St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1891-05-28
"a. j ohnsbury, Thursday, May 2S, 1891
PRESIDENT GATES ADDRESS.

Amherst college, it being the day set
apart for the dedication of the Pratt
athletic field, costing $4,000, the
gift of Frederic B. Pratt of Brooklyn,
director of the affairs of the growing
and popular Pratt Institute of that
city, and graduate of Amherst four
years ago At the dedication of the
Pratt Field on Friday, Introductory
remarks were made by DIR. Edward
Hitchcock Mr.. Pratt delivered an adj
dress of presentation, and President
Gates an address of acceptation
Following is President Gates adj
dress:
When the military glory of the
French was at it's height under
Napoleon, this proverb was current:
To the English belongs the domin-
ion of the sea; to the French the
dominion of the land to the Germans
the dominion of the air. The col
lege student of fifty years ago was
allowed, in public opinion, to have
the dominion of the air in the realm
of ideas but he was not supposed to
know anything about practical life.
nor was it admitted that he had the
right to the full possession of his
bodily powers. You know the type
of the college student who was con-
sidered interesting thirty years ago
too often pale, narrow-chested,
dyspeptic! In the competition
which the college-bred man has to
meet in the life of our time, he has been
driven by the logic of events to pay
bodily powers. 1t is not enough
IDEAS Always, this is of supreme
place of intense intellectual life and
1ege. But the collegian who is to
succeed in life must have a physique
as well!
You remember how Antaus in his
struggle for life was forced to make
the first safety touchdown; and got
new strength whenever he came in
contact with mother earth. The
system of college training in our day
has learned a lesson from this old
fable. To get possession of all his
bodily power is an important part of
a liberal education for any man. To
have the full mastery Of a healthful
body gives man the truer mastery
of a sound mind, and under the
guidance of truth, gives him a truer
and higher spiritual life. And the
especial significance of grounds like
these presented to a college to take
their place in the equipment of the
college as having an integral part in
bringing about a symmetrical de-
velopment of body and mind, lies in
the fact that college management in
our country has come to understand
the Importance of systematic physical
training for all undergraduates. In
this work, Amherst has most honor
ably led the way Our beloved In
structor of Hygiene is the Nestor of
this work among American colleges.
But the charm Of this gift and of
this occasion is that this is a field
for the athletic training and athletic
sports of men who know that the
body is not the chief thing. We have
bodies We are minds and souls.
This field is not designed to train
professional athletes. 1t is not
given to exalt the physical at the ex-
pense of the spiritual. 1t is not
given to amuse idlers. 1t is given to
secure the best bodily conditions to
men who aim at putting themselves
in the best possible intellectual and
moral condition. 1t is given to add
physical power to the manhood of
men who are at college primarily to
secure intellectual and moral power.
Always mastery in the full use of all
ones powers of mind and heart is
the object of the true college. Am
herst makes scholars. She also
makes men. And this field, with its
noble appointments, is given to
young men who are in training to
become moral and intellectual ath-
letes in the worlds work 1t is
given that by due care for the train
ing of the body, the men who use it
may secure the physical stamina,
1.-The staying power" which shall
enable them to use what the college
gives them effectively and power
fully, and to use it for many years,
please God, in the active service of
their fellow-men.
The scene before us is like a scene
from the old Greek life. About us
lies our Athens, set in its ''encircling
violet wreathed hills" The spirit of
beauty thrills through this clear air.
The life of our students is awake to
it. 1t is well that the gift we receive
today is beautiful. 1t comes as part
of systematic fostering of the in
terests of Amherst by family whose
sons we are glad to number among
the foster-sons of our college The
gymnasium was the gift of the older
brother; now comes this Athletic
field from the younger.
The beauty of the scene, the rivalry
in gymnastic drill under the combined
influence of music and motion, the
generous contests of emulous youth,
the GENIAL interest of u,hite-h aired