Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1878)
4 i "j 101) EDITORIALS. VOU VII, n m A 5 It is well enough to publish some of tho productions delivered during com mencement week, and, oecnsionly others; but, in general, it is much to bo desired that the contributions to our paper shall not be those that have previously up. pcarcd. Though this is desirable, it is nevertheless not easy to accomplish. Who of our predecessors will not testify to the interesting times they have had in obtaining "copy" in sulllcient quantity Mid good season? When one is asked to contribute an irticlo, without delivering tho same in public, ho usually replies that he hasn't timo to gel one up. He must write an essay for tho rhetorical exorcise next week, and lie has a performance in the society the week after. While admitting the force of these or similar arguments, we wish to present a few on our side of tho question. Now we admit that tho essays which you oiler us, after reading them in public, may bo good enough for publication, but they are not new to many of the readers. Your classmate glances over the contents of each number of the Student, as it "comes out," recognizes by their titles essays or orations that he has lately heard, and don't stop to road thorn. A peico intended for publication is not always tho most suitable to read in public, and vice vorsa. Then can you not make a little extra exertion now and then to gladden the edi tor's heart by a fresh production? He member that Ihoto individuals are thorn s,clvcs expected, eacli month, to write lour or live pages of editorials, solicit much more than that amount of abstract matter, correct the proof-sheets of the whole, and attend to their lessons and other work besides, Now can you not occasionally spare a littlo time during the month, for tho editor can usually give you that much notice, in preparing an article. We do not wish to make an unreasonable request, for some of you may have too much of oilier work to do to admit of writing for those columns. Such persons wu will of courso excuse. When it ts understood that tho Studknt seldom contains an article previously delivered, tho contributed columns will possess more interest to local readers. To many persons tho contributed iirti. cles are more interesting than the rest of tho reading matter. Wo cannot therefore subscribe to tho opinion that a college paper should be confined chiefly to local news. It then possesses littlo attraction to outside readers- You are quite as likely to give the public an article as in. foresting and profitable as many of the hastily written ones found in the average newspapers. It is of courso necessary to take pains with tho subject matter of one's productions. Then don't bo afraid to get up some, tiling a little new. There is not diversity enough we think in tho range of college journalism as usually found; it is too apt to follow well-boaton tracks. THE MTEKAKY KEVIEWEK. There Is no study that exerts more ori ginal and impartial investigation than in pursuing in a critical manner the litera ture of a language. Carrying in its dark folds the thoughts and actions of men that have lived and passed away, it brings continually to the surface tho links of a long intellectual chain. Tho wild and harsh accents of the rude savage, the playful dactyls and thundering spondee of a Homer, the drowsey verse of a Chau cer and tho philosophy of 11 moro dovel. oped mind, all, stamp with their particu lar traits the characteristics of their re spective ages. The literature of a people is their life preserved. It exists in their poetry, their dramas and their novels. Road them ami you arc inosistably carried into the spiiit of their day. You see before you tho great chain of action that has held together the vital interests of society. Every word, every action is life in its transparent form. .SB . &iv;.v-: :-.' ,- -' ..