GRADUATION, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND 269

In some ways the educated man and the educated recluse resemble
one another; while in other ways, they are in sharp contrast. In a
classic speech delivered at the turn of the century, Columbia Univer-
sity president Nicholas Murray Butler talked about the "five evidences
of education" and all five are worth reflecting upon if only to show
where being an educated recluse ends and where being the educated
man begins.

Mister Butler's first evidence was what he called, "Correctness and
precision in the use of the mother tongue. " I have always found this
to be amusing, and even inaccurate, since I have never been totally
convinced that we really have a mother tongue. Mother English, you
say? Don't be too sure. Was the mother tongue of the late forties and
early fifties Mother English or was it, more correctly, Mother Missouri?
Was the mother tongue of the early sixties Mother English or was it
not indeed Mother Boston? And what about now? We're dropping our
g's in honor of the mother tongue spoken in the Perdenales region of
Texas, and we'll keep doing it unless the dialects of New York or
Illinois or Michigan or California come to the aid of their country in
time... say around November, 1968.

With due apologies to Mister Butler, I don't think he would have
devoted half his talk to this matter had he ever been exposed to a
little educated Baltimoreze... or maybe that's what inspired him in
the first place.

The second evidence of education, which, like the first, does not truly
distinguish between educated man and educated recluse, is "those re-
fined and gentle manners of fixed thoughts and action. " I will not
belabor this point for there can be no dispute that manners are an
evidence of the educated outlook and ought to be more in evidence
today among all our people, political leaders especially. The words of
polite and educated society are too often lacking in the vocabulary of
those who debate and decide on the great issues. Too many of us, too
much of the time, follow the example of President De Gaulle, who
when he wants something, never forgets to say "please" and after he
gets it never remembers to say "thank you. "

Evidence number three and evidence number four are more serious
matters and deal with the habit and power of reflection. It is here that
the difference between educated man and educated recluse becomes
clear. In the one instance reflection is an energy, in the other nothing
more than a mild if soothing purgative. For the truly educated man
will be consumed in changing the affairs of men, and rely upon