“Verden University is supposed to stand for Christianity, isn't it? It was because Jesus whanged away at social and industrial freedom, at fraternity, at love on earth, that he had to endure the Cross. He got under the upper class skin when he attacked the traditional lies of vested interests. Now why doesn't Bland preach the things that Jesus taught?”
“He does.”
“Yes, he does,” Jeff scoffed. “He preaches good form, respectability, a narrow personal righteousness, a salvation canned and petrified three hundred years ago.”
“Do you want him to preach socialism?”
“I want him to preach the square deal in our social life, intellectual honesty, and a vital spiritual life. Think of what this college might mean, how it might stand for democracy It ought to pour out into the state hundreds of specialists on the problems of the country. Instead, it is only a reflection of the caste system that is growing up in America.”
James shrugged his broad shoulders. “I've been through all that. It's a phase we pass. You'll get over it. You've got to if you are going to succeed.”
A quizzical grin wrinkled Jeff's lean face. “What is success?”
“It's setting a high goal and reaching it. It's taking the world by the throat and shaking from it whatever you want.” James leaned across the table, his eyes shining. “It's the journey's end for the strong, that's what it is. I don't care whether a man is gathering gilt or fame, he's got to pound away with his eye right on it. And he's got to trample down the things that get in his way.”
Jeff's eye fell upon a book on the table. “Ever hear of a chap called Goldsmith?”
“Of course. He wrote 'The School for Scandal.' What's he got to do with it?”