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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (April 18, 1900)
~~ Vou IX. No. 29: ‘NEW HAVEN, CONN., WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 1900. Copyright, 1900, by Yale Alumni Weekly. - Price 10 Cents. A CONFERENCE OF IMPORTANCE, Leaders in Student Religion in the East Meet at Yale. % 4 ‘rom Thursday night of last week to” Sunday night of this week, Dwight Hall at Yale has had a series of meet- ings, which -have not attracted a great deal of ‘public notice, but which were at least as important as any meet- ings the Yale Campus sees from “Rush” night to the Commencement cold lunch. Not that there was anything very start- ling done; or anything very unusual at- tempted. @Seventy-six. delegates from forty-six different institutions of higher learning in New England, New York and Pennsylvania, had come together for the annual intercollegiate conference of college Y. M. C. A. presidents and ofh- cers. They have been doing it for the last nine or ten years; more or less, and there are other such conferences in the country at about this time of year, one covering the middle West, one the far West, one the South. Pennsylvania has one all to herself also. The program of the meetings, printed farther on, shows papers and discussions very tech*scal, considering all kinds of ways and means of religious work- manship; as, how to improve the courses ‘in Bible study or how to fur- ther interest the student body in for- eign missions, and the carrying out of the latter day campaign for “the evange- lization of the world in this generation” ; or what kind of a talk is most effective at a preparatory school, when a deputa- tion, as they call these ambassadors, try to give some facts about the real life and the sound life of the college. One would not much want to attend all the meetings unless he were in the work himself and wanted to get some practi- cal advice for it. 2 But you would not have gone by a group of these men, without stopping twice to look at them’; and you would not talk with any of them very long, without growing thoughtful and cheerful over the sane, effective growing work that is being done in the present day and generation in making strong the prin- ciples of Christian manhood in the picked class of educated young Ameri- cans. Here is a fair symptom, and a thought-provoking one, of the or- ganized college Christianity of to-day. It reveals, in the presence of so many delegates and the general officers, like Mr. Mott, whose hand is upon the work the country over, the most business-like cooperation. Notes are compared on the trial of this or that plan; cam- paigns laid out on still broader lines with the inspiration for their execution that is found in the support of men who have already accomplished much, and everything looked at from the stand- point of what can be made effective. Mistakes of this school or that college are corrected, as well as new ideas given. It is scientific work, and it is doubtful if any kind of religious work in the country is receiving such thoughtful and intelligent and broad-minded attention as this work among collegians. Its strategic advantage seems to have been recognized only in late years, but since then there has been done such work as to make even those people, who rely largely on the worst papers for their in- formation, to look almost as often at the things college students do to make bet- ter places out of the towns their col- lege is placed in, as they used to at the things they have been supposed to do. to make those places unliveable. The men who came to this last confer- ence represented eighty-four active stu- ¥ P,. Andersen. institutions of learning having an enroll- - ment of nearly thirty thousand students. Of this enrollment, twenty-five per cent. are now members of these associations, which shows a gain over former years, and an average, when all the different institutions are considered, which is quite remarkable. Twenty-five per cent. is a good deal less than half the figure for Yale, but the conditions of some of these institutions are totally different * from those obtaining here. Of the members of these associations, more than two thousand are hard at work in that form of intelligent religious self-improvement, known among collegiate workers as “de- votional Bible Study.” The presence of the delegate from West Point was an interesting thing. It , is the first time a cadet has ever been ex- cused to attend one of these conventions. Last year the President had to take his furlough in order to be present. Sim- ple experience has made the army show such favor. Not only