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THE WEEKLY UNIVERSITY COURIER.
ETTS ST.
UNIV ERITY OF KANSAS.
SUBSCRIPTION ONE DOLLAR PER YEAR.
PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY MORNING.
VOL. VI.
LAWRENCE, KANSAS, MARCH 16, 1888.
LAWRENCE, KANSAS,
March 14, 1888.
To the Editor of The Courier:
DEAR SIR:—I have to-day received from Boston a package of newspapers, containing matter in many ways so interesting to members of all college communities, that I cannot forbear to send to the Courier some quotations, with comments of my own.
One of the most striking signs of the time in the East is the development of true universities, institutions given up to culture, and in which culture is the mark of the student as well as of the professor. In these universities, the students are more and more ceasing to feel that the professors alone are responsible for the advancement of the intellectual and spiritual interests which have called them all together; they are more and more growing to feel that on them as well as on the Faculty is the pressure of a duty.
All this is especially true of religious interests. The students of Princeton, Yale, and Harvard, are taking hold of the matter of religion, and are thus showing themselves to be, not boys, but men, with a sense of men's responsibility. These colleges have all, to a greater or less degree, entrusted their religious services to the students, by making them voluntary; and now the students are beginning consciously to assume the burden. Never has religious life in Harvard been so vigorous as since the chapel service was made voluntary two years ago, and this life has found expression in religious meetings of which the following extracts will give some idea
"Association Hall was quite filled with a crowd anxious to learn what an invincible ball tosser might have to say on a topic so foreign to his more familiar business. Physical and spiritual strength have been regarded as, if not incompatible, at least incongruous, and the announcement that the young collegian whose swift curves have puzzled many an experienced professional, was, in company with the captain of one of the best crews that ever floated upon the Charles River, and representatives from two of the pluckiest football teams that ever clinched upon the New York polo grounds, to address a mass-meeting assembled for professedly religious purposes, seemed almost anomalous. As Captain Stagg, of the Yale nine, arose to open the meeting it was strange to see in his hand, instead of the familiar leather covered sphere, an open Bible, and his reading of the fifteenth chapter of John was, because of the very novelty of the situation, perhaps, listened to with the most marked attention. This finished, R. E. Speer, of the Princeton College football team, offered prayer, and E. C. Pfeiffer, captain of the Harvard University crew, read a short address
In this and the remarks that followed was nothing formal nor doctrinal. It was only a simple, earnest confession of faith from which flowers of rhetoric and dogmatic theology were alike absent.
There was an increased concentration of attention as Stagg, the famous pitcher, stepped forward to say a few words. 'If we are going to be consecrated Christian men,' said he, 'we must read our Bible more than we do now. We've got to go to the word of God for directions how to live. We don't have half the snap and vigor about our Christian lives that we ought to have. We don't act so much as if we were in earnest, as we do at football or rowing. We go at these sports with a will because our heart is in there. Why not go at this with a will? We ought to do so. I have found my Christian life to be a happy one, in which I can feel I am accomplishing the end for which I was made. The nearest road to success is to follow the master. I was severely criticised by the newspapers for what I said at Dockstader's Theatre in New York, but I will say it again here. Before playing a game of ball I look to the Father for strength to do my duty. I get strength to pitch ball, for I make a point to do whatever I do with my whole heart and look to the Lord. It is necessary that we look unto our Maker to help us in all that we do. You who are not Christians will be 50 per cent happier by having some one to take hold and guide you. Why don't you answer the feeling that tells you to be a Christian? If you are afraid, then you are unnumpy.'
But not all the Harvard students feel their responsibility; so here is the way in which the Daily Crimson (a paper, like the Courier, meant for all classes of students) talks to such. The Mr. Pfeifer alluded to is the same boating-man who took part in the Boston meeting:
"Those who were present at the dinner of the Junior Class, Wednesday evening, will remember the earnestness and deep sincerity which marked the speech of Mr. Pfeiffer, particularly in that portion which treated the question of voluntary prayers and the attitude of college men toward religious services. Mr. Pfeiffer gave the class of '89 plainly to understand that, while athletics may call for a large share of the attention of the students of Harvard, there is another interest, namely, the religious, that cannot be neglected. The remarks of the speaker made a profound impression upon those who heard them, and it must be regretted that every man in college was not within reach of the speaker's voice. It is the plain truth that a grave responsibility rests upon the students of Harvard; upon every freshman as well as upon every senior. The
Of course, I have not inflicted these quotations upon you, without having a moral in view. In the University of Kansas, the same responsibility rests upon the students as at Harvard. In the hope of freeing every one from any possible sense of oppression, and still more of deepening religious life here, the Faculty has made chapel attendance voluntary. The result, so far as the latter object is concerned, the following figures show. They are statistics of attendance in our chapel during the last two days of January, all of February (lacking four days.) and the first fortnight of March: Largest student attendance
present system of prayers was the result of a movement among the students, and with the students alone rests the question of success or failure. The members of the lower classes may not feel the weight of the responsibility as much as do the members of the higher class; but they must remember that in their hands lies the future of the system. The prayer bell should mean more than a mere notification that it is twenty minutes to nine: it should arouse in every heart a sense of duty to be fulfilled. There is no time for procrastination. We cannot put off attendance at prayers from day to day with any safety. The system is being tested to-day, and upon the success of voluntary prayers at Harvard depends the adoption of the new idea at other colleges. We have demanded and have received liberty; but let us be careful that that liberty shall not be the cause of indifference. We do not intend to lose sight of another aspect of the prayer question, an aspect also touched upon by Mr. Pfeiffer in his speech. We do not believe that the sole motive which should urge us to attendance at prayers should be a desire to shew the world that Harvard never fails in her experiments; but there should be the higher motive coming from an interest in religious matters themselves. By showing our faces within the chapel doors, we prove that we are on the side of good order; that we are filled with earnestness and determination in our daily life. There can be no better criterion of the spirit animating the men of Harvard than the numbers seen at morning prayers. If indifference is to rule, then the present system must fail; if earnestness and determination are to be the future characteristics of the Harvard spirit in athletics and in every other field, we must soon see a marked increase in the interest of the students in the chapel services."
