University of Nebraska Lincoln - Cornhusker Yearbook (Lincoln, NE)

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alirn anh ' luu 21 EXT ' S ' -FIX ' E years ago the Uiiiversiiy was a very ' liliercnt thing from what it is now, and Lincohi was very different, too. There was no paving anywhere in the city. People said paving was not necessary on this soil, where mud never formed. There v.ere no street cars, very few hacks, and still fewer carriages; of bicycles there were a few, but not an automobile, hen you went to the University you generally walked. If you had a carriage, or dnwe Dobbin in a buggy, you drove right up to the main (south) door of University Hall (then called the University), for that was long before the advent of the iron fence. A curving drive entered near the southwest corner and passing by the front door curved out into R street again near the southeast corner of the campus. There was not a board, brick, or stone walk on the campus. It was all right in dry weather, but in muddy weather it was difficult navigating. The grasses were stdl the wild species of the raw prairie, and the trees were mainly thrifty cotton- woods. The campus (then called the grounds ) was enclosed by a hedge, and when the gates became old and rickety, posts were set zigzag in the gateways to keep the cattle from wandering in. But the corner gates stood open, and through these the cows used to come in at will. For a time a man on T street regularly tethered his cows and horses on the north part of the campus, and was much grieved when finally told that he could not continue to do so. There was only one building — old University Hall. In the winter it wos warmed bv stoves. John Green kept these running, carrying up coal, and carry- ing down ashes. On cold days we huddled around the stoves and shivered through the recitations. If too cold we called John (Ireen. There were no electric bells in those davs, and so we literallv called him. In addition to all this. John (jreen mowed the campus, dug the flower beds, pruned the trees, made general repairs, drove the cows off the campus, and was the day and night policeman. As the children say. John Green was IT. Think of crowding a whole University into that old building. Hut after all it was not so great a feat. I have today more students in botany than were in the whole University, including the three-headed Medical College. . nd besides there was no room wasted in offices. There was not such a thing as an office, connected with the University. Even the Chancellor ' s desk was in a class-room, and as for the professors, if other classes came into their rooms they could go out into the hallways, or into the quiet of the library. Class-rooms were primarily for recitations, and not for professors offices. Speaking of the librar . reminds me of the two small rooms (now numbers 202 and 203) on the second floor of L iiversity Hall where it was housed. Pro-

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alu ' u an •X ' nut fessor IKiwanl. wlni was tlu- firsi libranaii, lulls inc thai at first o.il ' one ui these rooms was used for ilie library, it was open for only ?. few lioins a clay to students. L very professor, however, had a ke to the library, and went ni at wili, and drew books as he pleased. The attentlants were students, and they were not very busy of course. CJnce 1 suddenly step])ed into the room and iouiul the attendants en- gaged in the game of toss ball. using books for balls. (Jne ot these became an eminent professor, and the other is an equally eminent man in public life. The practice of carrying keys to the library continued mitil in the early ' 90s in spite of the protests of the librarian. Chancellor Canfield finally came before the Faculty and urged every one to give up his library key, setting forth manv good reasons for this request. How we all gripped our keys, each man saying to himself that it would be a long while before Iris ke s were returned, when the Chancellor took our breath away by cjuietlv remarking that we might as well give up our keys, since the lock to the library had just been changed by the University carpenter. We gave up our keys ! The department of chemistr)- and physics occupied rooms 102 and 103. and the rooms now used by the postoffice. The museum, with its pretty agates and its horribly stuffed wild cats and things, filled room 107, while the whole Medical College was housed in room 106. A little room went a long wa ' in those days, for the classes w ' ere small, rarely exceeding twenty or ihiity in number. .All work was in the forenoon, and excepting a few chemistry students, the campus was deserted in the afternoon. The old chapel was on the second and third floors of the north wing. The lower floor was seated with long wooden benches with very uncomtortabie backs. At the north end was a raised platform on which all the Faculty sat during daily prayers. Alidway in the room were two huge stoves, with long high pipes rising to the flues in the back of the room. The square gallery at the south end was seated with long benches with still more uncomfortable backs. The difference between that cheerless old chapel and the new Temple tlieater is typical of the changes that have taken place throughout the I ' niversity in a quarter of a centurx-. And yet the boys of that day had their fun and enjoyed the old room quite as fully as the young folks of today do the more elaborate conveniences provided for them. . bout this period some enterprise ( I think it was the college ])aper, Tlie Hesperian) was short of money and the boys had to raise the wind in some way. So they posted notices of an entertainment to be given in the chapel, but advised everybody to stay away for if you come }ou ' ll be cheated. .Always the advice was to stav awav. Of course the room was crowded — at ten cents a head ! For a time noises were heard behind the curtain bv the expectant but impatient audi- ence. Cat-calls and urgent demands to begin the show followed, and at last it was found that the actors had escaped down a ladder from a back window. The laugh was on the people who gave their dimes after due warning, but the enterprise was floated with the cash raised in this va}-. Speaking of offices, or rather the lack of them, there was first of all no finance office. Students paid their fees to the Chancellor in person, and got no receipts either! One of the teachers (Miss Smith) acted as Registrar, and during regis- tration week established herself temporarily in any convenient room, where she did her work unaided. There was no one to look after anything that had to he