The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-09-04

/ A distinguished alumnus of the college
writing from New York, recently put the
case so pertinently that an extract is
given:
THE finest school Of oratory in Amer
ica is found in the work of the Literary
Societies of Wake Forest. They are
unique institutions-p of the organic
college life. My debt to my society for
the training of my powers of oratory, the
sharpening of wit. the development of
the best resources of character i'll social
contact and combat, is incalculablc. For
these reasons | expect to send my Oldest
boy to Wake Forest in about six years.
1t is as the writer says. The societies
are not mere debating clubs, but part
of the organic life of the college, working
| tremendously with the other departments
in the development of the students pow
| ers
| | asked member of the faculty what
he considered the one most distinctive
and valuable thing that the college did
for the young man who came to it. lie
| replied without the least hesitation 1t
| implants in every young man the de-
| termination to succeed and gives him the
! power. if rightly employed. to succeed"
! It is an excellent summary of the college
| work. One can not mingle with the
students, hear them talk without per-
cciving the truth of what the member
said. The only man who counts is the
man who can do things. A young man
| may go to Wake Forest college with
| plenty of money and good looks, but
| unless he can hold his own in the class
room and on the floor of his literary So
| ciety, he speedily finds that he counts for
title. The only aristocracy is the aristOc
| racy of intellect. and if every student is
| not a member ii is no ones fault but his
own.
In the executive management the
college has been fortunate. Inthe selec-
lion of its faculty and the prescription of
IS course of study, there has been a
happy combination of progressiveness
md wise conservatism. There has
been cry throughout the country for
Young men in college faculties. Wake
Forest has tE2m. But ut the same time
! t has retained men of years and wide
| discretion to temper the iconoclasm of
| youth, and the result is happy com
| oinaton of the best in the old with
| what recommended itself most strongly
| in the new. The man who has gradu-
! lted from that fine old school. expert
rrtt, since leaving college. works side
| ny side in its faculty with the recent
distinguished graduate of Johns Hop
',ins and the Chicago University.
In its course of study it seems to
nave been equally Fortunate What
principle guided you in the preparation
If the course that you offer this year,
| | asked one of the faculty. you will
| notice." he replied. that we have com
| bned the compulsory and elective sys-
| ems. In this we first determined what
| was absolutely essential to all culture,
| what were the tools of culture, if | may
| Use the term. prescribed them and gave
| The student his choice of certain num-
| Der from the other branches" The
| three main essentials were found to be
| mathematics, English and history The
| student with the aid and advice Of the
faculty, chooses the other branches for
himself. The course to-day is much
broader than the course of four or five
years ago, but at no time has it been
| possible for the student to get his de-
sree without covering thoroughly num-
Der of the more solid branches.
Among the departments added with
n the past few years. are the schools Of
Jaw and medicine, the chair of political
and social science. and the chair of
the Bible The William Royal chair
If English has also been endowed.
As a manifestation of the culture that
the college gives the wake Forest Stu
| dent" published by the Euzelian and
phlomathesian literary societies. may
! he evidenced. 1t is not too much to say
hat within the past year some of the
| best literary output of the State was tol
| be found in its columns. There was
some crude work that should not have
| appeared, perhaps, but on the whole mol
Southern college monthly maintained
Uniformly, a higher literary tone, or
printed articles of more genuine merit
As one chances through the files he is
struck with the absence of those so
phomorical illusions and the scarcity of
the penny-dreadful stories that are so
apt to find their way into the columns
Of the college magazine. There is mol
surer criterion of what Il college is do |
,ng than the character of publication its |
students body sends out. This is all the
more true when the contributions are
from the pens of students, not from
utra-colege contributors.
They tell me here that the college is to
have Il new gymnasium building The
alumni association has the matter in |
hand and 81 100 was subscribed for il |
ut the meeting last spring. The struc-
tire will be Of brick, and will cost when
completed about $1,000. Prof Il. Walt |
or Skies has undertaken TO raise the
rest of the funds necessary and is meet
ing, ] am told, with hearty response
from the alumni everywhere.
And thus Wake Forest college goes
quietly on its way, proud of but not con
tented with what it has dOne-iitting |
itself do more in the future-to implant in
the ever increasing number of young men
who enter its doors the determination
TO succeed teaching them from its owp
full experience how to adapt themselves |
to circumstances and to do what is TO b, |
done developing in them that fine in
stinct for what is really worth the while, |
which is at once the touchstone and rich |
est gift Of true education.
CIIAS. +. SApP.
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