The Then And The Now

THE THEN AND THE NOW

EX-SENATOR PALMER TELLS OF OLD ANN ARBORS

Hon. Thomas W. Palmer felt in his happiest mood yesterday rnorning as he sat upon the back veranda of the beautifnl residence of Wm. N. Brown, on Kingsley st., and looked down into the Huron valley and gazed away up on the boulevard. He pulled from his vest pocket one of the fine Spanish cigars he always carries and looking at it asked of the Free Press representative who had asked the favor of an interview: "Do you know which end of a cigar to put in your mouth?" The reporter had to admit as he looked at the cigar tapering at both ends that he did not. "Well," said Mr. Palmer, "I guess I have smoked ten thousand cigars I have never found that out yet, unless it be the opposite end from the one you light.

"What do I remember about the early days? I tell you, I have brought to my mind a good many things this morning as I drove around Ann Arbor. How many times I wished that I was a student again. I see you have lots of boarding houses here and I understand you can 't get good board less than $2.50 or $3. When I was here, the best board never cost more than $1 a week, and it beat anything I have ever had since. Our whole expenses for a year never went above $100 and I remember one of the rules of the university was that each student should have a guardian in Ann Arbor to look after his money and see that he didn't spend it foolishly. I have seen students since who would spend $100 in two weeks and never know where it went. But that was many years after '49.

"We had to go to church in those days. The faculty didn't seem to think that it was sufficient to get us out of bed before the roosters crowed week-day mornings to attend chapel, but on Sunday we had to go to church, too. But then, perhaps it would be a good thing if there were such rules in the university now."

"Was Ann Arbor as pretty in '49 as it is today?"

The ex-senator looked away down the valley and then said slowly: "I have always thought that Ann Arbor was the prettiest little town in the world, and I have seen a good many, too. Of conrse, the streets were not quite so well laid out as they are now, but even in those days we thought we had one of the nicest places in America for a university."