Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/500

 438 A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO William Gardner Hale delivered the address. Mr. Hale began his address with the following interesting reminiscence : Our University came into existence at a time of great mental exaltation. The World's Fair was in the making. It was opened in the Spring Quarter of our first year. In the Convocation address which I gave at the end of that quarter, I said: "The power of the leaders of the community which is to be the environ- ment of the University of Chicago has been shown in that fair vision of civili- zation which, calling upon the best genius of the whole country, they have evoked, for a few fleeting months, by the shores of the lake. But this is not their only work. Another and more lasting vision has in these same years been silently rising under the shadow of the White City. When, by the hard decree of fate, the walls of that city have been razed to the ground, the Gray City of enduring stone by the ' Midway Plaisance ' will remain witness to a still higher and more disinterested idealism, proof, like the Art Institute and the three great libraries, of Chicago's deep-seated belief in the intellectual life. Here, in this city of the open mind and generous heart, in this city of dreamers and planners, in this city where the pulse of American life beats full and strong, it should prosper." My words would have died in the utterance, had they, in Horace's phrase, "lacked the sacred bard." Our sacred bard was Professor Lewis. As he has himself said on a public occasion, the passage I have quoted touched his imagination, and the White City and the Gray will hereafter live together in the verses of the Chicago hymn: The City White hath fled the earth; But where the azure waters lie A nobler city hath its birth, The City Gray that ne'er shall die. For decades and for centuries Its battlemented towers shall rise Beneath the hope-filled western skies. 'Tis our dear Alma Mater. His high visions and mine knew no distinction of department. They have been realized. The Gray City has risen, stone on stone, with unparalleled steadiness. The nightly lanterns of the contractor have been quenched as rarely as the gates of the temple of Janus were closed, in sign of peace, in Rome. The Classics Building was so far finished in March, 1915, that it was occupied at the opening of the Spring Quarter. It was dedi- cated on June 14 following with addresses by President Judson and Professors Buck, Hale, Tarbell, and Shorey. Owing to the small size of the Assembly Room, this was not a public function, only