THE HESPERIAN.
possible. The students can bring about this change
if they exert themselves It will require much work
and a little financial scheming but it will pay and
prove more satisfactory to all concerned.
The following emphatic protest is worthy of pub
lication. It is only just to state however that pe
culiar circumstances have rendered the regents unable
to improve the condition of the band. But better
things are expected in the future.
The condition of the University Cadet Hand for the last
three or four years is to be deplored. The difficulty arises
mainly from the lack of suitable instruments. Ifthcrcisa
good instrument in the band it is the property of the one who
plays it. The University instruments may have harmonized
when they wcie first used at the Scigc of Troy but they
vary about six octaves from each other now. Let a bright,
healthy and rcphyrous prep join the and band blow a Uni
versity instrument; if he is not'a human tornado before two
terms have expired he wdl have become a thin-faced consump
tive. There is no reason why the U. of N. cannot have as good
an amateur band as there is in the state if the cadets had the
proper instruments. Let the regents ramble on the right
road.
It is the duty of every student to attend the
state oratorical contest The University is in the
association for blood and no student should forget
it. No matter who represents the University in the
contest, let every student go to Crete brimful of en
thusiasm for the representative of his alma mater.
Resurrect the University yell, exercise your lungs,
and get in trim to have a hurrah time to say the least.
A crowd of two hundred vigorous students, turned
loose in Crete, a number of "scientifs" in the opera
house, a strong orator upon the platform and the
University is sure to win. If there is any enthusiasm
for the University among the students, let it be shown
at Crete at the time of the state contest.
Take the co-eds to Crete. Jf they cannot cheer,
they will be excellent mascots. Let the cadet band
go. to Crete. Leave dirges and funeral marches be
hind. Let the University be in fullforce at Crete,
and prove that it has an orator whom it is proud to
cheer and support.
The literarty societies are proud of the attention
received from the people of the city. Every Friday
evening the society halls are filled with an apprecia
tive audience. A certain class however, composed
of a few young people, seem to forget that the soci
eties have some rights which should be respected.
If the doors of the societies are opened to all, to
enjoy the program, every one should give an attcn
tive hearing. But this particular set, to the annoy
ance ofeverybody, persists in carrying on a lively
conversation from the beginning to the end of the
program. In this respect, lack of courtesy, to say
the least, is shown the societies. The societies are
obliged to bear all the censure on account such dis
order. Those who compose this disturbing element
should see to it that no reproach be brought upon
the society, the hospitality of which they are per
mitted to enjoy.
It might be well to add that some of the students
themselves are not above censure in this respect.
LITERARY.
While the name of Bjornstjcrnc Bjornson is more or less
familiar to all of us, yet the obstacles attending the transla
tion of foreign books into English, together with the diffi
culty of introducing them after they arc translated, prevents
the average person from gaining even a superficial know
ledge of this great Norwegian poet and of the books that he
has written. As there is not a single volume of his writings
in the library at the present time, the February number of
Harfer's Magazine will be more than welcome, since it con
tains the first of a scries of papers on "Norway and its
People," written by Bjornson. To read this properly one
should know something of the character and habits of the
author, and also the main points regarding his work as a
writer.
Bjornstjcrnc Bjornson is a child of the people and with
them has he spent his life. Simple in his habits as the peas
ants themselves, he finds his greatest pleasure in studying
his fellow men and the causes and effects of their political
condition. Like Tolstoi he has a great love for agricultural
life and sees no nobler employment than tilling the soil.
Such a man could write but in one way. A child of nature
himself, his books are the offspring of nature's child. He is
a realist, but one that sees only the beautiful and spiritual in
life, not the low or vulgar. But he is not a writer only, he
he is a worker for the good of his countrymen. He has been
engaged in political disturbances, and has always been on
the side of liberalism, which is the side of liberty and of
progress. Hence it is evident that the series of papers, men
tioned above, will be doubly interesting, since the author
knows what he says to be true, and is in earnest in saying it.
As might be expected, the style of his first paper is the
soul of simplicity. In natural words, with clear, direct ideas
he describes the stony, ungrateful soil of Norway, with its
barren hills and forest covered valleys. One does not
realize the seriousness of the battle between man and nature,
a battle for food and shelter, until he reads the description of
those northern regions. It is hard for us to realize the diffi
culty of merely living, when the soil itself has to be created
from which the sustenance is to be drawn. In fertile
Nebraska, vc cannot understand the difficulty attending the
cultivation of the soil in stony, sterile regions. Still less can
we understand how such a .soil and such a climate can pro
duce the poets and the poetry that Norway has produced.
Bjornson tells how the farmsteads arc arranged. It seems
that when a dwelling house becomes old and untenable, it is
not torn down to make way for the new one, but is left to do
some inferior duty than sheltering its owners. Hence we
can see that in the course of a fsw years the cluster of build
ings on a farm would become very large, the number of
structures varying as the number of. persons living on the
farm was greater or less. On a single farm arc found all the
branches of labor that arc necessary for the support of life
and for the cultivation of the soil. .Thus at one homestead
are smoke house, a dairy house, a smithy, a carpenter shop,
