Stetson Weekly Collegiate

STETSON WEEKLY COLLEGIATE VOL. XVII. OFFICIAL STUDENTS' PUBLICATION OF STETSON UNIVERSITY. DE LAND, FLA., WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1904. NO. 3. THE COLLEGE SENIORS. On Tuesday, October the eighteenth, the grave and dignified College Seniors met in historic Room V. for the purpose of organization. Collectively they are remarkable for several reasons, and individually for several more, as we shall see. To begin with, there are eight members, two fore<~n-b.oxn and one of foreign parentage; hence they hold the record for being- the largest and most cosmopolitan University class ever graduated from this institution, of which, by the way, six members are already alumni. Five of the young men and one of the young ladies might easily have qualified for Frederick William I. body guard, and if our gentle readers have forgotten the / qualification, we refer them to Meyer's General History or Prof. G. P. Carson. And now we take great pleasure in introducing to our readers: Mr. John Oscar Lofer^- who was unanimously elected president. Mr. Lofberg has always been prominent in whatever pertains to college matters. In every college play he has had a leading role (except in the one that failed, of course). He has been connected with the Colleo-iate for years. He was nresident of the Academy graduating class of 'oi, and thus to show their appreciation, as well as for the sake of "Auld Lang Syne," the class elected him to their highest office. "John Oscar" is Swedish by birth, came to this country in 1886, and has received nearly all his education in this Universitv. He has been assistant in T^ti'n for two years, and intends to specialize in this study after he gets his A. B. here and in Chicago. He has also been taking a correspondence course in Kindegarten work. We await develooments with some anxiety. The Phi Kappa Sigma and the Stetson Literary Society number him among their members, while in the gymnasium he is well known for his remarkable "feets." Mr. Gustav Harco Baerecke, another "product" of Northern Europe, has been elected secretary and treasurer. Mr. Baerecke came to this country in 1895, entered the A grade of the Grammar School, Graduated from the Academy in '01, and then pursued the B.S. course in the College, together with the E. E. course in the School of Technology for two years. Now he is preparing himself for the medical profession as his sires before him, i. e., his father and mother. He spends a period daily in feeling the bumps on the skull in the physiological laboratory, so that the other day a young- lady asked him: "Does Dr. Baerecke teach phrenology, too?" Miss Maud Sparkman was born in Florida, and is the daughter of a prominent Baptist minister and trustee of Stetson. After taking a first grade teacher's certificate (which she never used), she entered Stetson, graduated from the Academy in '01, and will take the Ph. B. this year. Miss Sparkman is taking Miss Blanding's place in the. registration office this year, and inouires everybody's age with the greatest sang froid. Miss Clara Primm, who will uphold the dignity of the class in name and I reputation, has come to them from the University of Chicago, where she I studied for three years. She has the singular distinction of being the daughter of a minister, the great grand niece of five ministers, the great granddaughter of a minister and the great great granddaughter of a minister, and all these reverend gentlemen were of the Baptist persuasion. She follows in their footsteps with the tenacity of a disciple of Confucius, is a member of the Y. W. C. A. cabinet, of the Students' Volunteer Band for Foreign Missions, has done work with the University of Chicago Social Settlement and may do missionary work in China in the future. Miss Susie Law was also born and educated in this state. She has spent eight years in Stetson, but between her Academy and College courses she has taught two years in the public schools. Her chief work has been in Greek, but as to whether she intends to continue this work or not she is non-committal; but perhaps those who have been here for years can venture a guess. The Collegiate wishes her success and happiness in her future sphere. Mr. Sydney d' Astreville Lenfesty is a tall man with a tall name. He is useful, too; plays guard on the team and leads the "shouting" in the chapel, i. e., in football days. He was born in Atlanta, took a first grade teacher's certificate in '97, graduated from the Tampa Business College as stenographer, has been court reporter and worked in the commissary department of the army during the Spanish-American War. In '03 Mr. Lenfesty graduated from the School of Law. He intends to go to Chicago to study more law and philosophy, and then to practice in Tampa. When his practice materializes he will go to the home of his ancestors in Guernsey. For Mr. Len- festy's name is d'Astreville. while Lenfesty is a composition of the device, "Festina Lente." Just now he spends much time on botany, and can be seen any day after football practice carefully studying the spines on sandspurs. Mr. Loring Poole Mace is an Ohioan, but has attended school at Stetson for many, many years. He graduated from the Academy in '01, then entered the Ohio Wesleyan, where he spent two years, and then returned to take the last two years in his alma mater. Mr. Mace is a member of the Beta Theta Pi, but does not belong to any Stetson society. We do not mean that Mr. Mace is not in society. Indeed, he is too well known as the class sport, and was lately pronounced the handsomest man in Stetson by one of Chaudoin Hall's best. Mr. G. Cooper Staley, the last man on the list, does not need an introduction. He is well known-to all of us, either as football center or as Administrator of the Bookroom (hear the keys rattle as he strides into the chaoel