This is an extreme but not an unheard-of
assembling of elements which the State has the task of assimilating to its
own ideals.
I have not spoken, I cannot speak, of methods of that teaching, of its
shortcomings, of it crudities in many places, of its general want of
appreciation of form and color (of its particular need of France there),
of its utilitarian inclinations, and of its eager haste. The essential
thing that I have wanted to say is that this valley is not only more
democratic socially and politically than any other part of America, unless
it be that narrow strip farther west, but is also more consciously and
vitally and constantly concerned about the nation of to-morrow.
I spoke of the flaming ingot of steel swinging in the smoky ravine by the
site of Fort Duquesne as the symbol of the new human metal that is made of
the mingling of men of varied race, tradition, and ideals in the labor of
that continent. But above that in a clearer sky shines a more hopeful
symbol--the house of the school, the meeting-place of the invisible
spirits, the place of prophecy, pictured against a white field.
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