The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1889-06-13
TIIR MUTATIONS on TlMR.
An Old Student iIevl.lls the West Virginia
University,

An Old Student IlsylSlts the West Virginia
University.
Special Correspondence Of he IateliOareer.
MoRaANTowS, June l9.-It has been
seventeen years since ! made my last re.
citation in the West Virginia Univer.
sity. Nearly generation has sprung up
since then, and 1t is no wonder that an
old student OF tho Seventies" feels
"LIke one who treads alone 81,
Some banquet hall deserted"
although jostled by the crowds here,
who with smiling faces pass me by un-
noticed and unrecognized. The old has
made way for the new. Even the an.
Gent landmarks are changed. There
are new graves and higher monuments;
there are strange faces In familiar habi.
tations, and age and time have bent
forms and silverGo the hair Of many l
knew so well.
You will be informed Of the material
details Of the commencement week at
the University, but, II you will indulge
me, will dwell upon the sentimental
side and quarry the thoughts that now
press me from the rocks Of memory.
Morgantown to-day Is not what 1t was
seventeen years ago. l look around and
there Is nothing, but change, Changel
And cannot help but recalling the ia-
miliar lines,
How dear to my heart arc the scenes OF my
When fond recoilcctlOns bring them to view.
In all the sadness that the mutations
OF time have wrought there Is something
pleasant in my reflective, gloomy mood,
like unto tho tears that are a relief ton
deep sorrow.
In the Seventies" you reached Nor.
gantown after an eight hours ride IRON
Fairmont, in Numbering oldstage coach,
over torturous mountain path. Now,
you steam through in an hour and a
half. This Is indeed change. Instead
of climbing hills and dipping in the um.
brageous shades Of valleys, you take the
level and swish by at the foot Of the
wooded hills. The iron horse Is q civil
izer, but his advent in quiet country
town dispells many illusions, breaks up
tender associations and ruthlessly crush.
es the visions Of the dreamer. / would
rather BIO in the Morgantown ofls72 and
enjoy Its isolation from the world than
To look upon the changes Of two decades
that spread their remarkable evidences
OF advancement before me. Perhaps the
good people Of Morgantown will not agree
with me. 1hope they will not. 1tisto
their interest 10 advance; 1t Is mine to
repine.
When one has spent several years in
one place, and after many winters have
chilled the ground and summer suns
have warmed 1t into lie again 1t Is folly
TO expect to find things as they were
when you last saw the frost and first felt
the shadows. To revisit q college town
is mistake, but at the same time II Is a
lesson in life. Itisllke visiting q tomb.
The same trees may stand but new leaves
flutter in the wind. Marius in his exile
contemplating the ruins Of Carthage was
no more lonely than in the absence Of
things that were and people that now
are not.
When old WOODBURY. burned ii con-
sumed more than can ever be accounted
for. The spark that kindled thetire was
fiend that not only destroyed but
robbed. What cares the old student for
the stately edihCe that was Phnnixed
out OF the ashes Of It's destruCtion2 l
would rather, to-day, look on the home.
" facade OF that ancient building than
gaze on Corinthian columns and marble
halls, But men come and men 90. liz
Roi esl mort. Tite Le Roi.
Then there Is the old Seminary. 1t
has gone, and nothing but charred tim.
bers and memories remain. It wept
tears when Woodburn was illumined
and the heights were red In reflected
anger. Now II has vanished In the smoke
OF the past aud lis dying einbers sput-
tered out an honorable life.
l walked the streets, and where l
greeted old friends strange faces peered
out Of tho doors, and the finger board to
their abiding place pointed TO the mar.
bic deCked city Of tho dead, Where,
cried voice, are these men gone? The
same sun smiles to-day as warmed them
In life. But all 10 changed
But stay. There is one thing that has
not changed. The strawberry festival Is
"A Juvenile aB when its attractions first
moved my heart and depleted my purse
In 1872. In town 80 small and 80 80.
ciablo In nature II was not remarkable
that a student should readily have found
his affinity, and this combination was
always worked 10 the ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF
the strawberry, the leo cream and the
MULTIPLICATION Of the church treasury.
But where now 10 tho maiden, the youth,
tho yine.boweFed cottagop Nothing left
but the memory Of soft astral lights and
sWeot perfumes. All is change.
The sun has long ago Crltngoned the
wooded fringe Of the western hills, and
tho shadows orc creeping up the valleys,
Good nightsweet memories and tender
oSE or THE sRyESTY BOYS,