Yale alumni magazine. ([New Haven]) 1937-1976, February 07, 1900, Page 1, Image 1

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    Vou TX. cNo, 19.
HARTFORD'S YALE DINNER.
A Record Breaker—Some of the Ex=
cellent Speeches.
The Hartford Yale Alumni Associa-
tion dinner also broke the record as to ©
attendance this year. One hundred and
thirty-two were at the Allyn House on
the night of January 27. In other re-
spects the dinner did not at least fall
below its predecessors. It was served
at small tables, seating six each, with
a large table of honor for the officers
and guests. -In the absence of Judge
Samuel O. Prentice, ’73, the President of
the Association, the Vice-President,
Judge E. B. Bennett, ’66, presided. On
his right sat President Hadley, Arthur
L. Shipman, 786; the Rev. Dr. J. W.
Cooper, ’65, of New Britain; W. H. St.
John, ’91, and R. W. Huntington, Jr.,
89. On his left, Thomas Thacher, ’71,
President of the Yale Club of New
York; Charles Hopkins. Clark, ’71;
Judge W. K. Townsend, ’71; Congress-
man Charles A. Russell, ’73; Professor
Flavel S. Luther, Trinity, and Dr. W. M.
Hudson, °53. Hon. George E. Louns-
bury, 63, Governor of Connecticut, who
was down for a speech, was unavoidably
detained. Back of President Hadley
hung maps showing the plans for the
new buildings.
In his introduction to the President,
who led the speaking, Judge Bennett
said: “Yale administrations have come,
governed, their allotted time and sur-
rendered their authority to successors,
and through them all we think can be
discerned a steady progress. One suc-
cessful administration has just laid
down ‘its authority, and a new one has
taken it up. The official head of that
new administration, a well equipped son
of the University, has come to his place
with an unanimity of approval of the
graduates of old Yale rarely expressed,
and besides he comes bearing a name
already enduringly associated with Yale
through an honored father, who was be-
loved of all Yale men of his generation
for his gentility of manner and nobility
of character.” -
PRESIDENT HADLEY ’S ADDRESS.
The appearance of President Hadley
brought every man to his feet and
brought out good Yale cheering. He
said in part: :
“Yale remains a national university
in the sense that none of its rivals has
been national." The large masses of
students from a local constituency which
go to swell the numbers in the catalogues
of some of our city universities, so far.
from aiding, dctually interfere with the -
national character of these institutions,
by giving to them a centralized and
localized life, in which the student from
remote cities and states feels that he has
no part. AE
“More than this. Large as are Yale’s
numbers in. our various western cities,
her influence on the public life of those
places is more than ° proportionately
large. For Yale is not only national;
she is also democratic—democratic in
the sense of gathering her several men-
together into one common life, and mak-
ing each feel that he is a part of that
life. This sentiment and this lesson the
Yale man carries with him wherever
he goes. In St. Paul, or in Denver, or
in Kansas City, he makes himself a part
of a Yale community, with common as-
sociations and with common interests ;
whose members, by working together, do
more for themselves and for their cities,
for Yale and for the cause of Christian
manhood, than could possibly be accom-
Gabe oy pean
NEW HAVEN, CONN., WEDNESDAY, FEB. 7, 1900.
plished by their separate and isolated
efforts as atoms in a great center of pop-
: @ tiation.
YALE MUST ADVANCE,
“The problem for Yale in the imme-
diate future is to retain this character
as a national, democratic, public-spirited
body of citizens. When I say retain it,
I do not mean to advocate a policy of
mere conservatism. This is a growing
country. The man who sits still and
does not grow fails to retain what he
has had. If he hides his talent in a
napkin it is taken away from him. The
Yale of the future, to be a leader in
national affairs, must show its capacity’
to grow as the country grows. In an
age of expansion and consolidation, Yale
must be prepared to expand and consoli-
date. In an age which gives un-
rivalled opportunities -for leadership,
Yale men, individually and collectively,
must be prepared to take the lead in the
world of education and of public life.”
YALE TO BE A RALLYING POINT.
