AT THE
IW&-( —~&=O   o~w
A~TllE   R.4 EE11\TIONI
As Chancellor of the
11              I  I
* EDNESDAY, ~FE~E,17
IA-NCOL'-N, NEBRASKA:
STATESMA~, PO~IER PR,ESS JOB Pf,I-NT.
1871.
A3)
-0
I EPTEAIBE
6, 18ii.
-Plait Fmir uxrrzirsrrr 
PtDE4_ oV   xseclsts
September 6, 1871.
. 6..
s:plzm:R,0039
Music.
Prayer.
BY REV. L. B. FIFIELI)..
Music.
Induction into office.
By ACTINO GOVERNOR W. H. JAMES,
President of the Board of Regents.
Music.
Inaugural Address.
By CHANcELLOR BENTON.
Music.
Benediction.
By REV. 0. T. CONGER.
Music.
Prayer.
By REV. H. P. PEci.
University Address.
By lo>N. J. STERLING MORTON.
Music.
Benediction.
By CHANCELLOR BENTON. 
IN accordance with previous announcement the Inauguration of ALLEN R. BENTON, A.M.,
L.L.D., as Chancellor of the University of Nebraska, took place at two o'clock September
6, 1871, in the large and beautiful Chapel of the University.
The desk of the Chapel was decorated with large and fragrant boquets of flowers. The
day was unusually fine and a very large concourse crowded the Chapel both afternoon and
evening.  The music for the afternoon was furnished by Mr. S. B. HOHHAN, assisted by Mr.
and Mrs. J. H. ALFORD, Mrs, G. A. RANDALL and Dr. W. W. WARDNER.
According to a previous resolution, the Board of Regents adjourned to attend the inaugural
exercises of the University. A little after two o'clock the Board of Regents, the Faculty,
and invited visitors, proceeded in a body from the Regents' room to the Chapel of the
University and were seated on the platform.
Acting Governor WM. H. JAMES, President of the Board of Regents, who presided on the
occasion, announced that the exercises would be epened with music. The choir then sang
*How beautiful are thy dwellings," after which the Rev. L. B. FIFIELD pronounced a fervent and appropriate prayer, invoking the Divine blessing on the new University, the Chancellor, the Students, and the State.
The Chancellor was then inducted into office by the President of the Board who delivered
an address [see the address page 4,] and presented the Chancellor-elect with the keys of the
University.
To this address of Acting Governor JAMES, Chancellor BENTON, who had remained
standing, replied in a few words, accepting the trust. [See page 5.]
After music, "Columbia's Call," the Chancellor proceeded to deliver his Inaugural Address. At its conclusion the choir sung "Farewell," and the Rev. O. T. CONGER pronounced the benediction.
Evening Exercises.
In the evening the Chapel was again crowded to listen to the "University Address," delivered by the Hon. J. STERLING MORTON.
Music was furnished by Messrs. HOHMAN, OAMLEY, WHEELER, LATHROP, WHITE and
NORTHROP.
After the music the REV. H. P. PECK offered an impressive and eloquent invocation of
Divine blessings on all the interests of the University.
The HoN. MR. MORTON was then introduced by the President of the Board, and delivered
the University Address. [See Address in proper place.]
REGENT J. B. MAXFIELD, on behalf of the Board, set forth in earnest words the duty of
the citizens of Lincoln toward the University.
CHANCELLOR BENTON then read letters from distinguished gentlemen from abroad: lEA
MAYHEW, GEO. H. PENDLETON, WM. BROSS. [See last page.]
Benediction-by CHANCELLOR BENTON.
On the return of the Board of Regents to their room, REGENT C. S. CHASE offered the following resolution, which was adopted:
Resolved, That the Board solicit for publication, a copy of the Inaugural Address of
CHANCELIOR BENTON; also a copy of the University Address of the IrON. J. STEELING
MORTON, and that one thousand copies be published in pamphlet form under the Supervision
of the University Committee, together with a sketch of the inaugural exercises, and that the
Secretary solicit copies of the several addresses on behalf of the Board.
Thus closed the interesting and impressive ceremonies, inaugurating the first Chancellor,
and the work of the new University of Nebraska. 
ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR W. H. JAMES,
President of Board of Regents,
-AND
Reply of CHANCELLOR BENTON.
CHANCELLOR BENTON:
In assuming the position allotted to me in the opening and dedicatory
exercises of our State University, it will doubtless be expected of me that I
should express some sentiments congratulatory on its doors being thrown wide
open to the youth of our young and growing Commonwealth. But with few
words, I shall leave this task to other and abler hands. It is certainly a theme
for rejoicing and congratulation that this beautiful edifice is about to be appropriated to the purposes for which it was erected and opened, ready to receive its
cargo of precious human freight here to be prepared and trained for the tempestuous struggle of life. Here the State shall look in future for the educated
and trained citizen. From this place there shall come a mighty throng, filled
'with pure thought, to be governed and directed by a trained and well-stored
mind, prepared by their training from the hour they leave the embrace of their
Alma Mater to labor for the advancement, the material and moral progress and
glory of their State. Upon broad and unsectarian grounds has the University
been founded. Springing from the bounty of a great and generous government,
where the avenues to greatness are alike open to all, so the doors of this institution are thrown wide open to all. This is as it should be. Science, scholarship, letters, are of no sect. They are of all sects, because they are of humanity
itself. To insist upon sectarian education is to insist upon binding the infant
mind with an iron cord. No restrained or imprisoned infant grows into the
perfect Apollo. Upon the stone seat which Professor Goldwin Smith has
placed under a tree of friendly shade in the cool grounds of Cornell University
~ *.  * 
5
there is an inscription which hlie wrote, carved in stone: "Above all nations is
humanity." It is a text of deathless significance-one which will improve the
young minds that will gather there for a hundred years. And here, upon this
opening and dedicatory day, let us write for our inscription-aye, let it be
carved in imperishable gold upon its gates: "Above all sects, is truth." As
the representative of this young Commonwealth, I thus formally confer upon
you the authority which appertains to your office as Chancellor of this
University.  You have been chosen to a high and responsible office, one that
will be surrounded with difficulties which may require time to overcome; and
yet I take pleasure in assuring you that the confidence which prompted your
selection has been strengthened by our acquaintance and association. To you
belongs the duty of inaugurating our system of edueation; to you we entrust
the enlightenment of our youth-the beautifying and adorning of those most
enduring monuments."
The Chancellor replied briefly in these words:
"With a profound sense of the duties and responsibilities to be assumed,
I receive from your hands these symbols of that authority which the Regents
have seen fit to bestow upon me.  The cordial greetings of your honorable
body and that of the people of the State, I return with hearty thankfulness on
my own behalf and of the University Faculty. It shall be our earnest endeavor
to justify the confidence you have reposed in us, while we shall continue to
rely on you for sympathy and unfailing support. Assisted, then, by these
skillful and experienced educators, armed with your authority and sustained
by your confidence, and relying on the aid of Divine Providence, without
which all our labors will be in vain, we enter hopefully oR the work to which
you have called us." 
