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1
THE HESPERIAN
heeded and his woik stnnds to-day as he left it, the pillar of
a gieat temple the temple of international lnw.
One of the greatest chaiactcristics of the Amciican people
is the sympathy they have for othci people's stiiving foi
independence. This seems to be a popular Amciican ti ait
which is not found among the people of any Kuiopean nation.
It can not be accounted for by the fact that our nation
was struggling for freedom only a centuiy ago; foi othci
nations have passed through the same experience, England
wrested absolutism from King Edward III and cast the shadow
of libeity in Magna Chnita. The reform bills of 1833 and
1884 extended suffrage to all classes and oppiessiou is a
thing of the past. Napoleon scattered the pi inciples of liberty
over Fiance and other European countries, yet nowhere in
these countries do we find so waun a sympathy among all
classes in tavor of home rule in Iicland and freedom in Russia
as in our own; jut now our people arc beginning to have a
tender feeling foi the so called nihilists in Russia, a class
composed of ihc edueotcdand most lcfiucdof Russia, who aic
woiking haul to free themselves from the shackles of an
ignoble and illegitimate despotism, to break the prison doois
of Siberia and letuin the inmates to their lightfnl places -the
guardians of the people's heritage. Surely there is something
genuine about the American as a sympathizer. The love of
freedom is not borrowed from mother countries but is ttuly
an outgiowth, a development akin to our civilization.
The place of a liteiary society in an institution like this is
a subject w 01 ill) of our emulation. We believe too much
praise cannot be bestowed upon them. In all ageb of the
woild's histoiy and in eeiy land beneath the sk)s which
has attained that degree of civilization to permit the estab
lishment of schools and colleges, the literary society has
been, and )cl is, one of most impoitaut functions of such in
stitutions. In all colleges in our own countiy the liteiary
society lias been one of the most important factors in mould
iug the minds of men and preparing them for active and
independent life.
The object of a college education is to increase the mental
power and knowledge of the individual. The work of the
liteiary society suppoits that of the college by giving to each
student an opportunity to use his powers independently, and
hence the facts and figures gleaned from text books become
moie firmly lived in the mind. 'Ihc liteiaiy society is also
an instiuctor in the art of sell government. Evciy member
knows and feels thai he has an equal chance with his associ
ates, and eeiy one is here taught the lesson of submission
to the will of the majoiity. In shoit I may say that society
woik is indispcnsible to all students, both old and new.
Many students cntei college, select a course of study to
puisne, never thinking of the most important pail of thcii
college education the work of the liteiaiy societies. They
plod along through seveial years of their college course before
they begin to icalize what there is in thcin, and many fail to
to appieciate their full worth until they are thrown among
the active and tiained men of the world, then it is thai the)
see their mistake. They are not able lo cope with, 1101 have
not the individuality and independence of the men, who
have been tiained in the liteiary society. This particulai
piece of the editoiial staff believes that the man who has
been rcaied in the literary society is bound to be the superior
of his friend who has not had this tiaiuing.
We belice, indeed assert, that the society one meets in
the society hall is the veiy best. It is the best because there
is no caste based upon wealth and standing and family icla
lions, but a caste based upon brains, and evciy student will
do his best to stand the peer of his associates, and for this he
is univei sally respected.
Let all students make it a point to join a literary society
and do their shaie ol the woik, so that when they come to
look back over their college caicer they will be the wiser
for the oppoitunities they weic permitted to enjoy and can
say with the old patiiot '! did my whole duty."
SKh TCIIES.
I do not bet on elections I know bettei, by experience.
Hut I have a few ducats to wager on the tiuth of a certain
statement. To wager anything on this cei tain subject may
be irrevctenl; but the holdcis of the bet may decide that
when my proposition is pioved false. To ictuin to the
subject, however. I am not afraid to risk a few dollars on
the truth of this declaration. That when Gabiicl blows his
ti innpet loud and clear the contractor of the new industiial
building will be busily engaged in laying brick and hoisting
iortar on the University campus. Any takeis?
When she shuts the door on I'Yiday nights, she knows
not the trouble that I shall know; for I hasten homeward
Friday nights with fear and terror in my soul. The way is
dark and wiappcd in gloom, and the sidewalk planks have
nevei been there. The copper waits on the comer for me
and bids me hustle to my waiting 100m. I hear the tomcat
wailing in those boms of night as he walks the fence with
savage giowl, while the bulldog chants a mournful hymn and
concludes it at times with a savage bile. The slugger waits
in the alley dim, with his stocking of sand and padded foot.
He thumps me beneath my plug hat tun and gobbles my
moneythe blamed galoot. A baby's squall fills the mid
night air, the town clock strikes with a mournful stroke, the
mosquito sings in his hidden lair, and my ears aic filled with
the staitliug roar. With quaking heart I reach my 100m, I
look 111 the glass with aimous eyes; my checks aie white as
the lily's bloom, and my hair is streaked with gray. Hut I
am going to the land where I belong, wheie fearful terrors
may never abide, where the sluggeis cease to tioublc and
the wicked forevei lest.
Shadows sometimes fall upon the pathway of a student.
You have often thought, though never exprenscd it, that you
weie a poor, lonely, homesick mortal with moie than the
average amount of moodiness persistently clinging to you.
Time hangs heavy upon youi hands now and then. In
paiticulai, Sunday evenings weie nlways attended with an
old lashioned leveiie, from which you came forth with the
thickest cloud of despondency around you that one ever felt.
You always attended chinch. You do still. Hut in the
cailiei days of your student life you weie in the habit of
filling up the old cob pipe and beginning to wish that you
were licini', You knew that the folks had all been to church,
that your sister as well as somebody else's sister had been to
chui eh also -yes, there was the trouble. That was I he
reason you, felt gloomy. Then afrei you pictuied lo yourself
the scene at home, you suddenly awoke and began to
estimate how many Hunks weie in stoie for you tomorrow.
Then you took consolation in the fact or theory, that a
biilliant student always Hunks on Monday morning. When
you looked at the fire and saw that it was out, you felt still
"bluer". Hy the time you weie ready to sleep you never
i
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