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HESPERIAN STUDENT.
LINCOLN,
MAY, 11J72.
Thl Heskuun Student, a Collugo organ, pub
Jished monthly by Iho students of tho Nebraska State
University. Tennis 75 cents per yenr, In advance.
Snbscilptions will bo received at. T. 1 Adams' Hook
Store, in 1. O. building. Communications aro solic
ited from our friends In nil mntters of Interest. Ad
dress, the Hesperian Student, I. O. Box 2!H). Lincoln,
Nebraska. W. II. SNKLL, Kdltor-in-Chtof.
' Miss Quack K. Nknton, I AsK(,-i,a
hCTiiEK Kchuian, f Associates.
Physical Exorcise.
It is an undeniable fact that brain work
is dependent, to a very great extent, on the
physical condition of the individual. "Wo
cannot have a strong intellect with a weak
and sickly body ; hence it is our duty not to
exert ourselves mentally, without an ade
quate amount of physical exercise. For
the use of students many suggestions arc
offered : as for instance daily walking in
the open air, jumping, ball playing, &c,
which are very well. But for us the better
plan of fitting up a Gymnasium suggests
itself. There are appropriated for that
purpose several large and commodious
rooms in the fourth story, and all that is
now needed is to furnish them. Then our
students can have a place where, not only
as in walking, the feet are exercised, but
also every muscle of tho body. Tito expense
of this would be but nominal, while its
results would be benellcial to us all.
Wo have noticed iovcral thin and pule
faced students sitting in our Library,
spending all their spare moments there,
and although we would, by no means dis
approve of their prcferonco for sedentary
labor, yet the snnic time spent in physical
exercise, or in a gymnasium, would be
more healthful.
There are scores of tho best stijdcnts in
our land who graduate with high iionors,
leave college mere physical wrecks. Such
accomplish but littlo in after life. Yet it is
not the continual brain work that is detri
mental to physical health. All the recrea
tion required by tho mind is diversity of
thought. There is no danger of the stu
dent thinking too much, nor studying too
hard a theory advanced by many, so long
as lie. takes physical exercise, but when the
brain-work increases to that extent that
thi! physical nature Is neglected, then the
student, In violating tho fundamental laws
of naturo, must sutler tho consequence.
If he would have a keen intellect, not
only must lie be mindful of tho general
Jaws that govern the body, but he should be
very careful not to engage in such enjoy
ments as weaken it: for that which has a
tendency in this direction, must have a
detrimental effect on the mind. Many,
while attending college, study so hard that
their physical power becomes Impaired and
they arc compelled to go away to recruit.
A better remedy would bo to take several
more studies, cease late conversing at night,
and forego the pleasure of spending a few
hours recreation dally in tho Milliard Hall,
devoting a closer attention to tho laws of
health. Many students aro continually
complaining of a dull head ache and morbid
disposition, which could he easily avoided
by being closer students of themselves.
Tho prevalent folly of many is, to become
a scholar too easily. There aro those who
leave the farm and active life, to seek an
education. They at once sit down closely
to study, and being accustomed to daily
exercise, in sedentary pursuits the wheels
of life become clogged, and for succeeding
years they struggle against disease acquired
by change of habit, at last to bo overcome
when in the midst of the brightest pros
pects of usefulness. Then would not a
thorough knowledge of physiology bo of
incalculable worth to the students of our
University and all engaged in literary
pursuits?
WHERE THE MEN COME FROM.
In tracing the history of our mostcminent
men, it has often been a subject of wonder
to me that so few of them are graduates of
Yale and Harvard. They seem to come,
almost always, from colleges of lesser pre
tension. Yet all tho while, Yale and Har
vard arc pouring forth hundreds of grad
uates year by year, to sink to the common
level and be led and fed by men more
happily moulded.
This is so even for New England. "We
have only to cite the names of its great
men, and at once Bowdoin, Brown, Am
herst, and the less known colleges come
into view. Yale and Harvard have hardly
had the honor of sending forth a single
representative of the highest class, in any
department of thought or action. Their
part is at best but second rate. Let us see !
