Brown and White Vol. 3 no. 14

              as i said to those of the alumni whom i had the pleasure of meeting at commencement time last june i want to be in close touch with the graduates of the university not merely to win their confidence and support but to have their advice and criticism the alumni are on the whole the best judges of the value and efficiency of a college course for they have put it to the practical test i hope to have many opportunities to take counsel with you and learn from you how your college life looks from the viewpoint of a busy life and to learn too it may be how this college life might have been productive of more and greater good i like to ask the mature and successful college graduate to what study or influences he attrib utes his best thought and work and i find the answer to be almost always training in good mental habits and the p rsonal influence of some one or more teachers here as in life generally it is the intangible that has vitality and endures while the facts and the figures like scaffolding fall away it is this great fact — the overwhelming import ance of training and personal influence in edu cation — that leads me to advocate the widening of the curriculum in our technical schools in the direction of the humanities particularly in the lines of english language and literature history and political science the development of le high university so largely on the technical side was the natural result of environment combined with its unusually talented corns of technical instructors who have attracted students from all over the country it was moreover judge packer's wish that the inflnence of the school should be felt directly on the industrial enter prises of eastern pennsylvania so prominently has lehigh university become identified with the engineering professions that many are sur prised to hear that it has also classical and liter ary departments i am very anxious that these departments should also grow and be numer ously attended i think this growth would have a favorable effect on the technical departments by bringing into them a mellowing and illumi nating influence which it is the particular pro vince of the humanities to foster we have now as you know a new professor of english language and literature professor w c thayer a man of vast culture who will deyote his whole time and thought not only to providing effectual drill in writing english so deplorably neglected in many of our colleges but also to inspiring a love for its literature i shall ask the trustees in the near future to provide a full professor of history and political science to round out our course in this direc tion there is no use in getting second-rate men or mere bookworms to teach these branches in technical schools the students will have noth ing to do with teachers of literature and history who fall below the standard of their teachers in engineering i have no doubt of the eagerness with which technical students will accept these studies when they are taught by masters who combine knowledge with enthusiasm i want to claim for engineering schools a place in our educational system side by side with our col leges dr drown's dinner the dinner to dr drown by the new york lehigh club is now a matter of history but in its arrangements in its numbers and in its enthusiasm it was the best dinner that has ever been given by any lehigh alumni organization among those present were the following of the faculty : dr chandler dr ringer professor merriman professor klein pro fessor robinson dr mcfarlane professor thornburg professor thayer and dr hyde of the in structors : mr meaker mr lam bert mr semple mr brooks and mr kiefer of the trustees : mr wm h sayre and mr drinker of the alumni and friends : r g cooke j h wells j e brooks r b brown c 0 luckenbach s h harris l r gaston 11 dearborn w a payne h s mervin r s gadd h gjertsen dr fisher r a lockwood w e bond,w h macclareth h c carter h k landis h w frau enthal c h deans a s reeves e s jarrett r s mercur j s heilig david bruner t m eynon h b reed h r price r r kitchell g a low c mcx leoser,w.d far well a long r s taylor l b trehane a brod head c p coleman r h.wilbur g b linderman w m scudder a e forstall h van duyne f r coates s d warriner j p white chas bull r s orcutt a johnston and b h jones of the undergraduates laramy 96 j w thurston 96 herr 96 w s jackson 96 howell 96 hess 96 cunningham 96 mora 96 buvinger 96 e e taylor 96 mccalla 96 homer 98 and b d riegel 98 the dinner was held in the beautiful banquet hall of the brunswick and was perfect in all its particulars the hall was decorated with brown and white flags and from the gallery an orchestra discoursed music through out dinner and afterwards played the accompaniments to the lehigh songs that were sung the menus were simple and tasteful and copies of lehigh songs were handed to each man the singing was a great success under the leadership of j hollis wells 85 the special train consisting of a day coach and the directors car left at 8 p m friday and took in it the president faculty a good delegation of instructors and about 20 students it arrived in new york about quarter past five and about half past six the diners began to assemble in the parlor of the brunswick where dr drown with the honored guests of the evening hon seth low president of columbia gen francis a walker president of the massa chusetts institute of technology dr rossiter w eaymond secre tary of the institute of american the courses of study in these schools should be so arranged that while keeping well in mind the profession for which the student is especially fitting himself they should provide for him a rounded education which shall take rank in general usefulness with the usual college course what an intensely interesting life is our col lege life of today ; what a wonderful specializa tion in knowledge does its curriculum show and full-fledged sciences are now taught which were unheard of a few years ago what an opportunity for a student to choose a line of study for choose he must in thjis wealth of knowledge and yet strange to say with this widening of opportunity of the increased free dom of choice there seems to be a sacrifice of some of the scholarly tone which characterized our older education and the average college student of today does not seem to be getting as much out of his college life as did his father and grandfather before him the pendulum is now swinging to its extreme limit in the direction of the freedom of the stu dent and it is well that it is so to emphasize the fact that self-reliance and self-control can only come with freedom but it is also well to recog nize the fact than in this direction lies license there is no question as to the desirability of physical culture in our colleges and also of the sports and games which it brings in its train but i think we may also say that there is no question that too much time and thought are now given to recreation and athletics in our modern college life so that in the mind of a vast number of students they overshadow com pletely its scholastic side the pendulum must swing back again to the scholastic side and then perhaps we may be able to enforce the simple rule that nothing shall find a place in college life which is not directly helpful to scholarship and mental and moral development but after all the crying ' need of this country today is not scholars engineers lawyers or clergymen unless indeed we could have all the latter cast in dr parkhurst's mould but good citizens our average good citizen has been tried and found wanting except when galvanized into action by some inspring leader we must begin educa tion and training of the