Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1922-06-16

often be a graceful accomplishment to
ride well 1t was some times an I'M
perative necessity to shoot straight
particularly when there was a lion
about to spring, or a human foe with
spear poised The hOrseman who could
not shoot went down before the slave
who could Efficiency was above ac-
complishment.
The third item is one which is more
important still. The youth was to tell
the truth. Truth has always been
recognized as an essential of character,
nay one of the very foundations Of
/ character The horseman was but use
less if he could not be trusted, no mat
ter how we'll he rode The archer,
however expert, was a danger if he
/ could not be depended upon. Character
counts in every situation as well as on
the field of battle, and the man whose
word cannot be relied upon, lies with
more than his lips he lies with his
whole life and though he ride and
though he never miss the target, he is
but useless if he cannot be trusted, or
to use the homely coloquialism of
New England if he will not "stand
without hitching' And as it is i'm
portant, so also is it hard, demanding
both physical and moral courage
Can we, despite the years which have
gone by, despite the added completely
of life, wherein we have exchanged the
horse for the aeroplane, the bow and
arrow for twenty inch gun, and for
these three simple rules have the great
universities of the present day can we
find any guidance in this threefold pro-
gram?
In the union of the three, I believe
we cannot in one alone Great sys-
TENS of education have grown up in
which the emphasis fell on one of these
items to the exclusion of the Others
Culture has been made the center Of
some systems. Efficiency, the center
of others. Character, of yet Others.
Too seldom have the three been com
bined And it is in the three, and only
in the three, that truest, sanest educa-
ton is found.
The education which seeks to do
nothing but develop the taste and
train the mind OF the student, as an
end in itself, has had some notable
examples. Too much the education Of
the past was concerned with this train
ing for culture. Education was the
privilege of a class which was thought
to have no need of efficiency. The
best in the history of past peoples was
alone worthy of study, till the student
knew much about ancient Babylon,
Greece and Rome, but little of the
politics and history of his own day
He was more at home in the ruins OF
the Roman Forum than in the local
town meeting and equally effective in
either. Such training by itself doe,
little more than leave man diSCOn- /.
tented with the present in which he
lives, impatient with his environment, .
out of tune with the affairs Of men. To
such a man no history is interesting
unless seen through the enchanting
haze of distance, no issue great unless
belonging to another age. He is for
ever saying that there were giants in
he land in these days
JUL III NddNibADAf II w AluoA NA4A
it such, has trained men away from
life, made them useless, and, unless
corrected by sound common sense and
checked by other influences, has tend
I'd only to produce dilettantes, trifers
with life and learning 1t still pro
1uces those who can write graceful
Essays, deliver charming but unlmpor-
ant lectures, do well things not worth
ioing at ALL quote widely from books,
ntersperse all they say with well turn
ID quotations from other tongues Such
/ man is apt, despite his charm and
grace, to be little more than parasite
lpon society. In every walk of life
here are found those men who have
l store of knowledge which is of small
lse to them or to their fellows And
hey are always tempted to form
lose corporation for the remilling
llreldy ground -four, the Refreshing of
Did straw, the learned discussion of
hings that do not matter. /,
There has come a reaction to this
ort of learning sudden and swift The
treat universities of one hundred years
lgo seemed to pride themselves on
heir aloofness. What would the wor-
HES of Yale and Harvard think of
ONE of the subjects now on their cur
iculums. The word vocation" has re-
placed the word Culture" 1t is the
econd item in the Persian program {
# education and it is a word from the {
-ocabulary of the democrat What .
ares he how man rides, provided he &
boots straight? How little he knows 4
f the laws of ancient Rome, provided t
My that he can reckon Alright lumber {
n the slopes OF the White or the
ireen Mountains or show a way to a
Intimate waste or reduce cost of man {
facture. S
The inevitable result of this is a 9
Worship of the Golden Calf, the ten
ency to estimate success in terms Of /
ollars, to lose the finer shades Of lie. +
heir aim is to make a living to them a
vastly more important thing than to
We abundantly. They have the Midas G
ouch perhaps, but Midas starved to h
eath-an ironic note in the old myth a
hat is too often overlooked. Hence The a
school, the high 5p.ciallLa- +
ion y
This phase is also passing we be- d
eve. The War helped it to its end t
We have become suddenly tired and c