PROF OF THE WEEK
Wimberly declares colleges
are not achieving purposes
ilywIebraskam
By Bob Aldrich.
"Colleges," comments Lowry
Charles Wimberly, "aren't potting
the results they should. The classes
are too large. Teachers are not
advanced because of their ability
to teach but because of their re
searches or published matter."
Doctor of Philosophy, English
professor, Editor of The Prairie
Schooner, Professor Wimberly is
well qualified to discuss the sub
ject of teaching.
Good teachers?
"A teacher who publishes a
tenth-rate piece of writing has a
better chance of being promoted
than a teacher who is just a good
teacher," he continues.
"Another thing I notice the
great number of buildings on the
campus devoted to science. Now,
I'm not saying there should be less
attention to science but I do think
there should be more attention
given to the humanities that is,
to literature, philosophy, and the
Classics."
Writing and authors likewise
eome under his keen analysis. Mi
grating north from a Louisiana
river town to Nebraska, bringing
malaria germs for company, he
also brought a searching interest
in literature. Eventually, the ma
laria left him, but the enthusiasm
for good writing is still in his
blood.
Whiskey and Quinine.
"The older people lived on whis
key and quinine," he recalls of his
malarial Louisiana days. "We
youngsters just had the quinine."
He carried the malaria for 15
years, longer than any other case
his physician had known. During
his first two years in Nebraska
the malarial attacks struck him
daily at 1 p. m. sharp.
At Nebraska university he took
all of his college work except for
& short stay at Morningside in
Sioux City, la., and a summer at
Columbia.
Majored in English.
He majored in English at Ne
braska. For his graduate work,
toward a doctor's degree, he stud- ground for writers as far as ma
led English and Scottish popular terial. For the place to write, he
ballads as well as folklore and its recommends any rural community,
origin in religion and magic. He away from the nerve-wracking
till collects ballads but they are distraction of cities,
becoming increasingly hard to Dorothy Thomas, well-known
find. writer from Lincoln, has been the
Before teaching, he was a book
keeper, hotel clerk, farmer, sten
ographer, and preacher. The book
keeping was done in a sugar beet
factory in Greeley, Col., the clerk-
ing in a tumbledown hotel in Lex
ington, Neb.
Whole damn works.
He was "the whole damn works"
In the hostelry. Though officially tramping north of Schuyler and
the night clerk, he met all the near Genoa, looking for Indian ar
trains and carted baggage to the rowheads. "It's a lot cheaper than
hotel, arriving breathlessly in time golf," he comments,
to assume his post behind the desk .
and greet the rather confused
guests. Between trains. h bell
hopped and "chambermaidiid."
Following his brief and unen
thusiastic career in the hotel busi
ness, he worked as a farmhand
and was stenographer for a phy
sician in Sioux City.
His father and five brothers
were Presbyterian ministers and
it was generally assumed that
Lowry would make it an even
half-dozen. But after listening to
his own first sermon, he "gave it
up as a bad job."
Topography-
Olive-complected, beak-n o s e d,
With sharp, brown eyes, coal black
hair, and a passion for cignrs that
are still blacker, Professor Wim
berley's personality is quiet, stu
dious, reflective, and always inter
esting. Leaning back in the swivel
chair in his office in the southwest
corner of Andrews, he stares
thoughtfully at the ceiling or
moodily at the pile of Schoonr ma
terial on his desk.
Dry, brittls wit
Sometimes he rests his bony
cheek against two slender fingers
In the Bernard Shaw manner, or
watches blue smoke drift lazily
upward. His opinions are gien in
a low, apparently humorless drawl.
' His wit is dry, brittle, and always
delivered as though he meant it
to be serious. His classes have
been known to shriek with laugter
over some dry remark five min
utes after he has unburdened him
self of it
Founded Schooner.
One of the founders of the
Prairie Schooner and its guiding
light as editor since that mem
orable year, 1927, he is awaiting,
almost incredulously, the ap
proaching end of 13 years of pub
lication. He is himself author of two
books on ballads and co-author of
everal textbooks for English stu
dents. His stories and articles
have appeared in Harpers, Forum,
Atlantic Monthly, and American
Mercury.