the record of the West Point Association itself, but such work as the Y. M. C. A. did among the camps in the last war, seems to have counted very strongly in the official estimate of the value of this organization. One of the Princeton delegates, by the way, Mr. Gardiner, who is .to be the General Secretary of the Princeton Y. M. C. A., next year, enlisted in the last war and was with the troops at Chicka- mauga, and himself drew up the consti- tution which was adopted for the man- agement of all the Y. M. C. A. tents and quarters through the camp. As for the West Point chapter, to call it by that name, it includes practically everybody in the Academy. An exam- ple of the way these men do their work was given by this West Point Associa- tion last Fall, when they secured from all the principal colleges, prompt and accurate reports, with a plotted dia- gram, of all the football matches each week. This made the Y. M. C. A. head- quarters thegplace to get reliable foot- ball news. | i While the delegates were in New Ha- ven they were entertained at Yale’s active headquarters, Yale Hall. It was a great night-for the main freauenters of the Hall and esiecif ify iat youthful por- tion of them. There was lots of good singing and talking, but’ probably what was most impressive to the youth was the chance to get right next to a man like McCracken of Pennsylvania and wonder at him and ask questions. The attention of the visiting collegians was not entirely restricted to Yale Hall, for some of the young men who make use of it and join the Yale men in making it the center of good influence in that part of the town, invited the delegates to their social headquarters, the “Sil- ver Toned Social Club,’ where there are most interesting things to see and where everything was ordered in a most admirable way. The program of the week follows: oe THE PROGRAM. Thursday, April 12—7.30 Pp. m., De- votional. 8 Pp m., “Student Associa- tion Field’ of the East,” by Harry W. Hicks. Friday, April 13—9 A. m., Devotional, and introduction of delegates. 9.30, “Qualifications and Preparation of the President,’ by.E. C. Jenkins. 10.15, “Work and Relationships of the Presi- dent,” by F. B. Edwards, Williams. Ir A. M., “The General Secretary, his Field, Qualifications, Work and Rela- tionships,” by Henry B. Wright, Yale. 2.30 P. M., Distinguishing Characteris- tics of the Student Association,’ by H. 3.30 P.M., “Mission Study,’ by F. M. Gilbert. 4.30 P. M., “Publications,” by H. W. Hicks. 7.30 .P. M., Devotional. 8 p. m., “Bible Study dent associations in colleges and other’ ™ Department,” by H. W. Hicks. -Cline, Wesleyan; Saturday, April 14—9 A. M., Devo- tional. 9.45, “The Northfield Confer- ence’) by @=B..o Pe. Andersen” -t0ms; “Deputation Work in Preparatory Schools,” by George Gleason. 2.30, P. M., “Mission Study,” by F. P. Turner. 3.30 p. M., “Records and Reports,” by Henry White. 4 p. mM, “The Intercollegian,” by H. W. Hicks. 7 Pp. M., The Finances of the Student Association,” by F. C Parker, Brown. Hall. Sunday, April 15—9.30 A. M., “The Spiritual Life of the President, by George Gleason,” 2.30 Pp. M., “A Spirit- ual Awakening,” by John R. Mott. 7.30 Pp, M., “Policy for the Year,’ by John R. Mott. THE DELEGATES. The list of delegates follows: T. S. F. H. Bogart, Uni- versity of Maine; E. E. Ventres, Colby College; E. A. Wells, Johns Hopkins; N. § Elderkin, tr. (Amherst: 1° x. Lawton, Boston University College Liberal Arts; Orville Chadwell, Boston University School of Medicine; Herbert Phinney, J. P. Catlin, Mass. Ins. of Tech- nology; C. F. Shaw, H. H. Morse and E. €. Carter Piarvard: “J, Pf. Coleman, Mt. Hermon School; W. C. Godden, Mt. Hermon School; F. T. Dillingham, Worcester Polytechnic Institute; H. M. Craig, Centenary Collegiate Institute ; H. S. Van Woert, Rutgers; F. L. Jane- way and O. F. Gardiner, Princeton; H. N. Jordan, Alfred University; E. Tucker and E. T. Flanders, Hartwick Seminary; B. R. Andrews, Cornell; F. C. Heckel, Un. and Bel. Hos. Med. Col- lege; J. F. Rice, College of Physicians and Surgeons; E. R. Hildreth, Cornell Medical College; A. Britt, Columbia; H. B. Fernald, New York University ; O. D. Esten, University of Rochester ; Frieser Metzger, Union College; J. L. Chapman, Jr., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; C. H. Burnett, U. S. Military Acatemy? FC. MeCracken= i &. Wood, W. F. Thatcher, J. E. Barnard, E. W. Kriebel, T. S. Evans and F. Weit- zel, University of Pennsylvania; C. H. Drown, University of Vermont; R. E. Clark, C. B. Fernald and F. C. Parker, Brown; E. W. Dow, Dartmouth; J. E. Wilson, Bates; E. T. Ware, Union Theological Seminary; F. B. Edwards, Williams; J. E. Parker, Middlebury; J. L. Hyde, Blair Presbyterian Acad- emy; J. G. Brinckerhoff, College of the City of New York; W.