C
THE WEEKLY UNIVERSITY COURIER.
PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY MORNING.
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS.
SUBSCRIPTION, $1 PERYEAR,
VOL. IX.
LOCALS AND PERSONALS.
La Grippe!
Vacation on the 9th.
Ho! the power of petition.
Lotus Glee Club on April 4th.
Miss Dow is visiting University
Miss Dow is visiting University friends.
Eli is there, Perkins follows tonight.
The Grippe has got Prof. Canfield, read his article.
Mrs. Betts, sister of Sawtell paid him a visit this week.
Read the members of the A. E.
C. class on "Ideal Homes."
Harvey, of last years' base ball club, was on the hill Monday.
The Lotus Glee Club is one of best combinations of its kind on the road. Hear them.
A. G. Brooks, of Denver, was shown through the University by his neice, Miss Sutliff last Monday.
The Courier has it from good authority that the suckers are not all dead yet. How about it, elocution class.
LAWRENCE, KANSAS, MARCH, 271891.
W. E. Curry says, "I have heard Eli Perkins in his lecture on the Philosophy of Wit and Humor and it was one of the best I have ever heard."
University is struggling against an untimely death. Last Friday evening several pleasant gatherings took advantage of the beautiful evening.
Those taking the practice are much pleased with the new gymnasium. Prof. Sterling deserves the thanks of all in his work for the gymnasium.
Pathetic humor and witty wisdom are Eli Perkin's forts. Those who heard Bob Burdette in this line will not miss his superior Eli Perkins, opera house tonight.
The Freshman Chemistry class submitted to the usual ordeal of having a picture taken. Evidently it was the first time for many of them, if one might judge from the excitement.
Buy a new Hat for Easter at Abe Levy's.
At a meeting of the Junior class, Monday, among other matters the class day programs were filled. H. B Hall was selected orator, and R. D. Brown was appointed to answer a toast.
We desire to call attention to Mr. Hadley's explanation of the lecture course management in another column. It appears that the local managers have done all in their power to make the course a success, and we feel sure the public will not attach blame where it is not due.
The Holy City.
Not the new Jerusalem, but a musical feast enjoyed by many citizens of Lawrence and students of the University on the evening of March 19th.
Despite the almost impassible condition of the streets, the Congregational church was comfortably filled by 8 o'clock on Thursday evening, the occasion being the presentation of the oratorio Holy City by the Handel and Haydn society. No one who was present, whether he was possessed of a musical ear or not could have failed to enjoy that music. The chorus singing, filling with its volume the spacious church, showed the careful training that forty voices had received to bring them all into concert. The fact that the majority of the chorus singers as well as all of the soloists but two were from the University, is evidence that K. S. U. is possessed of musical talent which is a credit to the institution.
The soloists did admirably. Miss Brown and Miss March gave the contralto airs in their usual effective way. Miss Hutchings' soprano did not lack any of its characteristic sweetness. Miss Berry won the applause of the audience and astonished some of her friends who had never heard her sing. Mr. Keys scored one for the University on the bass. Mr. Simpson's tenor solos were well received.
Athletic Grounds.
Mrs. Hayne presided at the organ and Miss Nellie Franklii at the piano. The intermezzo on these two instruments was an enjoyable feature of the program.
The success of the whole was, of course, largely due to the conductor. Prof. Penny is determined to have that chapel organ, and we will get it by and by.
Easter Ties at Abe Levy's.
The enterprising millinery firm of Orme & Engle are now prepared to show the finest line of Easter hats and bonnets ever brought to the city. It would require too much space to even give the slightest description of their large stock, suffice it to say that they have all the latest styles of both French and Easter millinery. We were shown a few specimen hats but it would take an artist to describe them justly. The Shepardess is a favorite hat for young ladies, also the one called the Butterfly. The Juxton, trimmed in wheat heads is considered the best style in the East. The leading colors this season are tan, turquise blue, French gray, and green is always in style for spring hats. In flowers, morning glories, thistles, poppies and asters. All goods handled by this firm are of the best quality and at reasonable prices.
Easter Doings.
To the Editor of the COURRIER:
As I find myself utterly unable to agree with the conclusion of the COURIER's article of last week concerning the proposed athletic grounds, I beg to be allowed to state in its columns my exceptions both to the facts and to the opinions there expressed. In order that I may be as bief as possible I shall take the liberty, as did the COURIER last week, of making some statements without giving my proof in detail; but I shall make no statement of fact for which I cannot furnish the proof if desired, and no statement of opinion which does not rest upon a long consideration of the whole matter and has not been subjected in my own mind and in conversation with others to the test of criticism.
First, as to maters of fact. It would not require an expenditure of several thousand dollars to put the "ravine" in any kind of order. The "ravine" is not away from everywhere and everybody: on the contrary, it adjoins the present University campus, it is on a street by which a large number of students now reach the University, and was at the beginning of the present year nearer the actual center of student population than the grounds on Massachusetts street. It would not cost more to put it in condition and keep it condition than the other grounds would cost.
