THE HESPERIAN STUDENT
fib
J.
with library dust and the ashes of hopes consumed,
and all his existence is as "dreary as a twice told
tale, vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man." The
value of theme work is undoubted, but it will wear
the student out and bring on nervous prostration
quicker than any any thing else in the curriculum.
N. B. Ye, powers that guide our educational destinies!
One fact is to be noticed in the comparison of our
courses in this school which may be but probably
is not to the credit of the classical course as compar
ed with tht literary. This fact is that in the class
ical course the required studies of the senior year
treat almost entirely of subjects differimg from those
that have made up the body of the course. Philo
sophy, Geology, Political Economy etc. come us an
agreeable change, amounting almost to a rest,to those
who have been grinding ior three years on mathemat
ics and the dead languages. In the literary course on
the other hand, the senior studies in history, Ancient
Law and the Constitutional History of England, are
the severest studies in that line which the course con
tains, and are in exactly the same line as a large share
of the previous work. The same is substantially
true of the senior Literature, and so the unfortunate
rascal who has expected to loaf during his final year
finds it necessary to grind away harder than ever un
til the final vacation sets him at liberty. Is it
well?
We would modestly suggest that when our Y. M.
and Y. W. C. A. are arranging their next list of sub
jects for weekly prayer they do not forget to set aside
an evening in which to pray for good sense. Not
that they are more, or even as much in need of it as
many other people, but simply because it is a thing
thatso many forget to make definite efforts to attain.
In organizations where the improvement of charac
ter in themselves and others is the main object the
memben endeavor to attain, it would be peculiarly
fitting that efforts looking to the attainment of a bap
tism of common sense should be put forth. Prayers
for a growth in grace, or an increased faith, or a
spirit of foigiveness, or a spirit of all self-abnegation,
or "a broken and a contrite heart" are all excellent
in their way, but even the splendid trio of attributes
faith, hope, and charity will make a very wishy-washy
kind of citizen unless they are bottomed on the
rock of sound judgement. It was a Frenchman of
course who shrewdly observed that many com
plained of having a poor memory, but none of being
afflicted with a lack of sense. This omission in the
estimate of a man's own intellectual make-up is almost
exactly paralleled by the oversight of most Christians
ini their moments of introspection, and the recollec
tion of this fact will perhaps c'ear up some "dark
spots in their religious experience."
College enmities are one of the most disagreeable
features in student life. "Men," says Gail Hamilton
"are pretty much of a muchness," and wherever hu
man beings are drawn together in considerable num
bers, there will be found in operation the laws of
social crystallography. A great ocean of washy elo
quence to the contrary notwithstanding, man is a
distrustful animal and one that it is often necessary
to distrust. Even if one feels sure that those about
him are disposed to act fairly he still remembers
that a given action appears so different as viewed
from varying stand-points and that good sense and good
back-bone are essential to a character that shall be in
any way reliable. Without believing in the tolal de"
pravity of our enemies we yet find excuses for believ
ing that they are depraved enough to play some very
mean tricks, and we accordingly impute wrong mo
tives to the most innocent actions, inevitably, clan
jshness thus tends to intensify and perpetuate itself.
A mutual hatred will often do more to unite a set of
persons than anything else combined as is seen
when societies, literary or other, thrive only when
vigorously opposed. But one who always seeks for the
inevitable good resulting from each evil will not have
in this instance to look in vain. The practical diffi
culties that lie in the way of being charitable may
just as well be encountered at one time as at another.
There are such things in this world a? befogged brains,
stretchy consciences, and weak backs, and the sooner
we learn to make our calculations accordingly the
less likely will we be to make mistakes.
0MTI0I8M
If authors wore wise they would never bo so rash as to
write qiiotublo sentences. Could they fairly realign the
nto which in to bol'all those, unqoslionably they would
bo withold. For once launched forth they are consign
ed to a pilgrimage the horrors of which are loo awful to
speak of. 7 hey are in ado to servo all classes, high and
low. Many limes thoy are brought Into such degnid.
cd society that they are in danger of losing casto them
selves. Thoy are tacked upon all sorts of composi
tions, County Newspaper editorials, collego orations,
tho pooilcal effusions of some sentimental maniac
Finally we become so weary of hearing thorn played
upon by all sorts of instruments that wo at last con
clude thoy themselves are detestable.
It Is amusing to sec how ,men seize upon every
semblance of greatness, imagining that this is the road
to the real possession. Sumo suppose that attention,
to particulars is tho all-Important thing, and spend
their lifo quibbling about trifles. Others think tho
goal is to be attained by certain courses of study,
perhaps tio CIub leal or Scientific. Again per everance
is credited with the desired result,and holder of tills doc-