CHANCELLOR BENTON'S ADDRESS.
The occasion of our assembling to day is one of surpassing dignity and
importance. We meet to-day to inaugurate a work whose blessed influence
will be felt when the present generation shall have passed away. Though now
in its infancy, to-day the University of Nebraska begins to articulate its wishes
and its hopes. To-day we celebrate the founding'of an institution of learning,
in which the best culture of the age may be realized by all. The beneficence
of the State has already given it the stamp of an earthly immortality. On the
University the State has also inscribed her own name, as if anticipating the
glory which her University would reflect upon her.  No citizen, however wise,
virtuous, or patriotic, should supplant the State in such honor.   When the
temple at Ephesus was burned, Alexander the Great offered to rebuild it, on
condition that he be permitted to inscribe his name on the portal tablet. The
offer was rejected with disdain as an affront to the city. However much
priYate munificence may supplement the gift of the State, it is eminently
fitting that the whole State be represented in the name, as the University is by
the people and for the people.   All hail! therefore, to the  University of
Nebraska,-and let us recognize with devout thankfulness that Providence
which has led the way to these auspicious beginnings. Let us thank those
legislators who with far-seeing wisdom have seized the golden opportunity for
establishing a University which may, if rightly fostered, reflect more glory
upon the State than all its other achievements. The real glory of a State does
not depend so much on its broad and fertile domain, its swarming population,
and the activities of industrial life, as on its public and private institutions and
the type of manhood which these produce. If this were not so, then China is
a more favored land than was Athens, and India should be chosen rather than
England. But Athens and England, though pent up in narrow territorial
limits, and wrenching subsistence from a reluctant soil, have achieved a place
in History, and a name, before which nations, devoid of ennobling institutions,
will forever " pale their ineffectual fires."  Among these institutions which
shed imperishable lustre upon the States that foster them, none rank higher
than institutions of learning. To illustrate the dignity that a University gives
to a city or nation, permit me to make a historical allusion.
When the city of Leyden, in Holland, was beselged by a Spanish army,
the citizens, inflamed by a love of liberty and religion, made  a most desperate
resistance.   Thousands died by famine and pestilence, and when  all other
means failed, they opened the dykes, flooded the camp of the enemy, and thus
raised the siege, and Holland passed forever from under Spanish rule. As a
recompense for their valor, patriotism, and sacrifices, the States' General of
Holland gave choice to the city to receive certain exemptions from taxation or
to become the site of a new University.  Under the advice of one of the herom
defenders of the city, the citizens elected to pay their taxes, and to take their 
compensation for treasure and life in the establislhmuent of an institution that
became the world-renowned University of Leyden.
Through no such toil and suffering have we come to the establishment of
a new University in our city and State. Like the manna in the wilderness, it
has Providentially fallen into the lap of our prosperity. To us, if rightly used,
it will overflow with enriching blessing. Through the munificence of the
general government to the State, a grant of valuable land, which we hope to
increase by an additional grant, will ultimately place the University in a position
of great financial strength, and give it a capacity for usefulness second to none
in the land. Having assumed this trust, the State, acting through its legitimate
representatives, has built this beautiful structure in which we assemble to-day;
and to-day it inaugurates a work, for the intellectual and social culture of the
youth of this Commonwealth, upon which we have a right to expect the Divine
blessing. Without entering into details, such has been the origin of the
endowment and building for the University of Nebraska. This magnificent
dowry will detract in no measure, I apprehend, from the virgin charms of this
beautiful State; and the supposition may not be too violent, that our emigrating,
celibate, national Capital may yet desire to unite its fortunes with those of this
State and Capital. Whether or not we may have so distinguished a suitor asking to share with us this central home in the national domain, no person of large
and comprehensive views, who considers the possibilities of this State, in its
position, population and resources, can fail to perceive that the purpose of
founding this University evinces the highest wisdom, and that this work is not
a superfluity.
But how to organize and administer the University of the State, with all its
various colleges, and departments of the several colleges, so as to reach ends
that are practical and to meet the essential needs of our times, are questions
that occupy and oppress us. If it be becoming at any time to indulge the
feeling of modest self-distrust, surely it is proper when standing face to face
with these weighty interests and solemn responsibilities. Here is a field large
enough for the ambitions of any heart, and a labor which when pushed t o the
utmost will leave much undone that will appear possible and desirable.
In entering on this work it is highly proper for us to gain if possible a
correct idea with regard to what a University is; then we shall be prepared the
better to understand its work, its wants and its claims.   To these topics we
now invite your patient attention, and respectful consideration.
It has been flippantly denied that there are any Universities in Americathat the term as applied by us is a misnomer. In the same way, I presume,
there is no church in America, because it is not established by law as is that of
Russia, England or Prussia.  As well say, we have no army, because. it is not
modeled after any European system. But I think it will be difficult to convince
the American public that we have no church, no army: one the repository of
the religious and moral forces of the nation; the other, the exponent of its
physical power and prowess.  The outward form is not essential to an identity
of spirit and character. The States of this nation have long had institutions
that justly bear the names of Universities, as this State intends to have one.
As the spring contains in promise the ripe fruit of autumn, so whatever is in
the heart of a free people, will come to ripeness, and mature under the best
influence of the nation.
7 
s
It would be impossible for us to have a University trammeled like foreign
ones, with religious tests; patrimonies enjoyed on conditions of maintaining
usages that are obsolete or without significance; sinecures filled by men, the
fossils of a departed age; and a system of precedents no longer applicable, but
adhered to simply because they are precedents.
In thle nature of things, our University must harmonize with the genius of
our people and the polity of our nation.  As governments grow, and are not
manufactured, so our educational institutions will express in their form and
organization what accords with the genius and wants of our nation.
If we should give but a cursory glance at the development of Universities
or higher education in this country, we shall discover that it has had one
animiatinlg spilit-that has been to fit man for his real life-work,
The antagonism that has been supposed to exist between theory and
practice, betveen men of thought.and nien of action, is more fancied than real.
In the nature of the case, there should be no antagonism. In the mind of God
it certainly does not exist.  He is both the greatest, the infinite theorizer, and
the unwearied worker.  In His mind all forms radiant with beauty and order
were conceived before they sprang into perfected being.  The cosmos of ideas,
types or images, were in the Divine thought, cycles of ages, before this majestic
order of nature was launched from the plastic hand of the Almighty. I resent
the imputation that our higher education has for its purpose or effect a literary
delettanteism, which takes the nerve out of a man, and unfits him for practical
life.
The first University founded on this Continent was established by clergy men, for the special and technical training of a learned clergy. Hence the
miotto of Harvard College, "Cliristo et Ecclesie," dedicating the University to
Christ and the Church. Soon physicians discovered the practicability and
advantage of professional education, and now the State-so that we may have
no quacks in medicine-forbids the practice of medicine, in most cases, except
to such as have obtained their collegiate degree of Bachelor of Medicine.
The learned profession of the law, at first a little slow and conservative,
soon after, were inoculated, perhaps by the doctors, with the same ambition for
professional training; and within the memory of most of us, the law school has
obtained a fine footing, and an amazing fecundity that promises to rival, if
not to outstrip its professional competitors.
