THE HESPEKIAN.
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In Harvard university, every student that refuses to
take gymnasium work and show whether he has any
particular trait that will fit him for a certain sport,
is treated with contempt. Would it not be a good
plan to do the same thing here? If a man has so lit.
tic spirit that he refuses to take part in any college
affair, should he not be treated with contempt? To
be sure, not all of us can make foot ball players, or
base ball players. But, perhaps, we can play lawn
tennis, or become orators. There is certainly no one
that cannot take part in some college interest. The
university has become one of the leading educational
institutions in the west. There is no reason why we
should not be one of the leading colleges, if not the
leading college, in athletics. But if we expect to
lead, or even to be one of the leaders, we must take
more of an interest in these matters. It behooves
each and every one of us to do all in our power to
put the university where she belongs. If we cannot
become athletes, we should turn to something else.
There is a vast field open to us to bring glory, not
only to the U. of N. but to ourselves as well. Let
us improve it.
LITERARY.
The nook or Llfo.
Could I hut look into the future,
Read o'er a page from the great hook of fate,
How my life might he changed for the better.
Ere 1 heard the dread signal "too late."
Should I read thnt my name will be noble,
That 'twill live after flesh has decayed;
That my life will be held as a model
Of beauty which years cannot fade.
Or shall I be lost to all knowledge,
A drop in the great sea of men?
Tell me, Time, as you hurl mc from college,
Will my life be happiness then?
"No, no," answered Time, "be contented,
Take each day as 'tis given to you,
Make it sweeter and purer and happier
Than the last, that's all you need do . " t
Make the best of each day that is given;
What a beautiful life that would be,
Each leaf better still, 'neatli blue heavens
And the last, for the whole world to see.
Jugt a cup of cold water been given;
There the poor of this world has been fed,
And here to the great God in heaven
A poor, wayward soul has been led.
On, on each page, in rare color
With tints from the sunny land,
Would shine deeds that were done for many
All for love not because they wore granJ
How much nobler and sweeter and grandoi
Than having a name just known to men,
Or being 'mong earth's fading flowers,
A favorite, my harvest I'll reap then.
No more can I sit in brainless mixtures
To read from the great book of fate,
If I fill up my life, all with pictures,
I must work ere the day grow too late.
Grack R. Waiji.
Mrs. II. II. Higgins of Washington, has gone to the island
of Ceylon to fill the position of superintendent of the society
for the promotion of women's education.
An KiirIIhIi Voet.
We prjnt below the winning oration on Palladian Chase
and Wheeler oratorical contest. Miss Minnie DePuc, of the
class of '92, was the successful contestant.
We say, "Charity begins at home." Perhaps nowhere in
all this broad world has genius suffered so much as in old
England. How little does she deserve some of her brightest
sons! Think of the trials of Shakespeare, of the sufferings
of Milton, of the death of Keats! Truly they were without
honor in their own time and in their own country. Men pre
fer to pull down the greater stature to the lower. The world
wants consolation for its own dullness and seeks ever for the
blcmWhes on the lustre of the sun. Not otherwise did it
treat the author of "Alastor." No man ever suffered moie
from the uncharitablencss of men than Percy Bysshc Shelley.
He started in life with a theory. With him every impulse,
every desire was given free course, restricted only by his
sense o( honor and ol self-respect. He had the courage to
carry his convictions of right even against the opinions ol
men and the laws of conventionality. Many ol his tirades
against custom ucre due to influences that surrounded him
in youth. He was little understood by his relatives. They
prized their position in society, their wealth, and the observ
ance ol conventional decencies above all things else. Their
laws were not his laws; nor their signt, his sight. No man
had a greater sympathy for humanity. No man was more
generous; no man more sincere and unselfish in his aims.
Shall we busy ourselves tracing the faded lines of his letters
that we may misconstrue them, or searching his ashes
that we may censure him, when we have him himself before
us in his living lines and have eyes to see, ears to hear, and
minds to understand?
Above all it must be remembered that Shelley lived in an
age when the spirit of the French revolution had taken a
strong hold upon the minds of men. Shelley caught that
spirit early in life. With a boy's impetuous enthusiasm he
carried it without discrimination into all things. Shelley's
father was a baronet, a neighbor and friend of the head of
the English aristocracy. He was a conservative, bigoied,
and obstinate Briton. With him reverence for authority and
exercise of it were the ends of life. The influence and
example of his father and of his family, as is often the case,
predisposed Shelley to a spirit of rebellion. Pcrhapi the
unbending formality in which he was brought .up contributed
to make him extravagant and persistent in the ardor of his
own convictions. He rebelled first against his own family.
When the strongest of all ties had been broken, it was easy
for him to disregard the less natural bonds imposed by soci
ety and public opinion. As he developed, this spirit moder
ated. He tempered it with that quality of gentleness and
sweetness which has given him his greatest charm. He made
of it something unique, something peculiarly his own. Yet
to this rebellious spirit, the outgrowth of his parentage anc
01 his early surroundings, are to be charged all the imperfec
tions that have turned men's minds against him.
He could not accept the doctrine of deism nor of the Eire
Supreme. Though he professed himseli an atheist, theie
were elements in his character at variance even with that
doctrine. Let it be remembered that the Christianity that
Shelley rejected was not th? Christianity of to-day. It lacked
the characteristics of charity and of love that he considered
the highest virtues. Let it be remembered, also, that his
most radical views were expressed before he was twenty
years of age. With purity of heart and conscientiousness of
principle, he followed the truth as ht knew it. He never
swerved from his convictions of right. Shall we not, there
to! c draw the mantle of charity over this youth, dazzled by
WU'I'JI'H HJ-"
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