26
U N IV E R S IT Y
OE
O r EQUN M o N’THEY
To the Alumnus it probably means most. He has experienced
it from the standpoint of a -Senior and has since viewed life from
£ $ different perspective and he, doubtless, mo§t of all, realizes how
great a changé is, coming into, the life-qf t^e Senior- an d . h o ÿ f true
à friend he is-parting with when he leaves" his University.
,
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*uÎTo the faculty, Commencement doubtless means just another
group of students going out. from the University forever. And if
is altogether 'likely- thaf tf ^ ÿ d egret
go' these m en.and women
whom they have come to know more or less intim atly in the four
yeâfs time.
■ • .
The standpoint of the Senior is evident on the face of , things.,
’H e knows th at "he is leaving th é beiSftf.ioBegiis.and that.he'is break
ing ties of a-n atu re different from any th at he will again know.
Likewise he feels .rather forcibly the fact that from novy on the
question with-him should, t e what he « » ’give to the.; world rather
than what the world, can bestow oh him.
.Commencement reminds thé Junior th a t in a -short year, laeyS^, ;
will be going out from his Ü niversity, -And he usually resolves, to
make the most of-the1 short time before hirm -
;
. To the underclassman as. perhaps to all who attend Commence
ment, fpr.the fifstM nie;'it js l H ï â | G K in niany ways--A P eo$£ nev
er realize the deepness of the'm eaning of Commencement until they
attend They èxpect to hear an ‘e njoyable program and a-fe neyendfg-
appointed in th is/b p t theÿdearn th at there is an unnameablè atmos
phere about it th at transcends mere entertainm ent and ordinary
pleasures, an atmosphere very difficult to describe,, but very real
to those present. W ould’it describe it to call it a certain m ingling
.of delightful pleasure an d W rdvvful re g re t and also a realization
- of a desire to reach tow ard better things? y, W e can scarcely explain
w hat this atmosphere is, although we are most conscious of it.
■ The importance that.is; laid upon Commencement is largely a
imàAer of t r a d i t i o n n e find th at if e ils ts - ^ ë fywhere in the English
university and it has become a very-im portant interest in the Amer
ican college I year.;, Abdht no otheÇfim e
the year
HS
sw eet tassociafions- g a th e r.. -
•
'
• H ow many loving refe’r ences/do .Holmes and the other Amer-
¡can college-bred poets make to th a t .time i>f year when tturold stu-
dents return to feel once more the spirit of unity in Alma Mater
- "And"this interest is a tradition ' th at m u ÿ jn ô tb e forsaken, it