Following hard after these, and with keen scent for whatever is good,
economical, and practicable, "ye modest pedagogue," the modern school master,
importunes legislatures until they grant him schools in which hlie may learn the
principles and processes of his art. Though rather slow in recognizing the
value of Normal schools for the education of teachers, legislatures have been
compelled  to make this step forward, and teachers intend-nulla vestigia
retrorsum-no steps backward. An accomplished preacher who was once
asked how he had acquired such skill in his profession, replied-"by ruining
half a dozen good congregations."
The day is measurably past when teachers are compelled to ruin schools,
in order to learn the methods and principles of their work.
Besides these professional schools, now considered as integral parts of
University education, the demand froml the industrial classes is heard from every
quarter. They also ask for a school master, and like the deep sounding surge 
9
that rolls in toward the shore, it is inappeasable and irresistible. This denmand
of the toiling millions, "who hold communion with nature," in her various
forms, was loudest in the very crisis of our nation's peril-the hour of her
supreme need.  While the vouth of our land were  drawn from their rural
homes to breast the perils of bloody campaigns, that fearfully depleted the
ranks of the husbandmen, Congress made haste to bestow on the industrial
classes that magnificent endowment for their education contained in the Agricultural College Bill.
Thus a new problem has been forced on educators, the solution of which
must be reached slowly, experimentally, and as hitherto, perhaps, with some
failures.
But with patience, and honest effort, it will become soundly organized, and
take its rank among technical schools, compacted into the general system, and
co-ordinated with the other technical schools of the University.  The magnitude and complexity of this problem can only be grasped when we take into
account the vast number of trades each requiring specific and scientific treatment. They are reckoned by hundreds. To catalogue them would exhaust
your patience, and more than exhaust my time.
I have thus glanced hastily at the rise and growth of different departments
of education in America, which needs to be understood in order to have a. clear
conception of what constitutes our University idea. We have spoken of these
schools as dissociated and unrelated to each other.
But the economy and symmetry of education, by associating these various
departments together, long since became obvious to the practical mind of the
nation. Such as are not below the average American, can understand how the
same chemist can instruct at once students in medicine, mining, manufactures,
and agriculture-how the same apparatus, library, cabinet and museum can
serve the wants of all-and especially, where large numbers are gathered into
various schools, taught by learned professors, and surrounded by all needful
appliances for education, how the spirit of emulation and literary enterprise is
awakened, and college life becomes stimulating and vitalizing.
The co-ordinating of these various departments of literary and professional
training into one system, sanctioned by one authority, supported by a common
fund, under one government, has given form to the American University.
The spirit which animates and vitalizes this form, that binds part to part
in kindly, generous sympathy, is the spirit of science. The University embraces
with impartial affection every subject; teaches always with reference to
"principles;" is everfilled with a scientific spirit; occupies an attitude of scientific
inquiry; and offers opportunity and stimulus to all who, in the spirit of
scholars, will "scorn delights and live laborious days."
In this brief expose, we have aimed to indicate the corporate form and
animating spirit of the American University.
II. In the next place, itis desirable to gain, if possible, definite conceptions
of the proper functions of the University.  This implies an inquiry into the ends
for which education is undertaken, and the means by which it may be accom plished.
If we inquire with regard to the ends of liberal culture, or any culture, we
are met at the very threshold of our investigation by a fact, which like the
thread of Ariadne, will guide us through all the mazes of this intricate laby 
to10
rinth.  That fact is, there is a destiny, or law of unfolding, that is appointed to
every created, progressive being.
This law affords an unerring clue to the discovery of every truth; and, is
also, a certain test by which we may try every educational theory.
From the acorn, nothing but the oak can be produced. The destiny of the
acorn, in its form and structure, is an oak-not a willow or a pine tree.  As
culture cannot change i's essential character, so all culture should aimi to give
it grander, statelier proportions, as an oak.
In animal life the same principle holds true. The eagle's egg can only
produce the eaglet.  No care in the incubation can hatch fiom it an owl or a
goose; no skill in training can rear our national bird so as to mouse for its prey
in twilight, or to become a swimmer of the waters.
So with man; he has his preordained relations and duties-in a word, his
destiny, to which his development, or education, should conduct him most
directly.
Education, then, has for its proper end, not some ideal, rounding out of a
system; not the attainment of some theoretic harmony of the elements of manhood; but such an unfolding as will enable him to fill in the highest measure
that destiny to which he has been preordained.
At birth man is introduced into three great circles of relations. These
circles are concentric, the common center of which is the infant human being.
The first circle includes his relations to Nature; the second, his relations to
Society; and the third, his relations to the Infinite, to the Spiritual, to God.
This broad and exhaustive generalization states all the possibilities and requirements of a human being. A most powerful living writer of fiction, Victor
Hugo, has unfolded, with surpassing interest and effect, these three great classes
of relation-man's relation to nature, in his Toilers of the Sea; his relations to
society, in his Les Miserables; and his relations to God, in his Notre Dame.
The all-embracing mind of Shlakspeare has embodied substantially the same
grand classification in the well-known address of Cardinal Woolsey:
Let ALL the ends thou aimest at, be thy Coutntry's, thy God's and Truth's.
God, Society, and Truth-these are the all-comprehending aims of life,
If these relations and duties are in ever-widening circles, how insensate
and irrational, that education which ignores or denies them.  Blinder than a
mole is that educator who will circumscribe all the labors and knowledge of the
student to the narrow circle of nature. This is the very dry rot that eats out
all strength, or comeliness, from our system of education. Instead of lifting the
mind to contemplate a millenium of knowledge, which takes hold of humanity
and divinity, the apostles of materialism, like Buckle and Herbert Spencer, teach
a millenium of corn and bacon. To them, that knowledge is worth most which
enables a man to make the best living.  While this is, without doubt, the first
in the order of nature, it is not first in order of importance. This materialistic,
so-called practical education, is that which man shares with the brutes. The
lower animals, like man, have activities that lead to self-preservation, the care
of offspring, and forming a social community.  The dignity and importance of
human education must, therefore, be in some other direction. The value of
our civilization does not consist in the increase of facilities for supporting man's
animal life, or in giving a keener relish to human existence. If man's destiny 
it
could be fully realized, in what ministers to his physical existence and 6njoyment, then the great, the only question would be, what shall we eat? what shall
we drink? and wherewithal shall we be clothed?  But we all instinctively feel
that such a destiny, and the education for such a destiny as this, fall infinitelbelow man's conscious dignity and capabilities.
Confess that your rule of life is simply to make a living, and you confess that
voul would eliminate every noble and generous sentiment from your heart. Said
a tlteving miscreant once to Talleyrand, in apology for hIis offence: "One must
i,ve, you know."  In reply, the caustic Frenchman said:  "I confess I do not
see the necessity."
Life is a matter of infinite litttleness, an abortive attempt of creative intelligence, if it must forever be "cabined, cribbed, confined," to the narrow round(
of sensuous pursuits and gratifications.
