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About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 15, 1888)
THE HESPERIAN death. Continue to work as vc have in the past and no cliaplct can be plucked from the future crown of our pros perity. An air of pleasantness pervades the halls these days. John Green is happy and all the rest of the University ought to be. Vacation is upon us. Ere this issue is out many will be under the parental ridge pole. The squawk of the Christ' mas turkey will be wafted on the breezes and the halcyon days of childhood and youth will once again be vividly re called. Then will come New Year's day when good resolves can be made, only to be forgotten in a very short time. The old rut will be as inviting as ever and of course all will fall in and journey along with the throng as before. No one "will stop to think how he is enjoying himself and not until the shrill whistle of the locomotive reminds him that he is well on his journey back to Lincoln, will he fully realize what has happened in the short vacation. Just such times as this, is it, when a student wishes that school days were over and an invitation to step into the "avenues of the world's marts" would be joyfully hailed. When such thoughts arc flowing like water through many fertile brains, a curve in the track brings the old University into view again. Imme diately a new chain of thought is started. The past rises like a dream. The many hearty receptions that have been tendered in the past are brought back again to mind. A sigh; a hope that some particular co-ed will be at the depot to greet the junketer, and the train stops. The overcoat is buttoned, the belt, decorated with wolf scalps and foi gotten promises, is tightened, and the students alight. His girl is not there and nobody to greet him but the idiotic hackman. He saves his quarter, walks to the University, meets his friends, and is soon lost in books and vacation forgotten. Such is life. facts no argument can be drawn to show cither that the gov ernment should abide by the letter of its old agreement or that it should venture upon the perilous experiment of state ownership. The number of orations and essays that arc demanded from the Seniors about this time of the year is enough to make the "skeleton of past ages shed tears; pitiful tcais of anxiety, of hate, and of fear". Hut such things must be done and since they must, let them be done well. Many students regard it as a general mistake if one, perchance, should mention the name of the charatcr he is writing of, and if the audience is given a clear idea of the subject the author is im mediately branded as a fool not capable of originating thought. "The average oration is all depth and no oration. The latter seems to be torn off." Many seem to think that a brilliant string of well rounded sentences is all that is neces sary in an oration. Here, they are mistaken for there can be little, if any, originality in collecting the brilliant expressions of the past and linking them together regardless of the bear ing they may have upon the subject. Too many essays are affected, if not in this way in some other equally as bad. Some insist on having all introduction; others arc satisfied with a brilliant ending; still others like to hide their subject under a huge cloud of metaphor and originality striking originality. The real subject of the oration is kept in the dark and if the hearers arc not able to understand it the ora tor receives consolation from the thought that all persons are not so capable of comprehending the import of the produc tion as he himself. We sincerely hope the time will come when the writers of orations will at least do their subjects partial justice or forever hold their pens. SKETCHES. The recent report of the commission in charge of the Union Pacific railroad again makes seasonable the old ques tion of the propriety of the government owning or operating railway lines. The Union Pacific, as a consequence of its reckless management for many years, will not be able to pay its debts to the government when due. If congress then desires, it will be made possible to attempt an experiment quite new under a liberal form of government. Fortunately as we believe, the sentiment of the men who arc now prom inent in the affairs of government is decidedly opposed to accepting the road in payment of its debts. Not only arc there sound, economical reasons why government ownership of this line, or of all lines of railway, would be unprofitable to the American public, but the management of the Union Pacific for several years past gives evidence of great reform great enough to jusify its principal creditor in allowing its obligations to be continued to some future time. The road, if continued in private hands with the honest intention of freeing itself from debt, can undoubtedly pay every dollar it owes in no very long time. Further than this, there is no reason why the government should take the part of a hard creditor. The Union Pacific has performed a mission which has left an inestimable influence for good upon every branch of industry. It has been the means, and for years the only means, of developing the best part of the United States. The millions of acres of land which it received as part com pensation for this, which have for twenty years actuated thoughtless men and demagogues to raise the cry of fraud and iniquity have no value beyond that given them by the road itself. It has given homes to a countless number of our begt citizens and wealth tp thousands of these, Frorn these For jokes that are sharp, and puns that arc mean the P. D. G. C. arc peculiar. The indiscriminate posting of artist's productions all over town ought to be prohibited. Sometimes they are very orna mental but they cause trouble. A certain crowd of students on their way home last Friday night had a peculiar adventure. Of course the crowd went down the street starring at every thing they met. One young gentleman and his lady seemed bent on making a close inspection of show bills, dodgers and programs. Of course the rest followed suit. Rut at a cer tain corner the first couple interviewed an engraving, the hideousness of which caused the lady to faint and the gentle man to shriek. The crowd hastened up and did likewise. The crowd now walks in the middle of the street. The darkness had so distorted an ordinary engraving as to be ac tually frightful. Ask questions on pain of instant death. It is peculiar that a scarcity of water exists around this institution. F.xcept at the steward's office a drink of water cannot be obtained on the campus. Of course no one is very fond of the mixture of water and salt that is supplied through the city mains, but still it is better than none. Moreover, it is considered necessary that tlje steward's office be closed quite often during the day. The students make no objection to that, but it seems only just that some provision should be made, by which drinking water can be supplied to the stu dents. Many of them are obliged to remain here during the greater part of the day. Quite olten they find difficulty in satisfying their tlijnjt, Yhy ca.nqot the west h.af qf th.e q14
