The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1910-09-28
PURPOSES AND meaning Of INAUGURAL
WEEK DISCUSSED BY PROFESSOR HULT
Dealt With This Interesting Subject at Opening Assembly
Tuesday Evening-Ably Sets Forth the Varied In
luences Thus Put to Work

lue purposes anu iile IlcduluS VI
the inaugural week We're told of by
Prof Gottfried HUT of the Univer-
sity of North Dakota in an address
delivered Tuesday evening at the as
sembly in the First Baptist church.
He said
The task has been assigned me of
saying few words as to the general
purpose and meaning of the inaugu-
ration program, in which the eXer-
cises of this evening form the OPEN
ing number.
During the vacation just in the
rear of us, happen to have given
some considerable time to the read
ing of Browning's Ring and the
Book" that mammoth epic in which
single etory is told and retold
twelve different times, each time
from an individually unique point
Of view. In the first canto, as one
might call it, Browning tells how
the narrative which was his poetic
raw material. became in his soul a
living movement, how, in his own
words, a spirit laughed and leaped
through his every limb, and lit his
eye and let him have his will. with
luS Sual dLlClS I'll lug Stols cIhu LILO
Rome, which was its background. In
this way the rough gold of fact be-
came fused and rounded by him into
a ring of artistic creation. Tonight
and during the coming days of our
educational festival, however various
may seem the themes that will be
discoursed on, by whatever special
contact with life each message may
have its particular significance and
power. after all there cannot fail to
make itself felt, underlying the di-
versity, a fundamental unity. One
story, in reality. will be told and re-
told, one epic OF achievement-real-
lied. in part, prophetically conceived
Of, In the main-will be rehearsed-
this same story told each time from
some special individual point Of view.
Is 1t possible in anticipation to catch
something Of the spirit of the reitera-
ted narrative, to attempt fusion, as
1t were. Of effects. to feel the living
movement. to hint the ring which
justifles and gives meaning to the
book? In other words. what may be
the purpose of this more than inter-
state educational gathering now about
to be heldo Why this repeated as
sembling of ourselves together? What
do we go out to see? Why this ella
borate three-day inaugural program
with wise men. not from the east
alone, but having come. as we are
told men will come on the day of
judgment from the north. the south.
the east and the west alike Surely
it has deeper significance than that
of mere academic pageantry.
have spoken Of a story which is
here to be told and retold. of an
epic here to be rehearsed. The fig
ure surely has some elements OF
truth and appropriateness as APP
piled to the world of educational ac-
Movement, potential and actual. If
the circuitous wanderings in the
course Of the homeward journey of
Ulysses could form Homeric liter
airy epic. or If the vicissitudes of a
family in renaissance Rome afforded
Browning his epic material. surely
the more than Ulyssean wanderings
on high seas which is educational
history. surely the individual and in
stitutional struggles and vicissitudes
in the midst Of our educational rem
aissance. have likewise epic breadth
and dignity. For these. too. are the
story of heroism. these, too, have
meant and will continue to mean a
duel between man and environment
for supremacy. man, or better still
mind, mind being determined to as
sert it's lordship over matter and cir
cumstance, and therefore forging for
itself and putting on the armor OF
knowledge in order that 1t may dc
battle. Beneath the oft times sordid
realities of educational endeavor-
its treadmill routine and potterine
among details-there is. l repeat. an
epic nobleness and grandeur. just as
in human life. of which 1t is a part
II We only conceive of it all in terms
Of spirit, and let the end in view il.
illuminate and glorify the means.
New Epoch Ushered In
Thus the theme for our thinking
during these days Is to be noble
one. Out Of this academic festiva
with which another epoch for this in.
stitution is being ushered in, viii
come, 1t is to be hoped, general edu.
cational uplift and renewed inspira.
ton both here and throughout the
state at large. In expectancy Of
such result, the university felici
tates herself upon the privilege o.
welcoming as her guests both thos.
who being resident within the state