The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-21

pomp and circumstance, who loves to
sit in his shirtsleeves in the wilder
ness reading hiDling, who is impulsiVe,
generous and always kind, who avoids
the forms. functions and punctilities
of this world as he would shun pes
thence. fancy a merry heart that takes
nothing seriously save the goodwill
of friend and the honor of his coun-
try, fancy Cyrano de Bergerac minus
his buster, rolled into one body 80
years old and given wandering foot
that has taken him from the Arctic
ocean to the tropics finding adventure.
and YOU have picture of the happy,
courageous, knightly soul of the little
Kansas colonel who Is winningpfame in
the Philippines.
Fred Funston came from the farm on
Deer Creek, Allen county. Kansas, TO
the state university of Kansas four
teen years ago. He remained in the
university off and on for five years.
He was a round-faced fellow full of
fun and of the type that instructors
yearn to strange, for the leVity that
he bred in the class room. If Funston
ever got a grade above 50 in any study,
the instructor who gave that grade
will have TO answer for great crime;
for his sin of silence has established
for Funston a record of unbroken
scholastic mediocrity that has been
rarely eGualed in that institution. He
was a member of the Phi Delta Theta
fraternity-the fraternity which ex
President Benjamin Harrison helped
TO establish in old Miami university
half a century ago, and which counted
among its members Eugene Field, eX-
Vice President Stevenson and Senator
BIackburn-and Stephen Crane of
these latter days Funston gave more
attention TO his fraternity than he did
10 his books. and it is "a matter Of
fraternity record that he broke four
chairs learning to waltz with them.
On festal occasions Funston grew sol
emn and melancholy and felt called
upon to go forth without hilarity and
tear up the board sidewalks Of the
town of Lawrence. because he deemed
their presence dangerous to the public
welfare Because he was small of
stature he Knocked athletics into dis
favor while he was in school; he was
the maker of nick-names the diction-
airy of mirth. Ten years have elapsed
since he called the Greek professor
"Zues'' and the auburn hair of the
professor whom Funston called "Old
Sunset has turned gray: Purple
Whiskers. have lost their lustre, but
the names still stick, and afford COM
fort and solace to those unfortunate
students who funk in the departments
where the dignitaries reign. Perhaps
the shudder of horror that ran through
the faculty at the mention of Fun
ston's name years and years after he
had left school has somewhat sub
sided, but il is likely that the faculty
of the university of Kansas can come
more nearly knowing how Aguinaldo
feels than all the anti-Imperialistic
leagues in this broad and patriotic
land.
Funston spent much of his time in
the university library, reading what
ever his hands could find, of the fiction
of war and the poetry of romance.
Early in life he had the prairie boys
knowledge of every sort and condition
of firearm in the hardware store. He
had q Yankee knack for screws and
bolts and nuts. and could tinker This
knowledge Is as much a part of every
farmer boys education as the knowl-
edge of the points of the compass.