One word more on this matter of cost. Economy is absolutely dictated by our present circumstances. The price of a field to the association is its final total cost. The proportion of the amount spent for land to that spent for improvement has nothing whatever to do with the question. If one piece of land costs $1,000 and is for its purpose without further expenditure, and another piece, gulch, hollow, swamp, bog, fen, forest, or whatever else you please, can be had for $250 and made equally fit for the purpose for $700 more, then the purchase of the second piece, however unsuited it was "naturally," represents an economy of $50.
But I am quite ready to agree with the COURIER that it is possible to be penny-wise and pound-foolish in this matter of economy. What is absolutely indispensable is that grounds shall be suitable, that is, shall be well adapted to the purpose for which they are intended. Grounds that should not fulfill this condition would be dear at any price.
What is then the purpose for which athletic grounds are intended? Can it be mainly to afford a place where match games may be played with other colleges and clubs? Surely the team must be
trained before it can play. Can it mainly to provide a revenue from gate receipts for the maintenance of athletic sports? That would be almost the same as saying that the purpose of athletic sports is to pay for themselves. Plainly the real purpose of athletic grounds for a college is to give to the largest possible part of the student body the most convenient opportunity of engaging in athletic sports. It would hardly necessary to prove that uearness to the University would be a factor of importance in determining the comparative suitability of different grounds. For although University life does not center here about the University buildings as it does where the dormitory system prevails, yet the University building tends more and more as time goes on to be the center of the college world. Already a large number of the students are at the University both in the morning and in the afternoon. To many Juniors and Seniors an hour between two lectures is all the time they feel able to afford for out-door sports, and it happens not infrequently that the nine loses a valuable player because he is unable to keep up his practice as he might, were the grounds within five minutes, walk of the University.
One should also not forget the convenience of the grounds to the gymnassum—when it comes: and I say, in passing, that it will come a great deal sooner if we get along without a big field debt to be paying interest on. The gymnasium must be near the University. It will be an advantage if the field is near the gymnasium.
But, leaving the position of the University entirely aside, the Mississippi street grounds are absolutely nearer the center of student population than those on Massachusetts street. And that center is much more likely to move nearer those grounds than away from them. The tendency of the college population is to approach the University. It is doing this by climbing up the hill as far and as fast as opportunities offer, and by drifting westward into a quarter of the city that was practically inaccessible to it before Mississippi street was opened to the University.
Thus the only advantage adduced by the Courier in favor of the Massachusetts street grounds which is not possessed in still larger measure by those on Mississippi street is that they are "in close proximity to the business portion of town." I suppose the force of this fact lies in the implication that the business men would give money to help buy these grounds than they would to help get the others, and that the
No. 27.
receipts from spectators at games would be larger there. But these are purely economical considerations and do not not touch the real question of suitability, and are quite as likely as the matter of first price to induce "penny-wise" action. We hope the business men will show a generous interest in our project and lend it financial support; and we shall always be glad to see them at our contests, especially at twenty-five cents a head. But that is not what we are getting the grounds for. The grounds are for the students and not for the business men of Massachusetts street, and the convenience of the students present and future, must be the first and the last thing to be consulted. The business men will pardon me for putting this somewhat badly; they will not seriously advise that athletic grounds be located with reference to their convenience any more than they would that a library building or an observatory should be so located.
Furthermore, simply as a matter of economy, it will be impossible to show that the location of the grounds on Massachusetts street will secure sufficient additional gifts and income to balance the difference in cost between them and the grounds on Mississippi street. They will cost at the very least, in suitable shape for athletic sports, not counting the fence and grand stand, $2,000 more than the others, $2,000 means an annual difference in interest of $160. He would be bold who would guarantee the association a net annual income of $160 from all sources, to apply on an interest account.
And this is counting on the purchase of but one piece of land on Massachusetts street. The singlepiece is not large enough for the needs of the University. To make it answer the purposes which an athletic field ought to answer we should have to add to it the field lying east of it, an at an additional cost of $4,000 or a yearly interest charge of $320. Those are more sanguine than I of the strength of athletic refairs at the University who are willing to assume for the association such a debt.
I hope I have made it clear why I thought—and still think—that the Mississippi street grounds are, not only economically but in all other respects also, the best for the Athletic Association to buy.
Very respectfully yours,
ARTHUR G. CANFIELD.
Dunb Bells, Indian Clubs, and everything else needed for gymnastic exercises, at Smith's News Depot.
All the March magazines at Smith's News Depot.
weeklies, at Smith's News Depot.
A fine line of Easter Hats and Bonnets at Mrs. Savage's 901 Massachusetts [Street.
.