No, the Schooner doesn't pay its
authors. "We're lucky if we pay
the printer," he says wistfully. Cir
culation is "small but select."
Many universities, including Yale,
Chicago, Brown, Princeton, keep
complete files of the magazine.
Welcomes writers.
The Schooner, he insists, does
not cater to Nebraska writers or
backgrounds but welcomes writers
from everywhere. New York pro
vides the largest number of hope
fuls with Los Angeles, especially
Hollywood, and the South second
and third.
Knows where bread buttered.
Only a few stories are left out
each year on account of type. The
Schooner editor knows on which
side his bread is buttered.
Prof. Wimberly is puzzled by the
increasing difficulty of finding
good stories. Writers, he feels, do
not work hard enough, expecting
success to fall on them. He is
convinced that anybody who
works hard enough and long
enough can learn to write. "But
most of them can't stand the re
buffs." He cites the case of John
Steinbeck who refused to kow
tow to editors even while on the
verge of starvation.
He doesn't read many modern
novels. Writers of the older Lewis-Dreiser-Hemingway
school inter
est him more.
He thinks writers shouldn't
write propaganda. The proletariat
writer is on the wane because
with the possible exception of
Steinbeck he hasn't produced
anything worthwhile.
Romance and realism.
Personally, Wimberly prefers
romance to realism. For his own
m,11mArit vA ,mii,i ratw ro
read .'Huckleberry Finn" than
anything else, though "Don Quix
ote," he thinks, is the most enter
taining of stories, taking the long
view.
The South, he believes, is cur-
rently the most promising back
most successful of his pupils. La
aelle Gilman, author of "Shanghai
Deadline" is another. For seven
years a resident of China, Gilman
is now in Hawaii.
Hobby is archaeology.
Wimberly's principal hobby at
present is being a "very, very
amateur archaeologist." He goes
Beauty queen
candidates
file by Dec. 5
Cornhusker pictures
close Saturday--finally;
and no extensions!
Nominations from fraternities
and sororities for the Cornhusker
beauty queens must be submitted
to the yearbook office by Tuesday,
Dec. 5.
All nominations for queens must
be accompanied with a photo of
the girl. Snapshots will suffice.
Pictures will be taken at Town
send's immediately after the nomi
nations close, free of charge.
According to Orval Hager,
Cornhusker editor, fraternities as
well as sororities n ay nominate
queens. Only requirement is that
20 books must be bought by mem
bers of the house. Every year
book bought by anyone in a house
may be included in the number.
Weotherly to discuss
'Price of Being American'
Dr. Arthur Weatherly will speak
on "The Price of Being American"
at the All Souls Unitarian church
this morning.
Theodore Marburg will lead the
discussion which will follow.
Zoologist makes visit
Dr. Milan J. Kopac assistant
professor of cell physiology at
New York university, visited the
department of zoology this week.
Dr. Kopac graduated from the
university in 1927 and received
his M. S. degree two years later.
During hi3 visit the former stu
dent showed films on micro-dissection
before the zoology seminar.
Z 08
Vol. 69, No.tT
Airplanes
monopolize
conversation
Of all things, explorer
talks and predicts in
elaborate 'bull session'
By Paul Svoboda.
It was some bull session.
Maybe it could have been called
a roundtable discussion led by Mr.
Stefansson, the famous arctic ex
plorer and now connected with the
Pan-American Airways.
Stefansson sat on the edge of
the bed; his blue eyes twinkled as
he prophesied the future of air
lanes, saying that the only logical
air route today with regards to
speed and safety is across the arc
tic regions of the north. He talked
endlessly of the work with which
he has been occupied since his re
tirement from active exploration
some 20 years ago.
Stefansson had the floor ap
proximately the whole time. The
conversation ran somewhat like
this.
Futures of airlines.
"Mr, Stefansson, what do you
think are the futures of the air
lines?" "There is no doubt that event
ually the arctic regions will be the
great cross roads of the airways.
Tihs is due almost entirely to the
fact that the greatest majority of
the wealth and power is situated
in the north temperate zone."
"But... a..."