But in addition to this,. let human society appear, with its complex relations of child, parent, teacher, neighbor, friend, and citizen, with all their related
industries in social, commercial, and political organizations. Here a new and
broader field opens before us, and a new- education, made necessary, to fit manl
for his new circumstances and duties.  Amiong the ancients, it was held of first
importanee that every child should be trained to be a worthy member of the
State. Though Socrates was a statuary by trade, and thus earned his livelihlood, his imperishable fame rests not on enriching the world by his art, but on
teaching the youth what were their duties to society and the gods. This
branch of education, though confessedly more difficult to condact successfully,
than merely intellectual training, is not impracticable. Common sense says a
man may be educated for society as well as for science. Tho cultivated, the
politc, the graceful man of the world-the orator, the patriot, the statesman, are
entities, recognized by our language as the products and legitimate results of
training and education.  These-one  and  all-may be uninfluenced by the
celestial light and attractions which lift the soul to acts of self-denying heroism
and fortify it to bear with solid patience the painful toils of life, or to gain th
honors of martyrdom.  Whatever may be the inspiring idea, man can be
trained by education in the moral sentiments to love truth and justice; to love
liberty and right, country and man, and especially to have a broad, generous,
cosmopolitan sympathy with humanity itself, which shall so weld the soul to
the race as to make it the sharer of its toils as well as of its triumph.
When this line firom Terence was recited in the Roman theater: "lHomon(
snun; humani nihil a me alienum puto"-I am a man, and indifferent to notlihing which pertains to man —the whole theater rose to its feet, shouting its
tumultuous applause; and, the human heart everywhere swells with admiration
and approval of the philanthropy of that noble sentiment. It is the second
essential of Christianity-it takes us back to Nazareth itself.
But the best, the broadest arena for humgan thought is not man in his
physical or social relations, but in his relations to the infinite, to Gcd. Science,
in its last analysis, brings us to God. The last word of social science is God.
This word solves mysteries, dissipates doubts and establishes man in earnest
convictions.
When Schelling, the great German philosopher, who, his whole life, having
been tossed on the waves of speculation and doubt, was asked at the very close
of his life of unrest, what was the highest generalization of science, replied in 
tile words of an apostle; "OF Him, i. e., God. are all things, BY Him are all
things, and FOR Him are all things." God, the source, the upholding power, and
the final end of all created things.
As we heve seen, there are difficulties in the way of imparting an education in socia(l duties, so the obstacles in the way of religious culture are still
greater.
If, therefore, this be a segment in a true and complete system of education,
the question arises, what can theUniversity do in such a matter?  Can the State
have anything to do with religion?
Here, I know, we tread on delicate and debateable ground; and yet, it seems
to me, that the practical solution of this question is not so formidable as the
theoretical difficulties imply. Nor, do I propose, with moral cowardice, to thrust
this matter out of sight, that it may be out of mind. Is it true that education
in our Universities founded by the State, must be Atheistic-without God?
Such has been the opinion of some otherwise right-minded men, who echo the
sentiments of theorists, without observing facts as they exist before our face.
An Atheistic school shocks the moral sense of the whole people, and in our
country is an unpardonable anomaly. While the University has nothing to do
with "isms," however reputable by age or the number of their adherents, she
must always be interested in truth, and all truth is permeated with the idea of
God. History, science, literature, mind, matter, all are interpenetrated with
this idea, and to ignore it, the University must ignore the most momentous
truths and facts, and be a stranger to the celestial motives, and divine love, that
must warm the soul before it can rise from being an erratic meteor, to be a
grand planetary soul shining with steady stellar lustre in the firmament of
infinite blessedness.
The average religious character of our people is such, that they will
demand a distinct and an unequivocal recognition, in the daily exercises of their
University, of the practical principles of our conmmon Christianity; and thus
the University will simply reflect the average religious character of our people
It is also worthy of note, that the most devout of our educated men are
most likely to be interested in education; and by some general law of affinity,
are attracted to this kind of labor. Thus, it happens, that the whole business
of education is fragrant with heavenly odors. As those, who make the voyage
to India, are regaled by delicious perfumes, wafted from "Araby the blest," so
those, who shall travel up the hill of science, shall be refreshed as by perfumes
from the garden of the Lord.
In as concise a manner as possible, I have endeavored to show that the
proper end of education is threefold, to fit man for his relations to nature, to
society and to God..
We  are thus naturally brought to the question-what means, or what
studies will conduce to the attainment of such ends?  What should our youth
be taught, in order, to use the words of MAilton, that they may be fitted for all
spots and crises; qualified to perform magnanimously, skilfully and justly, all
the affairs, both public and private, of peace and war; inflamed with the love of
learning, and the admiration of virtue; stirred up by hopes of living to be
lrave men and worthy patriots, dear to God and famous to all ages.
In prescribing a course of staldy, two things should be steadily kept in
I 
view:  First-The  imparting of knowledge; second-The discipline of the
faculties. These are the distinctive objects of a liberal education.
In the impartation of knowledge, it certainly does not come within the
scope of the University to teach the arts and trades of life. It will teach the
facts and principles on which all arts and trades rest. Instead of teaching the
elements of knowledge applicable to some craft or art, by which a livelihood
may be made, it will untbfold principles with such a scientific spirit as to lead
most directly and easily to artizan or professional skill. Liberal education is
not professional education. The one should precede the other. The former is
needed to make men; the latter to perfect them in some branch of human indus try. These are the results reached by comprehensive and protracted experi menting in education, and may not readily be set aside, or destroyed by educa tional Philistines.
Nor would I be understood to say, that there is no other possible way of
achieving the proper ends of education, than by such a system as now obtains
in our higher institutions of learning. By no means. But only this: that they
adopt the shortest, most certain, and most effective means ot reaching the proper
results of liberal culture. But out of this infinite whole, in which all kn owl edge is contained, what selection should be made, adapted to the purposes of
the teacher as a trainer of men?
This question is eminently an experimental one. Were we to classify
human knowledge, it would be  sufficiently exact for our present purpose, to
say, that all is embraced in a knowledge of mitd and of matter.
The science of mind embraces whatever belongs to the history of man, as a
thinking, speaking, social, acting being. Hence, as a thinking being, he will be
studied with respect to the laws of thought and the principles of taste in the
fine arts; as a speaking being, the acquisition of language as the form of
thought, and the study of literature, luminous and creative, as the store-house
of all that the race has thought, the daguerreotype of its mental progress, will
claim thle attention of the scholar. As a social being the organization of States,
the principles of law, civil polity, political economy, and the whole history of
man in his migrations, with all the social upheavals and subsidences of the race,
would form a part in a comprehensive system of liberal culture. As language,
in the words of Humboldt, is the outward appearance of the intellect of nations,
so institutions embody the social instincts and experience of the race. If the
study of mankind is the most appropriate work for man, then these branches
of learning may not be omitted.
If we turn to the other department of knowledge-the realm of matterthere is no dissent as to what should be studied in a liberal course of education.
