Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-11-15

| face under its iron gray hair bent over
the paxes of the Bible open before MIN
lighted by a single dim lamp, as he
read the chapter before the assembled
neutrality-suspicious. 1t wasn't heroisni'
hut It was Duty. And duty 1t was
| that was the key word in that day ana
| In that college. The word itself. was
NOT spoken. I think I never heard it
| i'm CHAPEL or in classroom. But 1t was
I'm the air in both. Ours it was not to
| ask the reason why. That had been
settled long before: settled for the
curriculum, for the division OF hours,
| for the methods Of study, for the
methods Of teaching. Whether ne
liked it or not We must get 1t done.
The tradition that had ruled for gem
| erations i'm the universities Of the old
world as in the colleges Of the new,
| was not to be questioned. Tradition
was absolute. The duty Of the Facul-
ty was to enforce 1t, the duty Of the
| student was to obey 1t. And we did,
| We have other fashions now. and bet
ter ones. Yet not altogether without
merit was that old system. 1t did not
| make open minds, but It made good
| soldier minds. 1t bred stamina II not
| grace. We did not have to 90 to the
athletic field to acquire stamina. We
| got 1t in the class room. And it. was
| not ended in the classroom.-it was
| carried into life. When news came of
| the fall of Fort Sumter and the first
| call for volunteers there was no need
I, of a registration, a draft, q conscrip-
ton. When Hesseltine, a senior. stood
/ on the old chapel steps and said to the
! crowd Of students before him: Pres
fdent Lincoln calls for 10000 men to
save the Union. I'm going to be one
| of them. Who else?" the answer was
/ ~ 80 hn ~
{! Volunteers. composed mainly of the
students Of WatervilIe college. that
! among the first went to the war. and
left the old chapel empty.
"But that was long ago, so long
| when measured by the change In mems
| opinions. views and ways that has
come in the interval THAT it seems. to
! us who survive that we have lived not
through one generation but through
| several. Tried by what men now
think and believe 1t is hardly the same
| mems minds in letters. it was ira
dltion that shaped the instruction in
! the classroom as we'll as in the chapel.
What the book said,-beyond that all
was verbotcn. OF comment, discus
sion there was very little. Our pro-
| fessors held 1t was their duty to see
that we had studied and were able to
krepeat what We had found in our text
books. Further than that, little or
nothing was required of them or of
us. The personal touch that gives life
| to ideas we were deniHl
Have we at last SOS cd the problem
OF ages and discovered what is the
best education for youth? The Goth
century thinks 1t has. What will the
| 2lst century think?
From the old chapel those present
then turned to the present chapel and
its place today in college life. "The
Significance of the Colby chapel" was
the title of the address by DR.. Frank
w. Padelford of the class of '94.
The Significance Of The Colby Chapel
After graduating from the Roches-
ter Theological Seminary and serving
pastorates in HaverhiI and Lynn.
massachusetts, and as executive sec
rotary of the Massachusetts, Baptist
Missionary Society. DIR. Padelford be-
came the executive secretary of the
board of education of the Northern
Baptist convention, the position which
he now holds. He is 4 trustee of the
college. most loyal and helpful
alumnus and Il forceful and graceful
speaker. He sketched the history of
| Memorial hall and the chapel, it's ORR
+, gin, completion and life since. all with
| u UuIlldu tcuCn. IL is
to have such q story for preservation
in the college records and for boys and
girls to read In the future. And then
he answered the questions. Why a
chapel at a college? Why is the
chapel the most conspicuous building
today on almost every campus? His
replies are sound. fair and true. Every
alumnus will respond heartily.
Education and religion are histori-
cally and inseparably related" said DR..
Fadelford. 1.-THE historian will tell you
that education is the gift Of the church.
IL Education in America Is rap
idly passing into the hands Of the
State. but education is the gift Of the
church. 1t is not strange that there
is n chapel on the campus of nearly
every college, save those founded by
the State.
But why the chapel? Why does
the church make this the center? Be
cause in the Judgment of the church
religion is an essential element in edu-
cation The process of edu-
cation IS not complete when a mans
| wits are sharpened. when he knows all
that men have thought about life. 1t
is necessary that in this process his
own moral nature shall be trained not
merely to discern between the right
and wrong but to choose the right in
stead of the wrong. And only when
he has brought his moral nature under
control so that he inevitably chooses
the right and acts upon 1t. can we say
that he is an educated man. has he
learned how to live and to live with
his fellows"
A hymn OF dedication. written by
William Cullen Bryant. was then
sung,
20 Thou. whose own vast temple
| stands
Built over earth and sea,
Accept the walls that human hands
Have raised. . God, to thee"
And now the audience was led. 80
to speak. toward the new presidents
chair by the poem of Oliver Wendell
Holmes. "Parson Turelrs Legacy"
which was read by Norman l.. Bas-
sett Of the class Of 81. The poem is
IN Holmes best vein and contains wit
and philosophy. Parson Turelf be-
queathed an old oak arm chair to the
senior member of each succeeding
senior class at Harvard on conditions
which. as time went on, led to the
chair becoming saddled with a large
and growing debt which had to be paid
by one senior to his successor to get
rid of the chair. Finally Governor
Hancock was called to Cambridge to
see what could be done. He came in
great ceremonial pomp and, laying
down new conditions, broke the will'
and gave the chair into the possession
of the president of Harvard. Each
president now annually performs the
I conditions and keeps the chair for an
other year. The poem concludes with
these bright lines:
God bless you, Gentlemen, learn to
l pi,