“And as we appeal to. the larger in-
stead of the smaller Yale constituency
for help, so we must recognize our ob-
ligations to a larger, as well as a smaller,
Yale constituency in the educational
work. These are the days of consolida-
tion in business and of expansion in
politics. There are powers growing in
the political and the commercial world
which cannot be adequately controlled
except by a similar growth and coher-
ence of educated public sentiment. - Let
us see to it, as Yale men, that Yale
takes the lead in this educational growth.
Not simply by what she does for her
students of by what she does for her
graduates, but by establishing such rela-
tions to other colleges and to other
schools that the thinking world—the
world which is engaged in something
besides the pursuit of money or the
chase after political success—will find in
Yale a rallying point for their efforts
and an inspiratior for their ideals. Let
us come into such connection with the
schools that they and we shall not feel
separate from one another, but that each
may facilitate the other’s work, whether
in the class room or in the play ground,
and be proud of the other’s success.
Let us strive to do-on a large scale what
many of our rivals have done, and done
brilliantly, on a smaller one: let us ef-
fect such an interchange of thought and
men between the different parts of the
educational system that Yale’s demo-
cratic education shall not be confined to
two thousand or three thousand stu-
dents; Yale’s national influence not be
centered in ten thousand or twenty
thousand graduates; but that every
schoolboy in the country and every col-
lege graduate in the land shall feel that
his study is inspired and his achieve-
ment exalted in the work which Yale is
doing for thé nation as a whole!”
ALUMNT SENTIMENT.
Mr. William H. St. John responded
for “Young Yale’ in a speech which was
both very enlivening and thoughtful and
which closed with a strong tribute and
promise of support to the new President.
Mr. Thomas Thacher, ’71, responded
for the alumni. He expressed his satis-
faction in the actidn of the Corporation
in raising Arthur Hadley to “the highest
position of responsibility in the country.”
He said the trip of the President to the
West had greatlv increased the enthu-
siasm for Yale, and he impressed upon
the men -present a sense of responsi-
bility for the development and support
of Yale.
Copyright, 1900,
by Yale Alumni Weekly.
Price 10 Cernrs,
PUBLIC LIFE.
Congressman Charles A. Russell, ’73,
spoke for “Public Life,” saying in part:
“Yale University received from Yale
College the inheritance of the spirit and
the action of liberty, law and loyalty.
Young Yale has added to the vigor of
old Yale in the defense and develop-
ment of our national life. She has been
public-spirited as the fathers were.
has been loyal as her sires were patriots.
She has been brave and faithful as the
ancestors were courageous and hopeful.
She has held and extended the influence
for the best, the purest and the safest
in all national affairs. She has shirked
no call to duty, no sacrifices for country,
no work for the betterment of life and
citizenship. She supports the govern-
ment, upholds the flag, and is confident
for the future. She is in public life to
do and to dare her share because she
knows her power, her influence and her
duty.
“At the commencement in 1898 I stood
on the Campus—the modern Campus
and not the dear old Campus with its
brick row and elms as we older boys
revere it and like to think of it, the old
Campus which I so much wish might
have been preserved as a constant and
holy benediction of the greater Univer-
sity—and saw the procession move to
the Chapel for the commencement exer-
cises. Ahead of the caps and gowns
were the uniforms of soldiers of our
country, defenders of our nationality,
sponsors for expanding liberty, agents
for advancing civilization and mission-
aries for the elevation and Christianizing
of mankind. They were Yale boys,—
God bless them as the University hon-
ored them! They were only a smatt
representation of the loyalty and the
public life of Yale. Cultured in the
paths of peace, they had donned the
garb of war and rather than prove false
to nationality—our nationality—in its
time of peril, they were ready to be
offered up; and with’sorrow and with
honor this community may not well for-
get that in these very late days, as
along the paths of the past, some of the
dearest and brightest sons of Yale have
given themselves as a sacrifice for the
nation that it might be strong and
stronger, that its influence and its help-
fulness might grow and expand ‘until
more and more the United States be-
comes blessed among principalities and
powers and merits and receives the re- -
’ ward of God’s servant to My people.”
