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About The Hesperian / (Lincoln, Neb.) 1885-1899 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1892)
Has m THK H KSl'K R I A N . KBBZ morning. Let lis thcicfoic continue to trend In the good old pa tli in which our alumni have none. Let us not change from that which has served us so well. Let us let good enough alone. ALUMNI AND FORMER STUDENTS. Omaha, Kebumry 20, 1892. Editor Alumni Department, IIksit.kian: After having withheld comment on Till'. Hr.slT.KlAN for mnny years hecnuse comment would not he favorable, it gives me 1 en) plcasinc to tell you how much better the paper looks and "reads." A little henvier pnper nnd Till: IIksit.uIAN will milk with nny college publication. It surprises in:, how ever, to still observe the old uigumeiits being piintcd con cerning military dtill that were pievnlont in my clay, and which 1 thought had been disposed of aftei a long and bloody war. Some ol the Incidents and accidents of that wnrfaie, which took place when the drill was first made compulsoi.y should be 1 elated foi the benefit of later students. I am 1 athev pleased than otherwise to ascertain that hetcafter no cadet will be allowed to wear any pnit of his unifoim when not on duty unless he wears, the whole. To my mind, nothing looks seedici than to see a neat blue jacket with biownish 01 yellowish 01 even black tioueis; or n little cadet cap on the head of a man the lest of whose ibess does not cany out the military idea. Second, while not familiar with your nu tinge ments, I can .scarcely believe that your lieutenant and some clothing house in the east have enteied into a combina tion to do you up. Where you have so many in the battalion you will find it much cheaper to buy your suits by contract than to get them heic and theie. It is the expeileiicc of all inililaiy, masonic 01 uniformed mdeis. Ucgaiding the nunc geueial proposition to iliill or not to diill, my advice to the boys would be, after four years out of my six. at the univetsity, in which 1 was a member of the battalion, to dull by all means. I have seen so many of the fellows go into the school witli slouehy gait, rusty clothes, ami a general uppeninnee that would detract fiom nny effort they may make in the woild, who, after a lew weeks' diill, weie seen to be strnighter, moie precise nnd moie nelive, who hnd lost their indilTeient air by donning a new nnd perfect tilting suit of blue, so that I cannot imagine why any should oppose so enpitnl a plnn to make men quick eyed, graceful, blight, nnd healthful. To be sine you plcnd the gymnasium; but that will not accomodate youi present numbcis, nor will it be pnlionired unless compulsory and if so, which is prefer able, the dangeis and excesses that attend athletes, or the even, cnielully ptepaied out-door mancuveis? Hless me, when I look back nt the thirty straggling boys whom we thought n gient company, I cannot see how one of you can esteem it anything less than a piivilegc to lie one in n battalion ol 200, with guns, cqupmenls, and an nrmoiy, of which we never dicamed. One moie word. 1 undei stand Mieie is a chance of a drill corps coming up to Omahn at the lime of the national encampment. That is good, and will advertise the univer sity foi a solid week lieie; but don't stop nt that. On the day of the gi eat parade ol national guards and othei crack companies fiom all pails of the United States send up the whole battalion (ullly equipped and with your heavy guns. I will see that you have horses to drag thorn, and it will do more ihau anything I can imagine at the present moment to attract the boys of Omaha to the univeisity, and result in a laiger attendance theie fiom Omaha, a state of things gieatly to be desired. Uelieve me, I will do all I can at this end ol the line to aid the battalion in such 'un undertaking, and to make it pleasant lor them while hoi e. Faithfully youis, Ci.r.MUNT CiiAsr., '83. 'ol -T. I'. Chnppel writes from Hnrvnrd divinity school to a student ol the U. of N. as follows: "Youis of Inte dale very gratefully acknowledged. I should have obeyed your behest sooner but mid-year exnmiu ntions were on me, and not knowing what to expect fiom n llaivaid final examination, I vciy naturally was applying the spurs to my ponies with redoubled vigor, preparing to run the gauntlet. I stormed the Inst battlement this afternoon, ami doubtless Icel as Grant did after the cnptuie of his Vieks burg. As you are piobnbly nwnic the year is divided into two pints heie, each closing with a liual examination. Hut the liunl examination heie at the end of the second half-year covers all the giound gone over during the year. You doubt less envy us the exquisite pleasure of such an experience, llarvnid examinations aie not what one might be led to expect fiom such a college. 1 don't womlei that tutors pios per so well lieu-. A man has better oppoitunities heie than pel haps any other place in the country in ninny lines, but it is possible to get tin ough by systematic cramming for a few days bcfoie the examination without having done very much woik. Most of the teaching is done by lectures; in many, couises no lecitations whatever aie requited. They mark by lelteis here which nic A, A. minus, It plus, li, II minus, C plus, C, C minus, I) plus, I), 1) minus, K plus, and V.. K plus is lequiied to pass. A minus means a little less than A, II plus means a little moie than II, and so on. The eniniiiiilions aie given up lai ely to detnils, giving lit tle scope for leal scholarly tie.itnient of subjects. It seems to me that such n system must foster nnrrovness nithei than bieadth and depth. I would not have you think that It is not possblc to do good work heie, but some ol their methods ate a little mossy. We have had some iiiteiesting newspaper discussions over the question of college fraternities, and the admission of women to llaivaid college. Not long ago Win. I.oyd Gnui sou published an open letter to Piesidenl Klliol in the Hoston f fern Id against college secret societies. It appeals that a sou of his who is attending college heie was icceutly admitted to n liateruity called 1. K. K. Kvery candidate must be branded on the aim with a lighted cigar in several places, and submijt toother baibarous practices. Hut the society is so very popular that nothing seems to daunt the would be candidate for admission. Mr. Garrison's son look sick soon after the oideal and blood poisoning was the icsult. Wheie foic, Mr. Gauison walks upon 1'iesident Klliotiough shod for allowing such a bnibaious institution to exist among the stud ents; to all of which Mr. Klliot answeis that the faculty have no nuthoiily in the picmiscs, and eveiy thing deoends upon the altitude of the students towni ds the societies. And so the ball rolls merrily on. During' the set up, other matters have come up for review, and Mr. Gnnison cnlls the faculty nnd diieclois of Harvard college a lemnanl of medieval mon asticisin and other undignified and galling names for not admitting women to then college, thereby making it possible to elevate the moral loin, of the college by association with the gentler sex. He further likened them to a boauling school and a monastery, etc., all of which in this connection I believe is quite tine. Theie Is little doubt but that the moral tone at llarvnid is very much below that at the Uni- veisity of Nebraska." 'oi -J. II. Kogarty has closed his school nt Ilermosa, S. U and will engage in newspaper work at Hot Springs, S. I).
