Page:A History of the University of Chicago by Thomas Wakefield Goodspeed.djvu/519

 THE DEVELOPING UNIVERSITY 453 University Song" of the first quarter-century and gave promise of long retaining this place of honor. The words of the song follow : To-day we gladly sing the praise Of her who owns us as her sons; Our loyal voices let us raise, And bless her with our benisons. Of all fair mothers, fairest she, Most wise of all that wisest be, Most true of all the true, say we, Is our dear Alma Mater. Her mighty learning we would tell, Tho' life is something more than lore; She could not love her sons so well, Loved she not truth and honor more. We praise her breadth of charity, Her faith that truth shall make men free, That right shall live eternally, We praise our Alma Mater. The City White hath fled the earth, But where the azure waters lie, A nobler city hath its birth, The City Gray that ne'er shall die. For decades and for centuries, Its battlemented tow'rs shall rise, Beneath the hope-filled western skies, 'Tis our dear Alma Mater. The college debating society which was once so prominent a feature of college life in the United States, did not flourish in the University. There were such societies, but they languished or passed away. This was perhaps due to the fact that the University had a Department of Public Speaking in which the students received training in debating and elocution. However that may be, oratory and debates found their places in the University life. Prizes were awarded for oratorical and debating excellence. These increased from year to year until they amounted to about twelve hundred dollars annually. The University was represented in the oratorical and debating leagues of the western universities, and sometimes its