The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-05-26
Editorial Correspondence

Wake, Forest, n. c., May 25.-It is
just seventy-one years ago since the
doors of Wake Forest College were
opened for the first time. 1t derived
its name from the county of Wake and
the magnificent oak forest in which it
was located. The first student to ma
circulate was Maj j. NJ. Crenshaw-.
TALL erect and ambitious-who is
here today, still tall and erect, who
has succeeded we'll in life, and is still
an important factor in the life of his
country and State! Tonight he will
present to the Alumni Association, in
making the opening speech, gavel
made from the wood of one of the
mighty oaks that gave its grateful
shade to him as a school boy here. 1t
will be priced because of the giver and
because it links this noble institution
of today with the early days when il
first began to train men for useful
ness. Seventy-One years from today,
if one of it's present graduates still lives
to make the opening speech at an
alumni banquet, it will be we'll for him
assured a success in life as Maj. Cren-
shaw, the patriarch of the roll of the
alumni
Wake Forest College has borne a
useful and honorable part in the his
tory of North Carolina. It's sons have
contributed largely to the moral, intel
lectuaI and material development of the
State. There is no page of its history
in the past seventy years that is not
made brighter by the deeds of Wake,
Forest matriculates, in peace and in
war. One of it's matriculates serves in
the United States Senate today and
three in the National House of Repre-
sentatives, and wherever you find the
call for earnest and faithful men in
the busy world you find men who were
trained here.
OF course the curriculum here is all
that is needed and the instruction is
by scholarly men, but the reason why
Wake Forest has grown in usefulness
in power, and in number is because it
is true-blue North Carolina institu
ton, in touch with the best North
Carolina sentiment, and inspired by a
desire to put it's blessings within the
reach of the ambitious youth, the sons
of the poor, the sons of the rich and
the sons of the well-to-do, and because
the democratic spirit which dominates
here knows no class or caste, but
judges men upon merit and merit
alone. If there is any pure democracy
in America it ought to be-and is when
healthy conditions prevail-on col
lege campus. The youth who has been
depending upon his fathers position to
give him standing, finds in a college
that nothing avails but brains and
character Boys do not toady and they
have not been contaminated by ideas
or institutions designed to raise up I'M
wise and artificial distinctions. Here
the spirit has always been that of a
fair race, every boy toeing the mark,
and running with an even start, and q
hurrah from all for the winners. That's
the spirit that makes self-reliant men,
and nothing else does Another thing:
there has been no soft-living here, few
extravagances, little opportunity for
fine dressing, but the atmosphere has
been one to induce to study and
generous rivalry in the school room, on
the athletic field, and in the debat-
ing societies. The debating societies
of this college are not second to the
course Of study in value to the youth.
No man ought to get diploma who
has not been trained to speak, not that
a man who has no gifts is to be per-
suaded that he is an orator, but that
he can in caucus, convention, or
church, express his views clearly and
plainly. 1t is pitiful to see a college
graduate who cannot make public
statement lucidly and effectively. 1t
ought not to be in any case, for it les
sens his influence in the community.
Wake Forest makes diligent effort to
train all it's men to speak and to think
on their feet, and that is one of the
secrets of it's growing influence. It's
graduates lead in many communities
because coupled with thorough educa-
ton. they have been trained to per-
suade and win the men who hear
them. The tendency of this age In
college is to underrate the Importance
of the training in the literary socie-
ties. the usefulness of which is I'M
paired by a multiplicity of smaller So
cieties or clubs organized for social or
other purposes. The college that ne
elects to train it's students in the art
of speaking denies them one of the
most effective ways of attaining lead
ership.
The closing year has been notable
one in the history of Wake ForesC COL
-