Go to Grosscup's for Ice Cream and Confectionerv.
THE WEEKLY UNIVERSITY COURIER.
THE LARGEST COLLEGE JOURNAL CIRCULATION IN THE UNITED STATES.
Published Every Friday Morning by the
COURIER COMPANY,
For Kansas University Students.
DENTON DUNN.
President.
R. J. CURDY
secretary.
EDITORIAL STAFF:
CYRUS CRANE, LEAN In-Chief
F. G. CROWELL, | DEAN HASSON,
J. F. WIRELER,
F. C. KEYS,
F. E. INFIELD,
F. A. WHITE,
G. CUNKLE,
N. TELLOS.
ZEZ ZAGT GOWART.
BUSINESS MANAGERS:
DENTON HOGEBOOM, | EARLE L. SWOPE.
Entered at the post-office at Lawrence, Kansas as second-class matter.
University Directory.
PHI GAMMA DELTA—Meets Saturday nights, No. 175 Mass. St., 3d floor.
PHI KAPPA Psi—Meets Saturday nights, at rooms of the members.
PHI DELTA THETA—Meets Saturday nights, 2d floor opera house, west side.
SIGMA CHI—Meets Saturday nights, 3d floor Opera House block, east side.
BETA THETA Pi—Meets Saturday nights, at H. S. Trempel's law office.
SIGMA Nu—Meets Saturday nights, I. O. O. F. block.
KAPPA ALPHA THETA—Meets Saturday afternoons, No. 175 Mass. St., 3d floor.
I.C. Meets Saturday afternoons at homes of members.
KAPPA KAPPA GAMMA—Meets Saturday afternoons at homes of members.
OROPHILIAN LITERARY SOCIETY—Meets Friday afternoons in its hall, University building, north wing, 3d floor. Pres., J. M. Halligan; sec'y, Rosa McMurry.
SCIENCE MEETS Friday afternoons in Snow Hall, President, W. H. Brown; sec'y, V. L. Kellogg.
PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY—Meets Thursdays at 3 p.m in Prof. Saffran's lecture room, J. H. De Ford, president; Miss Howard, sec'y.
KENT CLUB, of Law Students—Meets Friday nights in Court House. Pres., J. W. Roberts; sec'y, A. Overton.
PHILIOLOGY—Meets second Friday of the month in Greek lecture room, University building, Pres., Prof. Williams; sec'y, Prof. Carruth.
GERMAN SOCIETY—Meets Friday afternoon from 2 to 3 in Oreand hall. Pres. Henri Nielsen; sec'y, Anna McKinnen.
NATIONAL LITERARY SOCIETY—Meets Friday afternoons in its hall in the University building, south wing, third floor. President, C. L. Smith; sec'y, C. O. Nutting.
ORATORICAL ASSOCIATION—Pres., E. G. Blair; sec'y, A. L. Wilmoth; Board of Directors, Frank Crowell, Denton Dunn, V. G. Kellogg
COLLEGE BRANCH Y. M. C. A.—F., P.J. Gardner; sec'y, L. T. Smith; meets every Friday night in rooms of city association.
COLLEGE BRANCH Y. W. C. A., meets Sunday afternoons at homes of members.
DICKSON DEBATING CLUB—Meets Friday nights, at Court House, Smith Curry, pres., H. White, sec'y
LIME KILN DEBATING CLUB—W. R. Cone, pres.; H. Hunt, sec'y
COURTIER Company—Pres., Denton Dunn; sec'y, R. J. Curdy.
REVIEW Company—Pres., S.W. Shaattuck.
RUMBER Association—S.W. T. Glumme.
REVIEW Company—Pres. S, W. Shattuck.
BASE Hall Association—Secy S, Y. Gilmore.
We extend our congratulations to Mr. Campbell, of Baker University. He has the honor of giving Kansas the highest position she has yet received in any Inter-State contest. Third place is a pretty good one and Mr. Campbell did well to get it. We must go higher yet, but that is for the future.
King of the Plain.
Hear ye the song that the farmer is singing.
As gayly he scatters the seed o'er the plain,
"These are the talents I gave to my servants;
They will increase them and bring me the grain.
Lord of the prairies, I rule the broad acres,
Counting as vassals the sunshine and rains,
Powers unconquered confess my dominion;
Kingdoms unbounded are in my domain.
Stately and grand are the walls of my palace.
Crowded my coffers with earth's richest hoard:
Plenty and comfort recline at my banquet.
