the bee and the beaver learn well to perform a
certain daily routine of labor. Milton's noble
conception of education is: "The light we have
gained was given us not to be ever staring on,
but by it to discover other and onward things
more remote from our knowledge." But no light
is gained, in gaining knowledge, until it is vital
ized and fused by our imagination or spiritual for
ces. Even Mathematics which has been regarded
as cne of the dryest subjects in the college curri
culum, may have its "dry bones" warmed into
life by being breathed upon by the imagination.
Simple germinal principels in its warmth are
realized as the source of pregnant laws which con.
trol the minutest and the greatest objects and phe-
noniena
A few primary definitions and fundamental the
orems, for instance, lead by constantly ascending
steps to the determination of the areas and vol
umes of all magnitudes, whether those of plane
geometry or the infinite number of those ex
pressed by the higher and transcendental equation,
as the cycloids or spirals. But this harmony of
procession clearly reveals itself only to that stu
dent, Who forgetthig himself in thought, bends "a
pinion for the deeper sky."
"Watch narrowly
The demonstration of a truth, its birth,
And you trace back tile influence to its spring
And source within us, where broods radiance vast,
To be elictod ray by ray."
The oftener the student shall free himself from
the fetters of the text, and brooding in imagina
tion upon what he has learned, till it becomes
pictured in his mind symmetrical in form and
parts, (as the statue in the sculptor's thought e'er
his chisel strikes a blow), the more clear and per
fect will his preparation be, and the more the
"imprisoned splendor" of the thought will come
to view. It is only when science, in any of its
numerous departments, is approached thus with
the "open vision" of the imagination that it
blooms and blossoms for us ; otherwise approached
it is a desert of dry and unrelated facts.
It is because of this spiritual and imaginative
faculty that poetry has been the most enduring
FREE LANCE.
and pervading influence in the world.
why Homer sings to day in men's ears the songs
of unknown centuries ago, in the self-same wards;
why Shakespeare still holds the theatre spell-bound
speaking in the accents of "Queen Bess." This
is why the birth of new nations that come upon
earth with a mission and a power are heralded by
the poet, and when poetry declines the nation de
cays. Books then are only aids to help us in our
own efforts to "mate with the essence of things."
1 i i
c t .„
..,
a, N .....
‘,4,1• ~ '• At i .
- _
—The formation of a dual league in general
athletics with Bucknell has been given up.
—The Seniors have appeared in regulation Ox
ford cap and gown• and make quite a dignified
appearance
—The annual address before the Alumni Asso
ciation during the commencement week, will be
delivered by Charles Emory Smith.
—The Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity will erect a
chapter house here the coming summer, ready for
occupancy by the opening of next term.
—Manager Burkett of the base ball team is try•
ing to arrange a game between the Alumni and
the College team for commencement week.
—The Prep. nine played the Bellefonte Acade
my boys Saturday afternoon, April 6. The
Academy team was defeated by a score of 7 to z 5.
—The following have been named by the faculty
as commencement Orators, R. B. Mattern, valedic
torian; J. M. Small, H. W. Mattern, D. W. Gross
and F. F. Weld.
"Truth is within ourselves, it takes no use
From outward things, whate'er we may believe ;
But from the inmost centre in us all."
4 ••
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