St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-04-21
Wy Academic Career.
IA. W. Tourgee, in Our Continent. !

an inmate OF lUS ACdutlnN. IL WIS all
episode which seems to have no more
relation to my life than the Virgilian
hero's trip to Hades had to do with
the story of the Kneid. | was from
the West and of the West. The breath
of lake and prairie was i'll my nOstrils
and their untamed wildness i'll my
heart, together with some of the lat
ter's verdancy as have since been led
to suspect.
The haze of Indian summer was on
the Berkshire hills when l first saw
them, and the HousatOnic rippled
gracefully along between banks brown
with liverwOrt or green with after
math, and studded with yellow will
lows whose leaves the autumn had al
ready scared. How well | remember
the delights of those few days OF gold
and purple How beautiful were the
painted hills, the dark hemlocks, the
white armed birches, the gray rocks,
the hazy distance, the meadows, the
river, the day But, oh, the night
Never was young soul thrilled with
more horrible Visions The crash,
crash of the restless mIll-wheels and
the grOan of the weary engines that
came to me through the darkness were
the background of horrible imagery.
What fearful sadness and misery was
in their grOaning 1t seemed the very
outfit of Gehenna. Darkness and dis
cord Lethe falling into the bottom
less abysms and the groans of the
damned mingling with the dull rush of
its ghOstly waters Oh, how longed
when the sun went down for the gen
tie murmur, steady splash or kingly
roar of native lake to come through
the darkness and bring me the thought
of home. | was like the Peri i'll Para
disc, hungering for an earthly love
in the midst of heavenly delights. /
knew the West was not so fair, but it
was the West and | was of it. The
gypsy-like love of distance was i'll my
heart, and the hills cramped me. Then
the winter came, and hated it-hated
| it as if it had been prison, Il desert, a
hell.
In this mood | became IA student of
the ACADEMY" "Lord of myself al
most from my earliest years, | had not
fancied the restraints of the school
room, though anxious enough for the
results of study. Books had been my
tutors, the woods or the shore my acad-
emia, and a dog my schOolmate.
! Thanks to IL hard censorship, | was
not deficient in the studies of my age !;
indeed in solid requirements was con-
siderably in advance, though | did not
know it then.
How well | remember the first day
in the Academy. | walked from East
Lee. The road was frozen hard.
There was a fine hail blowing which
stung like serpent as | trudged across
Water street to the old Red Lion,
with the bleak hill on one side and the
frozen river on the other. 1t was cold
and dull and cheerless, but | wished
the road had no end at all. would
rather have gone on trudging over the
knobs forever than have to 90 up the
steps of the Academy and into that
room. | knew where it was. | had
reconnoitered the field III force the
week before. | knew by fatal intui-
ton Just where | was to do or die.
was early enough, but did not 90 i'll on
my arrival | tried to decide which
was the worst evil, to go among that
crowd of unknown boys and girls and
endure their merciless review before
the master came, or go into the pres
ence of Rhadamanthus himself and
take the worst that could come al
once ! decided on the latter, because
it was furthest off in point of time
Where | stayed until the bell rang
, have forgotten, though | have Il lurk-
ing impression that | harbOred on the
leeward side of the Methodist churcl
during that interval. Some time there.
after | tip tOed into the hall, hung my
5 cap on ii hook, listed at the door of the
5 Principals room, and after much hest
tation went-dOwn into the cellar
did not stay there until the recess, fo
: | hated the ridicule of the young tiend
! worse than the judgment of Rhadaman
! thus. SO | went back presently, lift
I ed the latch and entered the room
and thought that
Ten thousand thousand hOrrid eyes
D Were looking down in flame"
; Then the room turned round a grea
Z many times and everything grew darl
and strangely mixed up. | found my
> self finally sitting oil one of the from
d benches on the right of the aisle, wit
:, Rhadamanthus standing over NE an,
making anxious inquiry as to my pat
rOnymic and Christian names. He al
so asked me what | had studied, wha
u | wished to study, and many question
y to test my proficiency. That he wa
a not displeased with my answers wa
o apparent, yet he did not utter wor
of approval nor attempt the shadow {
5 a smile. He only said when he ha
s concluded:
d "You may go to Miss Bells room
and she will see if you are advance
enough to enter her philosophy class.
A boy with light blue eyes, nj
|, brown hair, which had a latent incl
IS nation to curl, as remember franl
n open face and form full of easy grac,
4 about my own age, was directed to p
u lot me the way to Miss Bells room
st which he did with infinite good natul
Dt and bOyish tact, assuring me that
Df was "all right" that Rhadamanthr
~ had put me through an lawful exam
~ ination," and that everybody cOul
10 see that he was pleased the best in IL
4 world with me. And thus he rattle
ii on "while one with moderate has
10 might tell hundred" then took n
into Miss Bells room, introduced N
le to her with an easy address and lie
III me in her hands. | think | hay
u heard that this boy is dead-if not,
of ought to be, for he was good enOug
to have died very young indeed. If
is still living, | have no doubt he eel
s. Oes the pathetic lines of Hood:
s. its little joy
To know I'm farther off from heaven
" Than when a boy"
IS. His name might have been Gage, b
I'd it was not, which is the chief reasC
no why he will be called by that name
this sketch.
Miss Bell, to whose hands | was col
We mitted for the time, was a gent
rt brOwn-eyed young lady, whose eve
ev motion was grace a born teacher, a