Servants unbidden replenish the board.
Nature surrounding refugient in beauty,
What can his heart know of sorrow or pain?
Who would not leave the cramped walls of the city
To rule the broad acres, proud king of the plain?
Two Lectures
During the past week two excellent lectures have been delivered in the University chapel, and both were well attended and highly enjoyed. It is a source of pleasure and profit to hear such men as Dr.Wallace and Rabbi Krauskopf,and we wish that our lecture committee might secure more of the same kind.
DR. WALLACE.
Alfred Russell Wallace, who lectured last Friday evening, is said to be the most eminent naturalist living. He is an elderly man and with his long white hair and beard has a venerable appearance. He seems, however, to be in robust health with faculties unimpaired and his voice, though he spoke in an ordinary conversational tone, was distinctly audible throughout the hall. Dr. Wallace lectures on the "Use of Color in Animals and Mimicry in Animals." He showed that color was used for defense and protection, for recognition, for warning and then that these warning colors were oftem mimicked by animals, perfectly harmless themselves, in order to secure the protection which poisonous and dangerous insects and animals enjoy. The lecture showed that the females in most species are of duller color and less brilliant hues than their mates, for this he gave as a reason that they were in need of greater protection, since with them is the care of the nest. The magic lantern was used and all the points were well illustrated.
Joseph Krauskopf, of Kansas City, lectured Tuesday evening on "Man's Greatest Enemy—Man." The lecturer stated the way in which the pessimist looks at this life, and while there may be some truth in his statements, yet on the whole there is more of joy than of sorrow, more sunshine than shadow. Yet whence comes evil and suffering? Many have been the answers to this question and many have been erroneous. The Rabbi believes that suffering does not come from God. On the contrary it is God's plan that man should be happy. He has constructed every thing with that purpose in view. It is idle to talk of the good influences of suffering, for the body
RABBI KRAUSKOPF.
is the temple of the soul, and the purer, stronger and better the temple, the purer, stronger and better will be the soul which dwells within. History proves that the most powerful, the wisest and best men have, as a rule, been men of robust health and good physique. Suffering comes from the ignorance and folly of man, who willfully and heedless of consequences, transgresses the laws which God has established for his guidance. In view of this it is foolish and weak to say that suffering comes from God or from a God-Devil. The Rabbi opposed strongly this idea of a God-Devil and believed that its supposed existence had done much injury to the cause of religion. He believed that the day was coming when the laws of health and hygeine would receive more careful attention, and he pictured vividly the resultar benefits.
While we may not agree with the Rabbi in all that he said, we cannot but believe that his lecture will be productive of much good to those that heard it, as it furnished materials for much thought, which should lead to more careful action in many ways.
Life Among the Irish.
EDITOR COURIER:—It is not to record the travels of a sinner that I take up my pen to-day, but to try and give the Courier readers a faint idea of what life is for a poor man on the very outer edge of civilization. And yet I can hardly call this country the outer edge of civilization either, it is a strange admixture of the wealth and culture of civilization with the real pioneer life. In the course of a five-mile ride one may leave a thickly populated district and go into bleak sand hills where the plow has hardly turned the sod, where dug-outs and sod cabins are the rule, not the exception, where grim poverty holds absolute sway. I am in the central part of Greeley county, in central Nebraska, yet I might be much farther away and yet "nearer home," as no railroad yet runs through the county. In physical appearance the country does not differ much from Kansas, rolling prairies and low hills with broad fertile valleys. The country is much rougher than in Kansas, or rather the hills are closer together and steeper. I miss trees much more than anything else. Not a shade tree, not a fruit tree, not a forest tree in the county, and strange as it may seem, the farmers are planting none. Stones don't "grow" here either, not a stone or pebble have I seen. Now, however, the country is very pretty, being covered with the bright green grass of early spring, with myriads of wild flowers on the prairie. Were it not for the constant winds, life would be very pleasant, but man cannot enjoy a country where a great part of the soil has not settled down. There who have been in a sod
Those who have been in a sod house over night can fully appreciate my feelings when I first got here and was being broken into life in such a primitive form. The first one of these houses I stopped at made a very vivid impression on me. After a rather noisy salute from a regiment of dogs, we put away our horses and went in to supper. The
house which was not large (ten feet by twelve) had but one room. The furniture consisted of a bunk, or rather double bunk, built in one corner where the family slept; a cook stove which might have served Noah if I may judge from its ancient appearance; a wooden table built at one side with a closet underneath it; two benches, three chairs, a locker and a clock. At supper I got to see the family, a couple of men of the ordinary type of poor farmers, a woman who might have been tolerably good looking once, but who had lost all the comliness she ever had through hard work and hard fare; an indefinite number of young ones with tow heads and blear eyes, and last but not least, nine dogs of all colors, breeds and kinds of ugliness. These all assembled around the festive board, the men and dogs taking precedence of women and children. Our fare was (of course) poor bread, salt pork and "bean coffee", a decoction closely related to "slumgullion" as described by Mark Twain.
