28 
Proceedings of the Inauguration 
come to him by natural right. He may claim them because he 
was born in America and resides in a certain state. But in a pri- 
vately endowed university every building means sacrifice, every 
portrait or bust conveys personality, every tablet or inscription 
speaks of life-long devotion of individuals, every course of study 
has been made possible by the self-denial of men who have gone 
before. Thus the generations are bound together. Thus the past 
speaks to the present with peculiar inspiration and summons 
young men and women to dedicate themselves to a great cause. 
A second gift of institutions like this is in the line of direct- 
ness and simplicity. You do not attempt to teach all that can be 
known, but to teach things that are essential. You aim not to 
box the compass, but to chart the main routes over which lives 
may wisely be steered. You seek to avoid the artificialities and 
superficialities of the nouveaux riches, to dispense with much 
that gilded youth consider necessary, and to lay aside every 
weight while you press toward a definite goal. 
A third characteristic of such institutions is the profoundly 
ethical and religious aim. This aim lies much deeper than any 
denominational propaganda or any attempt at dogmatic instruc- 
tion. You aim to see life suh specie aetej^nitatis , and to view 
each small human task as part of the Divine task of creating a 
world. Still creation is in process, still the morning stars sing 