during the hymn!). Mr. Staley was born in Georgia, worked on the Florida railroads, then taught school two years (that makes four ex-schoolmasters and marms) and in '99 entered the Academy, from which he FICTION IN THE LIBRARY. The average student may take exception to the above heading and suggest as nearer to the truth, "Fiction not in the Library," since that seems more comnletely to exnress the true situation, from his—more frequently her— standpoint. Calls for nopular fiction are constant, and reasons for its non-appearance on the Library shelves are hard to understand. Many causes enter into this condition, some of which the present article will try briefly to explain. The primary object of the school Library is, as we all will readily admit, instruction arid education, and in its selection that end must ever be kept in view. The nurely popular Library, on the contrary, may be said rather to cater to the public taste, while at the same time endeavoring to educate it. In so far as these motives mav be combined, while keeping the educational idea uppermost, our books have been selected with the greatest care. On our shelves may be found the best English and American novels, always bearing in mind the distinction between "best" and "popular." Many of our readers overlook the fact that in our bound magazines we possess a great storehouse of fiction, much of which has been catalogued and all is available to the reader who can use it in the Library, its chief disadvantage being that it is in the reference department and may not be carried home. The importance of the historical novel is readily admitted, and "Ivan- hoe," "The Tale of Two Cities," and others of their class are still read threadbare, as they were by our fathers and mothers. But when history and fiction are mingled in the popular proportions of 1 to 10 or 1 to 20, like a quinine powder in a spoonful of apple sauce, the flavor of one is spoiled, while that of the other is undisguised and the reader prefers either, straight. Judged by Mr. Carnegie's test of never placing a book in a Library before it is a year old and still popular, how much of the fiction of the hour would we now have? Who today reads "Trilby?" Going further, how many girls and boys in their teens ever heard the stonr of the charming singer who hypnotized the English speaking people but little more than a decade ago? This, then, is one reason why we do not furnish our readers with the popular novel: A desire to build a Library of permanent value and a lack of shelf room for aged, diseased and dead books. As we all know, our Library is endowed and enjoys a certain, though limited, income. Half of this income is annually spent to kee- up our fine list of periodical literature, and the other half for books. The latter is annually apportioned among the different departments according to their needs, as judged by a Committee of the Faculty. To the English Department is assigned the task of deciding what proportion of its appropriation shall go for fiction and, naturally, the tastes of the student as they should be, rather than as they are, must form the basis of the selection. Librarian. graduated in '01. He is member of the Phi Kappa Sigma, used to belong to the Stetson Lits, and is ex-president of the Y. M. C A. Mr. Staley will specialize in mathematics in Chicago during the summer, and then expects to go to some school and see his name in the catalogue: G. Cooper Staley, Professor of Mathematics and Football. These are the class of '05. May they prove worthy of their alma mater! G. H. B. Art Notes: One of the Masters. There died in Paris, this last year, one of the great men of this age, one of the master minds in creative genius; a man whom all the nations of the earth had honored; an American of whom we all can be proud, James McNeill Whistler. Mr. Whistler had "the gentla^art off making enemies," and the still"^entler art, of making many friends. His pupils adored him, and the other artists spoke in the highest terms of his work, and of himself. He and the critics were always at war, as genius, and critics have always been since time began, and Job exclaimed, "Oh, would that my enemy would wite a book." The first time I had the pleasure of seeing this great master, was in his studio, or atelier as the French call it, in Paris, about six years ago. He had taken a beautiful old house, and fitted it up as a school. He had attended to all the details himself, and was proud of it—the most artistic studio in Paris. I had entered the class, and was waiting, in fear and trembling, his first criticism, for all the world knew of his sarcastic speeches. Word was passed around one morning, that Mr. Whistler's carriage had stopped at the door. Then Madame Carmen, the manager, threw open the studio door, and bowed low, the class monitor went forward, also bowing low, and received his hat and cane. The great artist stood before us, immaculate from head to foot, with the little grey lock of hair we had heard of so much standing up like a grey feather, not tied with ribbon as so many had said. We were all on our feet as if receiving royalty. When the great man said in a cheerful way, "Good morning, ladies," we responded in chorus. We would have liked to have cheered him, but being a women's class, we dared not. The entire class in a foreign school follows the master around, and listens to his criticisms of each pupil's work. When Mr. Whistler and that class reached my easel I was in a regular "blue funk" as the boys say. But he looked at me kindly, looked at my work, and then looked down the beautiful atelier, we were standing at the upper end, and said, "Is not this a beautiful studio?" "Yes, Mr. Whistler," I replied, "you designed it yourself, did you not?" "Yes," he answered looking pleased. "It is in perfect harmony." Then he sat down at my (Continued on Page 2.)