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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1882)
THE HESPERIAN STUDENT. exact statements were required of nil and thnt deviations from the straightforward truth were considered to bo lies and called by their right names. To announce one self as "half dead" when one is merely weai'3, or to say of n poison that lie "doesn't know anything" when it is sim ply meant thnt he isn't as sensible, in the opinion of the speaker, as he ought to be, is as vulgar at it is wrong, and equally unjust and false. Proportionately to one's ace, position and supposed wisdom does the enormity oi the fault increase. And for an instructor of young people to so far forget himself as to indulge in a thing of that sort is to lower himself most effect ually and irretrievably in the eyes of his students. Students are. as a rule, neither fools nor "stupids." They ennnot easily be itnposcd upon, and are not, by any means, to be quickly taken in. They arc a cl i Hi cult class ol persons to chail" and their wits are usually nimble and bright. For a teacher to suppose that hia class believes the wonderful stories with which he enter, tains them, is absurd, and shows that either ho himself has little knowledge of student nature or that he has so high an opinion of his own ability and power that lie imagines the students will believe any thing Ae may tell them. It is pitiful as well as ludicrous and shameful, loo, that a teacher Should attempt to make his class believe, as a scientific fact, that south of Salt Lake City is a mountain so full of loadstones that when lie attempted to ascend it on a mule's back the animal received such a sliock from the magnetic iron as to make it impossible to remain on ils back or continue the ascent I It is an undisputed statement in physics that magnetism produces no direct effect on the senses and wo only witness the cfi'oot of magnetic power in the motion it may give to steel and iron. So that if the mountain were a solid magnet, still, as neither the professor nor his mule arc made of such imperishable matorials as iron and steel, he could have had no diffi culty from tills source. Seriously, how ever, a professor Is imperiling all his influence nmong and power over the stu dents by such course of conduct. Truth, dignified, consistent truth, is an ornament to any man and a positive necessity to a professor and teacher. When a class find a recitation room full of tobacco smoke and receive the explanation .that the teacher has just put into the fire thechem leals upon which lie has been experiment, ing, he need not imagine, for a niomenl, that because the students arc too polite to sneer or laugh that ho has pulled the wool over their eyes or thnt they do not set him down as a man whoso imagination and tongue run away with his principle and common sense. jxcf(HnQc $ric-n-brnc. Twenty American colleges have adopted the Oxford cap and gown. The Militmy Academy at Chester, Pa. was burned on the 10th of March. Loss .$200,000, partially insured. First Student to second: "He that givelh to the poor leudeth to the Lord. Have you got any tobacco." Ex. Literary Notes advocates the sale of the Normal School property ai Peru and the location of the institution at some other point. A small but bright Sunbeam comes to us from the Ladies' College of Ontmio. It is the only representative of Canada college journalism on our table. We are pleased to greet the new arrival. The Occident will please make intellible its unkind remarks in regard to our "Indian" matter. Docs our Pacific brother really believe thnt we have Indi ans here, or was the thrust simph a chunk of cold sarcasm ? At California University the professors ate allowed to believe in any kind of doxy they choose and the students can dissipate to an alarming extent, with no faculty to molest or make thorn afraid, but smoking in the building is not allowed. Hespewan Student says: "No fault is lound here with the elective system save ihat too much work is required of the students." Does that occur when the slu den', has not too many subjects? The elective system lias its dangerous tempta tions as the fixed course has its unwise restrictions. Literary Notes. The liadgcr was once our best exchange' but in these later days its reputation is hardly sustaiucd. Tiie editorial force has undoubtedly been worn out in the effort to keep up a sixteen page weekly and the result is a smaller paper and the abandonment of "Current Topics," the best and most original department of the journal. Brace up, friend Badger. Anbury Monthly for March contains a long statement of the "characteristics of the Senior class," remark ible chiefly for their personal nature. The ridiculed class must lack bravery, or perhaps the editors are well defended. Hero at Nebraska University the publication of such matter would cause an uprising which nothing short of the stato militia could subduo. If the hypofhcnuso.of a triangle is equal to the distance between the accession of James I and the Stamp Act, and the small angles equal to the Angles who lauded in Briton lieforo the time of Alfred the Great, what is the third Angle? Express the result in terms of the specific gravity of carbonic dioxide or any of the forms ofEgyptinn Hieroglyphic writings. Har vard lampoon. "Who was the great Athenian poet?" asked the schoolmaster. "Periklcs," replied the slow boy in the farther scat; "lie W4s versed in war, versed in pence, and ver " But the pedagogue interrupted him to sny that it was the verst he'd ever heard; and just then lightning struck the antique tower of the village school, and without coming to a vote, the house ad journed.' Varsity. Governor Nance would do well to so word his call for the extra session that the qucston of closing the doors of the University mny be voted on. If public sentiment was respected such a measure would pass by a large majority. Falls Gity Journal. The Journal must feel proud of the above paragraph. Are such thoughts prompted by ignorance or malice? After carefully looking over the College Herald we are forced to the conclusion that cither the paper does not fairly rep resent the college, or that Illinois Wcs leyan University is not much of an insti tution. The paper is not local and can hardly be said to be literary. It would seem that a college with such a formid able name as this one possesses could support a much stronger journal than the Herald. The new clothes which the Berkeleyan lias donned do not exactly suit the art critic in charge of this column. The new dress gives the paper a heavy, clumsy appearance, while the contents tend to the other extreme. The Berkeleyan is unlike any other paper pulishcd. It is strictly California!!, with a style of its own, aud the ex. man who attempts to criticise it justly finds that lie has undertaken adifll cull task. The exchanges are universally kind in their notices of the Student, though a few seem a little worried over our lack of literary articles. Wo will remark for the benefit ol our suffering brethren thnt the demand at this Institution is for local matter, and this it is our mission to sup. ply. Yet wo believe that a well conducted literary department is beneficial, and will establish one as soon as the enlargement of the Student now under contemplation becomes a reality. Student Life, from St. Louis, is again a welcome caller at our snncum. This journal is not remarkable for size, but by its neat appearance and fresh, crisp con. tents lias placed itself in the front rank of college papers. Is there not an Idea here lor many editorial boards? A number we might say a majority of our exchanges would be greatly improved if more atten. tion could bo pnld to tho quality ami less to the quantity of the matter inserted. vk
