The Hesperian / (Lincoln, Neb.) 1885-1899, February 15, 1894, Page 4, Image 6
I..: ,1 THE HESPERIAN !'! hi I ii ii! and free instruction; -with a material equip ment infinitely in advance of any other in Nebraska, though not yet meeting the full demands of the work; crowded to overflow ing with earnest, industrious, determined students; in the hands of an able, loyal, self sacrificing faculty; backed by the enthusias tic loyalty of a splendid body of graduates; and with an ever-increasing hold on the full confidence of the state. What the University of the near future will be may be easily surmised. LITERARY SOCIETIES TWENTY YEARS AGO. 2 THE early literary societies of the Uni versity, twenty years in retrospect, present a pathetic as well as a ludicrous side. The Palladian was the first born and found a home in the east room of the present library. About the beginning of the spring term 1873, either because there were more em bryo statesmen than there were offices to be filled, or more heavyweight orators than could be accommodated in one society, an internecine war arose. Both factions claimed to be the true representatives of the parent organization. Finally however a few "choice spirits" longing for a "higher life" took formal leave of the tumultuous Palladians and established what they fondly hoped would live in history as the Adelphian. Their longing for the "higher life" was partially realized as they perched on the third floor in what is now the south T?r LI lo. AH I if S IisW I fgdg end of Union hall. A strong rivalry, if I may use that mild term for so intense a feeling, at once aroused between the two so cieties. At the beginning of each term, com mittics appointed for that purpose by each, buttonholed every new student and en deavored to aid him in making a judicious selection of his future society home. It is now something over twenty years, and yet it seems as but last week, since I visited the two societies alternately for several weeks trying to make up my mind as to their relative merits. I think only those of you who have been unlucky enough to have two solid girls at one time can fully ap preciate my vexation of spirit. I always flattered myself, however, that I was courted rather than courting in that transac tion. It is not often that one has a chance to choose his parentage, but hero 1 felt that I was selecting a foster mother, whose tender care and venerable name would one day bring those large honors which I fancy fill the day dreams of most college boys. After being flattered and cajoled alternately by the two rivals I cast my lot with the Adelphians in the fall of 1873. The early societies of the university, per haps on the assumed superiority of the male intellect, excluded the girls from membership. If we ever needed an object lesson of the absolute degeneracy of the male portion of the race when without the civilizing influence of the gentler sex, the condition of the Palladian and Adelphian in the latter part of 1873 would have furnished it. The want of decorum as well as the lack of spirit in the exorcises, showed only too plainly the absence of that influence, so easily uuderstood when felt, yet too difficult to define or account for, that comes from the presence of those we always wish to please. Not so much that our condition was worse but that we sooner devined its cause, the Adelphian first determined by a coup d? elatj to bettor its estate. About the close of the fall term 1873 an J.lfcCHWk. m, .m