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About The Hesperian / (Lincoln, Neb.) 1885-1899 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1892)
Hi v1j- - till! II ES PERT AN. The centennial anniversary of the publication of Rougets de l'lsle's famous Marscllaise hymn is to be celebrated at his birth'place, Choisy-le-Roi, with appropriate festivities. The prospective University of Chicago has just completed one of the largest book deals ever made. The trustees pur chased in Merlin a library of 350,000 books and 150,000 discr etions. The University of Pennsylvania has received from Mr. Maxwell Sommerville what is regarded as the largest and rarest cameo in the world. It is a ehrysoprase, measures five inches by seven, and has upon it an engraved head of Jupiter. Sir Edwin Arnold thus speaks of American English: j "Tennyson is, of course, a very great master of the noble lan guage which he has so largely adorned. In Lincolnshire, his native county, the purest English in the world is spoken with, to my mind, one exception, for I have heard the same English as correctly used in Uoston, New England. If I am right, it is a strange coincidence that tht capital of Massachu setts, peopled fiom the feus of England and representing the names of its towns, should also preserve the purest traditions of English speech." Experts are predicting that the books of to-day will fall to pieces before the middle of the next century. The paper in the books that have survived two or three centuries was made by hand ftom honest rags and without the use of strong chemicals, while the ink was made of nut galls. To-day much of the paper for books is mude of wood pulp, Healed with powerful acids, while the ink is a powerful compound of various substances naturally at war with the flimsy paper upon which it is laid. The printing of two centime's ago has improved with age; that of to-day, it is feared, will within fifty years have eaten its way through the pages upon which it impressed. The heartless publisher who thiew out this hint added the sardonic comment that the question was highly unimportant to the great majority of authors. EXCHANGE. "Of all the fees I ever held, Fee simple or entail; 1 hold the richest fee to-night Thou precious fee -female." i.v. "Touch elbows" roars the captain, As before the ranks he strides, And the inch ui cai.li idi f mc Jab their elbows in my sides. O 'lis sweet to be a soldier, Hut to frankly speak my mind, If you are to drill with freshmon, You'd best leave your ribs behind. S. U. J. Quill. We sec that the Leland Stanford Jr. fool ball team has Sampson to help them. If sticnglh counts for ought, I. eland Stanford should take the championship from Yale next year. Uf late the papeis have given considerable space to the discussion ol univcisity extension. One of our exchanges notes that Denmark and Austria have undertaken the same, and that France is studying the English method of carrying on the work with the idea of organizing a system. The Vassar Miscellany has a new departure in the library line. It has introduced a scries oi articles about the life and work, of the different colleges. These arlioles arc to be writ ten by professois and college graduates. Thus will the Vas sar students learn much about other colleges and thereby will they obtain many new and good ideas, We 'notice that several of the university , and college papers are complaining because the students do not give the papeis sufficient support. We hope it may never be said of the students of the Slate University of Nebraska that their paper is not what it should be because the students do not assist it. The I. eland Stanford, Jr., university starts out in all affairs on a giand and a glorious scale Its college papers aie especially noteworthy. This week we received the Sequoia It is a paper ol vhieh its Alma Mater may well be proud and in which the students may glory. It is not as showy outside as some of our exchanges, yet inside it fairly shines with wisdom and wit. As far as reading matter is concerned it will lake its place among our best exchanges. The articles are well worth leading. That it may continue to shine as brightly in the west as does vesper, is the wish of Tltli HliSl'KKIAN. Since snow has come there has blown into many ofour exchanges pieces of poetry, if such we may call them, about the "beautiful snow." We, being ignorant of such allairs, thought il was only Colin Clout Normal, who on the Gram pian hills tended his father's flocks, and similar persons of a pastoral feeling, if not of a pastoral calling, that wrote about the "beautiful snow," thespiing and the flowers thereof. We sadly and sonowfully sec our mistake, and when spring comes we will avoid spiing poetiy and try to do justice to other, wiitings which although not quite so lofty in sentiment aie nevertheless a little more fitted to the college world. The Vamar Miscellany contains nothing but interesting articles. We have read most of the articles of the Decem ber number and they are ol especial merit. There is one departure from thu usual line, in the translation entitled "Vio lettu." lhuwiitui has uhosoii a very pi etty story to trans late, one which should please and interest everyone. The translation is very good. The translator has been very sue cessfuf in finding the proper woids to fit the thought. Yet theie is one little fault, if fault it may be called, some of the sentences are too long. Still we admire the taste and skill, and hope to be favored with another production. Our own paper as well as many of our exchanges would do well to publish similai articles. Again the 'J ransylvanian appears upon our tabic It is a bright newsy paper within and it is a thing ol beaulylwithout. Many are the pleasing ai tides which it contains and which we would like to comment on, but space does not pennit. We wish to mention one, however. It U .1 puuu untitled, "Rosaline, or the Uioken Vow." It is a pleasing poem and shows that considerable tunc and thoughtjwere expended on it, It is a production of which the author jnay well be proud. We hope to hear from her again. We are glad so many col lege papers are devoting considerable space to such origina1 articles. We would like to say to our students "come ye and do likewise. ' We consider the Traiisytvanian as one of our best exchanges and hope it may prosper in spite of the unfav orable ciieiiiiibtnuccs in which it made its appearance. We wete in doubt as to the exact significance of the largo redwood tree on the front page of the Jih Alto, but an arti cle in the Sequoia, fiom which we take a few extracts, seems to explain it. "A noted landmark, two lone icdvvood trees, stood in the valley about thiity-six miles from San Francisco --these trees, which weie known by travelers as the Palos Colorados (the red trees) towered lar above the live oaks, which numerously dotted the valley. Since then one of them has bedn uprooted by the encroachments of the creek and has been icmoved; the other is apparently dropping into decay, and, in a lew years, will doubtless go the way of its compan- . vrtwf ' t I , ' ; -a