tea1 W"
THE HESPERIAN STUDENT.
tffeHMMtiH
Inm reached a remarkable degree ol' pel foe
lion. It 1" P'n,on' ,ni11 Hmm r ,hl'
wo'riliy ritilors who visited tho Normal on
tin- occasion in question, ami who had pre
vioit-ly decried the same, as " the Peru
High School," etc., Inula great Incubus lift
cl iroin tliclr minds, and perhaps felt some
slight touches of shame, if editors ever ex
prrience that wry worthy emotion. It
would he a remarkably prolific village, of
nbout -even hundred inhabitants, that could
produce three hundred young men and wo.
men of nearly equal age. There Is not a
city this side of Chicago that could do it.
The students, in fact, come from all pails
nf the State.
There is one feature of the. exorcises and
Instruction of tho Normal, which wo would
like to ce emulated in tho University
muhie. Great attention is paid to vocal
music. The Preparatory Depnrtmot, Prof.
Ntt 1101.S, Principal, devotes half or three
quarters of an hour each morning to this
exercio.
Tin- Normals are expecting to give tho
University a visit en masso soon ; tho stud
cuts of the University will give them a
hearty welcome. There is' much that we
would like to say of this school, but space
forbids further mention.
i
CRITIQUES AND CRITICISMS.
"When we commenced our editorial
work we thought, "What a bore It will bo
to look over and rer.d tho exchanges. To
havo to enduro Sophomorlc llights of
eloquence, Junior gushes, and tho ponder
ous polemics of Seniors, each plainly
sent out in tho tho expectation that it is
to revolutionize tho thought of tho
world." But wo wore disappointed. In
the first place, we meet with but little of
such writing, and for what wo do find, a
fellow feeling makes us wondrous kind.
And now it is one of our chief pleasures
to greet each newcomer on its monthly
visit and mark the comments on daily
events, the tenor of thought, the Impres
sions of life, which each brings from its
section of the educational world. We
turn eagerly to the Exchange Column to
see and profit by tho friendly criticisms of
'one upon another, and feel that we have
almost a personal acquaintance with
many. This feeling of good-fellowship,
fraternity and friendship, is really ono of
the best results of College Journalism,
since it seems to bind in closer bonds,
institutions which are working for the
fiiune end and purpose. Tho advantage
resulting from this can scarcely be esti
mated. To some extent, each College or
University is the exponent of particular
ideas which circumstances have fostered
and nourished. The College paper be
coiiicMicccHbUk tally, tinctured with those
M-iitliiwnts that it imparts toothers and in
turn becomes modified and liberalized by
the friendly criticism and suggestions of
the organs of tho living ideas embodied
in other assemblies of thinkers. So let
tlioho who will, sneer at College Journals
and the presumption of boys and girls
we will do the best that lies in our power'
knowing that it is necessary to pasB
through the stage, which bos been likened
so often to veal, before wo can reach the
stolid common sense and staid strength
of tho full grown ox.
Tho Bates Htudent comes with some
good ideas on the "Scholar iu Society,"
and what we have to fear from the inllu
euce of the German clement. Wo think
It lias more vim than tho Orescent, the oili
er magazine from the Fiec Baptist Col-leges.
Tho Institute is a lively Utile paper'
published in convenient pamphlet form,
down in Missouri. The last unmoor is
unusually good. "Luna" evidently has
talent as a story-teller. Tho Institute is
always a welcome visitor.
We stand corrected, Friend Tyro, and
hereby make the anionic honorable Tho
Tyro is the only paper published by tho
young ladles of Cook's Collegiate Insti
tuto. We found out our error but loo
lato for correction. Forgive us, and we
wont do so any more Do you really
dare "sauce" tho august autocrats at
Yale ? Wo humble Westerners keep rover-
cut silence. Wo fear tho fate of Zelica
if wo lift the awful veil.
Some one in tho Targum u riling on
"College Materialism" deplores the prev
alence of liberal iews at Rutgers and
calls upon the Faculty to give attention to
tho matter. Verily, the leaven is work
ing everywhere.
