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
