The Yale expositor., 1911-10-26

tHSTc are OHiJ oCNSH tIiutuSTo 10 tHS w
attractive, it is not the gentleman
farmer or the immigrant who will
solve this problem. The remedy for
existing conditions on the farm doesn't
lie in getting other people to do work
for our farmers, but distinctly in
teaching them so that their sons and
daughters may find opportunity and
enjoyment in doing the work in that
field of activity rather than live the
life of strife and discomfort in the
crowded districts of the cities.
"To encourage a foreign element to
take our farms and become the farm
ers of the nation means that they
and their offspring will be the land
owners of the next generation and
soon the backbone and rulers of the
nation.
Farm the Safeguard of Nation.
"The farm has ever been the de-
veloping ground and cradle of our
great citizens and statesmen. The
environment Of the farm, the life OF
activity, the work Of the open air,
the fight with the elements Of nature
and the bending them to our will,
these are the conditions that tend to
develop manhood. The sons and
daughters of the farmers must do
this work. 1t is the safeguard of the
nation.
ITO import people to do this work
nd a
don't want to do 1t is further to weak
en- and degrade our own citizens. The
continuous dependence on paid serv-
ice Is Just as degrading as the depen-
dence on slaves. 1t is honest labor
that stimulates and develops: that
brings confidence and satisfaction;
that energies in the noblest way.
The colleges and universities of the
future will do their greatest work in
turning out scientific farmers, both
male and female. The socalled learn
ed professions are already overcrowd-
ed, and the greatest opportunity in
the land today awaits the scientific
and college-bred farmer.
Praise for College Students.
IT want to say a good word for the
college student Of today" said Mr..
White, changing the conversation sud-
denly. There was a time when many
people were prejudiced against him.
Happily that time is past. The aver
age college student today is an indus
trious, hard-working fellow. He has
H. tc
his college or university. When l
went to college it was the custom to
send young men to college to become
gentlemen Few of us studied very
hard. We had to take the courses that
were arranged for us, with the result
that we devoted our time only to the
few subjects that interested us. Now
that a college student is permitted to
take practically whatever courses he
wishes, he selects what interests him
most and naturally studies harder and
with better results. Then, too, more
interesting and more useful subjects
form the greater part Of the college
courses today.
college students today are far
less mischievous than they used to be
when | was in school. Their surplus
energy is devoted to athletic contests
instead of to pranks. The big col
leges and universities demand high
er standard of conduct than they did
fifty years ago, and going to college
today means four years of serious
work to fit one to earn a living in
stead of four years of training to be-
come merely a gentleman"
In Retrospective Mood.
This line of thought put Mr.. White
in a reminiscent mood. He related
several of his early pranks and esca-
pades. He was surely "one of the
boys" and Andy White, as he was
then called, was always on hand if
a COW was to be placed in the belfry
or a flock of sheep driven into one of
the class rooms.
"While we educators" he mused,
"have been trying to hit upon the
ideal plan of housing college students.
the college students themselves have
solved the problem. There is no
doubt in my mind that the fraternity
house or the community house, If you
wish to call it that, solves the prob
lem. Twenty or thirty fellows can live
together In fraternity house far bet
ter than in college dormitory, for the
reason that they have a common in
terest in the house. They are less in
clined to destroy property that is their
own, and they are more inclined to be
gentlemen in their own home than in
college quarters. The manner in
which the members of the several fra
ternities visit back and forth shows
that the danger from cliques Is COM
paratively unimportant: To my mind
the fraternity house is the solution of
the whole problem.
"This, however, is only a college
problem, and / presume you are more