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  To sing, to tell it all, As the glad birds that call The green spring up the land, till each With happier heart shall learn and teach Such new accord of life as sings attune Through the dense leaves of June. To know, to love, to sing—and then, To spread the gathered wealth abroad To every, dwelling-place of men, As, with the ancient dragon-hoard, Siegfried, the slayer, southward rode With the red serpent gold that glowed, All glorious, at his saddle-bow. Ride on, O conqueror, with thy spoil Of error and thy gifts of might! Ride on, that every heart may know The sudden sun of wisdom's light, That through the loneliest prairie ways, Where the least sod-built shanty stands, Or where the city's million hands Toil grimy through the grudging days, The blessing of thy gifts may go, That our new land may rise and know, As the old peoples of the past, The joys that do not pale, the hopes that last Against the hour of death, and make of life More than a barren strife, And of life's end no mere forgetfulness. So shall thy mission be to bless, To raise, to brighten, and to lead us on Till the last fight is won, The utmost end accomplished, and we see Far up above us, white and marvellous, The peaks long-sought, and hear acclaiming us The voices of old victors gloriously Triumphing up the slopes of victory, HERBERT BATES. February 15, 1894.
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  The golden sunflowers, myriad-blossoming, blaze, From hill to golden hill; And melt at last into the golden haze Of the great distance. All the land is still With solitude, and only the quick bird Chirps in the grass; no other sound is heard To praise God's golden gift. The white clouds sail and sift The mottled moonlight over the wide land, The slow streams flow; the narrow forests stand Huddled and timorous for loneliness. Has God not given gifts enough to bless Our singers from their silence? Has our ear Grown all too dull to hear The still, sweet voice of Nature's tenderness? Has she no whisper to awake The soul that dreams, the song that sleeps, Until its thrilling chords shall shake To the gray hearts of older lands, To where the ocean's iron deeps Complain upon their endless sands? To love, to know, to sing,—these three Are God's most precious gifts to men, To know what has been, and to see The ripening of what shall be, Far off beyond the present's ken. To read life's book, and understand; To tell the treasury of stars, And through Death's unrelenting bars To spy the bounds of spirit-land. To love, to know life fair, to see Earth beautiful, till each gray tree Shall tell its message, each star shine Some consolation, and the line Of the last hills shall speak of peace; Till war and hate and envy cease, And over all the smiling land shall chime The petalled joy-bells of God's blossoming time.
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  CHARTER-DAY POEM QUARTER-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA The hunter shook from his brown pipe the spark That flashed into the dark Of the knotted grass-roots, and grew strong and sprang Into crackling flame, and it heard the wind that sang Its keen dry wail o'er the prairies, and strengthened and grew Till it flared to a league-long flame, and the scared birds flew, Smoke-blinded before it, and the blundering buffalo fled And the coyote quacked in his covert, and the Indian said: "Tonight the God of the fire has raised his head!" From the fire of ancient worlds a little spark, chance-shaken, Fell on our alien plains, and spread alone, And strengthened till it shone World-wide; and nations said: When did it waken? We saw not its birth, but today we see afar, A flame that darkens the low sunset star, And drives the huddled night Cowering before the lances of its light. For a voice cried in the ear Of the West: Awake, for the future calls thee! Hear, Child of the plain, today your limbs are strong, Your eyes are radiant! Wake, for you sleep too long! Wake, for the east hills quicken into day, And the gray wind of morning calls to song! Wake, for within your heart there glows The prompting of the new-born soul, Strenuous and tireless, quickening as it knows, Far off, the destined goal!
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  ILLUSTRATIONS Chancellor Samuel Avery Frontispiece Chancellor J. Irving Manatt, facing page 123 Chancellor J. H. Canfield 127 Chancellor E. B. Andrews 131 Dean A. H. Edgren 135 Dean Charles E. Bessey 139
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  CONTENTS Chatter-Day Poem, (Quarter-Centennial Anniversary) HERBERT BATES Historical Sketches of the University of Nebraska: The Background The Founding of the University LOUISE POUND Admission and Curricula L.A. SHERMAN Early Faculty and Equipment GEORGE E. HOWARD Development of Schools and Colleges HOWARD W. CALDWELL Buildings and Grounds EDNA D. BULLOCK Undergraduate Life WILL OWEN JONES The Library NELLIE J. COMPTON The Military GUERNSEY JONES Organizations LOUISE POUND The Alumni ANNIS S. CHAIKIN The University and the Community HATTIE P. WILLIAMS The Regents ALBERT WATKINS Publications OLIVIA POUND Athletics GUY E. REED The University and the War ANNIS S. CHAIKIN The Future H. B. ALEXANDER Founders' Hymn L. A. SHERMAN Personal Sketches: Chancellor A. R. Benton HENRY H. WILSON Chancellor E. B. Fairfield CLEMENT CHASE Chancellor James Hulme Canfield W. F. DANN Chancellor E. Benjamin Andrews EDGAR L. HINMAN Dean A. H. Edgren LAURENCE FOSSLER Dean C. E. Bessey RAYMOND J. POOL Poem: Academe H.B.A.
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  PREFATORY NOTE Nineteen hundred and nineteen is the semi-centennial anniversary of the founding of the University of Nebraska. It is therefore appropriate that some record be published, sketching the history of the institution in the first fifty years of its existence. The articles contained in this anniversary book are the product of no long period of preparation. Most of them were written within a few weeks after the book was planned. Doubtless they omit much that might well have been included, and here and there they may exhibit inaccuracies; and there is probably overlapping material, as always when a work is the product of collaboration. It was not possible in the time available to secure all the contributions wished or to secure contributions from all the persons approached; and it is to make good the defect thereby occasioned that certain articles are supplied by the editor. Nevertheless, for the most part the sketches come from the pens of those best fitted to write them; and it is hoped that the book in some fair measure reflects the growth of the University since its foundation half a century ago.
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  SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY BOOK The University of Nebraska 1869-1919
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  CHANCELLOR SAMUEL AVERY
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  The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1869-1919