University of South Carolina Libraries
PL.ISHI)I WEEK.Y BY TIHE LITERARY SOCIETIES 01 TIHE UNIVERSITY oF SOUTH CAROLINA. TERMIS: $1.50 A SESSION, PAYAUILE IN ADVANCE. "J.ltered as second-class matter November 20, 1908, at the postoflice at Columbia, S. C., under the Act of Alarch 3, 1879." Ti.i-: G.umrcocK solicits humorous sketches, essays. verses, etc., aid will gladly publish such as is available, when accompanied by the full name of the author. Unigned mantuscripts will ticither be acknowledged nor returned. All checks and money orders should be made pay able to I. I.. Simpson, Butsiness Manager. Business Manager, R. F. SimpsoN, '11. .-Issitant Business .lanager, T. S. Al cMlII.I..N. Ulmers. litorial Rooms in Flinn: 11411. nto.\um op' tIOS liditor-in-Chief, 11. G. o r :ict.......................iEddy Lake Aissociate Eiditor. 1). C. HEY.:WARD. Ath11lics E.liiors, F. W . C arE.a x\..................iupihradiai I.. K. IAoonD........................Clariosophic 1.4wal Eiditors, 1). C. llcrs-r:ss.......................Clariosophic .. W . waV .N I i...................it11liradian IY. .11. C. .-. Eiditor, W. 11. JonNsTOX. Stud.-nl BodY Eiditor, P1. K. l%owm.%x. Coium,nA, S. C., A en1t 22, 1911. Not many years ago the Y. M. C. A. wvas so insignificant a part of the college life that it did not command the attention of a majority of the sti dent body. It was not insignificant in its aim. or the work it tried to do. but, like all great movements, it had to have a beginning, and at first its work did not command the attention of any considerable number of people. But within the last fifteen or twenty-years the work has made such rapid strides that today it is the center around which clusters every phase of college activity. Before we can determine the place of the Y. M. C. A. in the college, we must consider its aim, the vork it undertakes to (1o. First of all, it tries to make college life more homelike. It tries to make the freshman feel that he has not come to an altogether had place, and that he must not cut loose from the traditions and influences which have surrounded him at home but. on the other hand, it tries to make him feel that he must cultivate those impiressions of true manhood which he has received from a loving mother and a sympathetic father. It tries to make him feel that true manhood. and not mockery, is honored in the college Commun111ity. Secondly, the Y. M. C. A. tries to strengthen a milan's Christian faith. This it does ill several ways. First, by icanis of that intangible thing which we call human influence, that contact of p)ersonality with personality --a boy or young man surrounded by the inifluences of Christian nmnhood. which the Y. M. C. A\. tries to emb)ody, mulst necessarilv have his life affected by' such influences. No man can liv'e within tihe inifluence of a live Y. M. C. A\. anld not have his ideal of man hood made higher, without having his vilsionl of life mladle b)roadler. 1Hv mneanls of its Bible classes, the V. M. C. A. attemptis to give a man a knowl edige of the Bible, not mierely as a piece of literature or history, b)ut, what is b)etter, as a guhide for his own life. Through its mission classes the Y. M. C. A. tries to awaken in the college mian an interest in his fellowvmanm, whether he be his fellow college stu dent or whether lhe he a avage ill tIl jungles of Africa. It tries to make college men recognize more and more the common brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God. I n the last place, the Y. M. C. A. gives the college man an opportunity for definite Christian service. This it does through its request for Bible and mission class leaders, for leaders of the different committees and through its need for men to engage in work among the mill operatives of the city. In all of these ways, .1 am glad to say. we have men who are giving their time anl effort cheerfully to this work, and w-ho have dtone and are doing a great work. Then, what should be the place of the Y. M. C. A. in the college? Vhat should be the place of an organization which has for its object the making of a Christian manhood, through the strengthening of Christian faith and the opportunities for Christian serv ice? Is it not higher in its ideal and broader in its conception than any other college organization ? And. then, should it not, in order to work out these high i(leals. have the hearty co-operation and support of every member of the college community ? P. L. WIm11. Mission Study in the University Fifty-Six Men Enrolled. This year our Y. M. C. A. has of fered two courses in mission study. We made a splendid beginning, enroll ing inl thli; work fifty-six men. Dr. G. 1.. Moore led a group which studied Dr. Weatherford's new book, "Negro Life in the South." The other course on Mr. Mott's "Decisive Hour of Christian Missions" was led by our secretary, Mr. Mills. Mission study is becoming more popular yearly, espe cially among college students. In nearly all of our American colleges this department plays quite an impor tant part ; for its own merit brings it to the attention of the thinking man. We hope to enlarge this part of our association work next year, and then each year successively. Dr. Weatherford's book brings home very clearly outr prejudice anl injustice to the black man. When he is on trial we often allow blackness of skin tolhave more weight than black ness of character. If he suffer injury at the hand of a white man. "Well, its just a nigger." Dr. Weatherford ably brillgs out our injustice toward this lower race. The neg-o question is all-important to the white race, and should be solve(l intelligently-. We live in a land where over half the peop)lle are negi-oes, andl yet we kinow ver-y little about them. We have negr-o cooks and nurses ; so their c leaniliness, intelligence, and even mor-als directly affect out- own. At the most dlocile age of the child the negr-o is often~ with the white -hild fat mnore than its mother-. Ther-efore, it is for- our own wvelfar-e, if nothing else, that we study' this question and' .tr-ive to help the negro. Mr-. M\ott, the Genertal Secr-etai-y of the WVorld's Student