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THK HKSl'KRIAN STUDKNT.
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halting to the University itself would be manifold and ,
important. More mature material would enter the
Freshman class, and thus more thorough and thought
ful work would be done, at the very outset of the
University course. The Faculty would not be over
burdened with work as they are now, and more time
could be given the students in all the remaining
classes. There is no question that better work and
a higher reputation would result, and the institution
would realy be better patronized. This should no
longer be a semi-academy for children, but a Uni
versity for the young men and women of the state. In
our judgment, this is the one great progressive step
that should next be taken. We know that there is
some difference of opinion on this question and we
will gladly give reasonable space in our columns for
a general discussion of the matter among the students.
of Hie country is obtained, that Ulcn Is banished nnil
l( Is foil ml that notwithstanding Us uninviting nppcur.
unco, there lies scattered among tho rocks, minerals of
untold richness. Some very rich mines hnvo been found
in the Saw Tooth Itango and along tho Wood Rlvor
Vulloy. Thero is plenty of game hero, such as dour jack
rabbits and rattlo snakes. Hoping that as much In
terest is bomg manifested In University work as ever., I
will closo by wishing you all a Merry Christmas.
J. II. CON'llAD.
Llttlu Wood Ulvcr, Idaho,
A MANLY POLITICIAN.
& Student's gemy-book.
LAVA BEDS OF IDAHO.
Wonderful things arc always a long way from home.
Thus a locality thirteen hundred miles d'stant is more ex
traordlnary than one but two. But in these pcrverso later
times a tendency arises to doubt and question, to llnd
things otherwise than as represented and even sometimes
less wonderful than what has been left behind at homo
It is an almost universal complaint of tourists and
prospectors, thut they become so enthusiastic when ever
visiting a place of interest, that their descriptions leads
one to imagine it a perfect paradise. This sketch is not a
description of a paradise, but a feeble effort, towards co:r
vcying tho idea to my friends and student companions
how the groat lava beds of America appear.
From present indications ono can come to no other
conclusion, but that this portion of the country was a
seething mass of molten matter, long after Nebraska's sur.
face was covered with grass and fragrant llowers. Hut
time changes every Ihiug, and as Mils molten mass cooled,
and became solidified, it formed into rocks that are now
so hard, that only tho best tempered steel will cut thuin.
Volcanic crnntions were very frquent, as tho surface of
the country shows. Tho rocks hnvo been broken and
are bulged up so that the strata in some places stand per.
pindicular and groat cracks and crevices open so deep
that the bottom is not visible. Some of tho craters still re
uin their former appearance and around their openings
may bo seen largo sheets of crimplcd or undulated rocks
formed by tho craters in their last feeblo efforts to belch
forth tho heated mass which bubbled and died away.
Numerous caves have been formed by tho shrinking of
tho load while cooling! and these caves now furnish homes
The Puritans were in earnest; they acknowledged no
binding law but tho seuso of duty; their strong point was
backbone, we can not afford to laugh at them who live in
what lias been called tho era of "vertcbratolcss skulls.' '
Beared according to tho strictest sense of duty, imbibing
from his surroundings tho idea that tho words "ought"
and "must" wcro synonomouB, John Qnincy Adams can
hardly bo said to have had any childhood. His letters
written at 0 and 10 years of ago are as fearfully pious and
submissive as though copied entire from an old fashioned
Sunday-school book. In them ho addresses his fathor as
"Honored sir" and and asks for written directions as to
economy of time, that his "fickle thoughts" may not wan.
der off to his play, but may bo confined to the 3rd vol. of
Smollett which ho is reading. This so called "maturo
youngster" early accompanied his father to Europe. In
courts where more than ono of the older Americans lost
his moral balance, young Adams fitted himself for college,
studied diplomacy, talked with statesmen and kept a vol.
uminons diary. When tho proper tlmo camo h" returned
to submit himself to tho tho then innumerable and annoy,
ing regulations of Harvard from which ho graduated in
1787. Ho was admitted to tho bar, elected to tho state leg
islature and tho United States Senate. Hero his indepen
dent spirit soon got him into trouble with his parly and
finding that he no longer had the support of his state ho
resigned,
i
j Ho and Henry Clay wcro two of the American envoys
, who spent four months at Ghent wrangling with three
Englishmen about tho treaty that closed the war of 1812.
I These Englishmen thnught that they were to have smooth
sailing. They were simply to strate terms to apower
whoso armies they had in tho main defeated and whoso
i capital they had flacked. Walter Scott had declared in a
song written for a public occasion that tho
I "Ynnkoo loon
Should learn full soon
I Ilrlttnnnln, qucoti for a" that."
j The Fnglish terms wore, first that thero should bo a
large strip of no tral territory between tho U. S.and Can
ada to be inhabited only by Indirn tribes; 2nd, no Amor
ican ship of war was to be allowed on tho great lakes:
ihd, wo wero to cede a large slice of Maine to givo tho
urnrsu aroaa irorn uaniax ro Quebec; 4th, wo were to
for tho wolf, lynx nml mountain lion. Occasionally a
mountain stream of pure crystal water comes rushing . give up our rights in the northern fisheries: 5th. tho Miss
along through a narrow channel, with here and thero a issippi was to bo open to English war shins. Trulv John
waterfall, then entirely disappearing through an under
ground chunnel, corning to the surface again amileortwo
further on. Somo have said that whon tho Almighty was
mapping out tho world ho overlooked this portion of tho
country, and thero was no record made of it. At firs
ono is almost led to believe it, but after abetter knowledge1
Hull was tho same yestorday that he is to day and that ho
probably will bo forever. Adams, it has been said, know
better than any other American how to negotiate with
John Bull. Ho resented all diplomatic slights and pro
posed to his colleagues that, In reply, thoy should ask
England to cedu Canada to tho United States. Tho drift
MCb!SAUfk4
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