Of manhood's attainable glory."
—Woman's Journal.
Editorials.
M. C. THOMAS Hesperian, }
D. C. ROPER, Columbian, } Editors.
The farmer has at last begun to think for himself, and, as a natural consequence, he is acting in defense of himself and his rights. This can truthfully be called an age of organizations. Men of all professions and occupations are uniting themselves in associations. From this general approval, one cannot but conclude that such organizations, well conducted, are beneficial in some way to their respective classes. It, therefore, behooves the farmer so to prepare himself as to be able to declare and maintain his rights among the various other co-operative bodies of the business world. No one, then, will say that the Farmer's Alliance, if conducted aright, will not prove successful in the accomplishment of the farmer's purpose; but even the farmer will admit that the natural tendency of such organizations is towards politics. So soon as this corrupting feature takes root in the Farmer's Alliance, not only must the Alliance die, but the socio-political status of the farmer will be lowered.
Self-reliance is one of the first things that a college student should learn. At the very beginning of his college course he should determine to discard all unnecessary aid, it matters not how anxious he may be to take a high stand in his class and in his Society. Hard labor is the price of all excellence, and if he is not willing to exert himself he should be satisfied with low grades, &c. The young man who uses translations to be able to get along in his class, and plagiarizes in his Society in order to win, among a certain class of students, the reputation of being a good speaker, could not possibly devise a better plan by which to ruin himself. Such a student may get up a short-lived reputation, but he will be found out eventually and will experience a great mortification. The student who does not rely in the main on his own exertions may go to college all his life and yet not be truly educated. Colleges do not exist for the purpose of cramming a student with text-book knowledge, but to teach him to use his mental powers to the best advantage. Every student should use his own brains, and not rely upon translations or fellow students, and thus "beat" his way through college. Let self-reliance be the motto of every student at Trinity.
The study of history in American colleges has made wonderful progress during the latter part of this century. But still there are many people who consider it almost unorthodox to study anything but the present. Those who venture to write about Socrates, Plato, or Aristotle, they would consider as fit companions for the monks of the Middle Ages who thought that seclusion and a little knowledge of Latin constituted the essence of true religion. There is something in "the olden time" to enlist our love and win our admiration. To many a student, those old Druid priests, sacrificing human victims under Britain's primeval oaks, are objects of wonder. There is an inexplicable peculiarity in their midnight sacrifices which excites the curiosity of the youthful and stimulates the reflecting mind to greater research. But this is not all. The best way to improve the present is to profit by the examples of the past. The great military chieftains of modern times have always studied with great care and consideration the campaigns of Alexander, Caesar and Hannibal, and have therefore escaped defeat. So should every political leader carefully study the policy of Sparta under Lycurgus, of Beotia under Epaminondas, of Athens under Solon and Pericles, and of France under Charlemagne. Indeed, every citizen should have a knowledge of the social and political history of fallen empires, monarchies and democracies in order to avoid their Scylla and Charybdis.