Tho contributors to tho Delaware Col
lego Adcimce havo all evidently been ex
tensively studying Shakspere and the
Old Dramatists and to some purpose.
Tho article on "Shakspere and Friends
at tho Walnut" is well conceived and
well carried out. It is decidedly ono of
the best articles we havo seen lately. "Sir
Walter," "rare Ben Jonson" and "Francis
tho royal," though they would give even
tho Devil his due, would bo constrained
to cry with Falstall', "Lord, Lord, how is
this world given to lying I" if they could
revisit their old haunts at tho Mermaid
and learn of the efforts to rob "Gentle
Will" of bis laurels and place them on
the haughty brow of Sir Francis Bacon.
Imagine doughty Ben's indignatiou at
the spoliation of tho honors so long ac
corded to his sweet Swan of Avon,
with his "excellent phantasy, brave no
lions, and gentle expressions," and all for
the good of Lord Verulam, wnose poi
ished, clear-cut, icy thought
the "honied sweetness" of
pero's!
Wc ought, no doubt, to feel overwhelmed
by the Volantc's criticism. But we dont.
The VoUtnte iBiiuiio right, in one tiling.
We dont like the the Doctor's ideas on cj
education, nor his proceedings in re
gard to tho matter, at the University of
Chicago. Probably when tho learned
Doctor succeeds iu his commendable lit
tle project of crowding the lady students
out ot the University entirely, he will
point triumphantly to the achievement as
an indubitable proof of the failure of tho
wliiilu Hvstem of co-education. And what
Chicago alllrms is law for the small re-
mainderof tho world, wc uum
perspicuity of the Volant' critic,
it wndiilv fail-id him this time.
wrote all tho other criticisms, but "ho"
wrote that one. It was beyond her capac
ity "She" will not "enter into an argu
menton co-educatlon" either but "she"
cannot forbear expressing her unbounded
admiration for the "cute" way m which
(he Volantc tries to praise Itself. It wants
to discover why it is that "no college pa
per with young ladies on tho editorial
staff has equaled in excellence papers
published either entirely by men or en
irely otherwise. ' When wo remembe,
Lhe Volante is publiscd by young
entirely, and the iiesi e.a -
never liau
Will Shaks-
admire tho
But
She"
men
., the modesty of the above is appar-
sexes
ent.
...... ...iiiii (mi oil some-
?5S
it, and will content ourselves willi expres
sing our satisfaction without airing our
Clascal knowledge obtained from Ant.
Class. Diet. II (the Union, not tho Diet.)
is a handsome paper and contains some
good articles. The one on the "Freshman
at Work" Is really amusing, and tho cdl
tori al on Debating describes the "process"
so vividly wo question whether ho did
not have our own Societies in his "mind's
eye."
The College Message visits us regularly
from St. Vincents. Our Catholic friends
know how to keep up their papers well.
From way down in Alabama, tho Ala
bama University Monthly comes to us
with Its Steam-Electro-Litcrary machine
whose "theological peg" sometimes gets
loose to tho horror of tho editors. We
hope the Monthly will continue to visit
us
Dr. Holland receives a little less rover-
once from the Sibyls of Elmira than ho
usually does from his feminine admirers.
All of which is a sign of commendable
advancement. There is a class of people,
mostly women, to whom Dr. Holland is a
sort of demi-god, and his books unfail
ing oracles of wisdom. The Sibyl who
criticises his Mistress of the Manse is evi
dently beyond that stage. "The Tcndeu
cy of the Age" contains some good
"ideas," expounded with a good degree of
"leadiness."
A certain gentleman (ho would n't like
to bo called old) who claims us as his eld
est hope, is very severe (though we know
perfectly well, at heart, he is n't so severe
as ho pretends) on boys and girls who
think they can carry on a paper and who
express themselves freely about their bet
tors. However we notice lie looks very
carefully over all the exchanges that pass
through our hands. But what wo wanted
to say was that he thinks "There really is
something in that Bcrkeleyan now," for
"it goes out of the beaten track," and
"strikes out for itself." "We confess wo
agree with him and have a hearty and
honest admiration for the Bcrkeleyan &a
admiration which extends generally from
tho first page to tho last. Tho March
number is especially good. Wo would
venture to suggest that it do not make
criticism too much of a hobby, and thus
run in danger of becoming uninteresting
from sameness. If wo do not hear from
the author of "Turgenieff's 'Liza'," in the
future, we shall be sadly disappointed.
