THE HESPERIAN
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The ripening of what shall be
Far off, beyond the present's ken.
To read life's book and understand
To tell the treasury of stars,
And through Death's unrelenting bars
To spy the bounds of spirit land.
To love, to know life fair, to see
Earth beautiful, till each grey tree
Shall tell its message, each star shine
Some consolation, and the line
Of the last hills shall speak of peace,
Till war and hate and envy cease,
And over all the smiling land shall chime
The petalled joybells of God's blossomtime.
To sing, to tell it all,
As the glad birds that call
The green spring up the land, till each
With happier heart shall learn and teach
Such new accord of life as sings atune
Through the dense leaves of June.
To know, to love, to sing, and then
To spread the gathered wealth abroad
In every dwelling-place of men,
As with the ancient dragon-hoard
Siegfried the slayer southward rode
With the red serpent gold that glowed
All glorious at his saddle-bow.
Ride on, O conqueror with thy spoil
Of error and thy gifts of might !
Ride on, that every heart may know
The sudden sua of wisdom's light,
That through the loneliest prairie ways
Where the least sod-built cottage stands,
Or where the city's million hands
Toil grimy through the grudging days,
The blessing of thy gifts may go,
That our new land may rise and know,
As the old peoples of the past,
The joys that do not pale, the hopes that last
Against the hour of death and make of life
More than a barren strife,
And of life's end no mere fovgetfulness.
So shall thy mission be to bless,
To raise, to brighten, and to lead us on
, Till the last fight is won,
The utmost end accomplished and we see
Far up above us, white and marvellous
The peaks long sought, and hear acclaiming us
The voices of old victors gloriously
Triumphing up the slopes of victory.
Herbert Bates.
THE UNIVERSITY OF TO-DAY.
I am asked to write briefly of the present
University, the University as it is to-day,
the University of and for the Academic year
1893-9J:. The sketch is not to include
statistical information. That can be found
in the catalogues and in other printed matter
issued from the executive oflice. I am to speak
of the position of the University in the state;
of the aims of the University; of its spirit
and life.
It is exceedingly doubtful whether there
is another state University in the country
which recognizes so clearly and accepts so
willingly its place in the state system of
public schools. It is not always either easy
or pleasant to do this. JMen eager in the
pursuit of their specialties are not often will
ing to deny themselves success in a chosen
line for the sake of more immediate useful
ness and more direct ministration. It is a
rare prophet who is content to go without
honor because of a sense of duty which
makes him abide in his own country and in
his own house. There is so much more
fame in a learned monograph, so much more
applause for a bright magazine article, than
can be found in the daily round of lecture
room and laboratory. Then, too, it is far
more stimulating and pleasurable to asso
ciate with one's equals or superiors than to
be subject to the constant strain of instruc
tion. The attraction which characterizes
original investigation, the charm of the
sense of pre-eminence and power, the fasci
nation of a position on a pedestal surrounded
by followers and admirers it is difficult to
turn from all these to the far more humble
calling of a teacher. Yet all the conditions
of faculty life in thb institution are such that
these are almost daily sacrifices. The men
and women who have toiled through
the quarter of a century just closing, and
thofao who are now at work, are unwilling to
separate the University and the people.
Slowly as the latter may seem at times to
move, we are willing to wait for them, to
labor with them in the upbuilding of Uebras-