2
DAILY NEBRASKAN
Friday, February 14, 1941
Nationally famous at 72; but somewhat shaken
Another Charter Day. Adding one more year
to the university '8 age, and placing a few more
cracks and a few more weather stains on its
rickety old huildings.
Seventy-two years! They've left their mark.
Twenty-six buildings over 30 years old. Nine build
ings over 45. And University hall condemned before
it was opened now with its top two stories removed,
and braces holding up its sides celebrating its 70th
birthday.
Deep hollows in the stone steps, and the marks
where previous hollows have been filled show the
imprint of 50,000 men and women who have come
and gone. And national figures among the faculty,
topped by Chancellor Avery and Dr. Charles
Bessey who grew up with the school, have made
way for a new generation of educators.
Time is thoro, destructive. The wide open plains
which once surrounded solitary University hall have
been blotted out by industry, congestion and a small
sized metropolis. The old fence which kept the cat
tle off the campus grounds for years has for lack
of need been transferred to he ccmetary. And age
has long ago obliterated the university sun dial do
nated by the class of 1906 and has brought the hands
of the library clock to a stop.
Little remains save the bottom story of Univer
sity Hall to call back another day; the first birth
day for higher education in Nebraska.
Then Lincoln was young, just a cluster of
frame buildings housing a population of 2,500.
No paved roads, no automobiles. And the thick
black Nebraska mud made communication over
the state and even in the town almost impossible.
The state itself had only 100,000 people and they
were scattered far and wide. They had little in
common save that they were pioneers; they were
dreamers, and they had a desire to carve out of
the plains a state that could hold its own with the
best of them, a "white spot" of the nation.
Representatives of these pioneers met in legisla
tive session. And there with the small resources they
had, they voted to erect a building, to hire a faculty
and to charter a University of Nebraska; that the
star of education and enlightenment might forever
flourish in the state.
Only twenty students appeared in 1871 for the
first session of classes. They had no facilities to
speak of. About all they had to start with were
dreams, a siprit of the plains, and a belief that this
embryonic university would someday flourish.
These dreams have come true. It expanded rap
idly. Added in rapid succession in response to its
growth were Pharmacy Hall, Grant Manorial Ne
braska hall. Then in 1801 came the library and with
it Ellen Smith. Hy the turn in the century, the fac
ulty could count almost a thousand students.
And as its founders had dreamed it was rec
ognized over the nation. It was admitted as the
eigthth state member of the Association of Amer
ican Universities, one of the most elite accrediting
agencies in the country. Books and lectures by
members of our faculty were praised and read by
students everywhere. Standing out as great bea
cons in the young field of education were Ne
braska men like Dr. Barbour, Professor Fling,
Chancellor Avery, Ellen Smith, Dean Sherman
and Dr. Louise Pound.
It was truly an age of glory. Stalwart men and
women left that school, strangely literate at a time
when literacy was not needed, educated when great
sections of th'e country were mired down in ignor
ance. Men left that university prepared to build a
state. And they did.
They didn't forget the university, once they
had been graduated. Thru its training, and thru the
research which it carries on as an integral part of
its program, advancements in business and agricxik
ture were made one after the other. Legislatures set
aside sums of money to be used for these purposes
And Nebraska university was in truth as well as in
name a center of learning for the state and for the
nation.
But today that star shines less brightly. A
cloud is passing over it. Depressions in agricul
ture, and greater demands for money elsewhere,
have greatly curtailed its activities. The funds
formerly used for research and experimentation
have been cut to a minimum; many of the bril
liant educators which should have filled the shoes
of the Besseys and the Averys are going elsewhere
where better salaries are beckening.
Last fall 14 professors handed in their resigna
tions; several others did during the first semester
And with each passing year, depreciation eats into
the already meager facilities in the engineering
branch of our campus.
A man can't live without blood. A university
can't thrive without funds.
