Boys, Be Ambitious
New Prince English Course 3 (Showa 55) pg. 70-76
| Boys, Be Ambitious. | |
|---|---|
| 少年よ大志を抱け | |
| Details | |
| Word count | 560 |
| Book | New Prince |
| Grade | 3 |
| Year | 1980 |
In one corner of Hokkaido University you can see a bust of Dr. William S. Clark. He was the first president of the first agricultural school in Japan. Thousands of people who visit the university stand around the bust and look up at it.
Dr. Clark served as a bridge across the Pacific when Japan was just beginning to become a modern country. Many Japanese students know his famous words, "Boys, be ambitious!" But very few Americans today know about Dr. Clark.
In 1864 an ambitious young man named Jo Niijima left Japan for America. He was the first Japanese student to learn from Dr. Clark at Amherst College, Massachusetts.
Dr. Clark learned a lot about Japan from Niijima, and his interest in this country began to grow.
The Japanese government was planning to start an agricultural college in Hokkaido. Dr. Clark was the right man for the job.
The Japanese government asked Dr. Clark to work in Japan for two years. But he wrote to the government. "I am President of Massachusetts Agricultural College. I can not stay in your country more than a year. But I am going to do a lot more in one year than any other man will do in two."
On July 30, 1876, the day before his fiftieth birthday, Dr. Clark spent a night at Otaru with two young Americans. They got up at four the next morning, and mounted their horses to go to Sapporo.
Dr. Clark taught twenty-four students at Sapporo Agricultural College. He gave each of them a big American dictionary. Then he taught them English and botany from Monday through Saturday.
Dr. Clark also told them to work in the open fields for six hours a week. He believed in teaching practical things.
The students soon learned how to raise cattle and how to run a farm. They all became experts in agriculture.
One day in winter they went on a field trip to Mt. Teine. Dr. Clark found some strange moss that was growing on a big tree.
He could not reach the moss, and told the tallest student to stand on his back and get it. The student was going to take off his shoes. But Dr. Clark could not wait, and told him again to get on his back with his shoes on.
The moss was a new discovery and experts on moss named it "Clark Moss."
Indeed Dr. Clark did more work than that of three men put together. At last the day of parting came. It was April 16, 1877, eight and a half months after he arrived in Sapporo.
The sun was shining, but the wind was cold. All the teachers and students mounted their horses. They went as far as Shimamatsu Village twenty kilometers away from Sapporo.
There they had their last lunch with Dr. Clark. Then they walked about the nearby hills for one hour.
Dr. Clark gathered his students around him, and said, "Write to me from time to time. Don't forget to pray. Now I must be going. Good-by." He shook hands with each of them.
They could not look up.
Then he mounted his horse, turned to them, and shouted, "Boys, be ambitious!"
As soon as he said this, he gave his horse a whip, and rode away along the road covered with snow. He never looked back.
See also
- Junior high school speech contest
- William S. Clark (Wikipedia)
