The news & observer., 1905-06-08
PROF. PEABODY
SPEAKS ASSCHOLAR
Annual Address at Trim
ity Full of Polish.
EDUCATION is VITAL
Distinguished Lecturer Says Higher
Education is Only Means of SoIv-
inq Abstruse Problems of the
Day; COmmerciaIism Needs
Infusion OF The Ideal.
BY II. L. GRAY.

BY Il. l.. GRAY.
Durham, n. c., June 7.--Dr. Francis
Greenwood Peabody, who delivered the
annual address at Trinity College this
morning. is a type Of the intellectual
Northerner. His sentences are as pre-
else as n discourse on sociology in the
magazines. Every phrase is duly quail
ined, every word falls into it's place
with unerring accuracy, every full stop
is justified by the sense, every pause
contributes to the meaning.
1t would be charming to read DIR.
Peabody; it is a trifle hard for sum-
mers day to follow him. Rarely does
he permit one q smile. never does he
relax the tension. What he says is
good and he gives it with the air of
one who affects to estimate of higher
intelligence in his audience than he
really believes it to possess. DR.. Pea
body as q lecturer to students taking
themselves seriously or to club devo-
ted to the PRONUNCIATION of the higher
ethics is q decided success. As an ora
tor. however, he could not truthfully
be said to shine. There is too much
of the ultimate about his conclusions
and, strangely enough in that connef-
ton, is he too iudicious
Southern people have oratorical
ideas as well as governmental and
racial notions. We can forgive the
fellow who, working himself into a
passion, bounds TO the edge of the plat
form and with quivering hair and
shaking finger hurls into our teeth as
sertions that we do not remotely be-
lieve We are an impulsive people.
Such things are understandable. But
this cold, careful delivery; this cutting
off of sentences at the proper period
as the scizZorS clip a thread; this
pointing of a moral as one would
place a finger on the war zone on the
Mancliurian map-these things DO not
so strongly appeal.
Perhaps this is culture, pronounced
with two syllables, natural no doubt
to certain Northern types and an af-
fectatiOn of some educators of a South
ern cult, but it is not a thing to make
ones blood course so fast that one may
forget the heat.
OF course DIR. Peabody couldn't help
the pose, which was his second ma
ture Harvard in the abstract stuck
out all over the man. He was learn
ing and sober. Wide-eyed earnest
thought persOnified To a close obser-
yer he was even more interesting than
if he had been of the more familiar
type but people come on commence
ment occasions to be either tickled
or Jared into new ideas. They want
to be made to listen and they do not
care particularly TO observe and to de-
duct without compulsion. In this they
are not of the South very different
from people of the North or West. A
lecture, especially at commence
ment season. is felt to be something of
a gala occasion. And when it is too
thoughtful when all the pyrotechnics
are left off and the dry reason left
to be devoured as shelled grain, there
is a half-feeling of resentment at the
fare.
Academic as it was there was much
of novelty in the matter of Dr. Pea
body's address and it was in reality
broadly conceived and perfectly exc
cuted piece of thought along economic
lines Intended for college students,
strictly, it was eternally appropriate
as furnishing a line of demarkation
between education and life and the
relation that the one bore to the other.
1t is as q popular deliverance that
anything of criticism contained in the
above is pointed. And, doubtless, DR..
Peabody would be as surprised as
the next man at the intimation that
he was expected to be popular But
so are we made.
Personally the man looked his
speech. A scholar to his toes His
carriage testified to MS reserve. His
correct grey Whiskers bespoke his dig
nifty and his place in the world of
thought, His deliberate words, his
definite yet restrained gestures told
of his confidence in himself His
voice, modulated SO finely and so
closely held in check that it not only
did not escape the speaker but at
times was inaudible to a large part of
his audience, indicated the eSoteric
quality of his reasoning. Theoretically,
DR.. Peabody was an ideal selection
practically, he pleased only those whose
trend of thought was in his school or
whose business made it imperative to
strain their ears after what he was
saying He amused nobody; and most
of the people came to be amused.
In substance the address was this
That the great problem Of the times
Necessary to the times and an Incl
dent thereto-was the commercial
spirit. In its relation to this spirit
higher education could not afford to
sit apart AS critic It's place was in
touch with the development of the
times. It's duty was not to show COM
mercialism carried to an extreme it's
error but to invade commercialism and
bring thereto the power of minds
trained tC take the broader and more
accurate view of conditions, lost III
the nature Of the case to those fitted
for the actual strife alone.
In the development of this idea the
speaker was most happy in phrase
and in illustration. That he did not
the more greatly stir and win his au-
dience was due to the fact that he held
too closely TO his lines and that his