Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-06-18

due to some one or other Of the fraAer.
| mites The receptions and parties that
belong specifically to the student world
and are regularly recurring features of
the social year are fraternity parties
and receptions There have been nine
fraternities in the university, six be-
longing to tine young men and three to
women About 100 of the 2a1 collegi-
ate undergraduates at the present time
are members of fraternities.
Prof d. II. Robinson, of the chair Of
Latin and the senior member of tho
faculty, contributes q chapter Of remi-
niscences of his twenty-five years con-
nection with the university. His first
Renaissance is of the first call made
by Prof Snow and himself upon Chan
cellor Oliver. He thus describes this call:
''We desired from the Official head of
the university definite instructions in
relation to opening the institution the
coming week. Greeting us very kindly
the chancellor invited us to his study.
The air was thick with tobacco smoke.
Regent Starrett was present, smokings
pipe with a stem about six feet long.
Six or eight similar pipes and large
pouch of tobacco were lying on the
table. The men were evidently hail
fellows well met, and were having the
jolliest kind of a time. Our coming had
broken off one of Starrett's best stories
and he could tell good ones. Politely
declining to join in the smoking, farther
than was absolutely necessary, we
tried to state our business But
no; that interrupted story must first
be finished 1t was good story and so
well told that we had to have another
to match it The fun then grew fast if
not furious, one story provoking an
other in rapid succession, and the air
all the time growing thicker and bluer,
until we, poor fellows, half sick, finally
insisted that we could stay no longer
and asked what preparations weshould
| make for the opening of the university.
1 think we expected, in rather a vague
way, some general instructions about
the reception of students from high
schools upon examination and from
other institutions upon certificates. Our
genial chancellor, after considering a
moment, kindly gave us our instruc-
tions-the most unique, presume, ever
given by the head of a great institution
to his colleagues. Speaking with a
strong Scotch accent, which 1 shall not
try to indicate, he said: 4 would adj
wise you, young gentlemen to go to
Mr.. Jaedicke's gun shop and hire
some guns, and to Mr.. O'Connor's livery
stable and hire some saddle horses and
go away back on the hill and hunt
prairie chickens You may be gone two
| or three days. This will be as good
preparation for your work next week
as you can make Saying this he dis
| missed us. We were somewhat sur
prised, to say the least. This advice,
| though somewhat congenial to our in
clinations, seemed, however, scarcely
| to fit the question. We were not yet
| sufficiently experienced in university
| work to see the relation between hunt
ing prairie chickens and preparing
| questions for entrance examinations.
Bowling to our chancellor's wider ex-
perience we took our departure, none
| the wiser"
In regard to the opening of the ses-
sion Prof Robinson continues:
cat last the expected morning came,
September IL. 1866. The faculty were
| all present early. No one else, how
| ever came for some time, except two or
L
work on the stairs Soon a few boys
and girls from town came struggling
| in, and after awhile a few more.
Later still came those from greater
distances Grant, Wakardsa, Kan
waka, and some, think, from far-off
| Palmyra All townships in Douglas
county. After the devotional exer-
cises, which were led that morning by
| Chancellor Oliver, the students were
sent around to the several professors
| for examination. Then began our
search for those college classes SEN
iors and Juniors were given
up at the first glance. If
any were present they were surely
in deep disguise; for the student look,
which comes only from years of work
over books, was not there. We might
possibly have few sophomores and
| freshmen, but appearances were
against even this. 1 began my examina-
ton. None had studied Greek. Six,
however, wished to begin. So that sub
| 1ect was soon disposed of. In Latin I
Jared somewhat better. Six or eight
had slight knowledge of the Latin
| grammar and reader, and were indif-
ferently prepared to begin the
study of Cesar Fifteen or twenty
wished to begin Latin The ex-
| aminations in other branches showed
similar lack of knowledge. We
had examined, in all, forty students
As the net result, instead of the ex-
pected college classes, we had few
candidates for the lower forms of q
rather Indifferent high school. What q
fall from our high expectations! Still
some of the material seemed fairly
good and we hoped for better results in
| the future. We now saw the wisdom,
| the true inwardness, as 1t were, of our
chancellor's advice about hunting. It
was now clear that he knew the kind
of university we were about to open far
better than we, and that hunting
chickens was quite as useful prepare
ton for it as making long lists of ex-
| animation questions which would not
| be needed for years"
Prof Robinson gives his estimate of
Gen. Fraser; a chapter on the peculiar
discipline in the early days, and de-
scribes a number of the most promi-
| nent college jokes perpetrated by the
students. These include the suspension