Radio address, "Thirty-Seven Years on the Farm"

Title

Radio address, "Thirty-Seven Years on the Farm"

Subject

Perin, Senator Willis, 1869-1930
University of Nebraska (Lincoln campus). School of Agriculture

Description

S.W. Perin describes his job as superintendent of the college farm and some of the things that have gone on in his years there.

Creator

Perin, Senator Willis, 1869-1930

Source

Nebraska State Historical Society, Collection Number: RG2376, Box: 6 Folder: S6 F2 Pages 1-4.

Publisher

Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries

Date

1926

Rights

Contact the Nebraska State Historical Society

Transcription

Not an alumnae, not a teacher, just one of the hired men, On September 16, 1889 at 10 A.M. I was employed as Forman of the University Farm by L. E. Hicks, Acting Director, salary $60 per month, and the house we lived in. I think it is conceded by most of the folks at the Ag College that I am still the youngest man on campus, but when Mr. Holtz asked me to give a five-minute talk and I began to look up the date of coming to the Farm, I found I was not so young.
Of the men who were on the faculty at that time only three remain, --Dean Sherman, J. Stuart Dales and Professor Fossler. I come next in number of years of service. What changes have taken place since then! At the City Campus was old U Hall, Chemistry Building, the Armory and Nebraska Hall, also a little frame house built for Dr. Billings where he kept the cows that grazed on the campus. The campus was surrounded by a dilapidated cedar hedge, which was later replaced by the old iron fence.
At the Farm of 320 acres there were the old stone house, built in 1867, an animal house for Dr. Billings, the Horse Barn, machine shed, corn crib, hog house, and shop, and our dwelling house, which had been built for a dormitory to house students who did chores for their board and room. The boys received 10 cents an hour for their work. Two boys occupied each room and took care of their own room, which was heated with a little stove and lighted by a kerosene lamp.
There was one of these stoves in a room when we moved in. I wish I had kept it: for it would be a relic now and I would like to present it to Professor Fossler, for it was in his room. Professor Fossler, who is still with us, Conway McMillen, who is at the University of Minnesota, Charles Magowan, who was governor of Cuba and the Panama Zone, were some of the boys of those days. Mr. Magowan’s mother lived in the old stone house and boarded the boys. The boys had all their classes downtown. They drove a team hitched to a lumber wagon down to the City Campus, put the team in a livery barn, stayed all day, and then came home and did chores.
Somewhat different from the big automobile bus which makes the trip from farm to City Campus in 20 minutes! At that time Mrs. Perin charged $3.50 a week for board and room, and the professors who took dinner at the Farm paid 15 cents a meal. They were real live boys with healthy appetites, and it was some task for Mrs. Perin, who had four children of her own. At one time six boys occupied the big room right above our dining room and we often feared the hanging lamp would land on the dining table or the ceiling would come down. Times and conditions have changed, but not boy nature. Almost every winter at the meetings of Organized Agriculture some of those boys come up and say “Hello.. Daddy Perin”. You know it sounds good. Somehow the old memories and friends seem nearest and dearest after all.
In 1890 the nearest street car line was 27th and Holdrege or 22rd and Vine, ¾ mile from the campus. It was my pleasant duty to take the spring wagon to meet the Regents, important visitors, or the new professors and their wives. Then the nest thing was to take the latter house hunting. We soon got a carragie and driving team, and many were the trips I made, meeting the Professors in bad weather. In winter I would meet them with the bob-sled, bring them out for their classes and take them back at night.
All the experimental work done in the first year was carried out on the ground south of the trees where the Old Boiler house stand and from 33rd street to the drive into the grounds. This and the athletic field were all in small plats devoted to experiment. We tried out every kind of grain and forage plant that would grow. We raised a carload of chicory one year and shipped it to Fremont, where there was a factory.
All the experimental and farm work was under my care. Dean Bessey was Acting Chancellor, Professor Hicks geologist and Acting Director. I bought everything the Farm needed with money from the sale of stock and grain, and made a report once a month to Judge Dales and Prof. Hicks.
There were five and a half miles of osage orange hedge on the Farm, which had to be trimmed twice a year. Finally it was decided to remove it, and what hard work we had pulling it! The first 60 rods were pulled with a block and tackle and team, the rest with an engine. We thought the S. W. 40 acres was all that would ever be needed for buildings and campus, but we now have the west 160 acres in buildings, athletic grounds, campus, feed lots, and are beginning to go over on the east quarter. When in 1899 the Experimental Station was built we thought we had all the buildings we would ever need. In 1899 Dean Burnett came to us, and what a help he has been to all of us, always ready to help in every way, level-headed, of sound, quick judgment, full of good horse sense that is none too common.
I suppose no one connected with the institution is more pleased with the growth of the University than I am, especially with the Agricultural College end of it. When there was talk of starting a school at the Farm, Judge Dales and Ma Smith laughed about it and thought it would not amount to much. At the start our boys had to go to the City Campus for their work, later when they could get it at the Ag College and the University students had to come to us, I was delighted. Chancellor Avery was our chemist for a short time before being made Chancellor, and now the Regents have seen fit to come to us again for a Chancellor.
In a book “These Fifty Years” written by R. P. Crawford, most all of these things I have told you are recorded. Any alumnus who is interested in the early history of the University and the farm may procure a copy by writing to Mr. Crawford.

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Citation

Perin, Senator Willis, 1869-1930 , “Radio address, "Thirty-Seven Years on the Farm",” Nebraska U, accessed March 29, 2024, https://unlhistory.unl.edu/items/show/638.

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