The Gavelyte, September 1911

nnd ,, • h 1,•,, 'I\ ,•11 ju I :thnut wh: t hP hmt rl,•111:111d1•,I. \\'ha! havr WP rl11t1t> .,tt r It> 1 •111 • 1•1111,·~,· In impart lo otlwr. th,• 11h,a11t.i, w1• h11v•• hud JI i n mn l 11nti1 l'lthlt> fnl'I In u. tr:in 1•1· <'oming- into lh1H town lh:il in th1 eoll g, tn,, n llwn• i nnl a 11wll' lit •rary l'luli Plll id,• lht' coll, J"'· N •Vl'l tu my 1 n ,wl,•d ,,, hns II nw111lwr of lh1 fa!'11lly or tlw alumni 1•1u(Pavon•d to tirnul dfl ,Ill inl1•l't>HI in llw town p<'opl<' in lil<'ntl'Y JlltrHttiti;. Anything dmw hn. h<·l·n hy lhn:,· •nlin ly ~11t of eonm•dion with th1• school. We• nr1• told in holy writ 1f ,,,, :n, pr,•:,;-;, d ln g"ll with a trav •lpr n mil" to r-o with him t vnin \Vh ·n w, ~,, tlw Hl'C,md 111ik with CPdarvill<' \\1• :hall Hl'l' 0111· l'lforls do11hly n•ward1•d in lhf' ~1 ·holarly al1•rtne:,;s of our sludt>nts \Vhill• lh<' ln\\ln has wilhhelcl ilR dollar frnrn th<' (•nclownwnt, y1•L it hm1 not wit liht•ld its sons and rlaur;htPrs. 1 t may H<>f'm almost n paradox to s:1y thnt th1· <' ilkgl' cotild not exist if it were not for lhe town, yl'l !rnch is lh<' rc1 ,<•. Thi' human suppnrt oi' lhe college dep nd8 upon Cedarville. In fact, v •ry f •w of our young people arc sent to other in, litutions. W, r ·joice that our eollc•gl' compar l, f.Wt)rably in its best and its worst featun:s with other larger im1ti– tutions, and I have heard so fr quently that it is no worsP than lots of others. I am r mindt:'cl o[ one of the bright sayings of a little girl. On night as ,.;h wa. s:iying her prayers her moth'1r said: "Elsie did you ask Goel to forgiv yc,u for being naughty to-day'?" "Yes," replied Elsie, "and God said, 'Great Scott, El ie, thcrc's lots of 'cm worse than you are.'" When we reach the plaet' liHi Elsie where we feel that our school is no worse than many others and that w arc doing just as well for our student as other institutions, I believe we have reached a point of deadly stagnation. True, we may not have the means and equipment of larger schools which can advance the individual, but we have an inl1uence which is telling upon hundreds of individuals outside our school. Our extreme localness (if you will) is our very life. By r ason of our µroximity we can do mor for the town than any larger in titution however well equipp d. Consider another phase of what we arc doing for the town the physical side of the question. Every individu'.11 in CeJarville would get out and fight to make our boys and girls whip other basket ball teams. In fact it sometimes looks as if blood miiht be shed to get Cedarville's score run up. I am sure we can n:>t complain of a lack of enthusi<lsm for our athletics on the put of the town. But notice, it is only the few who m'e playing on tl·.e teams, say twenty. Now while these twenty are being over exercised, in fact exhausted, what is happen– ing to the remaining fifty or sixty? In the way of physical training, nothing. I believe the college can do more for all and less for the few with the means she has at hand. With our present coach, as gymnasium director, and a very little more gymnasium apparatus, and with compulsory requirement fa definite amount of weekly practice on the part of the faculty, we can hand these students back to the parents better than the parents handed them to the college. Considering the age of this town and the small growth it has made in the time, it eems hardly to be wondered at that most of us settle do\\ n into our own