The utility of the knowledge of those sciences which add to the comfort or
adornment of life is scarcely called in question, and hardly needs illustration.
In the "New Education," as it is called, these stu dies are chief, and most highly
plized. In all the stirring activities of life-the commerce, the manufactures
and agriculture of the civilized world, science has worked amazing revolutions,
augmenting in a tenfold degree the capacity of material nature to contribute to
the well-being of man.
It is not our purpose to discuss the relative advantage of these different
departments of human knowledge, nor yet to consider the manner or the
extent each should be pursued; but simply to show that they have an adapta
13 
14
lion to the intellectual and physical wants of man, and an Imperishable interest
for all ages. Hence, I must here commend the wise judgment and generous
liberality of the Regents of the University, who aim to secure to every University student instruction in any branch of knowledge; and at the same time,
to afford him "room and verge" enough to select such branches as most accord
with his taste and life-work; and which, at the same time, will give that intellectual and moral discipline that hlie will need as a man. With this hasty sketch
of the outline of a liberal education, we pass to some concluding observations
on the wants of a University.
FIRsT-The most pressing want of all our Universities is the want of money.
The oldest of the Universities in the United States are just as clamorous to-day
for an increase of funds as are those recently founded. Harvard University, the
oldest, whose endowment is generally regarded as munificent, of which individual donations form a large part, is prevented by lack of funds from accomplishing all that a University should do.
Of Yale, a Professor of that college says: "The Professors are not half
paid-the salaries are not more than half sufficient to support a family respectably in New Haven-the corps of instructors ought to be doubled.  She has
not a dollar to buy books." These are but samples of the oldest and the richest
colleges in our land. They teach us an important lesson, that for University
education there must be a concentration of funds and no division of them.
Hence, we can really have but one State University.
This work is too expensive for individual efforts, but may appropriately be
supplemented by the generous gifts of patriotic citizens.
The State has appropriately assumed this responsibility, and will find occasion from time to time, to increase the resources of the University, by appropniations that will be inconsiderable, when compared with expenditures made
for far less worthy objects.
SEcoND-In the next place, the University needs efficient supervision and
the sanction of public authority. The men who stand behind the faculty, and
who hold the reins of power, can, if partizan or malicious, ruin the University.
The State has, therefore, wisely lodged this supervisory and controling power
in a Board of Regents, and such control wisely conditioned, is one of the prime
elements of our University success.  Selected to this special work and responsibility, they are more likely to be' intelligent, capable, and deeply interested in
educational work, than if charged with this supervision as an appendage to
other more exacting official duties. The flourishing condition of Universities in
adjoining States, under the control of a special Board, admonishes us to hold
fast that which is good. Nor is it needful for me here to say anything to increase your confidence in the men who have, with sagacity and prudence thus
far, directed the affairs of the University, as they are not strangers to you, but
known to all as practical and sagacious, and above all, keenly alive to everything that concerns the honor or the prosperity of the University.
THIRD-Again, the University has some right to ask for patience from the
citizens of the State. In the work of intellectual training, it is impossible to
sow and reap in the same day. You have a right to expect constant progress,
enlargement, improvement; but we cannot spring into being with the prestige
and accumulated resources of some of the older Universities, at the waving of
any magic wand, however potent.  Our work is a growth; but give the Uni 
15
versity of Nebraska the years you give our youth to come to their majority
tod she will rival in her learned Professors, in her elegant buildings, her laboratory, libraries, cabinets, works of art, and museum, and above all, and supporting all, in her munificent endowment, the most favored University of all
these States. These are not the words of flattery and adulation, but are certain
to come to their fulfillment, if the wise forecast of the founders of the University
shall be properly seconded by the succession of Boards of Regents, Chancellors
and Faculty, reaching through a series of years, supported by the sympathy
and co-operation of the State.  This immense work will always require ceaseless vigilance, exhaustless patience, and often a lofty and daring courage, that
sees no obstacles. In that great naval battle, in which Admiral Nelson lost his
life, Lord Collingwood reported that some of the British ships were retreating.
With splendid mockery of fear Nelson raised his telescope to his sightless
eye, and quickly remarked, "I do not see it.  Give command to sail in."  This
kind of heroism, that
-' HIolds no parley with unmanly fears,
But where duty points, confidently steers,"
will often need to be called into play, in the various emergencies of our Uni versity growth and deyelopment.  In view of all the known obstacles to the
realization of our ideal of a University, to bring it rapidly to that condition of
dlevelopment and influence at which we aim, I most earnestly entreat for patience
and favorable interpretation of our acts from all citizens.
Speaking for the faculty, and including truly as 1 believe, you, gentlemen
of the Board of Regents, it is no unmeaning word to say to this audience that we
all have our qualification for our positions-a profound sense of the importance,
responsibility and difficulty of our work.  With proper self-distrust, which
shall lead us prayerfully to seek that wisdom that comethl from above, we all
enter with good purpose and heart into this University work.
FoURTiH —And lastly, in our partial and imperfect sketch of University
wants, it would be a beggarly account which makes no mention of students.
To-day we open the University, without a class, without a student enrolled.
But for those who shall honor themselves by being the first class to enrol
themselves to-morrow as students of the University, I have a word. You have
the faith and courage to come to this new  University, trusting its future.
The success and reputation of the University are largely'in your hands.
Your faithfulness and student zeal will give us a good name abroad, induce
hundreds to come, and thus compel our rapid enlargement in means ot
instruction. Or, by idleness, insubordination and neglect, you may seriously
injure all.  Dr. Thomas Arnold once said to the Rugby  boys:   "'It is not
necessary to have a hundred students here, but it is necessary that those
who are here shall be gentlemen." So I say to-day, we do not need a hundred, but we need men and women You are here to make the University,
as well as to be made.  By your noble and manly conduct here, you will bear
an honored part in building this University, of which, some will hereafter be
Regents or Professors, and in which all may have an honest pride. Young men
and young women, we welcome you both alike to the toils, responsibilities and
triumphs of our University life.
On this Autumn day, long to be heldc in memory, as the Autumn sun de
I 
16
dclines in the west, the crescent glory of a new fountain of intellectual light
takes its place in the firmament of literature and science. As a ship, it begins
to glide over the water, well manned, rejoicing in its bounding life, its canvass
full spread, and every heart beating with joy and hope of a prosperous voyage.
Speaking for the Regents, the Faculty, students, and all represented in this
work, I say, God bless the ship; God bless the builders; God bless the picked
crew; and not to be forgotten, God bless all the passengers. 
J. STERLING MORTON'S ADDRESS,
As men have rendered immortal their lives, and names, by great thoughts,
or great deeds, so days have become historical and their annual recurrence
been made the occasion of congratulation and thanksgiving, because of the
great events of which they have been the mothers.
Nebraska, seventeen years ago last May, hecafile an organized Territory of
the United Statess, by virtue of Congressional enactment.  In January of the
year 1855, her Territorial Legislature assembled for the first time, and in 1867
she became a State in the Federal Union. These events were important, and
will be forever commemorated in the history of tbe country.  But this day is
coeoual in importance with any in our brief civil life of little more than half a
generation.
