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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1875)
rni,.UJ.-!Li &?rZVnKKA THE HESPERIAN STUDENT. mlsinnnnoinciit, he kept Iiumbly silent. 3y dear," he remarked its she was rls gfnm I In bible," I wish to go shopping this atti'tiiooii, for tho children's clothes jrcrrallj not HI to bo soon, and I do need H new vol very much." Well," answered tho woman of bus!. (y,--) . she actually npoko without a marl, for her good iinttiro had returned ,jncr dinner "how much do you need? J suppose lllly cents will answer every .mr)i' Vou know we must boeoonomi imI now, ilinr-. arc so grafttdmppcry." Fifty rents! wind do you think L can gt. with tllly cent? I want at least ten dollar. Why, I have to get all the spring clothes, and you vttrely want us to look decent V "Xn sir, I'll give you no ton dollars for uich iimwn.e. He member I am not rich. One would think, to hear you talk, that I owned all Christendom. ' "Why, hat is not niuuli. Mr. Jones' wife, across the street, gave him lifty dol larsjiisl willi his scarcely asking for it; you are as well oil' a3 she, yet you grum ble and oiler mo llfty cents! I'd be ashamed" "Sir, remember to whom you speak," thundered his wife, swelling like the fabled toad. " I eare not what Mrs. Jones does, but my hoiisf .shall be well regulated. I will give you live dollars, no more at pres ent; that should satisfy any man." We could not endure more, so wo crept out, thinking, what a blissful home indeed! Barely that woman understands her part. Wonder what that ungrateful man w ill get widi his live dollars. Such a pity that he does not appreciate his wife's generosity more, and her desires for a well regulated household. Hut our meditations were interrupted for Fancy led us into an oHleo, where stood a young man just making known his do tire Id obtain a situation hi the village tcliuol. 'I think likely you can obtain the situ, atiou " said the directress, as she eyed him sharply, as though she saw every fault he possessed, "that is if our wages a ill suit. Of course, you being a man will not have such high wages as the lady teachers." "And why, may I inquire; is not the work IJdo worth as much as that thev do I" "Pcthaps, perhaps, but you know it is the custom. Of course you must not ex pect as much." "Mrs. Directress, I refuse to teach for any less than what your lady teachers re. ceive. I work jmU as hard und my work Is worth exactly as much as theirs, and it is not just, that I should receive less than they." "Of course, if you cannot teach for our offer, we win get olhors; plenty who are glad of any wage, sir." "Hut madam, do you think it right and just to force us poor men to such wretched wages, becmiso wo are men ?" "My dear oir, 1 beg you to look back to by-gone days, when you men held the rehu of power how did you treat us? Did you not scoff at the very idea of our receiving wages equal U yours? You can kvu the injustice, now that tho woight fall on you. I do not wish to quarrel, lr, but I military, I fuel that this state of ailwlrs will tench you a good lesson. You carried your power too far. You thought there was no limit to your rights. We be came as worms beneath your feet, but we did not submit. How could we? If you bad been just and honorable, we would not havo claimed our rights, but wo had far-sightedness enough to see that some thing must bo done. You all scolfed at the Idea of out' rights. N,nv we might with equal justice scull' at yours; but wo havo proved ourselves equal to tho oinorg ency. Allow me, sir, to adviso you, If ov or you men obtain those lights again, just boa little cautious how you use them, Vou have round that it does not quite sat isfy every craving of tho heart to stay at homo forever, washing dishes, tending crying babies, darning socks and in return getting either petted or scolded as tho mood changes. Vou forgot that wo had souls as well as you." Here Fancy winged her capricious Highl and, not unwillingly, I again faced life's reality. Loun: Nicholson. association like this, If it can be seeii that lis members have that administrative abil ity to make their meetings both entertain- member, Ho must respond to every call. Ho must nolonly write and speak, but ho must remember to do it well. Ho need Our General I. Kenny Work. liADIUS ANUGlflrri.KMKXOK THK Al)KI.- lMii.VN: Allow mo to express my thanks to you this evening for tho honoryoti have so willingly conferred upon nie, by elect ing me to preside for tho ensuing term. Allow me to rceive the olllce, as similar charges should ever be received, as a pledge of conlldenco you may havo reposed in me. I am pleased to see so many of the old members return with the beginning of an other year, well fort Hied in purpose to con. tinue in the pursuit of knowledge, and to add another year's harvest to tho great storehouse of tho mind. Each one may justly deem his return to school a happy onion; for, truly, so many returns are but so many indications that we shall be suc cessful in the various Holds of labor for which we are preparing, since we show to the world that wo are inlluenccd by no sudden whim of the brain, but by a fixed aim and purpose. But while tho enjoy ment of these advantages may be our de light and our gain, and while we pity those who cannot partake with us, let us consider that without tlii- thirst for educa tion, we never would have come hither; that this thirst itself is akin to the spirit of our Maker, who has lixed our destinies, and that for these gifts, He may expect some good return in the future. Let us hope that those who are absent from our circles have selected fields better calculat ed to fit them for their particular work; but these als should bo remembered by us all; for, perchance, some good and timely word, or some good impression has been received from them that may uncon sciously tilled our whole future, since our lives are made up of separate individual acts, each having is bearing upon all our after livts. As it is now the beginning of the year, it seems to be a fit time, not only for the ' , ii.. I.... r,. .1... o. ...:..