The Hesperian / (Lincoln, Neb.) 1885-1899, February 15, 1894, Page 16, Image 20
16 THE HESPERIAN I 1 i v. i 'i is Ml L All) u&lH jjll) WKm wore envious, wo varied proceedings by opening the door ourselves and gently toss ing a fire-cracker into the middle of their pie. It went off just as Adams reached for it, so he not only failed to save the pastry but burned his fingers. We two first Preps were in a state of seige for some days there after. Poor Adams! The next year, which was to have been his last 'before graduating, proved to be the last of his life. It seemed so manifest that stinted living and unstinted work had undermined his health that Chan cellor Fairfield, the day after the funeral, felt it best to caution the students as a body against the mistake that he had made. There used to bo three largo frame build ings, facing upon as many sides of the campus, which were inhabited by students who were boarding themselves. Rivalries in athletics or something else were frequent ly long continued between the inhabitants of these houses, and when the attempt was made to see which set of boys could perpe trate the most practical jokes on anothor set the proctices camo dangerously near to haz ing. Later self-boarding wont out of fashion and boarding clubs were formed. I joined one or these because they promised to make mo steward. Consequently I was the storm center when battle was joined on the issue of having or not having cod fish, or upon some equally burning question. Not many children of woalthy parents wont to the University of Nebraska in the early days, because those who could afford it, and thoro wore not many such in the state, preferred to go East. The fashion of tho day was thoreforo sot by those to whom lovish expenditure was out of tho question. In my time one little knot of students was both fast and woalthy, and tho impression made upon mo by this fact was such that to this day I cannot help fooling that there is something disreputable about being rich. In tellectually I know that this is not tho caso, and that in some sort tho hope of tho coun try lies in those who are "rich but honest." In other colleges I have mot those whose simplicity of life was in no. wise dostroyed by tho fact that thoy had independent in comes, and whoso money was used to broaden their education and to enlarge their sympathies and their usefulness in a way not possible to those of restricted means. It is possible for a student to spend a thousand dollars a year and still lead a life that is un ostentatious and healthful. In college bet ter than elsewhere men of this class may meet on terms of equality and friendship with those who have no money but what they earn. In college life tho unpardonable sin is snobbery. Tho lines of social cleavage among students should not be those of pro perty but rather those of capacities and tastes. Tho universities of Oxford and Cam bridge wore established originally for the education of small boys, but there have been times in tho last hundred years when they seemed to serve only as the idling places for tho sons of "gentlemen." We look with earnest confidence to tho state universities of America to avoid such degeneration, to main tain a standard of living that is simple, elas tic, and healthful, and to preserve for com ing generations tho benefits resulting from a democratic mingling of tho capable youth of all classes. A NEW "UNIVERSITY EXTENSION." University extension moans much in many ways, and moans very little in somu ways, it must bo sadly confessed. Because of this latter truth, tho University of Nebraska has gono into the movement very slowly and very carefully undertaking nothing that it cannot carry out in a sound and thorough manner. This summer an entirely now phaso of the extension of University influence will ho in dortakon by our own institution. A year ago last summer Professor Lees piloted a M