in January... 34
Smallest student attendance in January... 14
No.26.
Average...22 1-3
Largest Faculty attendance in January...6
Smallest Faculty attend-.
ance in January... 1
Average... 3 2-3
Largest student attendance
in February... 38
Smallest student attend-
ance in February... 16
Average... 27 1-16
Largest Faculty attendance
in February... 8
Smallest Faculty attendance
in February... 2
Average... 3 7-16
Largest student attendance
in March... 41
Smallest student attenda-
ce in March... 34
Average... 42 4-5
Largest Faculty attendance
in March... 11
Smallest Faculty attendance
in March... 4
Average... 72-5
Total av. attendance in Jan. 26
" " " " " Feb. 32
" " " " " Mar. 42 4-5
It is to be noticed that the averages given above are not of the largest and smallest figures, but of all the amounts for the given month. There is, of course, great danger in drawing conclusions from these figures. The weather, examinations, etc., have an effect upon attendance. But one thing is pretty clear, i.e. that no great number of persons in the University thinks the religious exercises of great importance. In other words, we have upon us just what the students of the great Eastern Universities have already recognized a necessity that the students should take hold of the matter and acknowledge their responsibility. Unless the students do so, we are likely to have to return to compulsory attendance far more rigidly enforced than ever before.
Yours truly,
A. R. MARSH.
THERE is a bill now pending in congress providing for an amended orthography to be taught in all colored, Indian and public schools in the territories and all military and naval academies in the United States. The substance of the change is in the omission of all silent and superfluous letters, thus avoiding mutes and the use of single instead of double consonants.
This is a move mainly in the direction of simplicity in spelling, and would probably be an advantageous change as regards the Indian schools; but as to the others, it would seem to be unnecessary. Making a few changes in this way without adopting the entire phonetic system will also tend to make our language more intricate and still more difficult for the foreigner to comprehend.
Prof. Franklin accompanied Prof. Wilcox to Atchison.
The Phi Gams had a party last Friday night.
Friday night. Denton Dunn, of Kansas City, visited the University, Monday.
B. S. Hutchings, of '81, was shown through the University Tuesday!
Rob. Curdy came down from Topeka to attend the Phi Gam dance. Julius Liepman, of Fort Scott, was seen at the University on Monday and Tuesday.
Come boys and make up a base ball team this year that we can be proud of.
Prof. Williams delivered a very interesting sermon at the Presbyterian church, Sunday.
E. D. Cruise, of Kansas City, spent Saturday and Sunday with his Phi Gam brethren.
In parliamentary discussion of Orophilian society all parties seem to delight in crying "schemes."
Although Roberts went after a "bad man" he came back O. K. He laughed and the man left the state.
A very fine set of Longfellow's poems, containing eleven volumes, were purchased by the library this week.
Laboratory practice Friday afternoons is to give way to the literary societies. It is to be hoped that the students will take advantage of this move on the part of the faculty.
An account was given in a recent number of the Electorial World of some very delicate experiments which Prof. Nichols, of Cornell, has been performing.
Do not fail to hear Wendling, Monday evening, at the Congregational church. His subject,"Hamlet and his Interpreters," is of interest to every student.
Hereafter, the announcements for the Political Science Reading Club, will appear upon the bulletin board near Prof. J. H. Canfield's lecture room, instead of in the literary as heretotore.
Cunkle is now our local man. All items of local interest, the reports of the literary societies and the special clubs should be handed to him early in the week. All persons should be handed to Johnson before Wednesday noon.
The Sigma Chis held an open meeting last Saturday night and had moot court. The case was State of Kansas vs. R. W Brown, for grand larcency. J. W. Roberts and F. H. Bowersock opposed W. S. Wooley and Cunkle, for defendant. Hobbs was Judge. Defendant found guilty.
The class in English History will recite at twelve o'clock to-day instead of at four in the afternoon, the usual hour. This change has been made in order to allow the members of the class to attend the exercises of the literary societies in the afternoon.
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