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T HE HE Sir E U I A K
the delivery. Perfectly"; nt home before an audience, Mr.
Tucker was able tp throw the whole force gained by his
oratorial training into the delivery of his oration, the applause
of the aadience was good-evidence that he was a popular
candidate for honors, -v
Next came the oration from Monncsota, Mr. 11. 11. Tim-
hcrlakc from the state university. Mr. Timbcrlakc paid a
splendid tribute to the greatest of America's greatest liberator
Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Timbcrlakc presents a fine appear
ance upon the stage but his delivery lacked somewhat the
earnestness which marked the delivery of the two prccccding
orators.
Following the oration of Mr. Timbcrlakc was a vocal solo
by Mrs. J. G. Wadsworth. The audience, expected a treat,
applauded the lady's entrance. They were not disappointed
the solo was excellent, and the audience hesitated between a
strong desire to give an encore and the fear of prolonging
the already long program until after midnight, the latter
consideration aided by the promptness of the president in
calling the next oration was finally triumphant. Iowa's rep
resentative, Mr. Milford H. Lyon from the University ol
Iowa, then came forward with his oration "Individualism in
Society." Iowa did not rank very high last, year but if any
one in the audience thought that Iowa would not be well
represented this year, that thought was speedily dispelled.
Mr. Lyon's oration was well written and the delivery, in our
opinion, could not have been better. His whole bearing,
his gestures, his very features displayed an earnestness born
of the deepest conviction. Thcic was a certain originality in
Mr. Lyon's delivery that was decidedly refreshing. He ap
pealed directly to the feelings of his audience and the fact
that he was interrupted by frequent bursts of applause shows
how the audience appreciated his efforts. At the close he
received almost an ovation. Mr. Lyon is a prohibitionist
and if there arc many more such prohibition orators in his
state we uudcrstand why Iova votes against the saloon.
After the prolonged applause had ceased Mr. Harry N.
Wilson, representing the University of Colorado, at Boulder
appeared. His oration, "Martin Luther," seemed to lack
what almost all eulogies of historical characters lack; it did
not meet a living issue. At an inter-state contest an audi
ence usually expects the orations to be upon more abstract
subjects. The appearance of Mr. Wilson before an audience
is excellent, and while he was earnest and self possessed he
was not nearly so much so as the gentleman immediately
preceding. He was well applauded and on the whole ac
quitted himself very creditably. President Culver announced
that Mr. Geo. O. Ferguson, Nebraska's orator, would not
appear on account of sickness, and called the attention of the
audience to a beautiful floral ship, the tribute which Mr.
Ferguson's friends at the Wesleyan uiversity had placed upon
the rear of the stage. Calling attention to this was entirely
unnecessary, it was too beautiful to pass unnoticed.
The next number upon the program was a violin solo by
Professor G. C. Menzendorf of the University of Nebraska.
The audience showed their appreciation of this number as
Lincoln audiences always do the violin solos of Professor
Menzendorl. I lie oration, "Liberty," by Mr. W. is. Millard, I paper.
of Kipon college, Hipon, Wis., followed. Mr. Millard is n
fine looking young man. He appeared a "trifle nervous at
the beginning of his oration, but when he had warmed up to
his subject the nervousness entirely disappeared. Mr. Mil
lard did not throw sufficient enthusiasm into his delivery; he
was a little too cool and deliberate. He made a good impres
sion upon the audience and Wisconsin may well feel proud of
her orator.
"The l'mitan and the Cavalier in Our National Life" was
the title of the oration delivered by Mr. S. W. Naylor, ap
parently the oldest orator of the evening, had a certain earn
estness of delivery which secured for him a moment's ap
plause in the midst of his oration, a compliment which no
other malm except Mr. Lyon received. Mr. Naylor's style is
strong and vigorous. He has a commanding presence. At
times his delivery was almost too deliberate, but at the proper
moment he managed to show the necessary amount of enthus
iasm. In many respects his delivery was excellent.
The last oration on the program was that of Mr. A. C.
Douglass, of Monmouth college, Monmouth, 111. Mr. Doug
lass had chosen for his subject, "Our English Language,"
and his beautiful and flowing sentences amply demonstrated
the elegance and force of oufmolhcr tongue. Mr .Douglass'
enunciation was very slow and very distinct, lie used, per
haps, too many gestures, but they were all graceful and forci
ble. Although the audience had been listening to the contest
for ncaily three hours and it was growing on towards morn
ing, M. Douglass held the attention of every one present.
After the applause had ceased the president announced a
musical number by the orchestra of the state university. The
orchestra made such a good impression that they received a
hearty encore; mingled with the applause for the orchestra
were several college yells.
During the delay necessary to average the grades of the
judges, college enthusiasm took possession of a great part of
the audience, and the remainder of the audience were enter
tained with college yells, class yells and fraternity 'toasts.'
Doanc college sent forth their yell a few times, a new yell
came in from the Christian university, the Wesleyan boys
tried in vain to start a Nebraska state yell, the various class
yells and that of the industral college were also tried, but the
University of Nebraska seemed determined to act as a unit
and all local yells were drowned by repeated erics of U-U-U-
n-i Vcr-Vcr-Vcr si-ti N-c-br-as-ki, O-o-o-h Mi.
The following chart shows the markings of the judges of
both sections. Rev. D. H. Snowdcn gave ranks only, the
others gave percentage mark. It was impossible to obtain
the grades of the judges of section A upon the oration of Mr.
Ferguson of Nebraska, but they vill be given in the supple
ment Saturday morning. The following is section 6, article
V, of the inter-state constitution, prescribing the method of
averaging the marks:
"Sec. 6. At the close of the contest the president and
secretary shall take the grades of all the judges for each con
testant. The grade of each judge shall be ranked I, 2,3, 4,
etc. The orator marked first by four or :r.orc ol the judges
shall be awarded first prize. If no orator is thus ranked
first, the orator the sum of whose ranks is least, shall be
awarded first prize. In case of a tie, the orator receiving
the highest grand average shall receive the first prize. The
first prize having been awarded, the averages of the remain
ing orators shall be again ranked 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., and the
second prize determined in the same manner as the first.
The president shall then announce the result. The mark
ings of the judges shall be publisqed in at least one daily
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