THE HESPERIAN STUDENT.
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and tlelr groat wrongs and more petty meannesses which
lhy hid from their nearosl friend, subtract something
r oin what wo miglit have been. Neither their good nor
their ovil has been interred with their bones but both
linve entered into the great sum totai of humanity.
Tho thought lingers for a moment over tlio last net of
liis city's tragedy.
Tho haughty city of tho Hills sees kneeling at her feet
the humbled city of tho waters and ruthlessly raises an
iron shod heel to crush out tho last spark of its existence
Carthage, for mnny jeni 8 subject to the mistress of tho
world, has submissively given up her treasure, her sub
jects, her licet the pride of tho people's heart. Next the
mandate comes to surrender her anus and trust to the
m'rcj to the plighted woid of her conqueror who
fears the inevitable struggle with a nations' anger. Even
hero the broken spirit yields and the weapons, honored
in many a battle whose sheen has startled bold hearts
within Roman walls--those weapons tarnished with Ro
man blood and bright with Phoenician honor have
their points at last turned toward their masters and are
laid at the feet of the enemy. All this has been done for
love of tho native city which is in a stranger's power; a
love of which tho ever shifting people of our day can
have no conception for it was hallowed by tho strongest
association of religion and family. And when empty
arsenal lacked the steel shimmer when tho sword was
drawn and cast away leaving only the bare scabbard an
order came, its terror weakened by the horror struck
accents of the mcssciigors, that the beloved city, doprived
by Us peoples' allectiou of its defence, must l)j razed to
tho earth and of those tempos whoso images wero on
shrined in their very souls no stone was to bo left upon
another.
No colors can paint out the grief at the tidings but tho
stern despair that follows tho thought. At the mental
picture of tuined homo and shattered idols the palm
itches for tho sword hilt and masses of humanity Invade
the great armories only to shake off their lethargy and
seize wnapons, more suited than those lost for him who
fights f r homo and fireside. From tho clash and din of
"busy hammers closing rivets up" the turrets crown, tho
workman's tool, tho altar rail come forth well fitted for
the hand of the great war god, now invoked. The templo
pillar swinging on long ropes whoso strands are wo
men's hair will soon warm tho Ronton legions not to
trifle with a desparlng enemy. As the confident enemy
waited for tokens of surrender swords wero mado from
bloody thought and curses hammered into spears; walls
-were manned and armed with human desperation whoso
"strength was learned in n bloody repulse. So all tho
treacherv, tho perjury tho faith worse than Punlo sufllced
not to lay the proud city in the dust until three yours of
helpless and hopeless waiting of a blifckness broken
only now and then by a transient gleam brought to tho
to tho Romans an ally too strong to bo resisted. Want,
weakness and stern unity of purpose at last placo the
foreign legions at tho head of tho threo groat city streets,
with nothing barring their further progress to absolute
possession but tho invisible bulwark of u people's cour
age. In those 'three narrow streets every house is a castle
in a Benso never dreamed of by those to whnm tho old
proverb is a household word. Even thoso wl o had
faced Hannibal dared uot run that awful gaunt let which
paled the barbarous custom of old to utter insignificance.
Eacli of those strongholds must ho stormed as a fortress
apart and for six long days and nights wont on that bat
tle of the streets. From house to house to house, from
roof to roof those steel clad vvarriors forced back their
unmailed adversaries.' A struggle whoso only result,
must be death to the weaker party, roused all the savago
fceliugs of tho beast at bay and mercy was neither sought
nor given. No battle of later times can compare with
the last death throes of Carthag.) for In her died a na
tion Rome's greatest rival. And when the bloody strug
gle was over and the few brave survivors deigned to
accept their lives from the victors what account could
be given by tho world's mistress For the "lofty domes
and frowning ramparts" she could only point to a heap
of stones from which f lie Arab and many another should
quarry materials for other and b-ss splendid cities. For
the millions of souls of which she had constituted her
self tho guardian what remained but lifeless bodies and
and a fow thousands of homeless exiles whoso only futuro
should be to live again the- past in memory and mutter
maledictions pu the destroyer of their happiness?
J. II. IIoiiMKs.
A COMMUNICATION.
There is at present a mighty upheava', -in effort to
make tho Student a credit to tho institution. The Stu
dent has languished uudei financial oinbarassincnts for
sometime with no apparent source of relief; and with
the little support that the state had given we could
scarcely hope to see the mechanical appearance of tho
paper much improved. There is an effort at piescntto
make tho appearance of tho paper all that can ho desired
To-gether with tit is it snouts necessary to raise the liter
ary tone of (lie paper if such a tiling is possible Tho
amount of time that the average student has to devoto
this department is not very considerable, but no person
siotild accept a position on ihe paper unless he expects
to give his attention to its work, and is willing to dovoto
Ills best momenta to its interests. Such poisons, to bo
sure, are tew, and so are successful journalists fow, but'
only thu efforts of such persons can wo hopo to see tho
Student take tho position our University merits, and bo
a true exponent of our work here. A. R.
.A change of quite a radical nature lias taken placo in
thu management of tho Student; the board of editors
has been cut down from eight to five, their lorm in
creased to one year; the departments are not specified in
our constitution as before, thus doing away with the cut-and-dried
appearance of regulated papers. Add to
litis that a reasonably strong force of editors havo been
appointed and tho future of the IIkspeman looks bright
for the coming semester. It is axiomatic to us that a
large corps of editors is not for tho best interest of a col
lege paper. There should bo but one editor to a depart
ment to accomplish tho most and the best possible in it.
Two or moro will either shirk or quarrol over tho spaco.
allotted to thorn jointly. Under the present constitution
and tho nowly-elected management, if tho Student will
uot take a prominent placo among the organs of colleges
wo will bo very much disappointed.