still witters run deep, ;md the deeper a
mail's feeling 1 is the less is he able to
express it.’
“I can only say, Mr. Carnegie, that,
with a full appreciation of your muni
ficence, with a full appreciation of the
heart that > s behind it. with a full ap
preciation of the mind that is behind
this gift, we accept it at your hand be
cause we know it comes from the heart
and its foundations are laid deeply,ac
cording to your own ideas of what a
.Library ought to be. It is to be ad
ministered in the interests of these
young fellows and their successors
coming, as you see, in increasing
numbers.
“Theonly difficulty about it will be
tlie difficulty that I see ahead of ns
already in regard to everything that
we are doing at this Co,lege, that we
haven’t room enough. But we have
made this part of tlie Library, as you
will see, wliafit is to be I hope for a
generation, and the end of the stack
cau’go out whenever the books press it
out and it can be enlarged in that di
rection. (Applause.)
“So far as yon young men are con
cerned, so far as your general leading
and your scientific research are con
cerned, here is your laboratory; there
are your special laboratories, these
scientific laboratories and these semi
nars which are devoted to personal
research and lopersoin.l investigation.
I neen't say, make use of them. You
have been waiting for them, you have
been longing for them, and here they
are. They ought to help you and will
help you to do the tiling that Ruskin
said was one of the great tilings of
life.
“I need nut speak further upon that,
aslimeis passing, but all that is in my
mi nd and a 111 ha tisin my lieu i t goes out
to you, Mr Carnegie, lor your magnifi
cent gift which I accept, on behalf of
the .Trustees of The Pennsylvania
State College and the insignia of
which I pass over to Dr. Atherton, the
President of the Institution, under
whose administration all this wealth
of learning and of inunificeuce is to
be expended in behalf of \on students
whoareheie on this floor and those
who are to come after you."( Applause)
acceptance of thk trust
After the address of General Beaver,
President Atherton spoke as follows:
“Mr. Carnegie, Mr. President of the
Board of Trustees, on behalf of the
college Faculty and Students. I accept
this key, as a symbol of the trust re
posed in us by the donor and by the
Boaidof Trustees, and I am happy
this day to be able, as I will indicate
presently, to pledge this whole college
family to the wise and conservative
and progressive administration of this
great gift.
“We were perplexed with the prob
lem which meets all Libraries —how
to have all the resouices of the li
brary open to every one, without the
necessity of espionage and puliceing.
Every library. I imagine, has to en
counter more or less difficulty with the
pilfering of books; sometimes it is
serious, sometimes very trifling; we
have had a compai ati vely limited
aiiinu it. The faculty believed, Mr. Car
negie and Gen. Beaver, that the time
had come when this Library should be
thrown open to the free use of the stu
dents, chat they should be permitted to
go to the separate alcoves, to the sep
arate departments, to the stack room,
take down the-books, handle them
themselves, compare, examine, select,
take them out to the light and look at
them, come to the desk here and re
ceive instruction or criticism or help’
and all that on the basis of a common
standard of honor and common fellow
ship in safe-guarding the trust.
“That question I submitted to the
student body. I did not then ask them
for a vote; I asked them to think it
over. Yesterday morning' in the Audi
torium the President of the Senior
class said: ‘We have voted unani
mously that we will stand on that plat
form and maintain that system.’ (Ap
plause) The President of the Junior
class said ’We have voted unanimous
ly that we will stand on that system.’
The Sophomore class had already sent
in a written communication to that
effect. The Freshman class, not hav
ing taken formal action, arose in their
places, to a man, pledging themselves
to the same system, and in like man
ner the Sub Freshman class; and thus,
Mr. Carnegie, you have put this gieat
trust not into the hands of the Trus
tees alone, nor of the Faculty but into
the hands of the Student body for all
generations to come, to be admin
istered on the basis of honor.
“And now, with profound gratitude
for the past and with highest hopes
for its future, I dedicate this building,
of which this key is a symbol, to the
propagation of truth and honor among
men, to the preservation and diffusion
of the garnered riches of wisdom and
to the advancement of all those in
fluences that uplift humanity.
“But my task is only partly done.
The trustees have wished to express
in some enduring form their sense of
appreciation of this gift, and so have
adopted resolutions, which have al
ready been forwarded to you,hut which
also have been engrossed on parch
ment in permanent form, enrolled in
the college colors, bine and white —em-
blems of purity, truth and courage
and that expresses only in a most im
perfect wav the sentiment the whole
college community feel. I respectfully
hand this scroll to you as a symbol.
And then we have called in the aid of
the artist to create a fitting casket to
contain them, striving thus to convey
more fully what we could not ourselves
express. On the top—l wish all could
see it—we have a reproduction, which
we think highly successful of the fea
tures of the donor which we sh.til re
member as long as life endures, be
neath which the artist has placed those
words which, with all deepest respect
and sincerity I say have been theguid
iug inspiration of his life—‘More
light, more light’—he has surrounded
these features with his masses of
bocks through which the light may be
conveyed, enclosing all in a border of
Scotch Thistle and the Ivy of Friend
ship. An inscription, stating the
fact that it is presented by the Board
of Trustees follows, and then some of
the gre.-t names that stand out in hu
man literatiue—Homer, Pluto, Viigil,
Dante, Shakespeare, whitli the all-ein
bracing motto, ‘Tue truth shall make
you free.’ Finally he presented an em
blem of liberty and enlightenment, the
inspiration of all that the American
Republic stands tor, with a sketch of
the library building on the front and
the date of t.ie dedication. This we
lock with a golden key, because noth
ing less would express the richness of
our sentiment of appreciation, and we
ask you to accept it in the hope that
you will treasure it ainoing your me
morials and recollections of this, to us,
so happy day.” (Applause)
MR. CARNEGIE’S RESPONSE
In response, Mr. Carnegie said
“Mr. President
“This as you know, is a surprise to
me. I knew nothing of this. I had
already received the written resolu
tions and supposed that was all, but
there is no end to genuine feeling,
“The other night in New York, in
accepting a testimonial, I had occasion
to say that the world might be divid
ed into three classes: first, men who
did not get as much as they deserved;
second, men who were rewarded accor
iug to their merit, and the third class,
those who get one thousand times
more than they are entitled to. Alter
to day's proceedings, gentlemen, there
cannot lie in your minds the slightest
doubt as to which of the three classes
your humble set vant belongs in.
“Now. gentlemen. I am not going to
tell you that Ido not like to receive
this, that it does not give me pleasure.
There are gifts perhaps that elevate
but there are also gifts that humble.
I confess to you that, surrounded as, I
am —and I keep them in sight in my
library around me—l look up at these
numerous testimonials a ml they are to
me teachers of what is good and I also
confess that I need their suppoit.
Don’t mistake, none of you know what
human nature, even at the best, is,
how many trials come, how many
temptations, how many troublesome
things; these are my teachers, saying
to me, ‘Consider what your fellow men
think you arc; contrast it with what
you know you are yourself.’ I don’t
know anything that so prostrates a
man as that; but he would be a poor
wretch who would not resolve, by the
Eternal, I will so live my life that I
shall strive to appioaeh somewhat
nearer and nearer to the imaginary
character which they have so partial
ly given me.
“I thank von, therefore, for this gift.
It will add another tie binding me to
live a life of \\ hicli the State College
ot Pennsylvania m.ij never have cause
to be ashamed, and it will lead me on,
stronger and stronger, in my purpose
so to live my life that, come what may,
you gentlemen will never have cause