Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-11-27
UNIVERSITY LIFE.
Extracts from President Adams Address to
the Students of Cornell.

Extracts from President Adams Address to
the Students of Cornell.
Now the question that every one will
ask OF himself when he comes to the
university is something like this: What
is the great business of university life?
How am [ to make the university of
most account to myself? How is the
university beststo prepare me for the
duties which 1 shall perform after 1 go
out into the world? Now, how is this
question to be answered? 1 think
there are a number of answers that
can be made. Some of them may
seem to you, possibly, commonplace;
but the world is made up of common
places.
l. Now the first business of a student
in the university is to care for the de-
velopment of mind-the development
Of your intelligence, of your powers of
discrimination. The great business of
a university is the development of in
tellectual power-not merely the learn
ing OF things, but the beginning of that
attitude of mind which will enable you
to grapple with the problems of life.
whatever they may be. If you have
strength of mind, acumen, accuracy of
perception, good Judgment. it matters
not whether you remember what you
have been taught or whether you have
forgotten it all; you have still a
| good education. 1t is for this reason
that disciplinary studies are of so
much value. If [ was more success
full in n thing than in another when
was in college, it was in mathematics.
And yet l should not now enter upon
an examination for admission to this
university in algebra with any degree
of confidence. So with other branches
that l studied. / speak of this for the
purpose of showing you that the great
business of a university is not the learn
ing of things you are likely to learn in
after life, but to get a development that
will make you men and women. That
wit, who said of a certain study that it
was not necessary for a scholar to
know it, but it was at least necessary
that he should have forgotten it.
J 2. The way in which this is to be OBJ.
tanned is By the development of char
acter. 1 think it may fairly be said
that there is no moral quality in mind
orinins.lligence. Intelligence is power,
and development of the mind is power.
But whatever you say of intelligence
as a power may be said of the steam
engine. 1t goes here and there as it
may be directed; it is an agency OF
great good or an agency of great evil.
And whether the mind you acquire
here, the intelligence, the good Judg-
ment is to be directed Alright. is to be
determined by that other consideration
l have named. namely, the develop
ment of your character. / think.
therefore, at the very foundation OF
all education should be the matter OF
the development of character. Iesteem
it of primary Importance as the guiding
force that is to make use of what you
attain in the classroom. You are to
have your character developed to guide
it Alright or your education will be a
curse to the world rather than a ben
eft.
5. A third way in which these ends
are to be attained is by the develop
ment of good manners. lido not mean
here exactly what would be meant by
politeness; but l mean that indescriba-
Bile something which attaches itself to
certain people SO that when we meet
them we feel that these people are gen.
tlemen and ladies. There is a certain
something about people that attracts,
a certain something that repels. l am
not on this occasion to explain what
that difference is. But if you go out
into life, you will find that you are ut
tracted to certain people not SO much
because Of what they can do as because
of what they seem to be toyou; because
of their mi toward you and
toward those with whom they asso-
ciate. 1 think, therefore, that atten.
ton to the of the individual
is a matter of prime Importance, and
in this catalogue of necessities for the
acquiring OF the best education l would
not forget this matter that is so often
forgotten. would not attach so great
Importance to the development of man.
ner as to the development Of strength
of mind. At the same time strength
of mind is practically useless unless il
is accompanied with such manners as
to make it effective upon those with
whom we associate. Cornell Era.
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