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Show . i , , , ; . 1 , 1 , 1 . ,m. QUELLING STUDENT LAW-BREAKERS AT MADISON. . th5 typical college town the student is supreme. Old inhabitants in-habitants look on him with fond indulgence; the business people depend on him for their bread and butter; the young people all dream of the' day when they too can be.college students; and the "authorities," which generally consist of the Town Marshal and the Constable, have long since learned not to interfere with the "boys," even if it should please them to burn the town as a mild diversion. The college town is generally a narrow, town, speaking in a broader sense. There is supposed to be, and quite often really is, a lot of "culture, but students, faculty and even the townspeo- , pie see things through the college door; the great outside world in ! their estimation is populated by inferior beings; the only life really worth living is that of the library, the lecture hall and the football field. , ' . The above summary of the college town does not apply to college student is made to see more clearly his relative importance, cities that are entitled to the name of such. In a large place the The State of Wisconsin is loyal to her university and is deservedly proud of it. The young men who have gained their education at Madison have been shining examples for their younger brothers ; the football and baseball teams have made good records. But the Madison Madi-son authorities have not the boundless enthusiasm which will permit, per-mit, the collegians to rpn the town. The university year opened the other, day and the students began to have a jollification. V Their hilarity soon passed from the harmless stage to the point of a riot. When told to calm down they invited the officers to transfer themselves to a warmer clime than that of the Wisconsin city and proceeded to. tear things up. Then, the Mayor stepped in and or- ' dered the officers to arm themselves, to quell all disorders and to shoot any person who resisted an officer. That put a stop, to the rioting; it gave the students a new and saner idea of their own importance im-portance and will add much to the advantages of Madison as a residential resi-dential and business center. t .. . ' . ."Boys will be boys is the philosophy of the college town; and so when the football team or the debating club or the baseball nine wins a game the students are permitted to act like a lot of untamed 'savages, make night hideous with their yells of- glee and break municipal-law in a way which would land any one but a student behind be-hind the bars for a good, long sentence. This idea is all wrong. Four years of such an existence unfits the average youth for the real world in which he will have to live after his matriculation. For that reason the Madison authorities did the college students a good turn when they made them understand that they are not privi-- privi-- leged characters, but must obey the law as other citizens hare to do. Parents too often make a, mistake in sending their boys to the small college town; It is the exceptional youth who does not gain a distorted idea of life in theitypical college community. Let our 1 young men gain.their education where they do not lose connection x with the great world and its people. If the young man has the right stiff in him he will gain his education without falling a victim to the temptations of the city, and when he graduates he will not face the real life of the real world like a stranger in a strange land. |