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About The Hesperian / (Lincoln, Neb.) 1885-1899 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 6, 1895)
1 Jliiiin iff THE HESPERIAN Alumni and Old Students. Uni. of Chioaqo, Nov. 25, '95. Dear Mr. Allen: I nm vory glnd to comply with your request to writo ft letter for the roftdors of The Hesperian. If it does not prove interesting rending matter, I trust that it may at least servo as "copy" for the editor. When I entered the University of Chicago, October 1, I again experienced something of that feeling homo-sickness, which I had experienced six years boforo when I first entered the University of Nebraska. This later time homo had a two-fold significance. It meant not alone tho parental roof but also the institution in which 1 had spent live of tho best years of my life. There iB some thing wrong with tho man or woman who, after spending from four to six years at tho University of Nebraska, does not feel a debt of gratitude to her. Alma Mater" has a new significance to one when one becomes an alumnus. To treat of Chicago University adaquately, in a short letter, would bo almost as impos sible as it would bo for mo, in my financial condition, to form an intelligent conception of tho size of Mr. Rockefeller's recont gift to tho University. Consequently I shall not attempt it. One of tho significant things horo is tho cosmopolitan character of tho studont body. Almost evory stato in tho union is repre sented. Canada has a largo delegation; the south is well represented, and thoro are a good many students from abroad. Any chance collection of a dozen students would probably bo representative of every section of the United Stain and of Canada. This condition is duo in a largo part to tho largo and over growing graduate school of the' University. It does not mean vory much to bo a sonior horo. Ho docs not have tho prestige which . ho has in most institutions. This is due to tho fact that tho undergraduate colleges are overshadowed by tho graduate school. "Ph. D.," not "B. A.," is the goal. Notwith standing this, tho undergraduate school iB u very important part of tho Univorsity. It is tho center of tho social life, and tho placo where college spirit is most abundant. Tho ofi'ect, though, of so many students working for higher degrees is certainly vory consid orablo upon tho undergraduates. This, no doubt, in part accounts for tho vory notice able absence among tho students of what for a better name 1 shall call "kidishness. " Chicago now claims tho largest graduato school in America oven surpassing Johns Hopkins. Over three hundred studonts wero enrolled in this school last year. To this number may be added tho students of tho graduato divinity school who number, about two hundred, making tho total num ber of graduato studonts about fivo hundred. Compared with other leading universities, tho University of Nebraska has surprisingly few alumni who are posting hero. How over, I am not unmindful of tho fact that tho U. of N. has a pretty good graduato school of her own. The spirit of Chicago University is de cidedly western. Although tho Univorsity iB tho result of tho muniiiconco of rich men, yot thoro is no aristocracy of wealth among tho studonts. Scholarship and worth, not wealth, givo proBtige. Many of tho studonts who aro most prominent in studont organ izations and in univorsity life are those who aro largely making their way through school. I am told by thoso who know that vory many of tho studonts do outsido work to support them altogether or in part while in school. What may bo denominated tho "fast" and tho "sporty" oloment is small, and is looked upon with disfavor. Rich men, for tho most part, still send their sons and daughters to eastern institutions. Tho groat majority of studonts hero are not sent, but como. " You will not understand mo to imply that there is not a high degreo of culture here, for thoro is. While tho social life is marked by cordiality and unconvontionality, thoro is also a manifest high dogroe of culture and refinement. In tho matter of co-education Chicago
