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The annual reception given by the Faculty to new students in the University last night in the Union was attended by a large number of both upperclassmen and Freshmen. Dean Briggs presided and introduced the speakers in the following order Dean W.W. Fenn '84, Professor T.W. Richards '86, J. Richardson, Jr., '08, and President Lowell.
In introducing Dean Fenn, Dean Briggs told the new students that every man has an influence in college and that it is each man's duty to make his influence the best.
Dean Fenn, in beginning, said that what a man gets out of college is commensurate with the purpose with which he enters college. A man should acquire efficiency and habit from a college course. Efficiency brings pleasure with it, and a pleasant life is the most efficient. College is often said to be a place of preparation for life, but it might better be said that college is life under peculiarly favorable conditions. In closing, Dean Fenn referred to four types of students,--one whose ideals are too high to be agreeable to those with whom he associates; another who feels that his poverty prevents intimate friendship with his fellows; the modesty of a third leads him to a false conceit; the last comes to college expecting to be snubbed and in so doing he creates the very condition which he deplores. To remedy these conditions a student must remember that he is a Harvard man among Harvard men, and that the friendship that is extended will have friendship returned.
Professor Richards expressed a welcome to Cambridge both to new students and to President Lowell. The word "Veritas" is a fine word under which to live.
J. Richardson, Jr., '08 spoke of the problems that now confront the incoming student.
President Lowell was then introduced. He deplored the fact that he would be unable to meet Freshmen personally as he had been wont to do in former years. He likened the life of a Freshman to that of a sea captain about to leave the harbor for a foreign port. Like the captain who guides his ship by the compass, so the new student must guide his acts by his conscience.
The subject of friendship is an all important one and the determination of it must be met largely within the next three months. It is tragic not to have friends and as a man grows older he will find the world a kindlier place than he had thought.
One of the great problems that has arisen of late in the University is that of Memorial Hall. It has lost money heavily and the question of closing it has arisen. It was determined, however, to continue the dining hall. Eating together is one of the best ways to make friends. The main object of the hall is to afford an opportunity for men to eat together.
In closing, President Lowell urged, "Do that which you would be glad to have done twenty years hence."
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