The Ties of Oxford
Lord Grey's appeal for the foundation of an Oxford Society makes one wonder why an Oxford Society, and a Cambridge Society, too, was not founded genera- tions ago. Every public school worthy of the name has its old boys' club, and a good many colleges at both, Oxford and Cambridge have societies through which their past members keep in touch with the life of the college. The tie with a school or a college is no doubt in some sense closer than the tie with the university as a whole, in which the individual unit, unless he has attained some particular distinction, tends to be rather submerged. College missions, for the same reason, make on the whole a stronger appeal to undergraduates than Oxford House or Cambridge House. But there is clearly room for an Oxford and a Cambridge Society, quite apart from any more intimate affiliations. Oxford's sons as they go their way in the world can find many ways of helping Oxford and of helping one another, and Oxford some ways of helping them. Hine lucem et pocula sacra—not for three or four year of residence only. The Cambridge motto applies to both universities.
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