“Many Yale men have held distin-
guished public places. Many more have
been fitted to do so, and all things con-
sidered, like as not it would have been
a good thing for the country if they
had held more of the public positions.
But the better part which Yale has held
and is holding in public life is the power
behind the office, the power which guides
and advises, the influence which re-
strains or propels, the wisdom which is
listened to and respected and followed.
Yale spirit and force which can hold a
superb ‘bucking line’ within a yard
of the goal and not let it over can hold
our public life within the bounds of
reason and law, can moderate fiberty so
that it becomes not license, can’ insure
honor and honesty and justice in deal-
ing with ourselves and with others and’:
can foster national growth and _ pros-
perity without the fear or the danger
of imperialism and even escape the de-,
struction of any political octopus.”
FROM A SISTER COLLEGE.
Professor Flavel S. Luther of Trinity
spoke for “Sister Colleges,” and said
among other things:
“Under present conditions the indivi-
duality of the graduate bears the -signa-
ture of his college, of Yale and her
sister colleges. What the effect of the
She
real American university is to be, how
potent its influence in character-build-
ing, is yet to be shown. I think I can
see strictly college requirements reduced
in amount, while a wide range of choice
is given the candidates as to the studies
which shall be offered. I think the
strictly college course is to be made
shorter. Both these things will make
high school work easier and more fruit-
ful. I think I can see the universities
devoting their resources entirely to pro-
viding the broadest opportunities to col-
lege graduates.
“Whether I am right or wrong, at
present you are of us, the sisterhood of
colleges. We congratulate you on your
prosperity, your noble list of graduates,
most of all on the unfailing loyalty and
faith of all who go out from your care.
Let us all be sure to keep step with the
best that is in the world, not forgetful
of the new, not seeking academic retire-
ment from the strife of living. The
colleges and universities must touch and
bless every sort of labor to accomplish
their real mission. The farmer, me-
cHanic, merchant, law-giver, engineer,
diplomat, clergyman, lawyer, physician,
and all the rest must find their Mecca
at the university; must find there each
what he most needs. There are scores
of learned professions to-day. Our
fathers knew but three.
“The university must recognize no de-
grees of dignity in honest endeavor. *
think of this because of your new leader.
I have never known him as professor.
I have to-night met him as President.
But for many years I have felt that I
knew Mr. Hadley, him who wunder-
stands about the things which men do,
and must do, in setting forward the civi-
lization of the world and making’ it a fit
place for human habitation. I am sure
that he can make the University a part
of active life rather than an escape
from it.”
THE CORPORATION.
Dr. J. W. Cooper of New Britain,
spoke for “The Corporation.” He said
he would like to have the Scientific De-
partment referred to as Sheffield Col-
lege with the others called schools. In
closing he told how much the Univer-
sity owed to President Dwight, and to
all the men of the past who built the
solid foundations. Said the French sol-
dier to the surgeon who was probing
his wound: “Go a little deeper, doctor,
and you will find the emperor.” So if
we could look into the heart of Prest-
dent Dwight we would find there, as in
all our hearts, but in none more elearly
than in his, the name of Peer
On motion of H. S. Robinson, a ris-
ing vote was taken to send the greetings
of this assemblage to President Dwight,
“than whom Yale never had a truer
friend.”
JUDGE TOWNSEND'S LIVING PICTURES.
It was after midnight when the last
toast, “Living Pictures,” was reached,
but all were willing to wait as. late as
that for the man who was to respond,
Hon. W. K. Townsend, ’71. He said
among other things:
“My first picture is of Ritualism: at
Yale. One morning recently one of the
new chaplains sought to inject some life
and color into the early chapel exer-
cises, and so he read the Ten Command-
merits and the choir responded: ‘Lord,
incline our hearts to Keep Thy Law.’
The next day he was waited upon by
a studenit.:who deplored the ‘departure
from tig old-time consérvatism of Con-
gregr*"*Malism’ and protested against
this Ytroduction of this Episcopal ritual-
ism about the Sabbath Day and adultery
and coveting your neighbor’s goods, into
the Chapel’s exercises. ‘But,’ said the