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

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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

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elirn anii IX ' nut 25 clone. 1 knew the Chancellor once to ask th professtjr of linglish literature to look after the building of a specimen case for one of the scientific departments. There was no telephone on the campus, ncr was there any mail service. There was no football, no basketball, no tennis courts, no athletic board, no gymnasium work, no glee club, no fraternities, no university yell, and yet the old days were not dull. There was fun, plenty of it, and rivalry and contests and occasional bitter feeling, too. just the same as today, and, what is better than pll that, there was a great deal of good hard work by the hoys who are now making good ' in many places in the State and in the Nation. The original charter of the Universit} ' . passed February 15, i8Cv ), provided for six colleges, namely, i, a College of Ancient and Modern Literature, fathe- matics and the Natural Sciences ; 2, a College of Agriculture ; 3, a College of I-aw ; 4, a College of Medicine ; 5, a College of Practical Science, Civil Engineering, and lechanics ; 6, a College of Fine . rts. Eight years later the second and fifth of these colleges were united into the Industrial College, the paragraph being changed so as to read: i. a College of Literature, Science and Art; 3, an Indus- trial College, embracing agriculture, practical science, civil engineering, and me- chanics ; 3, a College of Law; 4, a College of Medicine ; 5, a College, of the Erne Arts. The Regents have fully organized all but the last named, and have added the Graduate School, while very recently they have authorized a College of Education. For fully twenty years a preparatory department was maintained. The first college to open was that of Ancient and iModern Literature. iSIath- ematics, and the Natural Sciences, now called the College of Literature, Science and Art. It swung its doors open September 6, 1871. Coimting those in the preparatory department there were less than one hundred students present at the beginning of the year. The Faculty consisted of the Chancellor and three pro- fessors, who held the chairs of ancient languages, English Titerature. and natural sciences. A little later an instructor in chemistry was provided Who were these pioneers who taught the young Nebraskans of thirty-six years ago, and marked out the pathway over which have traveled hundreds of tutors, instructors, professors of many grades, and doctors of philosopihy ? There was first the scholarly and dignified Chancellor Benton who added the teaching of mental and moral philosophy to his other duties: then came Professor I ' lanley, the first classical teacher: Professor Dake. the teacher of English liteiature: Pro- fessor Aughey. the natural sciences ; while the first chemist was Instructor Dailey. Truly, that was the day of settees, as Oliver Wendell Ffolmes called them, rather than college chairs. The preparatorv department was practically an appendage of this College, and was usually called the Latin School. It received students from the country schools and prepared them for entrance to the College of Literature, Science and Art. It set the standard for the high schools of the State, and was maintained until they were able to do the work of preparing students for college. It laid spe- cial emphasis upon Latin. Greek, and mathematics, and gave an excellent training to its pupils. The hope on the part of University men that the high schools could be taught to do equally good work has been realized in but few places. It is still true that the LTniversity Latin School afforded the best training in secondary school subjects that has ever been reached in Nebraska, and while it was impos-