1912–13 Volume 37 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

THE SCROLL 329those things which are prescribed in the Bond, with which you are all familiar;those things which make us, as the eloquent doctor a few minutes ago so eloquentlydescribed, the ideal man, the typical Phi.We hear a great deal now about progress, and progressivism. BrotherLewis said something about it. I wish to say that what we term progress oftenis not progress. It leads away from certain primal facts and truths. Truth iseternal, and no progress is made away from a principle. The principles thatare laid down in the Bond are eternal, and we cannot hope to progress awayfrom them. We can only progress by the use of them.I asked my uncle one time how he happened to think of these particulartruths that he wrote out in the Bond. I said they are similiar to some otherthings that I have seen. Well, he said he thought that when men came faceto face with the truth, and recognized the need of it, that one man would actand say very much what another man would say or think or do; and so theBond was written in his own language, without the knowledge of the teachingsof any other fraternity. He was not a. member of any other organization,even up to the time of his death—any other fraternity I mean.Doctor Benton said the young man who does not study and who will notstudy has no business in the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity; that the youngman who is not honest, or who is immoral or vicious, has no business in thefraternity. We all realize that. We ail recognize, I am sure, that if we go backto the Bond and abide by its teachings, those of us who have been initiatedwill be better Phis, and those whom we initiate will be impressed by our actionsand teachings, and they also will be better Phis.Something has been said about service also. I view it in this way myself,and I think that was the view of the founder. This organization is not to getglory to ourselves, but to give service to others; and if that is the fact, thegreater number to whom we can give the service, the greater the glory reflectedupon us; and wherever it is possible I hope that our sword and shield maybe handed on to others, and that they may go on, fighting the good fighf offaith, and build up in our country, and in the country north of us where wehave chapters, the highest type of college manhood known. (Applause.)THE TOASTMASTER: NOW brothers, we have heard from a headmaster,from a university president, from the superintendent of astate institution, and now we are to hear from a public school representative.This man has a reputation. He has a reputation first ofall for fine service to the state in his profession, and also a reputationfor his devotion to our fraternity. I am sure you will be glad to hearhim discuss this question of great interest, "The College without aFraternity." Brother Philo S. Stevenson, Missouri Gamma, '94.BROTHER STEPHENSON : Brother Toastmaster, ladies and Brother Phis;A college without a fraternity—what shall we say of the college without a fraternity?The college so lost to the sense of harmony in its curriculum, sowasteful of sweetness and light, such a foe of the higher life, as not to havea fraternity. It is almost unbelievable; nevertheless, there are such colleges.We know of the man—we have all met him—who has never joined the collegefraternity; and if his reasons be personal to himself, if his reasons bethose of a man who has been invited to join but has been prevented by circumstancesover which he bad no control, he is a man whose position we respect;but, other things being equal, when a college man meets a college manof average human tastes and agreeable manly interest, he is safe in assuming,or it is fair for him to assume that that man has earned a Greek letter pin.It is almost incomprehensible to us that a man would deliberately elect togo to a college that debars fraternities, and spend four of the happiest, mostvaluable and richest years of his life where he can get no—what shall I say?—no real college life.