We have no doubt ho will make his mark
in critical literature at least. And that is
what we need. We have few good critics
though wo are Hooded with tho produc
lions of men and women who have not
the faintest conciption of tho functions
of true criticism or the attributes of a
true critic. The same author, in the edito
rial columns, differs from some strictures
of the Vassar Mis. on Middlomarch. It
has become the fashion lately to deplore
tho Injurious effects of Geo. Eliot's writ
ingfl and to warn young readers, espeetal
ly, against their gloomy tendency. This
fashion has become prevalent among that
class of people who, as the author says,
"would have a novelist paint life as a con
stunt victory of good people over Lad poo
pie, of good influences over bad," forgct
ling that it is the novelist's highest duty
to bo faithful to fact and to realize that
the more he makes truth the foundation
of his Art, (as of all others), tho greater,
tho more ulessed he Is. Personally, we
havo always entered a invite; inward pro
test against this outcry but could novor
filly express it In words. Wo are glad,
thoicfore, to have met with so admirable a
critique.
Wo bog to whisper in the ear of tho
Williams Athenaeum that the "cinnamon
colored (wo blush) &c." was all a mistake
on the part of the printer and one which
wc have rectified in this number. Wo
think wc look belter. Do wenot? Now,
dear Athenaeum dont you suppose wo
poor editors have cnoughto bear without
shouldering all that our contributors may
choose to say? Do you judge us by
yourselves? Do the editors have to fill
all your pages themselves?
The Trinity Tablet comments at some
length on its exchanges and manages to
crowd notices of a good many in a small
space. Whether the best plan or not is a
question of taste. Wo felt sligh'ed that,
among so many, the Hicbpeuian was left
out in the cold, but consoled ourselves
with the knowledge that wo wore in tho
good company of Union Colleye Mag.,
Packer Quarterly, Volante, and others, who
only received mention as "other exchang
es." Wo have received a now exchange in tho
Eurlictonan Argosy, n name, by the way,
which we hope wo will not bo compelled
to write very often. It is too utterly un.
manageable. The Argosy is from New
Brunswick and is at swords' points with
tho JDalhousie Gazette. It appears to con
sider itself able to hold its own however,
with an air that reminds us forcibly of th
little Archangel.
ECHOES FROM NORMAL HALL.
FltOM OUK KKQUIiAll COIUIKHPONDKNT.
It has been some time since your corres
pondent lias attempted to act the part of
news-gatherer find reporter; not for any
lack of news, but rather for lack of time.
And just here let me say that this seems
to be a characteristic of the students of
tho Normal School, and in some sense a
fault. The disposition of the majority of
the students is to let their regular studies
occupy all their time, leaving none for
outside, practical work. But this is a
fault which perhaps might bo termed a
good one.
I presume to say that nowhere in tho
United States can there be found a sehool
in which a majority of the students aro
more in love with their work, more com
pletely devoted to study, and whose work
is more faithfully and cheerfully per
formed. There aro, undoubtedly, sufficient
reasons for all this. Some of which I
conceive to be the following: first, the ab
sence of those places of amusement, and
that excitement, which, were they present,
would attract tho attention of the students,
and consequently detract from their stud
ies; second, tho peculiar circumstances
under which most of the students aro
placed, impel them to accomplish tho
greatest amount of work in the least possi
ble amount of time; third, we havo a fac
ulty whoso whole soul is in their work,
who aro thoroughly in sympathy with tho
students, and endeavor, by all the means
in their power, to encourage and assist tho
students in their labors.
I started out to write some news but
llew the track at the end of tho first mil
yet, through the exercise of considerable
willpower, I again find myself prepared
to start.
Feb. 22nd, as a school, we dispensed
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