26 On the Campus 



born. Again, we are the children of men who refusing 

 the tyranny and oppression of Europe crossed the ocean 

 to build for themselves new homes in a new land where- 

 in dwelt liberty. From Ireland's perennial green, from 

 the moors of England and the heather-clad hills of 

 Scotland and the sand-girt forests of Germany, from the 

 valleys of Rhine and Rhone, and the lilied meadows of 

 France, our fathers came, singing their songs as the 

 spirit gave them utterance. More than that, we are most 

 of us the direct descendants of the pioneers of this 

 prairie state; of men and women who again endured 

 hardships for the sake of a wider, fuller, and freer life ; 

 men erect and strong, full of health and vigor and the 

 joy of living, men without fear, the elect of the older 

 commonwealths of this republic. These were our fathers. 

 These built for us these homes, planted these pleasant 

 groves, these fertile farms, nor less our churches, col- 

 leges, and schools; sacrificing comfort, wealth, labor, all, 

 that their ideals might survive; hewing with their own 

 hands the beams from the forest, the stone from the 

 quarry, and with their own hands laying brick and mor- 

 tar in the original building of such a college as this, 

 that young people in thousands might learn the lessons 

 of the past, the science of the hour, and be fitted to live 

 righteous lives of intelligent citizenship for the coming 

 years. "We are the children of heroes thrice renowned, 

 the heroes of the Reformation, the heroes of the Revo- 

 lution, the heroes of the prairie; of freedom's battle 

 through a thousand years; we are ennobled by all the 

 story of the past, and none disputes our patent. 



These faced the morning, the morning of a better day, 



