The San Francisco call., 1895-11-17

the most studied efforts of modern times
can scarcely rival. Say what you will for
other subjects of study, which am far
from wishing to disparage, there is moth
ing so stimulating to the mind as direct
contact with genius, best OF all in the per-
| son of the living teacher, but since this
| is rarely possible, we must In most cases
be content with the written word. Now,
the world has not seen and is not likely
soon to see people SO gifted as the Greeks,
and hence the classics will not be super
seded until something better has been
| found to take their place.
! But l must hasten to my final point.
We sre often told that the classics are
well enough for select few, but that the
| average man desires something more prac-
tical. In what have already said have
tried to show that this is an error, and that
practical considerations of the highest i'm
portance would lead us to cling to the
classics as the foundation of our culture.
But that they are not practical, in the cur
rent cheap and degrading sense, is, after
all, one of their highest merits. We are
overwhelmed, we are swamped with the
practical. We are STEPPED in finance. We
live in whirl of machinery; we worship
the almighty dollar. Heaven avert the
day when education, too, shall become
merely practical If classical studies,
while possessing rare intrinsic charm and
interest, and educational utility of the
| highest order, can, at the same time, by
| their very remoteness from our ordinary
currents of thought, lift the mind from
the practical to the ideal and withdraw us,
for few years at least, from the deadly
materialism of modern life, let US be thank
full for it.
1t is but fair to say that improved meth
DDS of teaching must be introduced to
remove the often well-founded charge OF
n lr,,1 frnv fho ct,,6y Nf
Greek and Latin. Much has already been
accomplished in this direction, and much
more can yet be done. But with all our
efforts to make the classics attractive, one
fact must not be forgotten. The unframed
boy, at the outset of his preparatory
course, can never be expected to appreci-
ate the Importance of such studies. II
left to himself at this critical period he is
almost certain to neglect the classics for
other lines of work which offer returns
that are more specious and apparent,
! though not more real. Thousands of in
telligent boys have made this mistake, and
too often they find it out when it is too
late to rectify it. In nine cases out of ten
the man who has not enjoyed a classical
people of culture, will feel IN some inde-
finable way that he has missed something
| which he cannot afford to be without. I
therefore believe most profoundly that it
is the duty of the university, by wise
prescription of required studies, to throw
the whole weight of its prestige and au-
thority in favor of certain amount of
classical training, in order that, before
rejecting these studies, the boy NAV have
a fair opportunity to learn something of
their interest and value.
And will you pardon me, in closing, q
word Of reference to our own State? In
climate, in landscape and in skies Califor-
MIA is almost second Hellas. What could
be more appropriate than that we. who en-
joy the privilege of helping to shape the