Whig and tribune. [volume] (Jackson, Tenn.) 1870-1877, 1873-06-21

cOu4N not see ~. GA used 10 think
lac was near-sightcd,- because he had
3 close way of locking at things
( he IS shaving notes by this time.)
How very tall you used to think the
trees around the old schoOlhOuse
were and when you saw the larger
boys climb up the great limbs and
perform such wonderful gymuastic
feats npOn them you thought you
were fertunate in being permitted
to I've IN the same age and 10 assO-
clate with such daring spirits. No
one, you thought, had ever before
had the privilege of cOasting down
30 steep hill as the one just in rear
of the playground. IL was yOur
Alps. What tall fences and tremen-
dOus gates they used to build in
those days, especially around the
gaFdens where the straw berries and
apples grew. There is another
place no boy ever forgets, that is the
gaTret II the old family mansion
where he used to pass the rainy DAYS
when he could not 90 to school
. Your heart clings TO the roof tree
of the old family garret with a
grateful affection that the after
years, whatever may De their sue
eesses or their honors, can never re-
move. What capital fun it was 10
search in its corners and drag out
some bit of quaint old furniture
with broken leg and lay a cushion
across i, and tx your reins upOn the
Hons claws of the feet and then gal
Top away. What nObler forage
gfOUnt could there DC for = roman
frf riaFr
9a1sa sissssiUf sAnrlii- Ii il 4 uenfef.t
field of chivalry The heavy rafters,
the big trunks to hide in, the old
white coats and hats hanging in OBJ
scure corners like ghosts. What
large liberty you enjoyed up there
exercising the activity Of your voice
and muscle. Il was great F: There
is another recollection Of those hap
py days of which you never. speak,
but if IS the dearest OF them all
Neither the boy who climbed so
high, nor the boy who knOutcd you
with his handkerchief, through your
sdmiratien for the one or fear OF the
ether could ever have extracted
from you confession of your first
boy love. OF course she had curls.
as graceful as Hogarth's lines of
beauty, and wore the tiniest red
shoes over the prettiest foot that
ever dashed deW-drOps from a cow
slip. BOYS always fall in love with
curis and red shoes. In other re-
spects she may be as ugly as the
Sphinx or as beautiful as 3 Peri Just
out Of Paradise, il is ali the same.
You we're eighteen years old before
you found out that q glance of their
soft eyes could send your heart
"tingling up to the shimmering
stars and that there was some
thing else in the anatomy Of girls
beside euFis and red shoes.
By the time you had reached this
period, in your EprOgress in the
science OF female lOYliness, you
found that your views of life, and
all your tastes were greatly mOdi-
fed. You are a college boy now.
Just that period when il is difficult
for you to determine which you de-
served most, sympathy and encOur-
agemeRt, or a tomahawk. About
this time you had an exalted idea of
that uncertain quality-Which turns
the minds of great many of your
fellows called genius. An odd ne
ton, which seems inherent in col
ege.ehambers, that there are certain
faculties of the mind, which, when
developed, accomplishes whatever
il chooses, without pains-taking and
labor. You cultivate this unfortu-
nate illusion for awhile, in the usual
college fashion, by drinking a great
deal of strong coffee; by writing q
few verses in the Byronic temper,
and by studying very late at night
with closed blinds. Y Ou learned
however, eventually, that all the
traditions among very young men,
that certain characters had achieved
lGistinction, by kind of inspiration;
As it were-was all a mistake and
that there are no rivals so formida-
bfes as those earnest. actefnined
minds, which reckon the value Of
every hour, and which achieve emil
DeRce by persistent application.
"Nothing makes the scent lie so well,
! in the hunt after distinction-as la
bor." Learning this, you 20 10
| work in earnest, and take up some
glowing page of an earnest thinker,
and read deep aud long, until you
| feel the metal of his thoughts tink-
]
clashes of ideas that give the mind
light and heat" You wonder at
| the fecundity of what seemed so
barren, and at the ripeness of what
| seemed so crude. The glow of toll
wakes you to a consciousness of
your own capacity. Then it is, YOU
feel grateful to the musty tones,
| which before stood like curiosity
4 making mummies, with no warmth
and no vitality. Now they grow
| into the aIections-like new found
| friends, and gain a hold upon the
| heart, aud light fire in the brain;
tina. the years and the mold cannot
| cover, nor quench. Then il was
! you needed sympathy and encour-
agenent.
about this time other changes
took place in your habits and views
! of life. Your Sdmiration for the
I boy who performed such wonderful
I feafs upon the topmost limbs of the
trees, has yielded to the nice young
/ man who does the German and the
! laneers with an air of French grace
and English indifference. You de-
spise marbles and base ball, and ar
feet French carOm and billiard cues.
/ You 90 to cigars as pig does to rye
! straws. You cease TO watch on the
corners for curls and red shoes, but
reserve ali your talents for exager-
ated chignOns, aPochrypha backs
and French CATERS. You don t vis-
il the girls now, but you $50 10 see
the women - generally Young
ladies' about two years your senior
! who only tolerated yOu because they
have a natural fondness for pOodles.
y on took immoderately to one. who
I seemed always fresh from tho clear
stare cher: who wrote such delightful
notes, had a seal with cupid and A
dart ran through il. She read Ten
nyson and Thadeus, Of Warsaw
pronounced il Thaduce. Of Warner
y ou acgulred inspiration by read.
ing Petrarch and Madame de Staei
And when you withdrew from heI
| presence, II was either 10 20 and
| dream, of L0Hra and Co-rinne. or Il
meet some OF she men from
the college, and make y night Of it
in that Yesiibuie o the temple o
Lucina-s drinking saloon. You
calm, deliberate Judgment, now j.
that you needed tomahaw king then
II l. strange what contrarietie
and what repugnant element
oftentimes 60 70 make Up the char
acter of 4 college boy One hoU
he Is . close, attentive, enthusiastic
student; the next, I wild, rockies
debaachee. one moment he is q
brave and chiyalFOus as a knight o
the round table; the next, ne is a.
abJect coward fearing that his sin
: may find him out Noble, gcnerou
and honorable. yet ne OfteRtime
: robs himself OF life's brightest Jew
: ell, an approving conscience. lie re
minds me OF the storyof the statue
? made, I believe, b. Phidias, tn