Defense of the Owl

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

Acting upon Mr. Harry E. Warren's advice (contained in his letter published in last Saturday's CRIMSON), I have "read thoughtfully again Lincoln's Gettysburg Address." Whatever thoughts Abraham Lincoln's had on the subject of War Memorials cannot dedicate...consecrate...hallow this ground...It is for us, the living rather, to be dedicated...to the great task remaining before us...that these dead shall not have died in vain."

As a postulant for Holy Orders, as a graduate of Harvard, as a veteran of the 1st Division, as an admirer of Lincoln, I cannot believe that a state, useless tablet or plaque will serve to memorialize the sacrifices of my class mates and friends. Let us by all means have, as Mr. Warren suggests, something which "seek to radiate the thought of heroic sacrifice" Let it be a thing of beauty and nobility. But it must point beyond itself and even beyond the men to whom it is dedicated to fulfill these functions.

There can be only one answer to the Harvard War Memorial question: a vital structure, where the living can, indeed, dedicate themselves, nurturing their bodies with its materials and their minds and souls with what it stands for... E. A. Callanan, Jr. 2E.T.S. '41