This day inaugurates the University of the State of Nebraska. The United
States founded this institution upon the substantial basis of a munificent grant
of land. It was born with the State, It is coexistent with it. While the State
stands the University must remain. The endless legacy, the magnificent heritage which has been set apart, sacred to and solely and indivertably for its
maintenance, makes it as permanent and indestructable as the commonwealth
itself. This is the school of the people. They are its trustees. They are its
regents. They cannot utterly destroy it. They may dwarf, but they cannot
kill. And they should foster, and tone, and energize it to a growth which shall
render it equal to any, and excelled by no college in America. The peoples
properly understanding and fully appreciating the use and benefits of this University, not only to the generation in which we live, but to the millions which
are to follow us in the quick journey from the cradle to the grave, can make;.
will make it their especial care and pride, and so doing, will discharge their
duty to their country, to their children, and to their God.
Americans declare that all men must be educated, because the American
Government is founded in the intelligence of its citizens. We believe that education is as necessary to the development of a human being mentally, as is
food, and air, and water, and light to his physical growth and existence.
An illiterate and uneducated people are not capable of self government;
therefore, the perfecting of educational systems, which shall embrace all the
citizens, and shed knowledge upon all the people as fully and impartially as the
sun its light, is the only legitimate method of perpetuating the Republic.
Our school system is for facility divided into four parts. The primary,
which takes the pupil through the district or common school; the union or
high school, which prepares him for the University; and the University, which
disciplines him for the battle of life, and, its departments of agriculture, me
. 4. 
18
chanic arts, law and medicine, will fit him for specific duties and responsibilities in that conflict.
The Normal school, the sole object of which is to prepare trained teachers
for the primary schools, is as essential as the departments of the University,
and should meet with the greatest kindness and consideration at the hands of
every citizen who thinks.
All the parts are in unison, like the machinery of a well regulated timepiece, and together, by their success or failure, will indicate the intelligence and
prosperity of this people as accurately and unmistakably as the hands upon the
dial-plate tell the hours of the day.
The Normal school sustains the primary; the primary the high school; the
high school thle University; and the University vitalizes the State with learning,
furnishing scholars for her law-makers, and men of mental strength and training for governors and her judges. Thus the State itself; and its dignity, and
prosperity, and honor, depends upon the success of our system of education.
To maintain and energize it, we have endowed it with a landed estate equal
to a kingdom. For its constant and steady labors, we provide money, by taxation, upon all the people. We have thus opened the doors to the children of
the State, and tendered them free entry and welcome while tarrying within the
temples of knowledge.
There may be some whose parents will deprive them of this privilege,
either through carelessness, or through prejudice, which is the child of ignorance. And to guard against such deprivation, and to fully complete and round
out this educational system, we must have laws which shall compel the attendance at some school, either private or public, of all the children in Nebraska.
We have given land and paid money to the State to the end that education may
be universal, and may we not demand laws that shall secure the end?
The parent who maims the body of his child, who maltreats'End deforms
his offspring, is made answerable to the law, and is sent to prison.  And if the
State takes such care of the bodies of the children, and punishes those who
abuse them, may it not with still greater propriety, take care of and prevent the
dwarfing, the maiming, and mutilating of their immortal souls, through ignorance, enforced by ignorant or wicked parents?
The strength of the Republic is in the intelligence of the people; to disseminate intelligence is simply to perpetuate this Government, and therefore, laws
compelling the attendance at school of all children, are nothing more, nothing
less, than -wholesome laws, looking to and securing the permanency of the
American Union.
Who will oppose such legislation?  What argument shall be brought to
put it down, and by what cowards and demagogues shall it be uttered?
It is not to thinking and reading men a new idea. It was a living thought,
and animating great actions, three hundred years before the birth of Christ.
According to Plutarch, Alexander the Great, when he had led his resistless
legions against the Scythians and all Asia was subject to him, profoundly
studied how his authority and the laws of Greece should best be maintained
when he was at a distance. And to secure this object, Alexander selected
thirty thousand boys, and gave them masters to instruct them in Grecian literature. Here, then, was compulsory education, enforced upon the children of a
conquered people, not as a punishment, but to teach them the superiority of 
19
Grecian civilization, and of the laws, customs, and literature of the Athenians,
so that they, too, might be inspired with a love of them, and they, too, become
truly men of Athens.
Not any battles with the Barbarians, not all the conflicts with the Persians
nor the conquest of the armies of Darius, nor his magnanimity to the captive
family of that monarch, entitled Alexander to be called "the Great," so much
as did the enforcement of education upon the up-growing intellect of a nation
which he had made subject to his own.  He knew that knowledge would wean
humanity from barbarism, and that education alone could support the supreme
acy and glory of Greece.
The idea of compulsory education was alive then, and it lives to-day.  It
was practical then as a means of maintaining a government, and it is equally
practical to-day for the same purpose.
But we are told our schools may become sectarian or denominational. This
is a vain fear and groundless. The highways of knowledge are in no more
danger of becoming denominationalized than are the highways of commerce,
and no sane man objects to the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad for
fear it may become a Congregational railroad, nor to the Union Pacific for fear
it may get to be a Methodist, or a Baptist, or Presbyterian, or Roman Catholic
or Episcopalian railroad.
As the highways of travel and commerce are the servitors of the people, and
the purveyors to their physical comfort and material welfare, without sectarian
bias or influence, so shall our public schools, the highways leading to knowledge,
be the unsectarian mental servitors of the citizens, and trainers of the popular
mind, developing our intellectual resources and capacities, just as railroads do
our material wealth.
And while our public schools are unsectarian, they shall be not un-American. To be American, they will be not denominational, nor partizan, nor
must they foment or perpetuate political discord. On the other hand, they
should inspire a love of country, a pride of nationality, broad as our plains, inculcate integrity, solid and enduring as our mountains, and teach that the true
greatness of the American people will be best demonstrated by the learning, the
honesty, the temperance and morality of their leading statesmen. To awaken
in every youthful mind the grandest impetus to honorable life, a love of America, a love of liberty regulated by law, and a reverence for learning, a devotion
to truth, and a sincere and simple faith in that Majestic Mentality which marks
alike the planet's course and the sparrow's fall, is the true office of the American
school. Thus imperfectly we have come to the theme of the dignity of the
office of teacher.
The office to which attaches, in a Republican form of Government, the
greatest responsibilities is that of parent. The greatest influence upon the Republic is wielded from that position, and wielded, too, by woman, enjoying
alone the God-given rights of the highest, gravest, and most holy officeMOTHER!
The Queens of England form not one tenth so much the laws of that
country, direct not one-tenth so much its industries and prosperities, mental and
material, as do the mothers-our American Queens-in moulding the mental
and moral character of their sons and daughters of the United States.
Next after this office in influence of enduring and self-perpetuating charac 
20
ter, in dignity and grave responsibility, comes the office of the American
teacher. His it is to labor, during life, in the diffusion of knowledge, the spread
of intelligence among the people, who are the government.
