"As school prepares you for the University, so the University offers you priceless opportunities to lay the foundations upon which in later life you will build your castles," said the Honorable Joseph C. Grew '02, Under Secretary of State, in an address Saturday evening at an informal meeting of the Class of 1929 in the Union. He continued:
"Now what are same of the specific opportunities that then out to you to grasp or to lose during the coming four years? Let us for a moment examine them in the light of your future careers. Let us look at the facts.
Scholarship Is Primary Purpose
First and foremost, the development of scholarship. That is the primary and fundamental purpose of the University. Scholarship is an end in itself, a priceless gift that enriches life, that ennobles its possessor, that renders limitless the joy of living, that raises human standards and promotes human progress. But tonight I want to look at scholarship from the point of view of its practical applicability to your future careers.
Scholarship implies not only the acquisition of knowledge, the building up of intellectual culture but, even of greater importance, it implies the development of mental clarity and vigor, the ability to use your minds to the greatest possible effect upon whatever problems may in future present themselves. Indeed, one of the greatest assets you can acquire in your University training is to learn how to think straight.
"No amount of brilliancy in the practical rough-and tumble of life will ever make up for clear, wel-ordered thinking upon which to base sane judgment. No amount of instinct, flair or wisdom can ever take the place of intensive thought and study. And this is one of the gifts that scholarship confers, the habit of painstaking, analytical, thorough investigation of every problem that arises in life, the habit of clear thinking.
"It is from past experience that we must make our present deductions. Without a knowledge of the world's past experience we should be like a ship without a compass, shaping our course into the future by guess-work alone.
"Mens Sana in Corpore Sano"
"So much for intellectual development, I turn to the physical side. Mens sana in corpore sano. Much has been said and written about the proper place of athletics in University life. There have been debate and difference of opinion. But on one point there can only be unanimity: the body must be built up and strengthened during this formative period; a sound constitution must be developed to stand the wrack and strain of future years.
"And now I turn to the last of the three virtues, intellectual, physical moral. For the sake of the University, for the sake of your parents, for the sake of your future families, for your own sakes, fellows, keep your moral standards high.
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