University of Illinois - Illio Yearbook (Urbana Champaign, IL)

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in the Illini, but in all the variouH college publications in there an indication of increasing advantages and change in the right direction. Since 18i»2 the character of the graduating exercises has been very different from what it previously was. Up to that time each senior was required to prepare a graduating oration of suitable length, and from this aggregation twelve were selected, the writers of which were accorded the privilege of giving them on Com- mencement Day. The programmes were sometimes a little tedious but the occasion brought a good deal of glory to the orators an d was the source of considerable pleasure to their friends, and while we would not restore the old custom we still miss it. In this connection it may be said that the senior was, in those days, much of an orator, for he was required also to deliver an oration in chapel — and various and excruciating were the agonies which his tortured soul endured before it was over. But not wholly, possibly not chiefly, has the University progressed in the increased number of courses, students and instructors, or in the addition of so much that is material and external; but an equally great change has been made in recent years in University policy. There is, everywhere, more freedom of thought and action, more liberty to develop individual taste and talent, more that is broad and cosmopolitan and that promises for the future a still more satisfactory progress. THOMAS ARKLE CLARK, ' 90. WITH GUITAR ACCOMPANIMENT. Fly softly, birdlings, lest your wings Brush sleep from off her drooping eyes; Fly softly, till the dawning brings The blush again to eastern skies. Breathe gently, zephyr, lest your breath Might float away her happy dreams; Breathe gently — stillness as of death Be o ' er her till the morning beams. 28

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fortunate comrades as having a stand in and was treated accordingly. Happily this state of affairs has changed, and the friendly relation existing between student and instructor adds much to the pleasure of both. The social affairs of classes are also of very recent origin, the class of 1889 being the first one having the temerity to perpetrate a Freshman sociable, thus establishing a precedent which has since been followed by all classes, not excepting the preparatory school. From the standpoint of the student there has possibly been no greater advance in any other department of the University than has in recent years been made in military affairs. Up to 1891 all students, including members of the pre- paratory class, were required to drill until the senior year, or until such a time as they had obtained twenty-seven full University credits. The unfortunate prep who came to the University in knickerbockers often bad considerable difficulty in keeping his uniform sufficiently respectable and ample through four years, and it was a recognized fact that one could generally pick out the juniors in the battalion from the fact that their trousers were always too short and their arms too long. Attendance at daily chapel exercises in those days was compulsory, and every morning at fifteen minutes of ten the companies formed in the halls for roll call and were then formally marched into chapel where each occupied an assigned seat. (Jnexcused absence from chapel or drill exercises was punishable by squad drill, which was often very largely attended, not only by the participants, but also by interested spectators. Squad drill was not altogether popular, for usually the entire hour was taken up with the setting up exercises so fatal to weak suspender buttons. The crowning military feat of the year was the sham battle, occurring on Monday of Commencement week, in which, with great gusto, a large pile of stones lying on the present site of the grand stand in Athletic Park was stormed and heroically captured. While there were many pleasant things about the old military system, it will be pretty generally agreed that the new arrangement is a decided improvement. The band has long been a feature of the University, but it was not the band neatly uniformed and carefully trained, of which we are all so proud to-day. The instruments were sometimes poor, the leader was not always an artist, but gener- ally they did their best, and we who had no high standard with which to compare them, thought they did very well. No special uniform was prescribed for the band. Only on battalion drill days and on very special occasions were the mem- bers required to appear in the regulation cadet uniforms. On other days when the band appeared it presented every style and variety of dress. Naturally the indigent student objected to buying a uniform, considering the very infrequent occasions on which it had to be used, and one somewhat gifted young man, by occasionally borrowing a uniform, succeeded in running the gauntlet for three years without buying one. He was a rather small, slender fellow and used to present anything but au .esthetic appearance at parade dressed in a very roomy suit borrowed from the present instructor in preparatory geometry. Through all the years that the University has been progressing the college paper has been keeping pace with it. The old days were pleasant and profitable when, in the little office in the northwest corner of the Mechanical Building, the students every two weeks evolved a college paper. It is remarkable when the material at hand is taken into consideration how well the work was done, but it was certainly an indication of progress when the publishing of the Illini was given into the hands of those whose business it is to do that sort of work. But not only 27

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