Humanities Gone and to Come, an Address ~ Paperback ~ Felix E.Schelling

Excerpt from Humanities Gone and to Come, an Address: And Ad Astra: An Ode Mr. Chairman, Fellow-Members of Phi Beta Kappa, Ladies and Gentlemen: Nearly five generations of men have come and gone since this society sprang into life; its purpose the nurture and encouragement of liberal studies by a public recognition of those whose young steps have begun worthily to tread the pathways of the humanities. The idols that men rear and worship change as men change. And time sheds tears or bestows mockery on the broken images of the ideals that have been but are no more. No symbol that has roused the spirit of human devotion is a thing wholly unworthy or without its significance. It is of some of these idols in education, fallen or yet upright, that I wish briefly to speak to you this afternoon. And I wish especially to dwell on the spirit that reared them on their pedestals and brought them honest devotees, rather than to dilate on the iconoclasm that shattered their beauties in indiscriminate destruction. Retrospect is the privilege of age; prophecy the foible of youth, I can lay claim to your indulgence for neither. The present is only a passing link in the swiftly running chain of time. It rivets the eye but for a moment. He that neglects the past neglects that which has made him what he is. He that neglects the promises and the warnings of the present as to things to come, as to things which he may help to shape in their coming, is already floating, a mere piece of wreckage on the ocean of time. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.