Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-08-21

The reunion Of graduates at CONT
r1encement time has become a regu-
lar feature at nearly all of our col.
leges. To come back has develop
ed into one OF the functions and priv
ileges of the graduate. The triennial. |
sexennial. decenniaI and other ami !
versary classes have a selected com.
mittee who prepare for all the de- /
tails of the celebration, hire sleeping
quarters, dining-rooms and club
houses.
DR.. Francis F. Clark is quite right
that many of the alumni reunions at
our colleges are conducted in an un-
worthy way. Let me put myself in
hearty accord with him on that
score.
Yet let me speak, too, of anotherI
side of the picture. In my recent fiji
fteenth anniversary at Yale, where out |
of two hundred and fifty living mem |
bers Of the class one hundred and
fifty returned the drinking was on
very limited scale. And the -encour-
aging thing was that I saw man after
man who in college had been. known
as a drinker now refuse to drink at
all. And out of the one hundred and
fifty men l saw only two under the
influence Of liquor. Ny observation
in the last five years is that in most
Of our colleges drinking is less than
It used to be.
My thought turns particularly to
the large and bright side of these col
lege reunions. The men who have
been out ten, fifteen or twenty years
are no longer boys. They have met
the problems of the world, the sor-
rows and the. joys Of large portion
Of life's road, They. come back to re-
port to each other something of what
they have found. Some have found
one thing, some another, the reports
do not all agree; and yet the compar.
/ ing process does this much, it makes
every one feel that we are all work
ing in the same world; and 1t adds
tremendous value to the field of our
labor. What great help to find that
some man of whom you least expect.
ed 1t was glad to hear you tell of
your life and work! -: -
was surprised to find that many
who would not. own To church men,
lbership were nevertheless deeply and
problems. And nothing was more
significant than what occurred at the
class. dinner. Cheers were being
tgiyen for some of the speakers, when
suddenly some one .cheered one Of the
Ic1ergyman in the class. Then in a
perfectly spontaneous way the whole
room gave the college cheer for each
separate clergyman, calling out the
names with rounds of applause. .s.s.-
il was not compliment nor affectar
ton; it was just a spontaneous ex-
preston of what men really feel
about the church but seldom speak
out. Fog fear THAI some preacher had
been omitted, one OF the cheerers
hurried over. to me and asked, Have
we; left out any Of your ministers?'
which showed. that the whole idea
had plan behind it. No other group
Eof men, as a group, had this tribute
lpaid to them or their profession.
| 1 do not believe, that the ministry
Is q defunct calling, even in the eyes
OF men of the world. ] belieye the
church is still looked to, now, more
than ever looked to, as q bHlwark and
defense; and as college men size up
their battles in the world, read their
defeats and their temporary ssecessek,
something grips them and tells them
that after ali, the institution which
looks upon these by the light Of etern-
/ ity and not by the changeable and
Pickering torch of time has the one
and only vital message for heart and
mind. 1 doubt If any group Of men ex-
teept a college class would have given
the unconscious testimony to the
church.
There was no tribute paid to money,
as such. We all knew who had been
the men of means when in college.
and by mere chance heard of one or
two who since graduation have been
very successful, but other than this |
left the reunion, as did every one else,
not seeing a sign whereby one would
know who had much or who had little
That the money element was in the
background is shown by the fact that
no definite sum was asked for. Every
man was asked to send any amount
he could for all expenses, and on
reaching the reunion no more was de-
manded, and no one except the com
mittee knew what any one else contri-
buted. That some gave much and
some little can be seen by the fact
that surplus of $4,000 was given ~
the class to the university, and that,
on the other hand, there were four
union was only one dollar apiece.
These things are hopeful signs in a
material age, and am glad to believe
that the colleges are still placing. char
doubt if in any other body of hun
dred and fifty men the thought Of the
distinctions Of worldly success could ]
have been thus conspicuous by its an
sence-
There was still another tribute. II
was that paid to work and worth, es-
pecially in the case of men who in col
must have given lifelong inspiration
to some of those who years ago were
the unknown men of the class" t.
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