The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1902-06-16

} deed, these years are a lamentable and
irretrieyable waste
AIM OF EDUCATION.
The aim OF all education 10 the attain
ment OF personal power-power to un-
derstand and appreciate the past. and
power 20 shape the future
No man is ready for tho highest life
Until he has entered into the spiritual
Inheritance OF the race No man knows
what ought TO be until he knows what
has been; he cannot cope with tomor-
row unless he has studied yesterday.
Evolution-which is not "a theory TO be
affirmed or denied but "a mode OF con-
ceiving the world-has sobered humanity
by giving Us a vision of the long ages
before US and glimpse into the slow
moving method of God. AS 10 the age
OF Elizabeth came a new sense OF the
greatness OF space when Drake and
Magellan told their thrilling story, so
TO our age has come through the far
more wonderful story OF Darwin and
his followers. a new sense OF the DARK
background and abysm OF time" We
have attained an illimitable perspective.
We see that .ae humblest man who
tolls today IS the legatee OF millen-
NUNS. The obscurest worker stands on
the shoulders OF countless generations.
Progress IL modern conception. Plato's
republic was a status quo. incapable of
Improvement Mores Utopia was an
ideal beyond all amendment But the
kingdom OF heaven begins the least OF
all seeds. and becomes a mighty tree
Thus the New Testament anticipates
our latest thought In declaring that
goodness is growth that we should
not judge the world until the Maker
has finished II.
The college therefore says TO each
studert as he arrives at it's DOORS You
arc the heir of all the ages. Eater into
your patrimony before you begin yolr
work" Better three years of public
service by "a mature man who knows
what the generations before him have
done than so years of bluLdcring expert
monts by sciolists aud amateurs. To
convey to the student an insight into
the meaning Of the literature. art.
science. statesmanshlp and religion OF
the past is TO give him a fundamental
equipment for sane efficient effort to-
Gay. Power TO appreciate IS the first
step toward power TO achieve.
FLOOD or CHEAP LITERATURE.
1t may wen be asked whether ir the
flood of cphcmeral literature which now
foamB and surges about as we are not
losing the power 10 understand the
chief writers and thinkers OF the race.
/ note definite change in the last 25
years I'm tho way ia wnich students use
books. Formerly, when college life had
much OF leisure and repose, we used 20
spend long AFTERNOONS I'm the alcoves
of the libraries, afternoons when IN
the stll and quiet air OF delightful
studle9' the great voices of the past
became more real 10 as than all the
cries Of the hawkers and hustlers on
the street. Such reading was indeed
dosultory aimless IL you choose. but IL
FED the mind with great aspiration and
high resolve. and gave us intimate
friendship with the immortal
Now friendship with the immortals
Now college life Is In danger OF being so
crowded that the library IS reduced TO
laboratory, and books are no longer
friends but tools The student enters tho
alcovo with long list OF references
page i2S IN volume 1, page $40 IN volume
2'-hc gives thiso minutes apiece 90 20
books and leaves the building we'll sat-
isiicd With his use OF the garnered treas
he should care more for the author OF a
book than for the maker ( lathe. in the
machine shop. While he may know about
Plato, he does not know Plato; while he
may give the chronology OF Dante's life.
he has never felt tho horror OF the In
fcrnO. The path0s 0f tho purga toriO. or
the rapt ccTacy OF the Paradise: and
while he can analyze Shakespeare. he will
never call like Tcnnyson. on the last
morning, fos a copy OF "Cymbclne."
So far have we gone in making books
implements rather than friends. that IL
would bc difficult 10 find many young
men In America for whom .-s saroer OF