51
SKIjIMIOAIUUNO IiKTTRllB.
vol. viu,
by religious opinions ns in England and
America. Elevk.
SELF.BOA1WING.
The fact that so many students of this
University are working their own way, is,
it seems to me, a sure sign of earnestness
on their part, and the fact that those, who
are in bettor circumstances, have enough
respect for native talent and industry to
honor with an oilice one who cleans his
own frying pan seems to indicate a fair
degree of sense all around.
The word "baching" would not make
an elegant title, and it is not an elegant
occupation; but to the initiated, it im
plies far more than its derivation if it
has one would warrant. If one has
''bached it," while going to school, this
magic word calls up additional felicities
or miseries. "Which, depends upon the
individual.
There rises before his mind's eye, a
room, not very largo nor always very
clean, containing almost everything from
an unblackcd eoolcstovo to a Latin lexi
con. A Greek grammar lies close to the
frying pan, and a sack of corn. meal leans
lovingly against a bed, whose slats have a
habit of dropping down in the dead of
night. It biings to him vague memories
of essay writing and burned pork; of
black molasses and lamp chimneys; of
refractory problems and mush kettles; of
hard lessons and harder beds; and, com.
pciisaliug for all IhohO, the thought that
he was responsible to no one.
We have all read of great men, w'ho,
when young, boarded themselves on next
to nothing. So far as my observation
goes, the students ot this University are
not trying that plan. They believe
that "if you want a horse to win the race,
you must give him plenty of oats;" and
some of them say it is their opinion that
the great men aforesaid lived on black
bread because they were too lazy to clean
the cooking utensils.
LETTE11S.
Sappho once made a riddle over which
many wise and learned puzzled; but to
no avail. It was as follows: " There is a
feminine creation who bears in her bos
oin a voiceless brood, yet they send forth
a clear voice over sea and land, to what
soever mortals they will; the absent hear
it, so do the deaf." They all failed to solve
it and she gave the answer. " A letter is
a thing essentially feminine in its charac
ter. It bears a brood in its bosom named
the alphabet. They aro voiceless, yet
speak to whom the will; and if any man
shall stand next to him who reads, will
ho not hear it?" In this riddle, that
seems rather clumsy, though a favorite
form of that time, the fomininiiy of a let
tor is recognized, though that was twenty
live centuries ago, when the majority of
women were absolutely excluded from all
culture and refinement. Indeed, Fatian
ascribed the origin of letters to a royal
Persian lady, so that, as the institution of
letter writing was born in a woman's
mind, it is truly titling that it should
have been most graced by woman's mind.
French women are especially noted for
their wonderful talents in this Held of lit
culture, for letters undoubtedly have a
place in literature, and the correspond
ence of aSevigneand DeSlael prove, most
conclusively, that women are better letter,
writers than men even as they are belter
talkers. Do Quincy once said, "All who
would read our language in its native
beaut', picturesque from idiomatic prop
erty, racy in its phraseology, delicate yet
sinewy in its position, should steal the
malPiags and break all the letters in female
handwriting."
How many thousand wives and mothers
find their only relief for pent up feelings
and . over-burdened hearts in lelter-writ.
ing! Women whoso lives aro rich with
experience, and to whom many truths are
revealed in long days and nights of toil
and watching. Although all feminine
writers may not possess .the remarkable