University of Nevada - Artemisia Yearbook (Reno, NV)

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as to guard against explosions that might disturb quietude of the campus. This was the wisdom the governing board of Harvard manifested in a practical way to start Professor Stillman in a great subject. Perhaps they thought it was a deep subject, and again they may have been unwilling to take the uncanny manipulations too fa r away from their natural home. From the standpoint of the future we have put our cellar above ground just for convenience, and have not made much improvement in the appoint- ments. The laboratory that I see in the future chemistry building is a real working laboratory and so arranged that it is kept pleasant and com- fortable. The only criticism of the present building that I have to make is like Gen. Wm. T. Sherman ' s criticism of the Pension Office building in Washington. When Gen. Raum, its architect, showed the marching worrior through the new structure Sherman looked at all the parts of it very solemnly, and when asked his opinion he turned to Raum and said, Raum, the only criticism I have to make is that the thing is fireproof. Each generation builds as best it can, but the discoveries and inven- tions of the day show the shortcomings of the methods and contrivances of the past. Very often not enough study is given to the plans to get the best out of them. Travel and diligent hunting for information from those who have done and are doing things, reveal the light that should guide the work. The man who sits down and tries to build his business according to the advice of the local wiseacres, finds that he has no building material equal to that found in the great centers where things are done, and where men reside who are equal to the tasks set. Somewhere in the north is a cottage set on a brown and barren moun- tain side, and every time I see it, it seems to call for green lawns and flowers and trees, for it is that kind of a cottage. Fine buildings without green lawns and shrubbery do not carry out the impression intended. So, to carry out my dreams of the University of the future, I see the grounds of the southwest corner of the campus extended all over the grounds till every prospect pleases. The student who spends four years on such a campus simply cannot be content with a house that has not trees and lawns around it, and so the education brings with it a train of things that make life worth living. In countries where there is plenty of rain, and where the grass and trees grow without special care, they are blessings in dis- guise, because people do not know how to appreciate them ; but in a country where water is scarce, and grass and trees hard to grow, they are blessings undisguised. Nevada ' s great hope lies in the young people, for they are the builders of the future. The better they are trained, the better they will build, and fifteen

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their retention; but the more good buildings erected the sorrier the old ones look, and the sooner they will fade away. The general appearance of the old buildings could be tolerated if they served their purpose well. Four walls and a ceiling do not make a school room, for these may be accom- panied by bad lighting and poor appointments for the particular work to be done. The general plan that has been suggested for the University of the future calls for a large administration building in the foreground over- looking the Truckee valley and the magnifient mountains in the distance. Its enduring stone pillars will give it the appearance of permanence and solid worth. In this building will be housed the administration offices, the library, and many class rooms, all adapted and contrived for efficient instruction for the young people who will come in increasing numbers as the years roll on. I see in these class rooms all the apparatus that can be used to make clear the principles of art and science, and I can see rooms specially arranged for moving picture demonstrations of useful and inter- esting subjects so that the lectures and demonstrations used by the leaders in educational work may be heard in many classrooms outside of their own particular ones. Then too, I see on each side of the administration building two grace- ful buildings devoted to university work, adding their individual im- pressiveness to the scene, and promising an opportunity to every Freshman that may come. Somewhere on the grounds I see a building devoted to physical culture for young women, and containing a magnificent swimming pool and proper appointments for athletic work and for all work that may come under this head. In this building I can see a fine auditorium for the meetings of the young women, and also study rooms and rest rooms. In this building also would be rooms that the graduates might call their own and where they might meet the co-eds who are still in the University and tell of their experiences as co-eds in the long ago. Of course I must see the same thing for the young men of the future, because it makes life a little more pleasant and work a little better, and gives the older student a better opportunity to give sound advice to the younger students. And above all that it makes the real life of the Uni- versity. One part of the education the students get is from the professors and the books ; but the most impressive parts comes from their experience in dealing with one another. The first chemistry classroom and laboratory, provided for the teach- ing of the new science in this country, was put forty feet underground so fourteen

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the richer in all senses will Nevada be. If you want the results you will have to pay the price. If the children get the goods, they will deliver the results, and the parents know this. Each generation will demand more of the University and get more. Changes come slowly because a slow public must be convinced, but come they must. Intelligent direction by the wise men of the time will accomplish much, and it is hoped that the united will- power of the alumni of the University will be aimed at the accomplishment of the things that go to make the greater University of the future. George Bancroft, in his memorial to Abraham Lincoln, had this to say : That God rules in the affairs of men is as certain as any truth of physical science. On the great moving power which is from the beginning, hangs the world of the senses and the world of thought and action. E ternal wis- dom marshals the great procession of the nations, working in patient con- tinuity through the ages, never halting and never abrupt, encompassing all events in its oversight and ever effecting its will though mortals may oppose in madness, or slumber in apathy. Sometimes like a messenger through the thick darkness of night, it steps along mysterious ways, but when the hour strikes for a people or for mankind to pass into a new form of being, unseen hands draw the bolts from the gates of futurity ; an all- subduing influence prepares the minds of men for the coming revolution ; those who plan resistance find themselves in conflict with the will of Provi- dence rather than with human devices ; and all hearts and all understand- ings, most of all the opinions and influences of the unwilling, are wonder- fully attracted and compelled to bear forward the change which becomes more an obedience to the law of universal nature, than submission to the arbitrament of man. The time has come to follow definite plans in placing proper buildings on the University campus, and to harmonize the setting so as to get a unified result. The writer was once called upon to say a few words when the Washoe County court house was remodeled, and, viewing the new work in the front and the old building in the rear, said that he did not approve of having Queen Anne architecture in the foreground and Mary Ann architecture in the rear. In the University plan as used in the past, we have reversed this order, but in the end the queenly structures are bound to prevail. The temporary need of the present should not be the per- manent blot of all time. This is not said in a spirit of malice, for it is easy to criticise where no gray matter is needed, but it is meant as record of advancement. We begin in humbleness and advance by struggles. Our best endeavors will not meet the needs of the future, and we should make special efforts to lead in the right direction. Those who were concerned sixteen