0 62.clf to.
I ME
ll jCJLj lA3 fvrl i
VOL, II.
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 189.1.
No. 15.
JOHNSTON ELECTED.
Doanc Secures Presidency.
The annual meeting of the State Om
torlcul Association, held utlhe Wesleyan
Unlveislty the afternoon before the con
teat, furnished the uhuiiI scrap over the
flout, delegate Heretofore two different
colleges have nought the coveted honor,
but this year It was given ,o the Statu
UnJerslty by couuuou consent. The
fight between Fisher and Johnston for
the place was very close, but throughout
the contest the very best of feeling was
maintained between thent. Furly in the
fight one or two dark horses were trotted
out In the hope that political lightning
might strike theni, but they were des
tined to remain dark horses,
TIIK CHAIR CA.HTS MLS VOTK I'OK
V. M. JOHNSTON.
It is not our purpose to go into the de
tails of the fight. It is over, and the
sooner all feeling on the matter is
dropped the better it will be. The de
cision of the whole matter was left to a
cuueus of the Doaue, Cotner, and Wes
leyan delegations, held just before the
convention was called to order, and they
decided in favor of Johnston.
The convention was called to order at
3 p. m. by President MeMullen. A laige
number of students from the various
colleges, especially from the State Uni
versity, was present. The business of
the convention was transacted in u very
short time. It was the most business
like convention the association has held
for years. But little of importance was
!io
MONTMORENCY MAKHS AN IMl'ASSION
KI) 1'I.BA.
done beyond the election of officers. No
other colleges were admitted to the as
sociation, and only one amendment to
the by-laws was passed. It was pro
vided that in the future no judge should
give a mark lower than 70 per cent on
any oration. Nothing was done in re
gard to the Inter-State Association,
neither was the float delegateship made
to rotate among the various colleges as
the other offices do, although all the
delegations seemed to favor this before
the convention met .
The following officers were elected for
the ensuing year: Preideut, Farr of
1 1 .-T-. "N
'IWf 11
isiifii
l'OKSVTH TAKHS IN TIIK CONVKNTION,
Doaue; vice president, Mallalleu of the
State; secretory and treasurer, Smith of
Cottier; regular delegate, W. II. Turrell
of Wesleyan; float delegate, W. M.
Johnston of the State.
The College Muse.
Will you think of me often, my darling,
she said;
Hut the dude struck her dumb with a
shake of his head.
"I'd weally be glad to," he drawled with
a wink,
"But most of the time I'm too tired to
think." Kx.
The balloon went up and then it fell,
At least the story is such,
The arconaut cried as he struck the
ground,
"I've taken a drop too much."
Ex.
McMULLEN WINS.
Will Represent Nebraska in the
Interstate.
The State Oratorical Contest is over
and our university is rejoicing over the
result, while the other colleges are pre
sumably doing what we used to do with
such persistent regularity waiting for
the next contest.
Despite the threatening weather the
Lansing was well filled with enthusias
tic students and their friends. The
yells were as numerous and varied as
ever. There is one thing always notice
able at these contests, but more so this
year than usual. Doanc college,
although twenty miles from here, always
sends at least one-half of her students to
the contest, while our university, three
blocks away, sends less than one-fourth
her students. Doaue comes up well
equipped with college yells and songs.
She bus a perfect organization for ex
pressing in the best manner possible her
enthusiasm. We have neither songs nor
organization. We go there in little
cliques or parties and sit wherever chance
or fancy leads us. We trust to our num
bers doing for us what organization does
for the other colleges.
It was the best contest ever held in
the state. livery orator ' did himself
and his college proud," m; Jthough
three of them wer defcv t't!. 'iky have
no reason to be ashamed 01 their effort.
Mr. Shank of Wesleyan, who appeared
first on the program, seemed u trifle
awk.ward and his jestuicu ..'ie too fre
quent and lacked force. His ora
tion, like too many college orations,
wus too general in its nature and seemed
to lack any definite point.
Mr. MeMullen, of the State, spoke
next, and he captured his audience from
start to finish. His deliver was excel
lent, in fact the best we have ever heard
on a state contest. Portions of his ora
tion could undoubtedly be improved,
but it would be difficult to find his equal
in delivery. When he finished there
were perhaps not a dozen people in the
house who doubted that he would be the
winner.
Mr. Andress, of Doaue, spoke next on
"Lynch Law in the South. Mr. Andress
had scarcely recovered from a severe ill
ness, which had prevented him from
training as he otherwise would have
done. His voice is not good and his
words seem to be forced from him. His
oration was good and was ranked highest
by the judges.
Mr. Finch, of Cotner, the last orator
of the evening, has a good appearance
and a splendid voice, but he does not
know how to use it. He spoke too rap-
Idly and at times gesticulated rather
wildly. Ills oration was fine ns faras
rhetoric was concerned, but like Mr.
Shanks, was too general In its contents
and lacked a definite point. Perhaps
the majority of his audience thought he
should have been given second place,
The judges awarded first place to Mr,
MeMullen and second place to Mr, An
dreas, The following are the ranks:
(Scott. ..