Mindful of a brilliant past, worried over a
doubtful future, Nebraska students prepare to
celebrate their university's 72nd birthday tomor
row. The pioneering spirit is still here. So long as
a Nebraskan remains, the love of this state, and
the hope for the future of its university shall al
ways exist. Clouds are but temporary; the star it
self still shines brightly. So we will celebrate this
day ever hopeful that providence may sweep away
this cloud and let the full radiance of that star
of education shine once more.
Collegiate Oddities
TARANOIAC'S PARADISEE
I hopscopped down to the mellowmuck sea. A
fiddler crab shook his eyes at me and he danced and
he pranced and he said, "Hoohoo, the big, mauve men
are after you. Just wait until the sun falls dead in the
sky and they'll come creeping by and by with a stick
and a knife and a big, mauve sack and they'll stuff
you in it, and you won't come back! And they'll jump
and they'll howl and shriek hoohoo when those big,
mauve men have captured you!"
"Ninny-claw crab," I snarled with a sneer, I've just
dug a pit and filled it with beer; the big mauve, men
will tumble in, and they'll all dissolve, and their big,
mauve grin will melt like cheese, and they'll lose their
sack, and I will come back from their evil attack! You'd
better look out with your hoohoo for I may put the
cadabra on you!"
The crab said MY! and the crab said OH! and he
burrowed down into the ocean low while I glugged
with glee in my seaside walk. I knew all along that
crabs couldn't talk.
This bit above popped up into mind during an in
famous Phi Rho party. It seems those little affairs are
conducive of thinking of this kind for here's another
chunk also of that vintage.
Ennuyee, draped, reclining on a couch, sophisticated,
wan . You look like your muse. And when you look
the other way, the little crook pours arsenic in your
drink, or slips a bodkin through your ribs, or clips you
behind the ear. Ah, yes, I know the kind, and I confess
that I must be no gentleman, if such a gilded courtesan
is what a gentleman would choose, for I, good sir, pursue
a muse who scampers, giggling, over wealds and runs
undraped through open fields.
FINAL EXAM IN BOTANY
Botany is the study of the structure, activities, and
nomenclature of plants. Plants being the things that
when eaten are called vegetables and when mowed or
hoed are called "those dam' ol' weeds."
Plants are funny things too, like people. They are
sometimes named after people who discover them. A
plant discovered by a man named Wyeth is called
Wyethia, so when I find a dandelion plant In the spring
all withered and cut off, Just waiting to be raked up,
I will name it Williea.
Sonv; plants can fca used for medicine. Some can
be used for other things. My uncle, g "89-proof willie
used to make what be called medicine out of some weeds
he found growing along the North Loup river near
Burwell. He put some of this medicine (about a quart)
in his Model T one day and he ran that car for five
months before he put in another quart. Only he didn't
waste it on his car, be drank the stuff to stay healthy.
When a botanist speaks of viola, he's talking about
a species of the pansy family. My uncle g "E-flat"
willie plays a pansy in the Bunnell orchestra.
Often plants are adventitious, that Is, they grow in
a funny way. The morning-glory is an example; it
rambles all over when it grows. My uncle g "Eight-ball"
willie used to raise plants that got up at night and
walked around the garden for exercise, only he's dead
now and the plants died of exhaustion.
The leaves of most of the higher plants have tiny
surface hairs which protect the leaf from inclement
weather. I had an uncle who used to work 40 hours
a week giving the trees in front of the Burwell court
house a shave.
Lastly, plants are hardy. Although winter winds
are blowing over the campus and snow flies in the air,
there are flowers in bloom here. The tiny flowers of
the snowdrop plant bloom as early as Feb. 1 in the
midwest, and there's a snowdrop bush just north of the
Beneath
the
Sower
I j Art Rivln
Senator Lambert's bill to abolish the legislative
council received plenty of attention in government com
mittee hearing. The senator opened fire himself, piling up
a long list of reasons for discontinuing the council. He
was refuted by Senator Thomas, head of the council, and
Senators Callan, Tvrdik, Adams and Howard.