Chr-istian Con feder-ation, who wi-ote the "Decisive IHour of Chr-istian Missions," is inter ested in worldl-widle mi ssions and prob ably has as clear a view of the wvhole field as any' man of this (lay. The study of such a book a his is bonmd to give a man a broader conception of national progress, as well as the prog ress of Christianity among the nations of the world. I Te shows that at present the nations are eager to learn. The whole East is crying for Western civilization. Now'y/as never before, we Christians have the chance to give them the best of our civilization-Christianity. But if we (1o not take this opportunity, they will call in anybody who is willing to help them. Therefore, as he shows, the present is the critical hour. h'liese two courses have been much enjoyed by the fellows, and many have gotten a broader insight into the prob lems which they will have to face. And this is the real plrpose of mis Siol Study. (S.o. 11. .DWnARDS, JR. The Work of Flinn Hall-Plans for Next Year. Among the most valuable additioms to student life upon the campus this year has been the Oplening of Flinn Hall. Uor a Iong time there has beeii felt the urgent need for some place where the students might meet in com mon and learn to know each other bet ter. 15r. J. Villiam Flinn who occupied the chair of philosopihy at this insti tute during the seventeen years be tweenl 188s and 1905, conceived such an idea. He did not know that the present building could be use( for such a purpose, but it was his earnest desire that some common place of meeting upon the campus be provided. During the greater part of his stay here, ie labored for that end, and suc ceeded in collecting the main part of ithe funds, by means of which the prcs ent building has been furnished. An other of the objects of Dr. Flinn was to provide a place for the University Y. M. C. A. department, vhich up to this yearl has been coninned to very limited and insufficient quarters in DeSaussure College. Hei never lived to see the fulfillment of his plans. blut at his death, in 1907, left to the Uni versity the funds, which have made the present Flinn Hall possible. The University Y. M. C. A. depart Iment had never been successful. The inadequate (uarters, lack of a student secretary. a1d. coisequently, small membership, had always kept it in the backgrotind. This was fully realized by its members, and for several years vigorous attempts were mnade to re vail upon t ie .egislature to lend aid. Ibis movemenit had been attended with little success until (luring the leg islative session of 1910, when a bill was passedl to pirovide mfoney' for the renting of ani extra house, and so leave that onie then occupied by D.r. Gordon 11. Moore at the dlisp)osal of the stu dent body. A s soon as it became known among the students that the L egislature intended to help theml, they dletermiined to show theirm appreciation and( help themselves. A committee was appointed and canlvassedl the cam pus until they had received piromises of funds, due Octob)er, 1 910. sufficient to emiploy a student secretary. Mr. WV. P. Mills, for the past three years holder of the Rhodes scholarship at Oxford, Eng., wvas selected, to wvhomn is most largely due the success of Flinn H-all during tihe nreen yar, After the house, furnishings and services of a student secretary had been secured, the' faculty lent thelr aid by purchasing subscriptions to the large number of magazines which now cover the tables of the reading rooms. The News and Courier, State and county papers have also lent their aid to the providing of current news. It is needless to say that the- reading rooms have been well patronized from the very beginning. There is no time of the day between nine o'clock in the morning and eleven that night that you do not find a group of fellows, read ing or chatting in these rooms. Across the hall, the Green Room is often filled with a number of students study ing, while upon the broad porch in front, one can sit and read or watch the passers-by. The student body as a whole is also to be commended for the careful way in which they have always treated the articles of furni ture in Flinn Hall. Upstairs is the Publication room, where the staffs of The Garnet and Black, Carolinwn and GAMEcocK or members of "The Scribes," meet. Previous to the opening of Flinn Hall there was no place for these genii of literature to meet except in their pri vate rooms. There is also a guest room at Flinn Hall, where visitors are entertained. During the present ses sion it has furnished sleeping apart ments for such distinguished men as Dr. Knapp. of Washington, Dr. I-. L. Smith, of Davidson College, Chancel lor Kirkland, of Vanderbilt Univer sity, Dr. C. E. Burts, D. WN. Daniel an( numerous others. Next year it is aimed to add to the accommodations of Flinn Hall a writ ing room and to fix up the annex as an auditorium. Through the efforts of Mr. Mills, aided by Flinn Hall, the Y. M. C. A. department is now having a marked influence upon the religious life of the campus. Every Wednesday night. at 7:45, a large number of young men assemble to the midweek service, where they, are favored by addresses upon live issues, by some of the most influential men of South Carolina ; on Sunday morning, at 10 o'clock, six Bible classes, conducted by the stu dents themselves, take up their work; and often on Sunday nights well knoNi speakcers, at the invitation of the Y. M. C. A. department, pay the campus a call. These are only some of tile many functions that Flinn Hall performs in tile University life, but time and space forbid a further elaboration of them. Southern Student Conference. (Continued from Page One.) as onue who attendled last year re marked, "You will nlever spend a pileasanlter- andl more p)ronltable tenl dlays anywhere." The railroadl station for Montreat is I slack Mountain. N. C., iifteen miles east of Asheville, on the Salisbury dlivision of the Southern Railwvay. A special conference rate has been grantedl-three cents per mile for the round( trip, plus twenty-five cents for validationi. RIcirAnn F. SuIPSON. Send a copy of THEi GAM1scoeI home