charm of the "Odyssey" is one of the priceless
possessions of every fresh student, and to feel it for the first time
is like discovering the sea anew. It is, indeed, the Epic of the Sea;
the only poem in all literature which gives the breadth, the movement,
the mighty sweep of sky belted with stars, the unspeakable splendours
of sunrise and sunset,--the grand, free life of the sea. I would place
the "Odyssey" in every collection of modern books for the tonic quality
that is in it. The dash of wave and the roar of wind play havoc with
our melancholy, and fill us with shame that we have so much as asked
the question, "Is Life Worth Living?"

There is no grander entrance gate to the great world of thought than
the Greek Literature. Universities are broadening their courses to
meet the multiplied demands of modern knowledge and to fit men for the
varied pursuits of modern life, but for those who desire familiarity
with human life in its broadest expression, and especially for those
who seek familiarity with the literary spirit and mastery of the
literary art, Greek must hold its place in the curriculum to the end of
time. This implies no disparagement of our own literature--a
literature which spreads its dome over a wider world of feeling and
knowledge than the Greek ever saw within the horizon of his experience;
but the Greek, like the Hebrew, will remain to the latest generation
among the great teachers of men. He was born into the first rank among
nations; he had an eye quick to see, a mind clear, open, and bold to
grasp facts, set them in order, and generalise their law; an instinct
for art that turned all his observation and thinking into literature.
Whether he looked at the world about him or fixed his gaze upon his own
nature, his insight was from the very beginning so direct, so
commanding, so perfectly allied with beauty, that his speculations
became philosophy and his emotions poetry. There was hardly any aspect
of life which he did not see, no question which he did not ask, and few
which he failed to answer with more or less of truth. He walked
through an untrodden world of sights and sounds, and reproduced the
vast circle of his life in a literature to which men will look as long
as the world stands for models of sweetness, beauty, and power. Greek
literature holds its place, not because scholars have combined to keep
alive its traditions and make familiarity with it the bond of the
fellowship of cultur