"Another reason is that it Is
undoubtedly the safest and fast
est route for air transportation.
Speed is the essential thing in air
travel. It is entirely too costly to
build and operate faster and fas
ter ships as time continues to de
mand. Across the arctic is the
shortest circuit route that con
nects the United States and Can
ada with the Old World and the
Orient and as long as the earth
continues -to be spherical this
route will be the only acceptable
one for transcontinental, by this
I mean, trans-oceanic, air travel."
"Then you would say that today
it is "
War ruins plans.
"Of course today with the pres
ent international complications
the work has been slowed up and
even stopped in some cases. When
we started investigating the pos
sibilities of an arctic route there
were no war conditions present.
The soviet union was doing a lot
of work along this line and would
have initiated an airline between
Russia and the Americas if the
state department here had shown
any interest in the plan."
Prof. Arndt during the first por
tion of the interview said nothing.
He sat with a benevolent smile on
his face looking first at aerial-fan
Stefansson and then occasionally
at your reporter who was still at
tempting to get a word in edgel
wise. Finally he said,
'"Is it true Mr. Stefansson that
Eskimos are healthy because they
eat the whole animal?"
(My stomach began to get un
comfortable.) "Of course not, Stefansson
plied.
Speaking of diets.
re
Thank God for that," Arndt
said. My wife has been threaten
ing to put me on some sort of diet
like that for health measures."
I could see we were getting off
the subject but the whole thing
was off the subject anyway so I
didn't mind. I had often heard
that he was a firm believr that
salt was not a necessary part in
the human diet so I queried him
about it
Salt not a necessity.
"Mr. Svoboda (he slurred over
the consonants), I do not believe
salt is necessary for the human
diet and when people see me using
salt they think I am terrible irra
tional. I say that it isn't neces
sary but I don't say that one
doesn't have to use it."
Mr. Arndt broke in again and
said, "I understand that you are
doing sonic work with mapping
courses for ships in the Arctic re
gions. I heard you mention it at
the faculty luncheon."
"Yes it is," Stefansson replied,
but 1 don t think the newspapers
would understand it. The process
is so long and difficult"
Oljicial Newspaper Of More Than 7,000 Students
Lincoln, Nebraska Sunday, November 16, 1939
Explorer Stefansson suggests
future Arctic exploitation
IJnpoln Journal und Str.
VILHJALMUR STEFANSSON
Pan-hellenic
gives cups for
'scholarships'
Alpha Xi Delta ranks
first; seven awards
presented at annual tea
Friday the Lincoln Pan-hellenic
association honored the
sororities with the highest
scholastic averages for the last
year at tea. Tickets for the
tea read "Pan-Hellenic 'Schol
larship' Tea." And for the
"smart girls" at that!
Alpha Xi Delta's scholastic rec
ord for the last year placed that
sorority the highest n the campus
at the annual tea sponsored by the
Pan-hellenic association Friday at
the Union.
The other sororities who received
cups are, according to their scho
lastic rating: Sigma Delta Tau,
second; Gamma Phi Beta, third;
Kappa Kappa Gamma, fourth;
Kappa Alpha Theta, fifth; Chi
Omega, sixth; and Alpha Phi, sev
enth. The scholarships were based
on the rating of the sororities for
the two school semesters of 1938
1939. The theme of the presentation of
the awards was a pot of gold and
a rainbow flanked by pots of gold.
In the center of this stage was a
dial from which Marion Stone,
dressed as a messenger boy,
stepped and presented the scholar
ships to the sorority presidents and
to the six girls who won individual
scholarship awards.
The sorority girls receiving
scholarships of S35 each were:
Janet Steckelberg, junior, Alpha
Phi; Frances Piatt, senior. Delta
Delta Delta; Eleanor Jeanne Heck
er, sophomore, Alpha Xi Delta;
Annbella Van Denbark, junior,
Alpha Chi Omega; Dorothy Heu-
mann, sophomore, Alpha Omicron
Pi; and Eva May Cromwell, junior,
Alpha Chi Omega.