3 4 12
3214
3 - .1
3 1 A 2
. 1 2 .
' f I 3
Manuscript.
Delivery
Sum of ranks
Snow
(Taylor....
) Hammond
Chapin. . .
Irvine ....
19 1 to J 15 I 16
BLAINE: THE MAN.
By Adam MeMullen, State Uni
versity. The relations between the State and
the man make the foundations for what
we call citizenship, politics, statesman
ship. These relations are variousyes,
infinite. Much depends upon the char
acter of the State; much more upon the
character of the man,
When u pitful Louis pipes weakly,
"The State; I am the State!" and we
can scarce hear the words for the swel
ling, ominous, terrible sounds of the al
ready impending fall of the poor monar
chy which is his, we smile sadly and
wmi eommiscraiiou, lor it is Hided a
pitiful, a sad boast. IJut when a Wise
Man is bom, and we hear the resonant
notes of his God-guided voice sounding
in the council chambers of a young
and strong Republic, we hear ringing
through his words and see flashing in
his eyes the eternal truth thut the great
and wise man in his strong individuality
is himselfgreatcr tliau any possible in
stitution of State. We do not commis
erate; we rejoice and are content. Yes,
back of the making of the State is the
making of the man. This is not against
the truism that the whole is greaier than
its parts; it is only a declaration of the
mighty truth that the creator is greater
than the created.
There was never in history a govern
ment immobile, fixed. Over every code
of laws is the dominant spirit of Change.
There was never in history a government
so wise but that in the slow course of
time there has arisen one man within it
far wiser than the whole scheme. With
his advent there is born reform. Such
a man was he whose name I speak with
reverence and love James G. Blaine.
No matter about dates: I speak of the
essentials of his manhood.
He was poor from his youth, but pov
erty is itself poor when it would control
or subdue a man. He laid foundations
deep and made them strong, for he was
to build vastly--beyond the ruddiest
dreams of the most ambitious youth.
He followed the enforced example of
many before hiin, and himself set an ex
ample for many who were to follow,
whose genius must be tried by fire ere it
could be put to the still severer tests
awaiting it. The great ones of earth
have not found hard work a hardship,
from the holy man of Nazareth, bending
over his cai penter's bench, to the great
deliverer of latter days, humbly biding
his time as a splitter of rails. Great
hearted, God-minded men often find
that their periods of greatest develop
ment have been in those slow years of
patient struggle, wnen the accomplish
ment of their purposes seemed at best
but a vision.
So the young Blaine worked worked
with his books; worked with the teach
ing of his school; worked, when another
hopeful and helpful life was joined to
his own, in the imperfectly successful
attempt to eke out comfort for his be
loved working always and through all
in the gloriously successful labor of the
making of himself, until he was prepared
to stand, not as the symbol, but as the
embodiment of all that makes the strong
man.
He was self-made; he wus ulso self
contained, and that was no less a feature
of his strength. For the one char
acteristic he was respected; for the other
he was feared; both made him what he
was,
At last the materials were gathered
and assorted and the real work of the
builder was begun,
Fate no, destiny took him to a home
It that State with whose name his own
is now ludissolubly united a State bar
ren of soil but fertile in great Ideas
poor in material resources, but rich be
yond compare in American principles.
Here his lot wuh cast; here it was that he
became united with those men the lines
of whose lives were to be conformed to
his own. Do you call it chance acci
dent? Accident has its place in the
weaving of the gossamer well of human
devices; not In the development of God's
great plans. No, It was not accident,
not chance it was Destiny.
Once of old, 111 the sombre skies of the
East, there shone a star, effulgent, glori
ous, and the sad eyes of wise men, up
lifted, saw in Its light the dawn of hope,
and heard the voice of a Heavenly host,
prophetic of peace. It led them to the
cradle of the lowly born, where, so mean
ly laid, they found Him who was born
Redeemer of the world.
Centuries were gone, when in the docp
clouded skies above that nation of the
West, another star shone fitfully,
then gleamed with brighter rays,
and hovered. Wise men saw and heeded
and were led, as were they of old, to the
birth-chamber. Now was born, not a
man-child, but an idea, more meanly
cradled than in a manger, but radiant
with heavenly light, while the voices of
all God's hosts sang once again of peace
on earth. Mow the wise man whose
name I have spoken whose name will
ever be spoken worshipful! where free
dom and equality hold sway knelt in
noble devotion before this new redeemer.
Those of old brought gifts of frankin
cense and gold; he brought the gift of
his mighty strength of soul, of his sub
lime manhood Now was born the Re
publican jdea of the abolition of human
slavery, the equality of man. Lo! the
horizon glowed with the crimson dawn
of a new period in human history.
We delude ourselves with dreams.
hopes, anticipations, which we am of
ourselves in nowise fulfill. They are de
lusions because they ure all so unreal.
So much is unreal; even a bare cold fact
is of itself an unreality. There is noth
iug real and enduring but the triumph
of principle. It was for this triumph of
principle that the man Blaine contended;
and he never contended vainly. I can
not dwell upon the mean detail of his
dally life his eating, his drinking, even
the falling of his tears, for they were no
part of him nothing had a place within
him but principle.