Tho greatest of New England's states
men and lawyers, is Daniel "Webster, a
graduate of Dartmouth. Her most suc
cessful recent politician was Franklin
Pierce, a graduate of Bowdoin, as was also
Nathaniel Hawthorn, her greatest novelist,
and Longfcllow,'.her principal poet unless
Whittior, who graduated oh a farm, may
dispute tho right to that place. Henry
Ward Becchcr, who Is certainly represen
tative of the disintegrated Puritanism of
to-day, is of Amherst. General Burnslde,
New England's most conspicuous military
name, 13, of course, of West Point. Gen.
Garfield is of Williams. Senator Spraguo,
the representative of cultivated New Eng
land property men, is of Brown. In the
department of magazine literature, Scrjb
ner's monthly Is under tho conduct of Dr.
Holland, a graduato of Amherst.
Those aro, most Indisputably, the men
we llrst think of when wo turn to New
England. There arc others of inferior
rank, turn vttquswho subsequently come
into view ; but their position is by no means
equal to that of the persons we have indi
cated. Moreover, they are from all quarters
and all colleges.
Quite a number of names connected with
Harvard, have recently emerged into tem
porary prominence, by contributions to
Hoston Magazines. But few of them aro
entitled to more than passing notice, and
twenty-live years will sweep away all
remembrance of Hlgginson, SpofTord, et id
omne yenus, as ramorselessly as an equal
space of time carries down into the whirl
pool of nothingness, tho thousand and one
contributors to tho thousand and one Mag
azines of Europe.
If wo look outside of Now England to
tho statesmen of national reputation, wo
shall find Charles Sumner tho only living
man of much force from Harvard. Win.
II. Seward is of Union; Chief Justice Chase
of Dartmouth ; Hamilton Fish (we think) of
Columbia, and the rest from colleges of tho
same grade.
Of those who aro dead, Jefferson was of
William and Mary; Madison of Princeton ;
Hamilton of Columbia ; Benton of Chapel
Hill, NJ.,; Buchanan and Taney of Dick
enson; John C. Calhoun, though of Yale,
was anything but representative of Yale
spirit and traditions.
In the West, for many years, wo have
heard much of the pretensions of Michigan
University. It is a groat caravanserai with
about 1100 students. Yet the same that has
been said of Yale and Harvard, applies to
Michigan, only more so. Wo have never
learned the. name of a single graduate of
that institution, by reason of anything he
he lias done; although It has been grad
uating men for more than thirty years.
Where they all are we cannot guess. They
arc certainly very quiet. But it is a most
noticeable fact, and one in perfect keeping
with our theory, that the only literary man
of much note ever graduated in the state of
Michigan Will M. Carlton is not of
Michigan University, but of the compara
tively unknown college at Hillsdale.
In our own Nebraska the rule is the same
as every where else. Of the college gradu
ates who havo a state reputation, Hitchcock
is of Williams; Poppleton, of Union ; Wool
worth, of Hamilton; Bp. Clarkson, of
Pennsylvania college; Chancellor Benton,
of Bethany; George B. Lake, of Oberlin;
Sterling Morton, of Union ; Prof. McKe n
zle, of Union ; Gere (of the State Journal), of
Dickinson ; &c, &c. No Yale ! No Har
vard ! Not oven any Michigan !
There must be a reason for all this. What
is it?
It seems to mo to reside in the fact that
Yale, Harvard and the great academy
known as Michigan, aro totally destitute of
esprit lu corps. They have not that Intense
and peculiar atmosphere that feeds every
student's thought in the same way. They
are diffusive. They arc permissive. Their
Faculties are not harmonious. Some arc
christian, some are semi-chrlstian, and
others are downright heathen. Some aro
loud in professing that classical influences
should prevail; others scientific. Some
advocate'spiritual culture as a necessary
attendant of intellectual, and others would
debar it. The student fails to receive that
unity of education that makes him strong.
He gets, in most instances, no particular
direction of thought. His habits of life
and action aro neglected. He comes up
like a weed, in all things except the one
hobby which he elects for special study.
