g
THK HESPERIAN
the picvinus Icctuio, ho said, "Unfoitunntuly, tlic gas gave
out in the picvious lecture; had 1 boon here such would not
have been the case." Somebody laughed. Harvard dvo
cale. The Con IVEtat ninus.es itself by giving Tin: llr.srr.iUAN
the benefit of a column of its wordly knowledge. Wc would
say to the worthy editor that if he had had his specks on when
he read the nrticl' on "Fiats," he would have noticed some
quotation marks which he evidently overlooked. The para
graph which he clipped was quoted. Our stand on the ora
torical question coincides with the stand taken by the brainy
editor, but he don't seem to be smait enough to see it. We
excuse you this time. Hut look befoie you leap.
It is amaing to see the manner in which the editorial on
fraternities was regarded by our exchange. Some became as
enraged at it as a bull does at a red bandana. The majority
said it was about light. We thank both of them for their
remarks. The West is with us; the East is against us. The
eastern colleges always were behind their western sisters. We
hope they will wake up some day and get a little push and
life in them. Ann Arbor and Chicago will soon bo the lenders
and Yale and Harvard will have only a past record to look
back to. They'll not be "in it."
We take the following clippings concerning the inter-state
contest from the Ariel; "The third speaker was the lady or
ator from Tndiana, Miss E. Jean Nelson, and she wasieceived
with enthusiastic applause. She gae an oration which was
truly eloquent, on "Industrial Freedom." The pioduction
was excellent, philosophically, histoiically, economically,
ihetoiicaliy. Her sentences wetc admirably balanced, and
the climaves of the oration were managed with gieat skill.
Miss Nelson had the good taste to dress with classic simplicity.
Ilcr deliverance was graceful, the movement was rapid and
continuous, and the audience w as bornu along with her tram
of thought. Her gestmes had the rare excellence of sponta
neity, giving emphasis to the thought without drawing atten
tion to themselves. Miss Nelson well desorvjd the
first place on the contest."
"Again a different type ofointor was manifested in the ora
tion on 'The Optimism of History,' by Mr. G. E. Geyor of
Ohio. His delivery was foicef ul, with vigoious gestmes and
stiong, well modulated voice. The historical subject lends
itself well to such delivery. It takes power to marshal the
heroes and the mighty happenings of the past befoie our view.
The chief defect in Mr. Geyers was his gestuie, which was
lacking in grnce, and in his voice which was somewhat harsh,
lie handled his magnificent subject well, and both by the
marks of the judges and the opinion of the audience, was a
close second."
"A subject of the day is always interesting, and Mr. I"). F.
Matchett of Colorado chose a good theme, "The Car and the
Jew.'. His oration was well written, but his voice was her.vy
and his delivery was slow, tending to monotony, so that in
spite of his stirring description of the miseiies of the unhappy
Jew, he failed really to move the weary nudience. His good
mark on composition will probably bring him to third place."
"After n welcome inteival of music Mr. Chas. E. Wintci of
Nebraska delivered an oration on "Wnr nnd Reason." Un
fortunately Mr. Winter's faithful work as secretary left him
little time to attend to his oration since he has been in Minne
apolis; which will -account for his slip of memory. lie has a
peculiarly pleasing voice, which is also not devoid of power.
He was, however, unnatural and sometimes he was rather
"jerky." His gestures wera remarkably graceful. As his
tones deepened in the delivery of his beautiful peioration,
every movement in the audience ceased, and he closed well."
The Ariel hns also punted the orations in full. Wc com
mend it for its push and energy.
Willi great regret and sot row we heard of Mr. Winter's slip
of memory. We did not expect much from him on composi
tion, but we hoped he would make a showing in his dolivey.
ALUMNI AND FORMER STUDENTS.
Hay St. Louis, Miss., April 24, 1892.
A- it is Sunday and raining, and wc arc too religious to
woik (under the eiicumstnnces) 1 will improve the time by
wilting you a few lines, as 1 may not get a chance again for
some time. 1 nrrivod here all right at 10 p. m., April 20. I
lound Mi. Haily in bed and so I did the same trick. Wc
met at the breakfast table the next day and soon became
acquainted H is 27 years of age and something after my
own make up, so you sqe wc get along capitally together and
have had considerable fun at the expense of the natives
abcady. Uay St. l.ouis is a summer and winter rcsott com
bined. It consists of cottages stiung along the beach lor
five or six miles, each with its own bathing and boat house in
the bay. The bay is several miles in extent, shallow and
peaceful. We lowed acioss it and out into the Gulf of Mex.
ico on Friday. The sun was shining, the tide out, and a
cool breeze blowing, so it was veiy pleasant. Wc wcic look
ing foi a good place to trap small mammals, but did not find
it, so we came back and moved out grips to a Creole board
ing house out neai the timbei. Yesterday w s a nice day so
wc- improved it by taking a walk out in the pine woods and
selling 60 tiaps fot small mammals 'we caught one mouse),
and killing a few biids, thrushes, llycatchcis, one church
will's widow, etc. We also got about a docn lizards, three
cottonniouth snakes (the most poisonous snake here), two
moccasins, one vipei, and a few hnimless species. IVuds are
plenty, but small mamnmls,for which weearc more than any
thing else, aic scarce since the lain has drowned a ood
many of them. So fat I have collected more than Uaily and
am getting somewhat skillful in making them up. The
depaitmcnl furnishes evei) thing even to ink, pens, paper,
etc. Wc arc taking things easy, as it lains so much that wc
have only had two good days to woik. Wc shall stay here
foi a week or so and then go to New Orleans to investigate
the maikels there; then to lloinna, La., for a Tew days, and
fiom thcic to northern Mississippi, Aikansas, Kansas, Indian
Tcrntoiy,Texas,ctc. 1 am enjoying the work very much and am
getting fat abeady, though the rusiinc is nothing extra. The
natives arc mostly "niggers" and Creoles or French Indians,
badly mixed, and the language is as badly mixnd as the
blood. They treat us with great politeness, though probably
on account of our fierce looks. Everybody moves here as if
they had all eternity and one day more to do it in, which is
somewhat annoying, especially about meal ttme. We have
stined them up a little, though, and may get along all right
with them. Wc are going to try to board at farm houi.cS
away fiom the 'owns, and if that docs not prove a success wc
shall get a tent and camp as socn as it gets dry enough to be
out. As the watci has been high all over the .-oun'try it
would not be veiy comfoitablc out at picsent. We arc just
now Umscd very comfortably, having a good toom with
tables to woik on, shelves to dry our skins, and a big fire
place, which wc have at present filled with pine knots, which
are blazing nicely and makes it quite comfortable although
tbc rain is falling outside. Very Duly yours,
Gko. A. Coi,i;man.
.S8-.Rev. D. D. Forsyth passea thiough Lincoln on 'the
5th oji his way to the Methodist conference at Omaha.
mam