-C. Bates and C. Clark, Mohegan Lake School; H. D. Evans, Bowdoin; E. C. Miller, Colgate ; R. A. Waite, Syracuse; M. Mills, P. D. Moody, J. F. Ferry, R. H. Edwards, Yale. State Secretaries—F. S. Goodman, New York; E. T. Bates, Connecticut. State College Secretaries—E. C. Jen- kins, Syracuse University# E. D. Soper, Harrisburg. Intercollegiate Secretggies — W.. C. Pickersgill, Boston; W. Georgi, New York; R. G. Hoopei* Philadelphia. Speakers and Secretaries—H.. W. Hicks, H. B. Wright, H. P. Andersen, F. P. Turner, G. Gleason, J. R. Mott, R. €. Morse, H:* White, F.. C.° Parker, E, GCG. Jenkins, -F. Mi. Gilbert.”. Ly >» By Sk: Sophomore Class Government, Beginning with the first term of Col- lege next Fall, the government of the Academic Sophomore class will be in the hands of the Dean and Registrar of as in former years. The change was the College instead of a class committee, made necessary hy the introduction of the elective system in the class, and does not imply dissatisfaction with the old method. The three. upper classes are thus to be governed from the Dean’s office. 8 p. M, Visit to Yale YALE CREW TRAINING, Bad Weather Hampers but Does Not. Siop Progress. The Yale crews began their work on the harbor again, April 16, after a rest of four days—a portion of the Easter recess. More than half the training time for the race with Harvard at New London, June 28, has now gone by, and, as the first two boats are beginning to take shape, it is possible to speak more definitely of the material for ,the final eight. The plan, outlined in these columns when training began in January, to bring out more men for places in the boat, al- though managed with great care, failed to do all that was expected of it, and the picking of the sixteen best men was an easier matter than it should have been. While not producing any material fit for the first boat, the new plan did give a large number of men the benefit of several weeks’ coaching, who being thus interested and helped, may come out © next year and go to the front. Both Captain Allen and Dr; Gallaudet feel that the system is on the right lines, however, and that another year’s trial will show greater results. The first and second boats were picked about a week ago, and almost every rowing day since that time has been a new combination tried in both of them. In the first boat the only veterans who have rowed regularly were Captain Allen at No. 6 and Wickes, the No. 2 of the Crews of 1898 and 1899, who has been tried at various places in the boat, including stroke. Williams, the stroke, and Niedecken, the No. 7 of last year, have both been in the second boat a part of the time. Williams is at present stroking the latter boat. Holt, the bow oar, and Warmoth, the stroke of last year’s Freshman Crew, Williams and Cameron have been tried at stroke in. the first boat. Blagden also of the last Freshmen Crew—No. 7—has been at that slide in the first boat for a few days and is doing good work, Niedecken having been moved back to Griswold’s place at No. 3. The Crew rowed in this order the last day of the term: Bow—Atkinson, I901; 2, Cameron, 1900; 3, Niedecken, 1900; 4, Wickes, 1900; 5, Auchincloss, 1901; 6, Captain Allen, 1900; stroke, Warmoth, 1902, a combination averaging somewhat lighter than the usual Yale crew, perhaps 168 pounds. On the same day the Second Crew rowed as follows: Bow, Minor, 1900; 2, Mitchell, 1900; 3, Holt, 1902; 4 ,Kunzig, 1902; 5, Newport, 1901; 6, Brock, 1900; 7, Hooker, 1902; stroke, Williams, 1900. F. G. Brown, Igot, is not a candidate for the Crew this year, his duties as football captain taking all the time he has to spare. He has been appointed permanent coach of the Fresh- men Crew. Worse weather for eight rowing has scarcely ever been known at the har-. bor. A strong breeze, sometimes a gale, every afternoon has made the water outside the lower bridge impossible for even a barge. Only once during the month that the crews have been on the harbor before the Easter recess, did they venture into the harbor proper. Even the river was so choppy that its best stretches could not be used, the only spot available being a short section in the lee of the coal docks, where most of thé training has been done. In spite of the bad weather, however, good pro- gress has been made in the points of the stroke that are taught at this time of the year. A shell was used for the first time this year, Saturday, April 7, with the stroke at 24, and though the water was rough the men kept it well on its bottom and pulled the stroke well through.