(.. .,., IIIUlllUUls buvuiiiuy, uui iuj iiiu ssvvivif us a body to take a prospective glance into tho future, contemplating the character and amount of work to be done. Hut amidst all our plans, the question ever comes to ut Shall wo succeed? To the individual there can bo no greater ques tion than thin, and if there is ono thing ho should strive for mora than another, it should be to be identified in sonic important field of labor useful and activo field. The question should burn in his thoughts from week ( week, and from year to year, until he finally rosolvos that ho will suc ceed. But to tho Sooioty the question comes with double force; double, because it afi'eots tho members ami also the out come of the whole school. For, In an ng and profitable, the truth is already do- not endeavor to excel anv one but himself. monstrated, that wherever they go in life 'Every ollori should bo made with bettor thoy will carry an inlluenee with thorn, ielloei, than ihe preceding one. In HiIm and mould to a great extent their .surround- j way the member and tho Society will ever ing communities. Hence, I say, as wo as-! be equal to the occasion, which is always somble for weekly exorcises it is no great (the sequel of success. But no one can iii.sk id picture mo iniuro oi every one who takes an active part; for his work is a field g'ass, so to speak, through which wi! view, in the distance, the compass of his labor. The success of the school is also, in a measure, parallel with our sue cess; for in tho same degree that we havo energetic members of tho Society may we bo assured we shall havo diligent and thorough students of the class. For those reasons, 1 say, tho question comes with telling force How shall wo succeed? I shall attempt to answer this question as briefly as possible in order to give you my idea on the subject. In tho first place, in order for any as sociation to do tho greatest amount of good, there must be some worthy object to attain, then each member must strive for that object. Work without an object is like ascending in a balloon. Wo may speak well or write well unless he bo in- teres ted in his topic, no more than any one can be Miccossful in a voca'iou unless there be certain attractions in that pursuit. From those consid erations tho thought, crystallizes, that every one should read, write and speak njot on those topics which will have a bearing on his or her intended profession, and this ell'ecls our second ob ject. But there are other reasons why we should bend our minds, while in col lege, as much as possible toward our in tended calling. In the first place, wo can gain practical knowledge thai will ever be in our reach in after life, ant' as much perhaps as we shall in the same lime after we leave school. We shall be moio ."'kely to remember it, because we shall havo oc casion to apply it. And further, siuco what wo learn points to a position wc ar reach an amazing height, but out landing soon to occupy, we will grow more oaro- place will be as undetermined as it wasiful and thorough in our investigation.- when we left the ground. It is a lamenta ble tact that the work of nearly every lit erary society is exactly of this nature; they simply rise, infintcd with gas, having expelled it they settle into some intermin able forest, or light, heels up, on tho considering what elfect upon our wholo lives even the slightest mistake may have. We will thus be .unwilling to receive an opinion without convincing proof. Our minds may thus bo immeasurably strenth ened instead of weakened, and we housetops. May our work be of sin en- will go forth shedding light instead of tirely difi'erentkindl With summit ahead I plunging ourselves into darkness. I fit be let us press forward with reaching strides. "What, then, shall be our object? The Society is composed of individual mem bers. As 'he compound molecule is made your aim to write, why not choose your theme in school and let your spare mo ments be devoted to it. But some one may say, " L have no definite object iu up of atoms and owes its nature so pre-.life." Then by till means, select it, for eisely, to a nicety, to the exact weight and life without an object istis Useless as a boat the attraction of each, so Is tho Society on the desert. It is night without a star, modified by each of its members. The , It is day darkened with clouds. It is u cast and bearing of the Society iu the fu- duty each one owes to himself and to the hire, then, is not the result of the labors world, to fix a definite aim for his life of a single individual, but a resultant , work. Talent was never created without from Ihe combined efforts of all. We J being commanded to advise. If you must all labor, therefore, unitedly and as-' have a superior mind, as every mom- sidously. It is a truth that needs no demonstra tion, that we should all apply ourselves to that training from which wo shall reap tho greatest good in coming life. The field of investigation is too great to be thoroughly, or even ndvtintngeously, com prehended by a single mind, and life is too short and time, therefore, too precious to waste upon unimportant matters; but every moment should be so straight ened that from it may ripen some lich product in the future. Hut how can there be a common object, at tho same time each member strives to gain a particular her of a literary society should have, it is a sure sign that you yere intended to intlu ence your fellow men. Then it becomes us to search for the field where we may apply our talent and labor earnestly ami unceasingly iu order that when the Mas ter asks "And what have you?M wc may not shake our silver hairs with u. wrinkled and palsied hand point to a. cer tain spot and say, "I have hidden it there that I might return you no usury." May He forbid that any one of us should make a reply like this. It may be yours to plead at the bar, yours to teach the coming generation,. object? This, Iruly.is the question to be ''" to h(ii the sick, yours to preach, or answered bv everv thoimhtf ul member of J'ours lo blccl e ship ot state. Then every lilerary'society. At first, we arc apt wll' not chous0 J'our work d henceforth to think that the efforts sufilcient for the I "lll3 yourself to it, relying upon the fact attainmeiu of each of these ends must, to a ceitain extent, conflict, but the inoro wo reflect the more will we bo convinced that the two go hand in hand. The first object is tho acquirement of literary and social culture, combined ivith a certain degree of tact necessary to the management of public assemblies. Tho bccoitd is a specific literury culture in con neclion with a suitable knowjedgo of hu man nature, by which wo may influence our fellows. In order to accomplish the first, each member must bo a working that the Creator never intended you for a vocation unequal to your abilities. This should be pursued while connected with the society, where we may learn just when and how wo are host appreciated by tho members, which will indicate to what ex tent we snay be allied by the world. It is said that Newton taught philosophy while a boy, ii.yiuit wrote one of his best poems while yeta ,coiloge lad. Milton. prepared himself while in college, by writing the " Hymn of the Nativity" and other poems, for that sublime flight which. Continued on sixth nagt'.f 1 11 7. i -t WW ICT..t