University of California Berkeley - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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BLUE AND GOLD. The public days of the University have been celebrated through- out the year with great success. Large audiences have been in attendance, and little has happened to mar their good effect. Class Day and Commencement the latter memorable as a day where there was but one speaker from the graduating class passed off pleasantly. The Loan Book Exhibition held in the Library Building during Commencement week was an extraordinary success in every respect. Junior Exhibition was attended by a large audience, and was, in every particular, a marked success. The seventeenth anniversary of the founding of the University was celebrated on Charter Day- There was a large attendance, and the literary exercises were fully up to the standard of excellence. In looking over the lists of the various societies, we find that the Fraternities of Phi Gamma Delta and Kappa Kappa Gamma do not occupy space this year, while the societies of Theta Nu Epsilon and Theta Chi again appear. Phi Delta Phi, of the Law College has. for the first time a place in the BLUK AX; GOLD. The Literary Societies, both Durant and Neolean, have been pros- perous and successful in their work. The Young Men ' s College Christian Association has taken the place of the University Bible Students. The Political Science Club has grown in membership, and great interest is taken in its work. The membership of the Longfellow Memorial Association has been limited on account of its rapid growth in members. A new organization, in the shape of a Society for Extemporaneous Speaking, is the latest addition. The College publications, The Berkeley an and The Occident, have not secured their just due in the shape of student support. The in- creased prosperity that appears to fall to the lot of other interests in the University, has not reached them, and although they have not retrogaded, the gains they have made are very small. They have re- ceived very little support from the Senior Class even the Chief Editors and Business Managers have been supplied from lower classes. This condition of things, hitherto unheard of, should not be allowed to become the rule instead of the exeception. The Co-operative Association has met with no reverses, and con- tinues to save for the students large amounts in their book bills. The Rifle Team has been re-organized. But we have to record the untimely demise of the University Orchestra. Much interest has been taken in Athletics. With the facilities

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BLUE AND GOLD. able head, Professor John Norton Ponuroy. It has not yet been definitely settled who shall be his successor. The Lick Observatory, which we have taken as the subject for a frontispiece, will in about two years come under the immediate con- trol of the University. The twentieth attempt to make the three- foot crown glass disc has been, it is believed, successful. The problem of constructing a suitable dome for the great telescope, is yet unsolved. Several years ago, an appropriation of $5,000.00 was made for a small observatory on the University grounds. The appropriation was expended in the purchase of astronomical appara- tus. By the action of the last Legislature, $5,000.00 more is appro- priated. It is therefore to be expected that we shall soon have the use of a well-equipped observatory. The University buildings have received accessions in the shape of two small structures, one for the smelting of ores and the other for a mechanical laboratory. An addition to the Mechanics Building has also been made. The lawns laid out two years ago have been kept in fairly good condition. The grounds in general have been well cared for in some parts, trees have been laboriously felled, and in others, shrubs industriously planted. The ferocious picnicer, and the rapa- cious .gatherer of Junior Uay decorations, have been kept from the vegetation above ground, while the sharp report of the shot-gun has told of the sudden death of the gopher the underground destroyer. Many additions have been made to the Library during the past year. It now contains about twenty-seven thousand volumes. Its resources in some departments are uns ' urpassed, while the facility with which its advantages may be fully enjoyed by the students, makes its sphere of usefulness unusually large. In one department in particular a great advance has been made. By the energy and untiring activity of our Professor of German, a large German Library will soon be formed. Three thousand dollars was subscribed for purchasing it, and, besides, many donations of books were made. The number of students in attendance at the University is slightly larger than it has been for some years past. The experiment of ad- mitting graduates of High Schools whose course of instruction has been approved by the Faculty, was tried a year ago for the first time. Its failure or success cannot, of course, be seen at the present time. It appears that more students will be likely to enter on such con- ditions, but whether or not a larger number will remain to graduate, cannot now be said.

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10 BLUE AND GOLD. which we at present possess, and with a majority of students who spend in travelling to and from their homes the time that should be devoted to Gymnasium practice and field sports, we can hardly ex- pect better results than have been obtained during the past year. The Gymnasium has been the scene of systematic exercise on the part of many students. The series of base and foot-ball games were played with interest and energy, and the well-played games were not extremely few as compared with those poorly played. The Cinder Track was twice put in shape, and two successful Field Days were held. Several University records were broken, and on each occasion there was present a large crowd of interested visitors. The Foot- Ball Team has sustained against all comers our reputation as cham- pions in that sport. But of base-ball, inter-class games only have been played. The above sketch of a year of the University ' s history makes a very creditable showing. May the coming year be remarkable for still greater improvement! The editors are fully cognisant of the many shortcomings of this volume of the BLUE AND GOLD. If several things had been different and several other things had not been as they were, we should have been able to present a better book. But we have endeavored to profit ' by the successes and failures of our predecessors, and have striven to make our book pleasing to as many as possible and dis- pleasing to as few as might be. The Miscellany, we wish it under- stood, does not aim any higher than that which has appeared in previous volumes. One new feature needs, perhaps, to be noticed. We refer to our Alumni Department. Great pains have been taken to make the Directory of Alumni as accurate as possible. We trust that it will be of interest and value, not only to Alumni, but to all our readers. Having done our best to discharge the duties devolving upon us as editors of the BLUE AND GOLD, we now consign our book to the hands of the students, and of all those interested in them and th e University of California. Our aim has been to issue a publication creditable to our class and to the student-body as a whole. Our readers must decide whether or not we have been successful.