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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1899)
368° YALE ALUMNI WT RK IY ago, to put this University at the open- ing of the coming century where it ought to be, in preparation for the years following. We did our prelim- inary work during a period of several months, and began very recently to inform the graduates and friends of the University, in a quiet and persuasive way as to the matter in hand; and I have the pleasure of informing you that our subscriptions and donations at the present time, have. within a few weeks reached the sum of $450,000. Now, gentlemen, it is my humble opinion, that, instead of expressing so great satisfaction—though I have no objec- tion to that—I like to see the enthusi- asm of youth and partake in it myseli— but I think you ought to be—many of you—shedding tears, that the sum 1s not larger (laughter). And we propose to make it larger and we propose to have every man among these ten thou- sand graduates of this University, give something for this new hall and this new movement. I have thought of suggesting to my successor that nobody should be admitted into the new hall that didn’t make a contribution to it. I should like to be present on the day when it is opened and see the rush in at the door, similar to that which we had to-day, but every hand full of money. “Gentlemen, there is one way into the 20th century. It is a narrow road and we must all of us move in it, and be ready to meet the demands that come upon us. Young Yale men must show the spirit of Yale men. We _ have enjoyed what our ancestors did for us. Let us give the men who follow greater blessings, greater enjoyment of the freedom of this University, by provid- ing the means which are needed for the glorious life of the coming time. “Gentlemen, there are many speakers present, some of whom will speak be- cause they are willing to, others because. they have to, for we do not confer degrees in this University on men who cannot speak. And as I said last year, with reference to one of the gentlemen who was to begin the speaking of the afternoon, with our young men we put the examination first and the degree afterwards. But with the older men we put the degree first and the examination afterwards. We are going to examine a few of these gentlemen this afternoon. DWIGHT PASSED. HOW PRESIDENT “Will you forgive a venerable man just passing from the stage, if I repeat a story which I have told here before, but which is just fitted to the occasion. When the noble old gentlemen, the late Professor Silliman, examined me for the Clark scholarship, the only College scholarship which we had at that time, and which I was fortunate enough to take, because I was the only candidate, and when I went to his house to be examined in Geology, I venture to say I knew as little about Geology as any man in this house, who has ever passed an examination on any subject,—and perhaps that is saying a good deal. But he was a kindly soul and a generally very excellent and magnanimous gentle- man of the old school. He had this trembling Senior before him, the only one who graced the occasion. He put his question in this form: “Mr. Dwight, iS itis 60, 6r 45 Stor 3 Said: LE “itis 66." “You may judge of the result. I passed, and when I had finished this terrible ordeal, he said to me: ‘You will doubtless like a recommendation or a certificate to hand to President Wool- sey. No one else had given me one and I certainly supposed it was necessary; it was a part of the gracious way he did everything. So I- said ‘Certainly, sir.’ He stepped forward to his desk. He knew me as well as I know my son— that is, he knew who I was, and all about me. But I suppose, owing to his gentle graciousness, he didn’t wish to impress upon me the fact that he knew quite as much about me as I did about Geology, and he therefore asked me what. my first name was—if it was Timothy and I told him yes. In a moment he came back with the certifi- cate and said: ‘Mr. Dwight, not having doubted that you would pass, I wrote this certificate before you came in.’ “T may say to these distinguished gentlemen around me the same thing. Not doubting that they will pass I con- sented that they should receive the de- gree before examination, but I shall call upon them with great confidence that they will do credit to themselves and will receive a hearty welcome from the graduates of Yale. RETROSPECT. “But before I introduce them let me say a single word for myself. There is a certain sadness in leading you in this official relation for the last time—a certain sadness in closing the pleasant and delightful relations which I have had with Yale men in a peculiar way these fifty years. For it fell to my lot to hear my first recitation and to form the first Yale friendships on the same day, after the time of my own college life, just 50 years ago in December next. I was called in to take the work of my brother, who was a teacher at the time and who was called away for two or three weeks, and I began my work as a temporary supply for the Class of 1853. You have seen the result of those three weeks of instruction on the Class of Fifty-Three on all their career since then. They have thought pretty well of themselves, it has been said, but they have thought no better of themselves than I have thought of them from tnat December period up to now, and as I said, my first meeting with them began the Yale friendships of my instructor’s and professor’s life, and I have been so fortunate as to find friends in every succeeding class. I wish to bear testimony, at this clos- ing time of my official life, to the joy of the Yale friendships and to the bless- ing of the Yale spirit. I believe that I have something in myself of the Yale spirit. I know that you have much of it. I shall not continue to be your guide in any sense whether you are younger or older, or to stand in an official relation to you beyond this day; but I shall continue, I am sure, in the circle of the Yale friendships and in the possession of the Yale spirit to the end of life. “Gentlemen, we have with us to-day _a representative of the central ,govern- ment of the country. We are privileged by his presence. We have honored our- selves in honoring him. We may re- gard him as a representative of the Gov- ernment, as a representative