The entertainment which fol
lowed the presentation was a radio
program. Henrietta Dierks was
the master of ceremonies and Jane
Tucker was the commercial an
nouncer. Music was frrnished bv
Frances Keefer, pinnirt; Ada Char
lotte Miller, violinist; Esther Mae
Helm, xylophonist; and Betty Vlas
nik, whistler. Pat Herminghaus
also entertained with some novelty
aancing.
Those who were in the receivinr
line with Mrs. Wendell Groth, city
panneuemc president, were: Miss
Marguerite Klinker, Miss Helen
Hosp, Mrs. C. S. Boucher. Mrs
Samuel Avery, Miss Elsie Ford
Piper, Mrs. Ada Westover. Mrs.
Clarence Penton, Mrs. Fred Cole
man, Mrs. Joe W. Seacrest and
Mrs. Walter Militzer.
T7 A . ft A a . i
rrom o:ou io o;3t, tea was
served from three tables, arranged
wiui i&ce cioms, lighted with tan
era in three-branched candelabra
and centered with laree bounuets
(of chrysanthemums in fill colors.
Convocation speaker
decries polar concepts
"The time honored concept of
the Arctic as a vast stretch of life
less barrens was abolished on the
22nd of May, 1937," declared
Vilhjalmnr Stefansson Friday
morning speaking before a convo
cation audience of 600 interested
students and Lincoln residents.
"On this date," continued Ste
fansson, "four four-motored planes
landed a party of Russian scien
tists at a point four English miles
from the north pole, and on the
following morning the party was
awakened by the song of a wild
bird spending the summer in the
region."
The convo speaker, only man to
serve two terms as president of the
famed Explorers' club, added that
during their stay at the pole the
scientists observed not only nine
species of birds, but seals and po
lar bears as well. Bear cubs seen
near the pole were thought to have
been born in the immediate vicin
ity, the explorer stated.
Further evidence which abol
ishes the old fashioned idea that
the north pole regions are void of
life is found in the marine life
abounding in the 14,000 feet of
water that underlie the polar ice
cap. Samples taken by lowering
traps to differing depths in the
ocean above the pole show that
plant and animal life in these wa
ters are similar to that found in
other parts of the world.
Before discussing the abolition
of earlier ideas regarding polar re-
gions, the one time instructor in
anthropology at Harvard, traced
what he called his "own views of
how the Arctic started," beginning
with the Greek philosophers.
The ancient Greeks, according
to the convocation speaker, be
lieved that the earth was spherical
and that men were prisoners
between the walls of burning
tropics and the polar glaciers.
Eighteen centuries later Columbus
expressed the theory that no land
is so near to, or so far from the
equator as to make it uninhabit
able by man. However, the theory
advanced by Columbus remained
unproved until two years ago.
bpeaking of temperatures found
in the Arctic and elsewhere the
distinguished adventurer admitted
that the place where he had ex
perienced most discomfort from
cold was Australia, He explained
this admission by stating that no
provisions for heating were made
in Australia.
"We do not endure the cold."
said Stefansson, quoting a fellow
explorer, "We protect ourselves
irom it. We live in houses, build
fires, and wear clothes when we
go out"
Temperatures of 100 degrees in
the shade have been recorded
above the Arctic circle, the lec
turer explained, and far northern
blizzards are no more intense than
those of Dakota, where his boy
hood was spent
Stefansson also referred to his
notable experiences with non-vegetarian
diets. For a year and a half
he ate only animal tissues and over
a period of almost five months his
only food consisted of unsalted
fish and the water in which they
were boiled. The advantage ac
cruing from such a diet is that it
allows longer polar Journeys to be
made, without the necessity of
packing heavy load of food.
"Northward the course of em
pire takes its way in the leng
run," the explorer remarked in in
troducing his subject, pointing out
that man has progressed from
tropical cradles of civilization,
thru Mediterranean nations, to
northern countries. At the present
the average temperature in the
leading cities of the world such as
Chicago, New York, Montreal,
London, Berlin, and Moscow is
only a few degrees above freezing.
The speaker, however, contented
himself with merely hinting that
exploitation of the Arctic would
be the next stage in world growth.
In ending his address he predicted
that Rusian expansion northward,
which was started by Lenin, would
resemb'e America's expansioa
westward.
