OCR Text |
Show "HOME, SWEET IIOML,." iIjonne,'say,n few brief words to the ladies an(P aentlomen of the state legislature. '$o on, Build that dormitory for girls at tho State T!bTlverslty. Thero will be few demands In the course of this or any other session of tho legislature which so combine necessity with policy, as is the case with that proposed dormitory for girls. Hero is an actual and a pressing need. Here is a demand i that comes from every section of the state, and vhich can be nnswered only in tho county and the city of Salt Lake. If you be a member Trom one of the counties away from the capital, reflect on the faot that the men who pay taxes in your district are sanding girls, every now and again, to study at the state university. They have a r'ght to. It is tho only chance they have to get action on tho money they aro putting up now for our per diem .not to speak of per noctum. It is their only chance to collect on the expenditure for tho much money they have been paying for the rearing of the girls, and for the cause of education edu-cation in a preparatory way. Not every tax payer from an out-county has a S-irl who will want to go to the Stato University this year. But there aro Other yoars, and thero aro ether girls coming on. Every county in the stato either now has representation on the registrais books at tho "U," or will be roprosented thore In future. And tho longer you wait the more will be , the need of a place for those girls to live In the manner we all want our girls to follow when they ' go away from home. Maybe you are a mere man, and. don't know the hardship it is for a girl to live Ln a city, far from ( home, and go from a boarding house to tho "U" lor study and recitation. Maybe you think it e: ' for a girl to got along as well in a flat, or In some i inexpensive hall bedroom of a private home, as ir a dormitory made expressly for tho purpose of ' housing girl students at the University. But if you lack that information, be advised by those who know that it is. a hardship which wo should not subject them to If we possibly can help It. , There Is the matter of temptations. I don't pretend to threaten you with stating the likelihood of a girl going wrong where she has no real home; i.c place whore she can feel she has a right and u welcome. But I am telling you the plain truth rnd if you live in one of the out-counties you ought ' to know it that she Is In mora danger of forget- ting tho good influence of mother and the sound and loving advice of father, when she is In any old place that will receive her and take her money. Tho girls do the best they can. You know they come up hor with a limited amount of funds. They may be provided in what seems a sufficient . manner by the "old folks at home." But they have to economize. They don't want to waste tho good allowance that is given them. And they make the best terms they can for a place to live. It is far from the University. It has nothing on earth to do with that big Institution. It is hos- 1 tile to tho girl, in everything but the matter of tho little cash it can get her to give up. She has r-o rights, no privileges. Yot she is a human being. be-ing. And if you are going to subject her to the temptations of tho possible Invitation to occasionally occasion-ally hnvo a good time in an evening with young people, you are not doing right by your own. 1 On tho other hand, supposing you are n res!- ) dent of Salt Lake City, or the great and glorious " ' county of Salt Lake. Here is a big State University. Univer-sity. Hero .is a growing group of buildings that ; are oomploting the work long ago begun down '' thero in what is now the old high school, on tho West gido, Tho proposed building will do much for the city. It will go far -to make 'the Institution ; what the foundors of the University hoped it might be. It will bo a most Important oontribu- tion to tho clustor of structures of which the young '! stato of Utah may well be proud. v. That is your ' selfish incentive f. But back of that Is the fact that you are a clil- 1 jsn of tho whole state; that you are interested in till Utah; that you want the best interests of the state- conserved- I tell you there is mo interest in this or any other state so Important as those that I rertain to the girls of that state. And the 'girl that has tho preparation for the University, and the courage to come away from her country homn and pursue her studies there, has something more tluin tho- ordinary claims of girlhood to plead for Her. GTVd her and all her sisters who coma from tho oufc-coufntles, tho blessings of a homo.. For that is what a dormitory Is to them. It is a refuge. It is a place where they coji have seclusion, and their own little home decorations; where they own their rooms as much as If they had title deeds to the house and lot. There they can, under perfectly per-fectly prudent regulations, entertain their friends. 1 There, they can be perfectly at homo whan they don't feel well. There they can study without interruption, in-terruption, and with no apologies to any peering landlady. Thoro they can be comfortable, and independent, in-dependent, aind live the life of a scholar. There thoy can' give Weir innocent parties to their friends. There thoy can draw a little away fiom tho world that is no! interested, and there they can make greater progress with school work than in any other place on earth. And living at tho dorm will cost thorn less, too. There will never be a better time, financially, for the stato of Utah to provide tho building. It aiever will be more needed than now. There ought to be some places better than this where tho cost may be pared away. Hero is a state that always was devoted to education; edu-cation; a state that has ever taken a loving care of its girls. This is mo time to tell them that there is no money for anything but pay for legislators, legis-lators, however capable and honest. Now is the time to fulfill the promise implied In every step of the preparation for the education of the girls of Utah. 60 on. Give them the- dorm. |