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

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THE, CORNHUSKER. 5S NIN E-TE ieNWTWE.IsnrY m Now who would have thought they could ever have gotten such an effect! Just gaze down Twelfth. It ' s a classic. Classic is the word. After they had huilt the Social Sciences and Chem. Lab., with their pillared porticoes, the idea came home that Twelfth must carry the conception straight through. I think it was in Zenobia ' s Palmyra — one of the ancient cities, anyhow, — there was a street called ' The Street of a Thousand Columns. ' We ' ve carried out the image here, — a series of pillared porticoes, a vista of majestic columns. The effect is magnificent! We call it the Court of Columns. It is a court, you see, and ends, three blocks down, in the pillared portico of the first building put up after the Great War. Oh, I know that all right. Like every other ' 20 I ' ve a financial stake in the Soldiers ' Memorial Gymnasium. Helped to build it. Yes, we all went in for it, and glad we were to do it. It gave us the needed gymnasium, and besides that it is a beautiful memorial to Ne- braska ' s soldiers and sailors and nurses, and all who gave themselves for the state. For years after it was first built the great floor served as an assembly hall for the University, when indoor space was needed. It has seen many a high fete in the past years. No building on the campus is richer in associations for the younger alumni. The Athletic Field is beyond, of course, — where it used to be? Yes, in the same place. But it is really fine now. All solid concrete. The trophies won in the big stadium year by year take their places in the Trophy Room. But you know Nebraska ' s record in athletics. She had hardly begun in our day. I suppose the new intra-mural program (it was new, then) had some- thing to do with it? Everything! It made us thrice leader in no time. But we shall learn more of that when we get to the dormitory quads. From here, beyond the Gym., rising high, you see the smoke-stacks of the heat and light plant, which is on the track frontage. Evidently it is a big one. Yes, it is for the whole campus, dormitories and all. Do you know, the stacks really make impressive towers, don ' t you think so? Yes, I do. Folks often guy me for admiring these immense modern sqioke-stacks. But they are wrong and I am right. They are really tremendous, in their way; and when there is a plume of smoke from the top, beautiful. The high smoke-stack, the tubular elevator, the silo, and the water-tower — these are to the western American Landscape what castles and fighting towers were to Europe, in the way of picturesqueness. We ' ve come to see it, and, as you ' ll notice, the architects haven ' t disdained giving the right touch of ornament even to a smoke-stack. Are we going down Twelfth ? ' The Court of Columns is no longer Twelfth street. It is a part of the University Campus and is closed to all except Uni traflic. But we shall not enter there. I want to take you in first by the entrance which every stranger in Lincoln asks for, and into the building which is the monument of them all. Can you guess? That ' s easy. Why even in ' 20 the first question put was, ' Which way to the Museum ' ? It ' s world-famous now. Yes, the Museum. And with it the State Historical and Fine Arts and 26

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• J THE CORNHU3KER- NINE.TE KN XTWE-NXY I at the head of the Mall. We ' ll be around where we can see it by and by. Brace Hall — it ' s had an addition since our day — blocks the view. I get you all right. The southwest corner, — nearest the police court, if I remember rightly, — is given over to the laws. But how big is the campus now, anj-way? None too big, I assure you. The city part of it, dormitories and all, takes everything from Ninth to Seventeenth between R street and the M. P. right of way. Besides that we have the Marathon extension to the Farm, which you ' ll see when we ' ve made the rounds. You talk as if you had taken in all out-doors! We certainly have taken in some of it, if you count our aviation camp. But that ' s some miles out. I think I ' m lined up on the directions and o.k. ' d to the general atmos- phere. But what is this hall where Administration and Pharmacy used to be? Ground-plan a carpenter ' s square, I should judge? Still called Administration Hall, though there ' s nothing left of the old one but a patch of cellar space. A big University is a big business and it takes an office building to house the business end, — that includes registration, of course, and all that. The north wing is taken up by the University Press. That surely you ' ve heard of? Better than that. I ' ve a dozen of its most famous books on my home shelves. Makes me proud of Nebraska whenever I take them down. You can be sure visitors see them, too ; and I swell up a little when I let them know that I and the books are the product of the same college. Which does that speak well for, John Henry? Tut, tut! Let a man borrow a bit of credit now and then from his Alma Mater, and give him at least a grad ' s share in his own right. Surely! We all know well enough that it is our men who make us. May your shadow never grow less, — and keep on buying our books! Keep me from it, if you can! But which way now? Down R to Twelfth. You ' ll notice how R is built up on the right. Straight out east to Antelope Boulevard it is the same thing — mostly apartments, frat houses, and private studios. Over on P and Q you ' ll recall, is the theatre and amusement center of Lincoln. You ' d be amazed to know what a feature the University ' s dramatic and artistic work has become. Every year half a dozen of our theatres give ' Universit ' Night ' in honor of some U. of N. trained actor or actress on their bills, and our own theatre has produced, all in all, a full score of Nebraska-made plays that have swept the countr ' . I always said all we needed was a little encouragement and local support. Nebraska genius is as good as any. We think better — naturally. At any rate there never was a more hope- less folly than the old fashion of driving out of the state every jjerson of artistic bent who happened to be born here. Talk about waste ! It was like deporting a gold mine, — I don ' t mean that the money was the main thing. But a big part of what makes life worth living is the beauty of art, and we practically said to every gifted boy and girl in the state — Dry up or get out! It is not so now. I should say not! And we have the good old U. of N. to thank for that, too. We showed folks that you don ' t have to be Italian to sing, Czech to fiddle, French to paint, nor Broadwayese to produce a good play. In one way Nebraska ' s like Missouri ; it can be shown things. Some states can ' t you know. bsH SKi 25

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' iJ 1 r ( gfi j 1 I ' K fl ' ' 1 J ' - 1 1 B B rfte Street of a 1000 Columns