of the President, to whom we gave our high- est Yale honor a year ago; a represen-— tative of all good learning, and I am sure you will agree with me when he has finished what he has to say, an excellent representative of the Yale brotherhood. I have the pleasure of introducing to you Attorney General Griggs.” Attorney-General Griggs. “Mr. President and Fellows of Yale University: I myself have been con- ditioned. I came here on Monday and went through what I understood was the preliminary examination which en- titled me to a degree. JI made a speech before the graduating class of the Law School. I did not know, when I per- formed that preliminary function, that I was not to pass until I had made up a condition here on this occasion, but it seems that I have been subjected to harder conditions than my fellows who have been admitted to equal honors to-day. None the less, I am glad to get the honor on any terms. Iam glad, as many of you have been heretofore, just to get through. “T desire to express not only my ap- probation, but my heartfelt gratiflcation at being numbered among Yale men. My college and university associations heretofore have been, first, as an alum- nus and graduate of Lafayette, and sub- sequentlyas Chairman ex-officio for three years of the Board of Trustees of that old and highly respected rival of Yale, Princeton University. And bearing to Princeton that former official relation, and having been the Governor of the State in which she is located, I have always felt something of the Princeton spirit and favor in the rivalries between these two universities. And so I am able to assure you men of Yale that, when a Princeton man aspires to stc- cess, when he hopes for triumph, when he wants to attain the very highest, his ambition is to overcome Yale. Prince- ton has always paid and still pays to Yale that compliment. I am glad to be associated with a university whose name, in many connections, is a syno- nym not only for the best learning, but for many of the highest qualities of manhood that go to make up the American citizen. . Ex-President TIMOTHY DWIGHT. “IT was pleased to find. in looking over the titles of the theses that won the degree of Doctor of Philosophy this morning, the universality of study and interest, because I found that be- tween the translation of the Tragedies of Seneca into English verse and the study of the history of the free-will controversy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, especially in New England, was mixed a dissertation on carbohydrates on the liver, followed by one on ‘Chain Differentiants of a Ternary Quantic, which, in my Plutonic ignorance, at the outset, I thought to be a description of a new kind of bicycle. YALE AND THE REPUBLIC. “The Yale spirit—may I tell you, who possess that spirit yourselves, what others think of it? They admire it, and they emulate it. They admire the spirit of the Yale brotherhood that links the graduates of this University into a fellowship that extends wher- ever Yale men are found. They ad- mire the loyalty that binds them to- gether. They admire not only Yale loyalty, but they admire Yale pluck, which is sometimes improperly called Yale luck. JI have thought that in its history, and its developments, and its influences, Yale might be compared to our American Republic. It is, in all its essentials of spirit and good fellow- ship, a republic. If there is anything that you have outside, I should say it was a reputation for taking a man and judging a man for what he is, and not for what he has got. You rate him upon his own merits, and not upon the merits of his ancestors, and that is one reason why you are admired, and one respect in which you resemble the American Republic. “And then, for another reason: You believe in preparing yourselves by hard work and self-sacrifice for success. There has not been inculcated, I be- lieve, in Yale teaching the idea that there was any special road to success except through desert, through hard work, and that I think is another re- spect in which you resemble the Ameri- can Republic. Success is through energy, through work, through pure, devoted, earnest spirit. And another thing that you resemble the American Republic in is your fearlessness of risks, your faith in yourselves, the courage with which you front your contests, and look out to your future. Yale men sometimes fail to succeed in their con- tests, but they are never discouraged. They always except to win next time. They may be defeated, but they are never cast down. They are not afraid of a little suffering. They are not afraid of a little personal injury. They are not afraid to take some risks in the battles that they fight, and they are not afraid to extend their borders and open to their circles the ways and the oppor- tunities for many more, and in that you resemble, [ think, the American Repub- lic. I believe that in your practice and habit you have displayed. many traits of courage, of endurance, of bearing of suffering with heroic bravery, that are characeristic of the American people. MR. DOOLEY QUOTED. “You know, speaking of the fearless- ness of personal injury and suffering, and that which sometimes happens in your athletic contests, that great phil- osopher, Mr. Dooley: ‘You may speak about the impropriety of nailing a man on the chin, but it is only by such means that the race gains in courage and strength.’ “Another characteristic of Yale would be expressed in that paraphrase of the golden rule which that recent adherent or exhibition of American character, David Harum, expresses: ‘Do unto, the other fellow what he wotld like to do unto you, and do it first.” -These noble and courageous and fearless sentiments, I think, have represented to the mind of the outside world the Yale spirit. . And so, Mr. President, and gentlemen of the Corporation, and Fellows of Yale University, I express again to you my sense of gratitude, and my apprecia- tion of the honor you have conferred upon me which enables me hereafter, when I happen to be in any of that splendid society which always is where Yale men are, the ability to stand up and say: -t aiso.am.a-yalée alumnus.’ ” President Dwight, taking up Attor- ney-General Griggs’ reference to the expressive character of Yale-as com- pared with the Republic, straightway welcomed him as the representative of
