THE HESPERIAN
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slide upon a plane while its axis is par
aller' and what not1. Great Scott! My
head feels as though 1 had one dynamo
inside of it already,, which in combination
with several other varitios of buzz
wheels' would make a laboratory outfit
for a whole class of Electrical Engineer
ing students. IPs somewhat tougV on
mathematics; but I'm not goingto grind
at another problem or theorem tonight.
'My sonPs at war, my spirits in rebellion
so lie there Trigonometry and quit star
ing me in the face in such an ungodly
manner!
'fin going to take a run down Four
teenth street to 0. and then Pm going
to walk ''till bedtime and see what I can
see, I feel like the wretched remains of
'a ship-wrecked life' or words to that
'effect.
This bracing air is somewhat different
from the boxed-up article in my two dol
ilarroom. Tn there, Pve either got to
Iceep the stove red hot and nearly suffo
'cafe or open the window and nearly
freeze. It makes me feel like a criminal
to steal- from my mathematics in this
way. T suppose the folks at home think
ln 'always in my room at this time of
night, working awaj like a Trojan . Well
it isn't their fault that "Pm not. Pd
have stayed -out, of school this winter and
taught. That would have helped them
some.; bat they wouldn't hear to that,
'(Jveri if we -did get only eighty-five bush
efls 'of -corn this year; and have got a
-couple of notes coming due.
The air penetrates when a fellow walks.
Ah ! How oxhilcTatJiTig it is when one i ;
on a keen tuti and, witfli his head tossed
back, cam inhale a long brea'Uh throngh
widely expanded nostrils amdUhon stretch
ont for a seventy-tfvc yard spmt. This
is a capital place ifor -a qua 'nfecsr wile trim,
hei'c on tpoin'teentih.
Th light of Uhe street is ipoon, and liho
shadows cast by the aw light -change and
waver and form into all sorts of imagin
able, writhing shapes on the pavement.
Those lights on the Capitol dome seem
like far away planets; and their twisting,
dazzling rays make the darkness above
seem doubly intense.
Heres 0 street It looks like a differ
ent world Even down as far as Four
teenth there arc Christmas windows.
Each one of these poor little storekeepers
has been doing his utmost to present the
most enticing window
There seem to be a great many steps
in evolution taking place as I walk from
Fourteenth up 0 street to the we t . How
different the Christmas windows appear
in these large stores. Some of them
show excellent taste in arrangement of
colors. Perhaps Pm no judge as to ar
tistic merit? but as I'm a pretty fair rep
resentative of the -great middle cla, 1
think I t-onld say with good authority
that these windows are perfect works of
art, as far as the tastes of the common
herd would demand
We middle class people seem to he
rather a purposeless set. As a rule,
weve generally some vague idea abont
self improvement; but that's jnst the
trouble with all our ideas, they're always
vague. We never seem to gel beyond a
vague appreciation of anything except
that we generally have a vety keen ap
preciation of our own mediocrity.
Tt may be narrowing for a man to Ik a
specialist; but if I could only find some
side of my native which, if -cultivated,
would give me power in some god In"
of work, Pd consider myself a ln('k
man. Even if 1 should be able to excel
in some line only at the expense of wmi
other faculties; and Pd be perfectly will
ing to be known as uneducated, narrow
minded, and machine-like, with a ftow
many other similar adjectives throw tii.
Nothing is more hateful than medioeri
in all lines of work that a Mow tries to
perform