Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1870-03-17
Buying Brains. /.
Cheap College Honors.

I A writer in the Chicago Tr;t
une on this subject, after alludinI
to the careless and indiscriminat,
manner in which honors are be
slowed by the majority of Amer
ican colleges, and how any mar
OF ordinary enterprise can gradu
ate in almost any college, though
he be numb-skull, without am
scholarship whatever, says:
Another method of stealing
through college is to employ some
Bohemian to write the exercises
which they are called upon &c
deliver in public. A successful
public demonstration by college
studentisastrong recommendation
for a diploma, and many excellent
and honest professors woader how
it is that men invariably dull N
their classes and exercises make
their mark at the annual com.
fnencements. The reason Is that
they are plagiarists who read the
product of the brains of pooreg bat
better men and receive credit ae-
cordingly. This traffic in litera-
ture Is growing very common. 1t
is becoming an abuse that ought
to be exposed and checked, not
only on account of It's fraudulent
character, but also because it is in
juricus to students who will not
study, and in bringing many of
our educational institutions into
contempt.
|. In Chicago there are any num-
ber of literary men who are ready
at a moments notice, to concoet a
speech on any given subject for a
proper consideration. Many an
oration delivered in legislative bod
les, for which the speaker gets due
credit, has been paid for on deliv-
cry. These Bohemian gentlemen
will write on any side of any
question, and make out as good an
argument on one side as on the
other. 1t is purely a Business mat
ter with them. For the time be.
ing they ignore their own opin-
ions, if they have any, and like
Artemus Ward, have mary SEN
timent." The way they get bust
ness is by inserting the following
advertisement in a daily paper ::
Speeches, sermons, &C., written
to order at short notice. Address
a., Tribune Office.
This brings numerous applica-
tions from persons willing to wear
borrowed plumes, because they
have none of their own. Country
clergymen send for original SER
mons on stated texts. Members
of rural debating societies and of
rural corporations anxious to as.
tonlsh the natives, apply for chi
ialutin" speeches; aspiring politi-
clans ask for a denunciatory effu-
sion, spiced with anecdotes, and
love-lorn youths send the front
names Of their beloved, with a de-
tailed description of her charms,
and want a poem made to fit.
Students in colleges want some
thing for an annual commence
ment or for debate or a lecture.
One calls tor an ''impromptu adj
dress carefully prepared, another
San able sermon on the Mount"
another for "an eppic poem, in
Mr.. Millions stile," and SO en-.
There is a respectable college
in the State of Illinois, whose
students are addicted to making
themselves famous, or Infamous,
on other mems brains. About a
year ago one of them came to
this city and engaged q gentle
maD, as a coach, to drive him
mis- course. lie was
smart. gentlemanly-l looking fellow
Of about %, gifted with a glib
tongue and unbounded audacity.
He said he was in his first year,
and wanted TO create a favorable
impression on the faculty by some
public 'tsplurges.' There was to
be 9 debate in the town, snd he