New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-01-25
TIE RECORD OF FIFTY YEARS
"REMINISCENCES OF A'JOuRNALiSl'
BY CHARLES 7. CoNGDoN
VII.
UNIVERSITY DAYS

Mrs THEN AND NOW.
Puzzle al Wis aio. Of course of tic first nnp"r-
tauce. H. -cvCIai chapter lave naturally d"ft
rpon ifcu aHa mon what remembered OF pnhhc
men la d. rrcucc to lib Sc who care III lie 81 noun
iex for su.s .h.nes. a return, breaking somewhat
Tho rnonotn Of gossip may be Tade 20 books ana
TO ieachcr.. H. Peter Baylc, III the chronological
history Il ia, lfo notes. under u certain Ga'c
THIS day i.esan the study of Greek" lwc'i re-
oe,ubor tie Gly upon which ] did the same thing
,.i -con.plac n,iv roaming about. de'octas III hand
md tor,,cntiii, every body with the nphabei uhii
il.cr,, wa discharged nj me- the following guar
iiain: q" As my daily lesson sung, hepea''he
Alpna Beta Gimma Delta. The woman ignorant
n, the G,r-jau tongue MStook for At her beat
i.rl d her, ucit herp After that ! was less
fnnb.csnne. | am tcid that The examination 81
THOSE IN quest cf mat1culaion il now seVerer thah
If once was; but our boys can lmClv crawl 10 the
ordeal with darker forebodiI.g~. aud with less o
morning ~ their faces. than we did. Dear niue
DIR. Choucs trots UP Concrc-st., in Providence
At the head of a string OF us. all has
particular young freLds, a. he takes
ARE 10 lnf,Im ihe authorities OF Brown University.
from the smallest tutor to the great president DIR.
FfancI, Nayiand. whom
"C,clc tou.ntcm crod'dinus Iovcm reerare."
# seem, to bc particularly hard mai CT at pres
.,t 20 maintain the dlsclpn and 90 preserve the
good ori,.. f colleges DIR. Wa}land never had the
least a. ni.a.iA. lie was dIsoheS ed with fear aud
TREMBLING and th- hOldcst did not care TO en-
rounfcr Nj, hovu. He was majestic in manner, and
could assume If be pleased, Rhadamanthlnc So
ycrty. il WAS "a calamity 10 lie called INTO t"at
twfnl presence aud no student Of whatever charac-
ter ever made the least precnce OF not hcing fright
,ued at H., Summons. Such braVado nobody would
have believed in; he who INDUCED in IT would have
been launched at. However loosely orr tongues
might wac we thoroughly respected and even rev.
.renced the president, and upon public occasions.
when he put on his academic gown ana
cap, we w,Ic rather proud OF his I'M
posing appearance. We told each other
,yrr and over again, how many times he
.ewrote the great sermon on " The Moral
Dignity OF the Missionary Enterprise before DC
could hiring II to perfection which satlsfed MS
rigd taste AID Judgment. The more enthusiastic
IN, STONED whether Robert Hall achieved anything
iGer Freshmen believed IN his book on PoilticaI
Economy and seniors did his treatise on Moral
Philosophy tie honor of refuting several of its more
important propositions. There were traditions O1
the frighuiul state in which he found the Unver-
utv upon assuming lis government. after the an
srchy of Dr. MeSser's timc and OF the vigOT with
which he reduced IL good Order and studlOns dill
renee If he had less of the suarter in DodO than OF
INC toriiter IN re- am not snTe that there was any
reason to regret the deficiency, for he had to deal
With tbougItless young pcOp'e who were none The
worse for feeling the heavy hand of master There
we're those who thought his frnness akin to obstn-
icy. hui il must be remembered that he was man
,lproound convictions, Of faStidiOns conscience and
Of opinions not laziiy aniyeA at His temper every
one knew 10 he naturally hot and high but nobody
could know bow severely it was tried or what efforts
he made TO control it, III his laterdays. have been
he eNlI ted rkpI
lrbanity and sweetness of disposition Certainly
there were small traces of either when anv under
graduate was DEF ected in act If meanness or
diagram. violation of the University statutes lie
had heavy foot for students door when 1t was
not pronptlv opened after his official knock. Once
when we wero bent upon Illuminating the college
in honor of some festive occasion and contrary 10
lis express Iijunctous he exhibited his abilities IN
this way most effecinay HqlO puisdf pede We
nnoted from Horace as we fed from ms wrath ard
,aw one row of lights extiuguiShed after another.
We were in great fear of suspension or of expulsion
for some days after To tell the truth some of us.
with reason enough, were usually in state of APP
prehcn,ion One young gentleman whose conscience
WIS e>pecially cowaTdly that morning par
alyzrd a. be was crossing The campus by hearing
hi, name called IN BoanercIan style. Heavens it
WAS the Doctor who was beckOnIng 10 hun lie
thought huiricdly of all his misdemeanors OF the
week inst past-for which of them was he now 70
be- brought to judgmcntl What was his
astonislnemt, his exquisite sense Of relef
when the President merely said: &C,
have y0u chew of tobacco to spare" For
the Doctor was shameless consumer OF the Indian
weed. and some intricate speculation in philosophy
or theology had been brought TO sudden standstll
hy an unlmely vacuum in the Doctors box.
One reads with kind of awe the marveliouSly
miscellaneous curriculum which modern ideas OF lib
rral education have introduced into our American
colleges The young Bachelors must know little
of great many things In my time 1t was Greek.
Latin and mathematics, and mathematics. Latin
and Greek for the first two years at least, unless
the superficial instruction in rhetoric aud olocutiOn
is to be taken into account But the limited course
which is now held in such small esteem. far
from contemplate in its results. Ii is all very well
to say that the men forget their Greek and Latin,
or lind neither of much in the practical business
of after life. The grammar aud vocabulary they
may forget but the taste, the literary sense. the
critical Judgment which. other things being equal
follow early classical training. seldom lost. One
who has been uUrtnred when young upon such diet
rarely degeneraes into Philistine In DR.. HO-
ratio b. Hackett we had classical teacher of
distinguished abilities aud Accomplishments. lie
NAV not have known as much Latin as Goftlob
Heyne. nor AS much Greek as DIR. Person, but he
had quite enough of both for our young stomachs.
espoc ally when the recitation was before breakfast.
used to think him for the sixteenth century.
He should have been employed III that KIND OF
mastadonan annotat0n which swelled the spare
remains of VelIcius Paterculus into chubby quarto
of a thousand pages. Perhaps it was not altogether
our fault if we could not relish the discussion OF
disputed reading Of Ivy of Tactus as he reiished
it, But | still think with admiration and re-
gret now that just triile wiser, OF the inno-
cent arts by which this erudte teacher sought to be-