The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-06-30

SCIENCE. must De Ulaue sucD as 10 at
tract those strong and virile youths
who now feel that they can only turn
10 business, law or politics. There Is
no one thing which will bring about
this desired change, but there is one
thing which will materially help iii
bringing it about, and that is to Sc
cure to scholars the chance of getting
one Of few brilliant positions as
prizes If they rise to the first rank III
their chosen career Every such bril-
liant position should have as an ac-
compartment an added salary, which
shall help indicate how high the po-
s;tion really is; and it must be the OF
forts of the alumni which can alone
secure such salaries for such positions.
AS a people / think we are waking
up to the fact that there must be bet
ter pay for the average man and aver
age woman engaged in the work of ed
ucatiOn. But / am not speaking of this
Row: | am not speaking of the des1r-
ability, great though that is, Of CIV
ing better payment to the average edu-
Gator, / am speaking of the deslra-
hility Of giving TO the exceptional mar
the chance Of winning an exceptional
prize, Just as he has the chance to do
il law and business. In business at
the present day nothing could be more
healthy than an immense reduction In
the money value Of the exceptional
prizes thus to be won; but in scholar
ship what is needed is the reverse. In
this country we rightly 90 upon the
theory that it is more important to
care for the welfare of the average
man than to put premium upon the
cXertiOns of the exceptional. But we
must not forget that the establishment
of such premium for the exceptional,
though Of less Importance, is neyerthe-
less of very great Importance. 1T IS
imDOrtant even to the development OF
the average man, for the average Of all
Of Us is raised by the work OF the
great masters.
1t is, I trust, unnecessary to saJ
that | appreciate to the full the fact
that the highest work of all will never
be affected one way Or the other by
any uuesiOn of compensation. And
much of the work which is really best
| for the nation must from the nature
of things he nOn-remuneratlve as COM
pared with the work of the ordinary
| industries and vOcatiOnS. NOR WOulu
| If ever be possible or desirable that the
rewards of transcendent success IN
scholarship should even approximate,
| from a monetary standpoint, the re-
wards in other vocatiOns. But it Is
also true that the effect upon amDl-
| t;o,1s minds can not but be bad il as
| q people we show our very slight re-
gard for scholarly achievement DJ
making no provision at all for it's re-
ward The chief use Of the Increased
money value of the scholars prize
would be the index thereby afforded OF
the respect in which it was pOpularlJ
held. The American scientist, the
American scholar, should have the
chance at least of winning such prizes
as are open to his successful brother
in Germany, England, or France,
where the rewards paid for first-class
scholarly achievement are as much
above those paid in this country as our
rewards for first-class achievement Ill
industry or law are above those pald
abroad.
But of course what counts Infinitely
more than any possible outside re-
ward is the spirit of the worker hlm-
self. The prime need is to instill irto
the minds of the scholars themselves
q true aDpreciation of real as distln-
guished from sham success. IN pro-
ductive scholarship, in the scholarship
which adds by its work to the sum
Of substantial achievement Win
which the country is to be credlted, II
is, only first-class work that counts. IN
this field the smallest amount OF really
f;rst-class work is worth all the
second-class work that can possibly be
produced: and to have done such WORK
is in itself the fullest and amplest re
ward to the man producing 1t. we
outsiders should, according to our aoil'
ity. aid him in every way to produce
if Yet all that we can do is but lit
tie compared to what he himself car
and must do. The spirit of the scholar
is the vital factor in the productive
scholarship of the country.
So much for the first function OF the
university. the sending forth OF d
small number of scholars of the high
est rank who will do productive work
of the first class. Now turn to the
second. and what may be called the
normal, function ef the college, the
function of turning out each year
many hundreds of men who shall pos
sess the trained intelligence, and espe-
ciaIIy the character, that will enable
them to hold nigh the renown of this
ancient seat of learning by doing use
| full service for the nation.
| 1t is not my purpose to discuss at
| length what should be done in Har-
ward to produce the right spirit among
| the mel who 20 out of Harvard. but
rathcr to speak Of what this splrlc
should be- Nor shall l speak of the
| exceptions, the men to whom college
| life is a disadvantage. Randolph, oil
| Roanoke. he of the biting tongue, once
| remarked of an opponent that he re-
| minded him of certain tracts of land
| which were almost worthless by nd-
/ ttre. and became entireiy so by cultl-
| ration" Of course. if in any individ-
| ual university. training produces a
taste for refined idleness Il distaste Tor
! sustained effort. a barren intellectual
! arrogance, or Il sense of supercli1ous
i aloofness from the world of real mel,