He who could for a generation stop the schools of this Republic, close up
the avenues to learning, and drive the teachers into banishment, would have
effectually subverted the government ot the people.
The education, universal education of Americans, is the blood, and breath,
and the bone and sinew, and soul of the Republic. The office of those men and
women, whose duty it is to breathe the life of knowledge, the vitality of educa'
tion into a self-governing people of forty millions of souls, is worthy of the
exaltation, and should command the highest consideration of every thinker in
all this broad and beautiful land.
The teacher makes his mental mark upon an individual pupil to-day; tomorrow that pupil, himself a teacher, rewrites on a hundred human minds the
influence and character of that first instructor.
In two generations, the ideas, the mental habits and characteristics of a
single teacher in a primary school, will have seized upon and permeated a
million of sentient beings. This result is inevitable.
It is as certain that the intellectual, and moral character of the teacher
shall make its impress upon the mind of the pupil, as that the sunlight shall
write your correct image in the camera and make it your photograph.
The office of teacher reaches forward into the remotest future, and, handling
the viewless machinery of mind, forms governments, and moulds civilizations
yet unborn.
The architect plans and constructs temples and palaces in solid masonry,
and with iron and with wood, rears aloft our public edifices-monuments to his
own skill, and a reflex of the intellectuality of the age in which he lives. This
beautiful and symmetrical building is his work. Long may it stand, usefully
may it flourish for generations!
We call his office one of gravity and responsibility, yet it is only the
grouping, mapping together, inrform and true proportion, of such rough and
perishable things as brick and mortar.
But the teacher, who within these walls, plans the mental strength of the
people, who maps here the young and vigorous intellect of this young and
vigorous State, is the architect who carves out of individual minds, skilled in
knowledge, and adapted, each to its place, the temples of good government and
of civil and religious liberty. These edifices will crumble, and their very dust be
carried away by the winds. But the architecture of the mentality of the comnionwealth, which here shall have been given solidity and symmetry, shall endure
forever and ever. It will influence and ornament the ages to come, and finally
become a part of the imperishable structures of the house not made with hands,
which fadeth not away-eternal in the heavens. The profession of the teacher
is fraught with responsibilities, and interwoven with duties of such dignity
that it spans the valley and shadow of death as with a bridge which crosses
up to the judgment seat of God Himself.
Those who adopt it should be pure men and women, realizing the magnitude of the eternal responsibilities which it entails. Far-reaching as to the last
mortal that shall be born upon earth, high-aspiring as the pearly gates beyond the stars, the influence of the teacher is coexistent with mind itself. 
Two hundred and forty years before the Christiarn Era, Cato discoursed upon
the exalted position of the teacher, and amid his manifold duties as Censor of
Rome, "took upon himself the office of schoolmaster to his own son, though
he had a slave named Chlilo, who was a good grammiarian, and taught several
other children."  But the noble Roman tells us that he did not choose that his
son should be reprimanded by a slave, or tl)at he should be indebted to so mean
a person for his education.  He was, therefore, (says Plutarch) himnself his
preceptor in grammar, and in law, and wrote histories for him with his own
,hands, in large characters, that, without stirring out of his father's house, he
might gain a knowledge of the great actions of the ancient Romans, and of the
customs of his country.
Surely we in the nineteenth century should be able to see, in our light,
clearly the dignity of that office which Cato so revered and  honored, by
accepting, even in the dim light of the misty morning time of human knowledge; before yet the letters of the alphabet had began their tireless labors of
sowing thok)ughts broadcast, up and down the mental fallow-fields of all the
world.
The sculptor who wakes from formless sleep in the solid marble the statue
or exact image of the poet, the philosopher, or the statesman, attains fame; and
such as Powers, and Mills, and Randolph Rogers, among Americans, we
cherish with national pride. Their works stand pre-eminent among the adorn ments of the National Capital, and there Columbus, the discoverer, Washington, the founder, Jackson, the defender, Lincoln, the protector, breathe
again in their marble counterfeits.
The work of the statuary approximates what men call immortality more
nearly than any other materialistic labor.
Phidias, the Athenian sculptor, whose sublime conceptions were wrought
in the ornaments of the Parthenon, and many of which are at this day preserved among the marbles of the British Museum, achieved perhaps the most
lasting fame of any of the ancient statuaries. He lived and executed its works
more than two thousand years ago, and this is longevity even for marble men.
But the American teacher, even in our common schools, is a sculptor, whose
works, in the undying marble of human mentality, shall outlive the stone
images of the Greek and the Roman; these mental images will loom up among
'.he statesmen and benefactors of our race forever, reflecting and immnortalizing
the genius of those who carved, and shaped, and toned them in the plastic days
of youth in the studies of the schools.
The American educator carves a statuary out of the minds of the youth
whom he instructs, which is co-immortal with the soul itself, a statuary which
shall always stand in the pantheon of our country's history, and at last, its
symmetry, and beauty, and perfection be examined in the light of etedrnity, by
Him who first carved the mental man in the image of the Divine mind.
The schoolmaster, in the humblest school building in Nebraska, is quietly
but certainly, developing a statuary which shall outlive Parian marble and
time itself-a statuary, which through the endless cycles of eternity, either in
Heaven or in hell, shall attest his fidelity to his trust, and his comprehension
of the vastness and delicacy of the work lie has undertaken.
We demand for Nebraska educated educators. We demand professional,
trained Teachers; men and women of irreproachable character, and well-tested
21
0 
abilities. We demand from our legislature, laws raising the standard of  the
profession and exalting the office of the teacher.
As the doctor of medicine or the practicioner at law is only admitted
'within the pale of his calling upon the production of his parchment or certificates, so the applicant for the position of instructor in our primary and other
schools, should be required by law to first produce his diploma, his authority
to teach from the Normal Schools.
We call no uneducated quack or charlatan, to perform surgery upon the
bodies of our children lest they may be deformecl, crippled and maimed physically all their lives.  Let us take equal care that we intrust the development of
the mental faculties to skilled instructors, of magnanimous character, that the
mentalities of our children may be not mutilated, deformed, and crippled to halt
and limp through all the centuries of their never ending lives.  The deformed
body will die, and be forever put out of our sight under the ground, but a mind
made monstrous by bad teaching, dies not but stalks forever among the ages,
an immortal mockery of the Divine Image:
The compensation for the services of a proficient teacher in the primary
schools should be equal to that of a competent physician or lawyer, or minister
of the gospel. His salary should be sufficient to command all of his time, all
of his abilities, all of his efforts, and relieve him of any concern whatever, as
to his decent and comfortable maintenance.
The professor in the High Schools, the University, and the Normal School
should be paid so well that the best educators of the union may be attracted, as
they have been, to our employ, and personally interested in the educational
development of the State,
The people in every country should be alive and sensitive to the care of
their schools, and to the fact that this University offers free access to the higher
walks of science wherein the youth of Nebraska may attain the highest honors
and distinction.
If these facts be appreciated, if these precious advantages be improved,
thirty years from to-day the Alumni of this institution will have made their
impress for the good, the true and the ennobling upon every statute law in
the State, upon every school district in every county; and the ripened fruits of
this system of education will cluster richly in the legislative, executive, and
judicial departments of the entire Commonwealth.