good citizen in our schools and colleges and the sooner the colleges recognize the duty the better it will be for our country to the organized force of evil and corruption in our political life we must oppose organized forces in the interests of honest and pure government ; and to the greedy self-seek ing which supplies the tremendous impulse and power of our low politicians must be opposed the unselfish enthusiam of the patriot it is surely worth while to make the attempt to inspire this enthusiasm in our college youth i intend to do what i can in this direction at le high and i am going to ask the assistance of the distinguished college presidents who honor us by their presence this evening who have done so much by word and deed to elevate the stand ard of political life in our large cities and in the nation president seth low of colum bia was then introduced and amid much applause responded to the toast of " columbia he spoke as follows : columbia rejoices with you tonight in honor of your new president we felt last spring that you had made a felicitous selection in dr drown and we on our part did ourselves the honor of conferring upon him the honorary degree of ll d since i have been here tonight i have realized more than ever that columbia then honored one of its most distinguished sons when it dignified him in the way i have just told you applause one of the marked features of lehigh univer sity is that in its line of development it has taken up the line of least resistance and has adapted itself to its surroundings and immediate requirements well that is a keynote that i have tried to impress upon columbia to keep up that element of power that is inherent in the life of a great city like new york i do not regret as i have said before that the students at columbia do not have a residential college life because they have there the opportunity of getting a thorough college education under city conditions by which they are fitted to enter at once upon the active part of their after career and to solve those great problems of city govern ment which lie before the american people applause that is the principle which you have adopted at lehigh — a natural embodiment of surround ing conditions and it is a principle which is just as sound for you as for us it is a pleasure to me to know that your pro fessors of english of chemistry and of philos ophy have emanated from columbia college it shows that the ties between us are many and on o\ir side i can assure you that those ties are cherished lam here tonight to rejoice with you in your nomination and i wish dr drown godspeed and success both for myself and on behalf of my college of columbia applause gen walker the president of the massachusetts institute of tech nology was the next speaker and he responded in a few well chosen words to the toast of that institu tion he spoke as follows : in taking from us dr drown you have taken a man whose place we do not expect to fill adequately for many years to come in fact all the colleges in the country have for the past ten years been attempting to suppress the institute of technology by taking all her best men and now lehigh has streched forth her hand and snatched the brightest jewel that we had there is not one of you who has the faintest idea how good a man you have got yet for all that i am glad to be here tonight to join in your felicitations upon the accession of dr drown to continued on second page lehigh university south bethlehem pa october 29 1895 vol 111 sto 14 the brown and white calendar tuesday oct 29 — banjo club re hearsal eagle at hotel 7 p m meeting of mathematical club 7.30 p m wednesday oct 80 — m e sec tion of engineering society 7.30 p m thursday oct 31 — glee club re hearsal at christmas hall 7 p m saturday nov 2 — lehigh vs orange athletic club at east orange banjo club rehearsal at eagle hotel 7 p.m examination in entrance physics notices the business manager is in need of several copies of no 2 present volume of bkown and white if any subscriber has a number of this issue which he does not intend to keep please send to j b given manager the regular meeting of the mathematical club will be held tuesday evening october 29 at 7.15 o'clock in the physical laboratory bayard 96 will read a paper o/i calculus which will be of special interest to members of the junior class doubtless every one in taking up differential calcu lus has been bothered in certain proofs for differentiation in drop ping differentials of the higher orders the paper embodies the author's remedies for overcoming these difficulties and as it displays much thought and careful study will prove interesting to all ac quainted with the subject all are invited to be be present there will be a regular meeting of the mechanical section of the en gineering society in the examina tion hall physical laboratory we dnesday at 7.15 p.m two papers will be presented as follows : e h dutcher on " practical application of compressed air and w s avars on " waterwheel gover nors chairman the sophomore miners and me tallurgists in charge of mr bar rel inspected the plant of the crane iron company of catasau qua on saturday the trip was made with a view of comparing the arrangements of the plant with the bethlehem iron company's particular attention was paid to the stone furnaces old styled hot blast stoves and vertical blowing engines a scrub game of lacrosse was played on saturday morning be tween sides chosen by d w wil son and schirner about twenty four men were out and a spirited game played by both sides tied the score which was five all mining engineers and the hon david bennett king president of lafayette alumni association held a reception about 7 o'clock r g cooke president of new york lehigh club gave his arm to dr drown and the party assembled in the banquet hall president cooke presided over the principal table with dr drown on his right and hon seth low on his left the various courses were then served and about 9 o'clock the last course having been taken away and cigars lighted president cooke arose to introduce the first speaker of the evening and spoke as fol lows : alumni undergraduates and friends of lehigh university i in behalf of the lehigh club of now york city extend to you all a most hearty and fervent welcome this is the greatest occa sion of the new york lehigh club's existence and it feels very much flattered that its call to the alumni and undergraduates of lehigh to welcome our new president has been so heartily responded to the new york lehigh club desires me to express to our new president our great sense of honor in having him with us this evening and also through me desires to pledge to him their heartiest assistance and cooperation in all questions in which they could be of any aid to him i would further say that the new york lehigh club is also honored tonight by the presence of some very distinguished guests to whom i would extend a most cordial welcome gentlemen the first toast of the evening is a silent one : gentlemen i propose a standing toast to our beloved founder judge asa packer this toast was then drunk by all pres ent in silence mr cooke then said the lehigh university is now entering upon a new era i have now the pleasure of introducing to you a gentleman whose previous reputation in the educational world and the world at large fully justifies our confidence in him that the great trust confided to his care will receive his earnest devotion i introduce to you the new president of the lehigh university dr thomas messinger drown who will respond to the toast of " the university dr drown arose and amid great applause spoke as follows : mr president and gentlemen of the new york lebigh club