The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-06-28
LIBERAL EDUCATION.
The Subject Of Senator Lodges Ad-
dress to Harvard Men.
Bowdoin College Centennial--A Mas
tcrly Grafton by Chief Justice NJ. w.
Fuller.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass, June 2S-Two things
made the commencement Of 1894 at Har.
ward unique. 1t marked the close of Presi-
dent Eliot's % years of service at the head
Of the university-an event suitably com.
memorated at the alumni dinner by the
presentation OF gold medal TO the presi-
dent by Joseph II. Choate on behalf OF
the alumni.
The day also marked the first COM
mencement upon which. by vote of the
president and fellows, punches and dis
titled liquors had been prohibited within
rhe college rooms. Aside from these two
points. the day presented no departure
from the many similar occasions in
former years
At the anniversary exercises of the Phi
Beta Kappa Alpha of Massachusetts,,
Senator Lodge delivered the following
Dfztioa:
Mr.. Lodges Address
My purpose today is TO speak Of lib
eral education In its broadest and truest
sense without any reference to recent con-
troverses over the study of what are mis-
named the dead languages. To under
stand, however, the real relation of lib
eral education to our American life we
must have the true as well as the con-
ventional definition.
The first expression that we get as to
the purposes of oar own university is
given In ''New England's FRS: Fruits"
published in London in 1643. IL is there
said; "One Of the next things we ionged
for and looked after was TO advance
learning and perpetuate 1t to posterity,
dreading to leave an illiterate ministry TO
the churches when our present ministers
shall lie in the dust"
The later charters Of the college all pro-
posed as its purpose that it should fit per-
sons for the church and for civil employ
ment IL was the object of the college,
as the Puritans looked at It, to perpetuate
learning. which was at once the badge
and guide of civilization, but It was also
and equally the object of the college to
fit the students for life. The early found.
ers mentioned only one field of work.
that Of the ministry. The clergy were
then the most powerful. and, to the Puri-
tan mind. by far the most important
class in the community.
Fifty years later the views had widened
and the expression of the purpose of a
college is defined as the preparation of
men, not only for the church, but the
civil employment, or in other words, for
the service OF the state. This idea has
gone on broadening ever since, until now
the true conception of the highest duty of
. great university is, or ought to be, to fit
Its scholars for the life which lies before
them when they go out into the world.
Good Citixenship.
The great function of liberal education
Is to fit man for the life about him, and
20 prepare him. whatever profession or
pursuit he may follow, to be a useful
citizen of the country which gave him
birt.s I'm the United States this is of re-
culiar moment, because here every man
has imposed upon him the duties of q
sovereignty. and In proportion to his ca
pacity and opportunities are the response
bilities OF that sovereignty
III man is not good citizen it boots
little whether he is a learned Grecian or a
sound Latinist. II he is out of sympathy
with his country his people and his time.
the last refinement and the highest ac-
complishments are Of slight moment. III
he Is in sympathy W ith his country. its
needs and aspirations, the rest will fol-
low. and it is precisely at this point that
there seems TO be a real danger in our uni
versity life and in our liberal education.
The first step then for our universities.
II in the true spirit Of liberal education
they seek to fit men for the life about
them, is to make them Americans and
send them forth in sympathy with their
country. AS the danger on the first point
of patriotism is that the many-sided
teachings of a university will prevent a
Just sense OF the place of our country. so |
on the second point the danger is that |
dealing largely with the past the univer-
eity viii ALLEVIATE it's students from the
present The past Is good schoolhouse.
but bad dwelling place.
To all her students alike IL is Harvard's
duty to give that which will send them
out from her gates able to understand
and to sympathize with the life of the
times This cannot be done by rules or
systems OF textbooks. It can come, and
can only come, from the subtle, impalpable
and yet powerful influences which the
spirit and atmosphere OF a great uni.
versity can exert upon those within its
care 1t is not easy TO defire or classify
those influences although all knew
their general effect.
Youth the Time For Action
Faith and hope, and belief, enthusiasm
and courage are the qualities to be
trained and developed in young men by a
liberal education. Youth is the time for
action, not for criticism. A liberal edu-
cation should encourage the spirit of ac-
tion, not deaden IT, We want the men
whom we send out from our universities
10 count in the battle Of life and in the
history OF their time, and 10 count more
and not less because Of their liberal edu-
cation. They will not count at all il
they come out trained only to look coldly
and critically on all that is being done in
the world and on all who are doing it,
IL is the spirit and determination Of
men which have made the world move.
These are the qualities which have car
ried the dominion of the English-speaking
people across continents aud over oceans
TO the very ends Of the earth IL is the
same In every field of human activity.
The men who see nothing but the lions in
the path, who fear ridicule and dread
mistakes, who behold the faults they may
commit more plainly than the guerdon
TO be won. win no battles, govern no
states. write no books. carve no statues.
paint no pictures IL is the men who take
the risks of failure and mistakes who win
xIfo oh dpfQn ~ m yfrforv