTATES.
INTEREST ALLOWED ON DEPOSITS
subject to cheque or on certificate,
- STERLING DRAFTS ON ALL PARTS OF
GREAT BRITAIN BOUGHT AND SOLD. COL’
LECTIONS MADE.
TRAVELLERS’ LETTERS OF CREDIT AVAIL
ABLE IN ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD, AND
COMMERCIAL LETTERS OF CREDIT ISSUED:
WALTER G. OAKMAN, President.
ADRIAN Souths R., Vice-President.
RGE R. TURNBULL, 2d Vice-President.
HENRY A. MURRAY, Treas. and Sec’y.
. NELSON BORLAND, Asst. Treas. and Sec’y.
OHN GAULT, Manager Foreign Dept.
DIRECTORS.
Samuel D. Babcock, Charles R. Henderson,
George F. Baker, Adrian Iselin, Jr.,
George S. Bowdoin, pugusts D. Juililard,
August Belmont, sige .. Jarvie,
Frederic Cromwell, ichard A. McCurdy,
Walter R. Gillette, Alexander E. Orr, -
Robert Goelet, Walter G. Oakman,
G. G. Haven, ety H. Rogers
Oliver Harriman, H, McK, Twombly,
R. Somers Hayes,_. Frederick W. Vanderbilt,
William C, Whitney.
eee
LONDON BRANCH,
33 LOMBARD STREET, E. C.
F. NEVILL JAaq@KxsON, SECRETARY.
Buys and sells exchange on the principal cities of
the world, collects dividends and coupons without
tharge, issues travellers’ and commercial letters of
sredit, receives and pays interest on deposits subject
to cheque at sight or on notice, lends money on
sollaterals, deals in American and other investment
securities, and offers its services as correspondent and
financial agent to corporations, bankers and merchants,
Bankers.
BANK OF ENGLAND,
CLYDESDALE BANK, Limited,
NATIONAL PROVINCIAL BANK OF
ENGLAND, Limited,
PARR’S BANK, Limited.
Solicitors.
FRESHFIELDS AND WILLIAMS.
London Committee. |
ARTHUR JOHN FRASER, CHAIRMAM,
DONALD C. HALDEMAN.
A BIT OF HISTORY.
[From Woodward’s “ Insurance in Connecticut.’’} ;
The Aina escaped the fire of December 16th, 1835, in New York City—the first in th
Series of great American conflagrations—which destroyed property to the value of $45,000-
000, and bankrupted twenty-three out of twenty-six local insurance companies.
It entered
the city the following year, having for agent Augustus G. Hazard, afterwards the organizer
and president of the Hazard Powder Company of Enfield.
It was not so fortunate in the fire
of 1845, which swept $6,000,000 of property from the business center of the metropolis, and
cost the Aetna $115,000. When the news reached Hartford, Mr. Brace called together the
directors and told them that the calamity would probably exhaust the entire resources of
the company. Going to the fire-proof vault, he took out and laid on the table the stocks and
bonds representing its investments. Little was said, each member waiting for some one
else to take the initiative.
what will you do?”’
At length the silence was broken by the question: “ Mr. Brace, |
“Do?” replied he. “Go to New York and pay the losses if it takes every dollar there,”’
pointing to the packages, “and my fortune besides.”
“Good, good,” responded the others. “ We will stand by you with our fortunes also.”
So it had always been with the Atna in every crisis which it had before
faced. The same spirit had carried this
others had gone to the wall.
This was the last close call for the Atna.
famous Company through where
To-day with its cash capital of
$4,000,000, a. net surplus of nearly $4,500,000, and a system built on the
priceless experience of seventy-nine years, it is hardly possible to conceive of
its having a close call.