Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885, February 01, 1882, Image 2
THE HESPERIAN STUDENT. I THE HESPERIAN STUDENT. Published semi-monthly by tlio Btudonts of tho Nebraska State University. Wednesday, February 1, 1882. EDITORS IN CHIEF, May B. Faiiifield. N. Z. Snell. Local Editoh, Clem Chase. A BSOCIATE EllITOlt AVlLL O. JONES, Uosiness Manaoeu, IJ. F. Mahsiiall. THUMB OF HUBSCIUrTION. 1 copy pur collofio year gl.OO. 1 " one half year .60. Single copy .05. ItATKH OF AIlVEItTIHIKH. 1 column ono Insertion SH-00- )2 squares " " 75. 1 " " 10. All articles for publlcntiin should bo addressed Editor llEsrEitiAN Student, State University, Lincoln, Nebraska. All subscriptions and busl ncss communications, with tho address, should be sent to B. F. MARSHALL . SubscriptioiiB col lecte'd invariably in advance Advertisements collected monthly. JgiVitorUil, The two societies of the University now have an enrollment of nearly one hundred and twenty-five. One hundjed students or more belong to no literary organization. This state of affairs should not exist. We have material enough for two more socio, tics at least. The Student believes that tho campus should receive more attention from the Regents. True, the funds available are limited and the demands for lid from Ihe many departments of the University are numerous, but a small sum should be appropriated eacli year for tho grounds. Good walks, morn flowers and shrubs, and trees of a better class than the rank cot ton wood are among the things most desired at present. The cost will be in. significant when compared with tho ben cflts to be derived. Can not something be done, and soon ? Ouu etiquette tells us that there is such a thing as politeness; and that the oxer. ci?e of it shows refinement. A person may ask a very slight favor of another but do it in such a manner as to give offenso and have the request denied. Imperious ness even to inferiors Is not commendable. The evenly balanced temper that knows neither tho excess of haughtiness nor tho servility of flattery please even when it has a disagreeable task to perform. Polite ness and respect never did harm to any one, while the want of one or both has often made an enemy when different treat ment would have made a friend. Official rank gives to one authority, it is true; but in organizations whoso objects are self culture and literary excellence, commands only iudicato a spirit not yet subdued by experience, or an inborn desire to tramplo on tho rights of others. The Regents at their last meeting elected Prof. Thompson to tho chair of Didactics. This is a new departure. Gradually tho University is increasing its facilities and silently and surely taking its place as ono of the best and leading colleges in tho West. Tlic graduate of a half.dozen years would hardly recognize his alma mater. Tho University of to-day is no more like the University of '72 or '73 than is tho child of fourteen like tho man of thirty. The schools this side of Michigan, bettor than our own, arc few. Our course of study is not a visionary one merely on paper but it is carried out in full. The Student announces with pleasure any change or addition that places the Univer sity on a broader basis, thus giving a wider scope to the work of students. Many who tho future intend to teach yill gladly avail thcmsolvcs of the opportunity of Prof. Thompson's instruction. The Regents luivo come and gone and so far as tho report of their meetings have been mado public, nothing was said or done with regard to the prolonged absence of one of tho college profcs&ors, and wo are to go on, probably, as best wo may without him. Students who have come here, it may be, with special reference to their studies in the natural sciences aro to be relegated again to tho tutorship of busy students who neither possess nor claim to possess any special fitness for tho work assigned to them, or to professors who give these new duties what time they can sparo from their own legitimate and well-understood departments. It is a shame that is so. Tho people of Nebraska through their Regents do not hire a man as Professor in the University that lie may spend week after week of tho school year in digging around for stones and fossils of a by-goiio age, or locating coal-beds which never pay to work, or finding oil wells whose supply is as uncertain as tho winds that blow, or attending trials whoso subpoenas aro unlimited as to time and useless as to fame. Presumably they em ploy him to teach the students of the Uni versity and give thorn all tho help ho can and the benefit of an experience ripened by years of study and a thorough knowl edge of his department. benefactor to mankind, arc so extravagant that ono is led to bolicvo tho eulogizer hinisolf hath little of this world's goods and this is his only recommendation to tho notice of tho world. Tho Student does not bolicvo that genius is tho son of J poverty nor mediocrity the son of wealth. it readily grants that the trials and hard ships attending tho advancement of a poor youth havo often developed him, brought his faculties into their utmost play and mado him far superior to his lei. lows. Hut why was it so? Ikcnusosuch an ono was gifted with a strong determination and will power. Born rich or poor he would havo been a noted man. To such an one adversity and poverty is a blessing, as it stimulates and excites to action. Walter Scott is an admirable example of this class. What would havo crushed the life of hope out of a man with less deter, mination than Scott, was to him, only the more of an Incentive to action. As wo arc given different power, so aro our characters shaped and moulded by different influences. And tho statement that poverty makes one, provided by one all is meant, is false. Tho timid and vis. ionary Keats stood not in need of stern and rigid poverty; nor did Poo. They needed kind words and sympathizing friends. Some require that tho path of life bo strewn with flowers if tlioy accom plish any good or noble results. For such riches arc a blessing, not a curse. There are low general laws tlr.it apply to all mankind. That which is true of ono clu3s is not always true of another. If tills bo borne in mind, few will make tho unqualified assertion that poverty is a blessing alike to all. We often hear it preached, and it is ever before us in print, that tho sons of poor men becomo the great statesmen, financiers, poets and novelists; that we look to them for the solution of all our difficult problems. Tho praise heaped upon a man, born poor, who becomes a A new departure, and commendable as well as new, wo notice on the programme of one of the societies. It is the scheme for a prize debate, preceding which aro to bo three preliminary debates open to all tho society, at least the first ono is free to all who register their names with tho secretary. Competent judges will give these speeches their careful attention and tho best of tho debaters at ihe first pre liminary dobato will bo given an oppor tunity of cutting down their numbers at the second preliminary debate. Finally tho six best debaters who aro left after the third trial are to hold a prizo dobato tho first of Juno. Tho best debater at this Inst contest, we suppose, may justly consider himself the champion debater of the soci ety. This prize debute will bo of great advantage to tho society, or more properly speaking, it can and ought to bo mado of great benefit to all concerned. To be log ical, methodical in the arrangement of ouo's ulcus and concise and clear in put ting them before one's hearers or readers, to bo impressive in manner and eloquent in speech, is to be a powerful ally or oppo- fttl