Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1873-12-12
LETTER FROM ANN ARBOR.
UNIVERSITY OF MIcuiGAs, Dec. 5, 1873

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, Dec. 5, 1873.
Ed. JougSAL: There is something aitrac-
tive, fascinating that is too CAV a word
perhaps deeply enjoyable viii about college
life which, it seems, caan4t be well expressed
in English, for m,nv p.ns haye attempted it but
always with moderate success. Whether this
difficulty is due to the very superior order Of en-
joyment to be expressed, or to the weakness Of
ourllngulge is hard to say +; but there are Ger.
tanly many foreign words which are near to the
thought, and especially in the French. and
which present themselves for service, but one
cannot use 4 en-, for il he understands them,
others less favored may not, and 50 the italics
are lett out, aud a writer's eIudlion fails 10 get
a display on the "bill boards" as somebody
calls newspaper pages. There is sumethng
deeply enjoyable in college life, aud who has not
often wondered in what was its secret spring
II cannot be in the gnycty and fascination Of So
cietv, in all cases, for this would not nrply 10
all of the society about the University. 1t can
not be exclusively in the rigorous mental train
ing and close application. It is equally certain
that it is not alone in the frivolous olIitics and
jokes, and scrapcs Of the fellows, for those who
really enjoy, most often find least enjoyment in
these. And 50 it seems that the secret is in the
opportunity for study, for acquisition, for cul-
ture, far self-cxnmnatiun and Improvement, and
for that to which every man comes some day,
sooner or later, to laying the foundation Of roa
character fabric. And what can involve mere
interest than this pre- cess. which must be initia-
| ted, and which is liCe-work TO be sure, bu.
| which receives dali y touches, whether con-
| sciously or not. For man, or manhucd, to
whatever state or condition he or it arrives at
does so by degrees, as the rocks upon the shore
are neither formed or wasted away in a single
day. And wonder, and write it down at the
same time, what more than this character, mau-
hood building, there is IN life any how ? What
more there is in existence than the assimilation
Of its forms? lfby forces are meant not only
vitality and energy, but power Of thought and
quality Of heart.
But no matter whether the cause Of it is set.
tied or not, and no matter where whether
among the gay, rollicking fellows At Yale and
Harvard, at more sedate Amherst and Cornell
at quiet Oberlin, furnishing il may bo all the
more satisfaction from her steady ways and 50
Der AIRS. or at our own university, gayer per-
haps, and it is charged m re frivolous, than all
the rest the student luves tho life he leads
/ no less than Alma Mater herself.
But set out to speak of some of tho direc
tons in which one finds, in the pursait of books
so large measure Of intellectual prefl aud
now It appears that have seriously diverted
with perfect justice | presume, this may be
charged to the time of wriGing-the close Of ;h o
week. Friday evening is A general time for un-
bending. Physics is cast aside, "Tulfy' IS"
mathematics no longer call up the ghostly shad-
ows of ilunks," and the terrGrs Greek hi stu
ry are forgotten in many WAYS chief of which
are songs. Aud my abstraction will not seem
strange when say that for the past two hours
IN an adjoining room, half score Of Juniors have
passed well through the Catalogue OF funny coll
lege songs. One Of these iuns-
Il wish | was in Boston City
Where all the glrs they are 50 pretty,
II didn't have time twould be pity, &C."
Another-
ooh her fathers name was Moses.
Here checks were like the roses,
Her shoes were out at the tnc-ses-
Way down ON the Bigclow farm"
And now they sing "Old NOAH
ole drove the nnmles in two by two,
The elephant aud the kangaroo.
And then he nailed the matches down
And told outsiders they might drown.
Full forty days he sailed arouai,
And then he ran tn old seOW aeraund."
think the one th"v Just strike up will close
The soiree. IL is kuuwH as " Sucking elder
through straw, aud closes with this touching
staELa--
" And wten bv chance The short straw slips.
III suck he cider lruui Ior ps."
G.. sc.