Here is free education.
The emoluments of the instructors depend not upon the number of students
nor the number who graduate in any of the departments. The honors of the
University of Nebraska, because money does not buy them, will be all the
more sacred. He who gets a degree here must pay for it in honest,' wvorthy
ambitious weeks and months and years of mental toil.  The people demand,
genuinely earned diplomas and their standard of requirements will be high as
the endowment and support of the institution is broad and liberal.
Not family influence nor partizan power shall here pluck unearned honors.
Only true mental merit and honest effort shall here receive the laurels.
To graduate from the University of Nebraska shall be an honor among her
people even now, and the day is not distant when her Diploma shall be at par
with those of Yale, Union, Harvard, and the University of Michigan, all over
the world of Literature and of Art.
22 
23
As in ancient Rome, the gates of Janus were thrown open to indicate
existing war, so to-day we open wide the doors of the University of the State
of Nebraska, as a token of perpetual, organized, systematized war against
ignorance and bigotry and intolerance and vice in every form among the people
of this State and the youth who in a few fleeting years, will become its legislators, its judges and its governors.
To the good citizens of the city of Lincoln is committed the formation of
the society and influences which shall immediately surround the social life of
this school. They must remember that as disease is infectious, and good health
never, and only preserved by temperate living and good habits, so evil habits
are contagious and pure character only protected by pure associations. Upon
them much of the success and influence of this institution depends, for they
can by municipal regulations as to the youth of the State who shall here assemble, answer in some degree that supreme supplication of the Lord's Prayer,
"Deliver us from evil, Lead us not into temptation."
Every good man and woman who lives here should make it an especial
study and a sleepless duty to render the social and moral atmosphere of the
student pleasant and pure, and if this be accomplished the prosperity and usefulness of the University has received a help which no man can estimate and
your city a blessing which no mere material prosperity can secure.
MR. CHANCELLOR, AND GENTLEMEN OF THE FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA:
As a citizen of this youthful and sturdy State it affords me the sincerest
satisfaction to welcome you in the name of all the people to the high and honorable duties of your responsible positions; and in doing this I am permitted
also to congratulate you most heartily upon the fact that public sentiment
throughout the State is united in friendship for this most beneficent enterprize.
Neither political nor denominational prejudice dares utter one word to dishearten
or weaken that sentiment. The whole soul of the State breathes aspirations
for your prosperity and usefulness.
One of the grandest of material labors is the reduction of untried lands to
tillage. Here upon these timberless plains for sixteen years, in nurseries and in
gardens, intelligent industry has been growing trees, until now new forests are
waving in the winds and rich foliage is shimmering in the sunlight where then
was the blank monotony of prairies. Savants believe that these groves have
changed the climate, and experience confirms in us their faith. We know that
-our winters are less rigorous and our summers less arid and oppressive, and
timber out of which to construct buildings more abundant. To-day all over the
State in our school houses we are germinating mental men and women, they
are being cultivated in our educational nurseries; soon they will be transplanted
by you and trained into a higher growth and more stately proportions, and
thus shall our moral and intellectual climate be ripened and refined and the
timber out of which to construct a strong State become more abundant.
But while the tillage of this bountiful soil brings forth fruit that perishes,
the cultivation of mind in which you engage, will yield fruit as imperishable as
the rewards and penalties of eternity itselt. As now, leaves and the fruit are
falling in the orchard, preparatory to the icy sleep of winter, and we have faith
that in the early summer time, under the genial sunshine, there will again come
buds and bloom and fruit; so you are assured that, though the pupils you 
instruct will pass from the sumnmer of youth to the autumn of age,- and at last
sink into the winter of the grave; there is an immiortal spring time coming, al
Eternal summer, when-God grant it!-your careful culture shall bear fruits of
inestimable worth and unfading beauty.  Every instructor should be constantly
conscious that he has adopted that calling which was made high and honorabl(
more than eighteen hundred years ago by that Divine Teacher whom God
ordained to begin the education of the world.  Every true educator must
remember that his high exemplar is He who taught as never manl taught-whio
imparted that profound wisdom, that sublime knowledge which has been to
mankind a consecration, that Teacher by the "spiritual splendor of whose
Being the ages have been lighted upward forever," and in whose look  and
precept and action, were supreme dignity, and beast y, and charity, and infinite
consolation.
cm
24
-N  
Letter from President  Ira Mayhew.
DETROIT, MICHIGAN, August 29, 1871.
DEAxn Sir:-Siicerely regretting my inability to attend the inaugural exercises of the
Universitv of Nebraska on the 6th of September, I yet rejoice that so many of our newer
States are like yours, laying broad and sure foundations for future greatness in providing so
amply for both common schools and higher education. The manifest tendency at the present
time to conform courses of study to the prospective wants of students, I believe to be an
indication of greater good to coming generations than is now generally appreciated. Many
progressive educators, I doubt lot, are building better than they are aware. Young men
will better take culture when studying with a specfic object in view,fthan when they have no
well laid plans to work out, or high purpose to fulfill. I hope and trust, sir, you may be able
to build well for the youth of Nebraska, and for the early and permanent greatness of the
State.  Regretting my inability to be present with the friends of popular education on so
auspicious an occasion, that I might personally tender to you my congratulations,
I am, dear sir, faithfully yours.
IRA MAYHEW.
Ho.-. A. R. BENTON. I.incoln. Nebraska.
Letter from Hon. Geo. H. Pendleton.
CINCINNATI, OHIO, Autgust 30, 1871.
A. R. BENTON, ESQ., Chancellor, etc.:
jfy Dear Hir' — I have to acknowledge the receipt of your polite invitation to be present
at the inauguration exercises of the University of Nebraska, on the 6th of September.
I regret that I am constrained to forego the pleasure. An acceptance would add greatly
to the interest of a visit which I have long desired to make to your State. We can scarcely
realize that you are about to inaugurate a University munificently endowed, in a State which
so lately attained to the dignity even of a territorial government.  It is a striking illustration
of the fact so full of satisfaction to the patriot as well as the philanthropist, that everywhere
in our country, institutions of learning and religion keep well apace with the footsteps of our
race.  I trust the University of Nebraska will be eminently successful and that its career
will be as useful to the future generations as its foundation is honorable to this.
I am, very repectfully,
GEO. H. PENDLETON.
Letter from Hon. Wmn. Bross.
!ON. J. STEELING MOt;TON:
Hy Dear Sir:-I have to acknowledge with many thanks the receipt of an invitation toI
ttend " The inaugural exercises of the University of Nebraska," on September 6. I regret
ery much that my other engagements will render it impossible for me to attend. I beg to
ssure you, however, of the deep interest I take in the progress and the prosperity of your
oble State.  The establishment of a University at so early a day in your history is worthy
f all praise and has my best wishes for its abundant success.
Very truly, your ob't servant,
WM. BROSS.
TRIBUcNE EDITOeRIAL 41OOMS,
CHICAGO, September 4, 1871. I