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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
