Dr. Tucker Speaking . . .

Continuing the series of excerpts from the chapel talks and college addresses of President William Jewett Tucker.

KEEP THE PERSPECTIVE

IT is BECOMING as hard for us to think sanely, to keep, that is, the true perspective, in the presence of our mighty men and their deeds, as it was for the age which saw the deeds of David and his mighty men. Almost any narrator of current events puts the emphasis about where this old-time narrator put the emphasis, upon the events of his day. He took the first and easy measurements of power the number of foes a mighty man could slay between the rising of the sun and its setting. We exploit the market very much as he exploited the battlefield. How much money can be made between the rising and the setting of the sun? And yet we know that in the long, perhaps in the near retrospect, there will be marked changes in the valuation put upon the power of our age. It is one part of the business of educated men men, that is, who are not foreshortening their vision to anticipate something of this later, clearer, more lasting judgment. I do not mean that the attitude of an educated man to his time should be merely judicial or critical. He is first, and of necessity, an actor, a producer, a winner, if you will, in the struggle. But he, of all men, ought to be able to keep the perspective, that he may not see only the things which are to grow dim, that he may not miss the things which are to be resplendent in after times.

Baccalaureate, 1905

THE SPIRIT OF SCHOLARSHIP

TODAY I set forth the claims of the spirit of scholarship and its appeal to you. I want to make the perspective of college life clear to you, to some of you at the start, to some of you who have not yet really found it, or are not yet ordering your lives according to it. Do not mistake the incidents of college life for the substance of it. The incidents are full of color. They show for more than the plain substance. But not one, nor all of them would have given us this college, or any college. Colleges are established and endowed and administered to give to each incoming generation access to the mind of the world. Incidentally they stand for free and generous companionship, for healthful activities, for honorable sport. But the end of it all, near at hand and far beyond, is the knowledge and valuation of those things which have made out of this world "the habitable earth," the fitting home for the sons of men. What are these things? Truth, and again truth, and power, and beauty. In these things, and in the still deeper joy of service and sacrifice, lies the desirable and attainable good of the world. Do not let the pleasures of the way detain you too much, nor divert you too far, so that you fail to reach the acknowledged and chosen end for which you have set your feet in this ancient pathway.

Convocation, 1905

BE RESPONSIBLE MEN

IRRESPONSIBILITY is a social disease. It is one of the most contagious and insidious of all social diseases. The great type of irresponsibility, and one which we have frequently considered, is the powerful man who is lord of himself. Tonight I want to emphasize the man whose irresponsibility grows out of the sense of his own insufficiency.

In the first place, the man who is not conscious of any power within himself drifts inevitably into irresponsibility. Consciousness of power starts a man toward responsible action.

Irresponsibility also starts out of wilfulness. If I can do a thing in my own way I will do it; if I cannot I will throw off all responsibility, we often say. In this way it is very easy to drift into irresponsibility. Many a man has a theory as to how a thing should be done; if that theory obtains the man is a strong man; if it does not he is a weakling. The man who falls into irresponsibility through wilfulness is generally the man who cannot adapt himself to his own environment.

And finally, we may acquire a habit of irresponsibility through uncertainty or indifference. This attitude usually concerns the things which are really of the greatest importance of all, namely, the things of religion. The kingdom of God today is a very serious matter. Standing for humanity, it is greater than any creed; it does not care to fix itself to form. And yet how often does a man become perplexed with form and so neglect the spirit which giveth life. How often does a man, through mental indifference or uncertainty, cast off all responsibility in the kingdom of God. Such a man can never know the glory of noble manhood.

Men, scorn all manner of irresponsibility. Somehow, in some way, somewhere, get a foothold. No man in this world stands firmly unless he concerns himself with life-giving principles. Responsibility is the thing of great price. Our cities cry for it and great causes languish from lack of it. Therefore, be positive, active, responsible men.

May 13, 1906