Proceedings of the Inauguration 
31 
in White,” that she “sat through life.” The incorrigible sitter is 
pretty likely to sit lower and lower in the scale of life. The Tito 
Melemas who are always looking for an easy place to slip into 
and to nestle in are bound sooner or later by the ordination of 
God to pay the penalty of their selfishness. Only those grow in 
the direction of full-orbed efficiency who are willing and able to 
shoulder a< load of important responsibility. A balloon rises be- 
cause it is so light, but a man rises in the esteem of all right- 
thinking people because of his weight, intellectual and morafi 
weight developed by his manly performance of duties. 
In becoming President of this College, Dr. Chamberlain has 
undertaken a large task. On behalf of the Faculty I congratu- 
late him because he knows very well the magnitude of the work 
before him and because he has the courage to undertake it and 
because of the rich opportunities the position gives him for 
growth in the most important directions in which a man can 
grow. 
Circumstances do not always make men. If they did, there 
ought to be more men made. There are many circumstances. A 
number of years ago some of us in this village received packages 
of seeds from Washington through a congressman of industrious 
benevolence. We put some of those seeds into the warm, moist, 
and welcoming earth, but they did not come up. They were in 
the best of circumstances. They did not arrive because, as it 
would seem, they were lacking on the inside. Now and then a 
small man is placed in a large position. He is very well sur- 
rounded, but he himself does not become important. It is not in 
him to do so. 
We are honored in having with us on this platform today a 
number of men who as college presidents have achieved nobly 
and notably— "Dr. King of Oberlin, Dr. Thwing of Western Re- 
serve, Dr. Thompson of Ohio State, and others. They themselves 
have become distinguished by making their colleges more dis- 
tinguished. We of Denison confidently expect that Dr. Cham- 
berlain also will arrive as a college president. We believe it is in 
him to do so, and we members of the Denison Faculty are ready 
to reinforce every effort he makes for the enlargement and en- 
richment of this College. 
Mr. George William Curtis once made this fine remark : “A 
man’s country is not a certain area of land with rivers, lakes and 
