Advertisement

Communication.

EDITORS DAILY CRIMSON: - President Dwight has addressed the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Yale. He admits both free-will and the unavoidable force of circumstances. He continues with an exhortation to avoid extremes and then expresses his supreme confidence in Yale. He says the Yale student of to-day should be "just what the Yale student of the pasthas been." It is of course, just and proper for the heads of institutions to believe in his work. But to deny the necessity of improvement is unworthy of an educated man, much more of the president of a university. The great man of to-day must believe in great possibilities not in either a perfect or an incurable present.

It is interesting, also, to hear the Yale definition of a gentleman from which "cultured manners" is excluded. A man can be just as manly with refinement as without and there is no reason why he should not make himself acceptable to his companions rather than otherwise. President Dwight draws a line between a true gentleman and a gentleman of leisure." In other words a gentleman must do his share of the world's work. This is essentially a modern idea; it is a northern idea and a republican idea; and it deserves support everywhere.

Finally we come to one of the main differences between Yale and Harvard. Yale cares for the individual, Harvard for the institution. Yale tries to develope a man's character and we have an excellent and definite statement of what that character should be. Yale tries to give men to the world. Harvard tries to give an institution to men to give them a place where they can develop themselves and work out their own character. Harvard's principle recognizes more fully the differences in men. It has far larger possibilities and is based on a great confidence in human nature.

H.

Advertisement
Advertisement