It seems strange that human beings can live under such circumstances; a mere hole in the ground, damp and without light is home; no sufficient nourishment to support a life of hard labor such as they must live; none of the luxuries of life ever enter such a home. The lot of the woman is hardest of all, as upon her falls not only all the house work, but also a large part of the out door "light work," such as plowing, caring for the stock and such duties. Yet this home is but one of many hundred in central Nebraska; these people were well to do as compared with many others here in this county
After supper "mine host' brought out an old wheezy disreputable accordeon and entertained us for an hour or so with the melodies of Vaterland. He is the only German I have met this far north, and of course he could not let the occasion slip by without giving us all the national airs of Germany. Finally, the concert over, we adjourned to the oat bin to get as much sleep as could be found, which was not much, as it rained all night and an oat bin in a sod barn is not the most desirable bed a man could find. Next morning we left after having paid a good price for our lodging and we all solemnly swore we would leave the sod houses alone thereafter.
It seems rather peculiar to one accustomed to the use of milk to find these natives living in absolute want of it and not using that which they have. All these farmers have cows, yet very few of them use milk or butter. Whether this is to be accounted for as due to ignorance or laziness, I am unable to guess. This state of affairs must necessarily soon change. The B. & M. is grading its line through the county from south to north, the Northwestern will run across it from east to west. Already Greeley Center is booming; a "city" of seven buildings a month ago, it now bids fair to be a town of some magnitude. Three banks, two hotels, six or eight stores and a saloon are now under way. It already has one newspaper, but one is not enough, so another aspirant for editorial honors is on the ground. Really it seems as if Greeley Center is destined to be a town of some importance. It lies in a good farming country, is at the junction of the main line and the third branch of the B. & M., and above all its people are pushing, active, energetic, young business men who will work together to build up the city and county of their choice. Such are the men who drive out the coyote and antelope and bring in civilization. It is the young intelligent men who can make an empire out of a wilderness.
R. E. HENRY.
Field Day.
It is time that our athletes begin to work up this feature of Commencement week, if it is to be a success, or if we are to have it at all. And there is no reason why we should not, we have plenty of good men who will enter and make close contests for the prizes which may be offered. Field Days in the past have, as a rule, been quite successful and very interesting, and there is no reason why a good active committee could not get up a better one this year than ever before. We ought to have one, they are always attractive, they awaken and strengthen interest in athletic sports, and they are permanent features of Commencement week in many of our best and most enterprising colleges. Let a meeting be held at once, a committee appointed to secure prizes and arrange the program for the day. We would suggest also that the various fraternities offer prizes, this is no more than they ought to do, in consideration for the liberal patronage which the students have given their ball games.
---
Old President McCosh, of Princeton, has been contriving to keep his name before the people for the last year. He began last year and made a goat of himself by withdrawing from the Harvard anniversary ceremony in high dudgeon because his little school was not too flatteringly mentioned by O. W. Holmes, in a poem; then he attempted to drive out fraternities from Princeton; pretty soon when he saw that his childish whining about Harvard drew forth the contempt and not the sympathy of the people, he was profuse in his apologies, and now his latest fantastic break is to stop Inter-Collegiate athletic contests. Poor old McCosh, he has been hanging on the tail of progress for the last quarter of a century, bracing his feet against cobble stones and rubbish of the past and occasionally brawling himself into notice when his moss-covered braces fail him.
---
EDITOR COURIER :—The University is dependent almost altogether on the high schools cf the state for preparation of students. But there are less than half a dozen high schools in the state that prepare students in the study of foreign language; and students from the majority of high schools, entering the University, are forced to spend much more than half their time on the study of foreign language. This must necessarily keep many from entering the University. Undoubtedly the study of foreign language should enter more largely into high schools, but should not we have a course requiring less? I would like to see this discussed.
Ca