A very different state of things prevails
in the splendid well-established colleges of
less reputation. As a rule, the Faculties
arc orthodox. As a rule, they insist on the
superiority of classical education. They
bollevo lu the necessity of moral, or spir
itual cultivation. Tho very atmosphero
about them palpitates with Greok-eliristian
influences. The student is trained quite d
much by his surroundings, as by direct
tuition. 'Ho comes out, at last, a tolerably
harmonious whole, who, despite some vacil
lation, will act with consistent judgment
and aim.
If any men are qualified to succeed, it is
those trained by the less-known colleges
of tho east. And tho fact is, they occupy
most of the pulpits, judicial seats, editors'
sanctums, professorial chairs, and other
places worth having, all over the country.
Harvard, Yale, Michigan, and allHVcst
crn Universities, arc rather academiosthan
colleges. A large proportion of itkclr
students enter for partial courses. A "little
algebra and geometry, a morsel of French
and German, a trifle of botany and book
keeping, and then some sort of a dogrcet'
The graduates of these institutions are
numbered by thousands : their scholars by
tens. Mere academic inllucnccs pljiy aboutL
tliein from first to last.
This is not so with the other colleges of j
the country. The students who enter them,
oxpect, in most instances, to graduate in .
the full course. Their classes are always ,.
solid, consistent, unified. They admit of
no short-cuts to a degree. They tire colleges
in the best sense of the term, andnotaoada
mics. In moulding the future, of our State Uni
versity, it will be well tobearin mind what
ic is that makes men. isithor than what
swells numbers. Numbers are desirable,
but it seems to me that a pervasive chrls-tian-classlcal
influence is more so.
Prof. Manly once, observed to me, that he
had noticed that different Faculties, at
different times, in the same institution,
mould very different men. This is only
another statement of the matter under dis
cussion. The influences that flow out from
the Faculty will vary with their notions,
and will give tone and body to the work of
any college. But, after all, a college may
sometimes be so fixed in Its character, as to
require much time to remove it from its
settled policy. o. c. n.
Tho Best Parody Ever Written.
I believe the subjoined parody of Mm.
Hcman's Cassabianea the best ever written.
It is ever a truer picture of naturo, and
certainly morelaughable,tnan such original
doggerel as Bret Hartc's Heathen Chinee.
It nas had a run scarcely, if at all, inferior
to the Californa piece. Doubtless ''every
body" has seen it.
1 should like to know the name of its
"artist." The man who invented it is an
original genius. He may never do as well
again, but for once he has distanced all
parodists. Ills one effusion, like WollPs
Burial of Sir John Moore, will doubtless go
down to the ages. It will stick in almost
every scrapbook, and frequently come forth
for a fresh run in tho newspapers. And If
such be its probable destiny, we ought to
have its author's name:
Tim mum: that stood ox a stuamiio.vt
DUCK,
The mule stood on a Steamboat deck,
The land lie would not tread:
They pulled tho halter round his neck
And cracked him o'er the head.
Yet Arm and steadftst there ho btood,
As thouuh formed for to rule:
Aciltlnrof heroic blood
Was that thnro cussed mule.
They cufcd and swore ho would not go,
Until ho roll Inclined;
And tnough they showered blow on blow,
lie would'nt change his mind.
Tho deck hand to tho shore then cried,
"This hero mula's hound to stay."
And still upon the critter's hide
With lash tlioy Hied away.
His master from tho shore replied
"The boat's about to null.
And u try other means you've tried,
Support you twist his tall!
"It's likely that will ni'ako him laud."
Tho dock mm bravo though pale
Aporoach'Ml 'him with outstretched hand.
To twist that there mule's tail,
There came a sudden kick bohlndl
'lho man oh I whoro was Iiht
Ask of the softly blowing wind,
The tishes lu the veal
For a moment thoro was not a sound,
As that mnle winked his eye,
As though to ask of those around,
"Now how Is that for high?
"Out that thoro mulo's throat right away,"
Tho captain did command:
lint tho noblest critter killed that-day,
Was the fearless, bravo deck baud.
o
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