20
THE. HESPERIAN
years of tho school showed unmistakoablo
signs of youth. Tho numbers are full of
student life, as they should be; but very tri
vial things wore allowed to engross tho at
tention of tho editors. One long hair on a
boy's coat was sufficient provocation for a
paragraph, and two, I doubt not, would havo
drawn forth an editorial. Selected poems,
elaborate treatises on Political Economy,
translations from the German of Richter,
reminiscences of '49, rolls of society officers
and items from other schools, made up the
intellectual feast spread before the students
every new moon. One source of variety,
however, that should not bo omitted in this
mention, was an occasional poem from the
pen of Prof. 0. 0. Dake. or some interest
ing paragraphs from his notebook. The
exchange department, which began in a mod
est way under tho title "Items from other
colleges," developed later into "Our scissors
at work among tho Exchanges," and fre
quently occupied more than a four column
page. The jokes and pleasantries were often
very thin. "Our Class in Botany" is typi
cal of many subjects that grew out of tho ox
tremely local and narrow spirit of tho school.
Ill-timed puns and extravagant use of adjec
tives marked even the editorials. Witness
this from Yol. III., concerning tho gradua
tion of the "Triad of '74.":
"The hour when these young men departed
from her fostering care, was one of deep interest
and earnest solicitude, as well as pride, to their
alma mater in her young maternity. An hour of
joy and pride, because her progeny, rejoicing in
the full vigor, elasticity, lofty aspiration and hope
of intellegent, cultured young manhood, were now
about to enter the broad arena of life's contest,
with the peculiar devices she has taught emblaz
oned upon their shields, as her representatives, to
labor and to achieve in her name."
Or the following from the locals, concern
ing the High School:
"In taste and beautiful arrangement the exer
cises were not excelled by any entertainment of
the University. The graduating class consisted
of three beautiful and talented young ladies and
one young gentleman. The productions of the
ladies Miss Emma Funke, Miss Theresa .Graham
and Miss Flora Alexander were surprisingly ex
cellent in thought and couched in splendidly
beautiful language. Every sentence seemed to
sparkle with word-gems and sentences of pearls.
The address of the young gentleman, Samuel
English, on the "Manias of Age," was a worthy
production. It lacked the glitter and music with
which the young ladies adorned their thoughts,
but we liked it equally as well. He showed the
clemants of manly thought in grappling with the
knotty practical problems of the day, and evinced
a conception of the follies and fantasies of the
age."
Students seldom happened even unscious
ly upon tho principle that short, terse ex
pressions are stronger than long classical
derivatives. Tho longest form of a word
was usually preferred: "gesticulation" and
"conceitedness" preempted tho claim of ges
ture and conceit. General and abstract sub
jects appear in profusion. Expecting more
or less of this, one is not all surprised at ar
ticles on "The Beautiful in Art;" but when
it comes to "Nature and Art in Intellect,"
ho is lost in helpless wonder.
Nevertheless, some very live people had
charge of the paper in its early days, and
made it excellent in many ways. On ac
count of incomplete files I am unable to say
when serial stories began to appear in its
columns. From a statement in the second
volume, it,may be inferred that there were
such in tho first year. A suggestion as to
tho grade of fiction then written by tho stud
ents comes from contemporary exchange,
which said of one of tho numbers: "It con
tains a serial story and an article on Prof:
Tyndall's address; otherwise it pleases us
very much." When the paper first assumed
tho magazine form several stories of tho kind
occurred. "Tho Unknown Heirs, or tho
Contested Inheritance," a story of seven
chapters, by X. Y. Z., onded in the Febru
ary number, 1877. Two others were
"Worse than War, Worse than Pestilence"
and "Reciprocated Maxims." The latter
was by A. U. Hancock, who has since writ
ten John Aburntop and other novels. He