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

Page 27 text:

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