The bill's introducer emphasized the fact that he
was not Indicating the members of th council nor its
research director, Dr. Shumate. Rather h pointed out
that in the hands of special interests, the body might
become an autocratic "little legislature" since all bills
introduced in the senate must receive th pats of the
council.
Senator Lambert accused the council of doing noth
ing but making long, vague reports which nobody ever
reads. "And for all that," said Lambert, 'they have spent
$13,000." He pointed out that both ex-governor Cochran
and his successor Governor Griswold advocated abolish
ing the legislative council.
The opponents of the bill retaliated with a con- ,
vincing defense of the value of, the research done by
the council. They also cited the fact that the council
saves time for the legislature by drafting bills previous
to the session.
greenhouse, which is south of the M A. building, which,
when you walk up the wooden stairs, is so quiet that
you could hear an anvil drop.
Bengtson goes
south to speak
Dr.. Nela A. Bengtson, dean of
the junior division and chairman
of the geography department,
epoke this week at several col
leges and universities in Texas and
Oklahoma. He was invited to
these schools to exchange ideas
regarding freshman counseling.
Monday, Dean Bengtson met
with a faculty committee of
Oklahoma A & M, which now has
Jn operation a new plan for junior
division guidance. Monday eve
ning he gave a lecture before
the student body on "Geographic
Aspects of the Caribbean Area In
Relation to the United States and
Hemisphere Defense."
At Southern Methodist in Dallas,
Dr. Bengtson discussed organi
zation of the junior division on the
Texas campus, and also was the
MacDougall named barb
atbihtant social director
The Barb Union appointed Boyd
MacDougall, assistant social di
rector, to succeed Bob Wilson as
social director. Wilson, director
for the past three semesters, grad
uated at mid-year.
Budd Walker was appointed as
co-chairman on the Barb Union
Iwterhouse Council social commit
tee. His post was created to fa
cilitate the development of a
larger Barb social program. Other
men will be appointed to the com
mittee at a later meeting.
principal speaker at an Abraham
Lincoln celebration.
Today, Dean Bengtson will
visit the North Texas Teachers
College campus at Denton, where
he will meet with a faculty com
mittee for discussion ot freshman
counseling methods. He will also
lecture at an evening convocation
on "Geograpr.ic Aspect of Hemi
sphere Defense.''
Saenz, Canadian
prof collaborate
on dictionary
Professor Saenz, assisted by
Juan Cano of the University of
Toronto in Canada, is compiling
a two-volume Spanish-English,
English-Spanish dictionary which
he hopes to be "more authorita
tive, more complete, more prac
tical for the student snd ordinary
reader than any other book of its
kind." Each volume will define ap
proximately 50,000 words.
Following the term to be de
fined, the authors are listing
the most common usages of the
word. Idioms containing the spe
cified word complete the de
finition. In compiling the work, the au
thors have divided the alphabet
beween them. Thus during the
school year, they work independent
of one another, and during the
Intercollegiate
debate filings
close tomorrow
Filings for the second intercol
legiate debate tryouts must be
submitted to Prof. H. A. White
summer, they compare notes, re
vise, and make additions to the
manuscript.
To illustrate the length of
time required to precisely define
a word, Professor S-en stated
that five or six hours of Inten
sive work went into the defin
ing of the particularly meaning
less Spanish word iengua,"
which means briefly in English
"tongue."
"One learns a lot one is sur
prised to find out he did not
know," laughed Professor Saenz in
"commenting on the writing of the
book.
this week. The tryouts will be
held Feb. 20.
All men students are elipitle for
the team, which will run for the
remainder of the semester. Two
credit hours will be given for eacb
candidate selected.
The topic to be debated is. "Re
solved, that the United States
should enter the war rather than
see the defeat of the British Empire."
The
Daily Nebraskan
FORTIETH TEAK.
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