New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1845-07-28
The Celebration Mt Union College.
Correspondence d The Tribune.
SCHENECTADY. Julv .,


letter from one Of the old graduates would not be
amiss. Several years have elapsed since left the
walls OF Union with the world all before me, while
the farewell the members Of our class gave each
other was as full of hope as of sadness, for they
were 70 60 out 10 measure strength with their Eel
lows and swim the current Of life for themselves
Since that time have never returned TO my Alma
Mater" and having been a wanderer in other lands
nv class mates one after another had dropped from
nv memory, but as trod the old green sward
again the long forgotten faces became familiar, and
found myself inquiring. " | wonder what has be-
come of this and that one ?" On entering the yard
Of the West College, at my arrival, met first les
il should be- the venerable President himself
grasped the old mans hand with the fervor OF
school boy, and in reply TO my inquiries after bis
health he replied. Not well day, not well but
am glad 10 see YOU" Passing on | entered the hall
and there stood crowd Of old graduates from the
boy Of last year to the old man OF nearly hiy years
ago while on every side it one flash OF JOY
fol recognitions Now one would come up aud
looking me in the face say, II remember your coun
| tenance, sir, but | can't call you by name " MI
H ooh yes how do you DO p and then
shake that tested the solidiy OF the shoulder bone
Another came with a hurrah OF joy as tree as the
shout he was wont to utter when a student \
cergyman-a fourth let me know OF his approach
with a slap on the back that sent the breath from
NV body while the hearty, loud " How are you
made the very walls ring again. Taking the hint
from this last who saluted me | gave an old chum
that Just then went staggering past with the same
old rolcking gait that was a laugh IN Itself, bio"
on the back that for the moment increased some
what the distance between us. What said |,
pass an old chum in that way not know me, ehi
| q" X now Won 2" he replied, with the first recovery
of his breath " should know you by that blow If
i, was dark as pitch" This is but a specimen OF
what was going on in the old College that kept II
self as s,aid and dignifed College ought TO-
At length. falling in with one of those curious
men that make il a point to keep track OF every
body began TO dig up one by one my old class
mates and acquaintances. wv here IL -, I'm
CURED He is a lawyer in Michigan. and -
a doctor in New York. " and young --
" Oh. he is n Catholic Priest now in Rome; C
is in State Prison at the west for forgery W
il a country parson and Y is turned merchant
u has gone to China and T is drunkard
" But where is I.-l' " He was shot not long
since in duel in South Carolina. Thus went
on making inquiries after one and another ana II
was wonderful to see how wide they were scatter
ed and how varied their fortunes, while II was
mournful to find how many had sunk at the very
starting point of lifc-thcir sun gone down at morn
ing One bright and brilliant fellow whose elo-
quence was like fire, slowly fading from men
hopes in the drunkards career. Some had fallen
ignobly and mournful silence rested over their
names: others had died with their harness on
some had disappointed their early promise, while
others had ous,ripped the fondest prophecies OF
friends. The scythe of death had swept hiiher and
thiiher without discrimination or care. and as look
ed back on the few years that had interviewed since
we all stood together with equal promise OF long
life train of mournful reflections swept through
me that for moment banishcd all my mirth and
made this reunion like visit to the burial place OF
friends There il something nconcelvably sad IN
thus gathering up the ravced threads OF history and
bringing back to the same spot and the same asso-
Citations the forms that once moved there and ielt
there What a change few years make In ones
view of life The young man bursts away from
College with the full belief that he has an entirely
new view of things and that he Is to shake men as
they have never before been shaken. Time and
experience soon teach him that this world Is rather
firmly fixed in its own way after all, and does not
move one side AT the first bidding.
Ii was touching to see how thin the representa-
tons of the older classes We're, and how the pro
ccssion thickened as il spread of TO toward 1870
and As. Two of the first class-old men who grad
uated in l797-lcd the They LEFT college m the
infancy of our Republication Rochester ana bui
fao. and all glorious Western New York, with It's
million of people existed only in the dreams OF
some poet Bonaparte had lived and storned over
the earth and died since. That wild continental
struggle had passed with all its terrors-War had
darkened over and disappeared. MI s"etinan,
of the first graduating class, IN his address spoke OF
the state of the country when he was student at
Union. He described the manner of going up and
down the Hudson and Mohawk in baiteaux, and
the wild untrod West that stretched away from
Herkimer and Oneida Counties 10 Niagara. such
"reminiscences from.a living man make the growth
of this country seem ike the visions OF dreamer
We will not speak OF the addresses, nor the DIN
ner, nor the dinner speeches. We will only say
H.
utmost cheerfulness-not that the dishes themselves
were not perfectly nice but the wind, which never
did cease blowing College Hill, as we most dis
tinctly remember had blown the dust over every ar
tice of food and every plate.
We were sorry however 10 notice one thing
among the present students of the College-they
were most of them mere boys. pale looking and
slender When will our parents learn that there is
such a thing az physical as well As men II educa
tion-that the body needs training as well as the
mind The steam spirit has got into every thing IN
this country and 10 gam tie seems to be the grand
desideraium Now these delicate creatures ought
TO be taken from college Immediately and put on
farm. till the constitution settles down firmly aud
the sinews become knit in vigorous exercise. To
saw nothing of vigorous men-vigorous IN mind and
bodv-vhch this course would secure time would
be gained by il in the end. The years that are
saved al the expense of health are the most costly OF
our lives Ii was sad also think how few OF those
youthful scholars would ever see the centennial an
niversary of their alma mater. Fifty years how
short the space would sweep that now happy
class into the world of spirits. We crowd each
other on, of the world only meeting now and then.
as Yesterday to shake hands and bid each other good
bye. H.
TO- AIuha Delta PhL-The different Chapters Of the
Alpha Della Phi society, viii hold Convention u New Ha
ven on the "Wednesday preceding the annual Commence
neat OF Yale College. August 2Oth)
New Haven July p. lSi5 y-o III
w ONCE Of the East River MUTUAL ln-. Co.