Patient, persistent, pitiless in the ac
complishment of his great purposes,
he knew no thought, no suggestion of
defeat, for he knew, as all the wise ones
of earth have known, that a mighty
principle could never be defeated. Into
his conflicts he threw the full weight of
his wonderful personality and all the
strength of his unalterable convicitons
then he was indomitable.
Through all the slow course of years
when Reform was brewing, he showed
the character of the hero; through all
the bitlerest of his encounters with those
whose struggles were against him he
showed the character of the stoic;
through all the lovinglaborof liberation,
he showed the character of the man the
noblest word of all.
The reformer is always a man with
ideas 111 advance of his own time. The
reformer is always the butt of laughter
and sconi. But if his ideas conform to
the truth, the impossible vagary of to
day's fanatic will inevitably crystulize
into history for other generations to
ponder. "Insincerity had to cease: sin
cerity of some sort had to begin."
The men of the time of Blaine's
youth the men who begat the sturdy
childs Abolition, seemed hopelessly too
few, but who will say what one indomit
able soul, quick with the truth, can do?
Into the struggle they threw all of their
dauntless manhood pulses of love, pas
sions of fire, and success was inevitable.
Human freedom was no more than the
dream of a dreamer no nore than the
vacuous and unheeded paragraph made
up of sounding words: now it is History.
Of course the man Blaine was hated,
how could he escape? Was ever a man
of truth loved, and loved only?
What need for me to go again with
you over the painful period of his perse
cution, when lies, clothed In fires of per
dition, were sought to be fastened upou
him? Was not his vindication complete?
Who will live longer in the grateful
memory of men, he or hlsrevllers?
His enemies have said he was ambi
tious, in that besought the presidency of
the nation to the preservation of which
the best of his life had been given. Per
haps it was ambition; I think we could
well find a kindlier name, By whatever
nuiue It was called, the fulfillment of the
desire was not to be death came first.
Therefore men have said that he failed.
But what Is It to be president? Presi
dents and kings have served the lowly
end of stopping gaps in history; that is
never the end of the man of Ideas,
Which is reckoned greuter, to be a
Luther or a Paul, a Homer or a Shakes
peare, a Webster or a Blame, or to lie
one of the vast herd of obscure kings
and presidents whom heritage or chance
has made? Which is accounted greater,
Washington the President, or Washing
ton of Valley Forge? Would Blaine the
President be worthy of more honor than
Blaine the Abolitionist, or Blaine the
Apostle of International of Universal
amity and peace? Such he was; he
lived so long that he could die conscious
of the success of his most honor
able and honored purposes the enact
ment of human freedom, and the estab
lishment of the doctrines of reciprocity
and international arbitration. Is not
that enough to be accomplished is the
liricf span of life? Is not that enough
to ask as the fruition of one great mind
and one indomitable will ? And yet men
say that he has suffered failure and de
feat ! Defeat! Defeat! Defeat! Death
came to him, pUiles,as to us all, but not
defeat! When "beneath the curtain of
that low green tent which never outward
swings" there passed the soul of James
G. Blaine, then passed one of earth's
noblest sons, whose spirit could never
know defeat. Defeat ! While the em
purpled dome of the peaceful sky arches
over iis, a free people; while the golden
sun shines upon us, a people at peace for
ever with all the world; while our glow
ing firesides ring with the laughter of
happy children and our own hearts throb
to a measure of content happiness and
content given us through the triumph of
true republican ideas; while we stand,
hand clasping hand, citizens of one per
fect and indivisible Union, let us not.
whisper of failure and defeat! How could
he know defeat, when the foundations
of his life were laid, net upon his own
strength mighty though it was, not
upon his own ambitions noble though
they may have been, but back of all hu
man strength and ambitions, upon the
eternal verities of God !
In Other Worlds. ,
Wisconsin has 1,287 students.
Cornell is to have a students tribunal
in general character like the college sen
ate of Amhurst. Ex.
The students of Cornell University in
mass meeting adopted resolutions ex
pressing regret ut the disgraceful occur
rence at the Frenchman banquet, and
censuring both the individual perpetrat
ors of the outrage and the authors of the
exaggerated press statements which they
say have placed the University in a false
light before the world.
At the Kansas S. U. the faculty have
decided to have a half-holiday Wednes
day afternoon and to hold classes Satur
day morning instead.
The Wisconsin Aegis is in hard finan
cial straits. The editors are talking of
trying the coupon plus the "most popu
lar young lady in college" scheme in or
der to bring in the schekels.
The first professorship in history was
established by Oxford in 1218.
Prussia has just erected at Charlotten
burgh the finest institution of technology
in the world, costing $1,000,000. Ex.
Scientists have discovered that the
memory is stronger in summer than in
winter. Too much food, too much phy
sical exercise and too much education
arc most detrimental to the memory.
Ex.
At Purdue there are 473 secret socie
ties, all in a flourishing condition. U.
ofM. Wrinkle.
m
51
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