Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-28
A ROM-ANCE
THE
OXFORD SUMNER MEETING

but Kit never faltered, she went steadily
on, sternly attending all the lectures, even
when her head ached, and her eyes were
dim and unseeing with the weight of con-
slant stream Of lectures poured steadily
upon her.
81 don't believe in lectures" 1 said one
night as we sat over coffee and biscuits at II
P. M 'FYou know the story of the cele-
brated doctor, who said he had attended
manv hundreds OF lectures during his long
life, and on his deathbed he retained only
enough information to put on the outside of
an envelope"
Kit frowned on me.
Lectures in the morning, lectures at
midday. lectures in the dewy eve, lectures
at night, even lectures become monot-
onous, =" murmured Chris.
Kit thought this was rank heresv, and she
stalked Indignantly off to bed, while we sat
up and talked of the people we met, espe-
cially the lecturers and Americans.
We knew several Americans There was
DR.. Hiram-Foote, the president of some in
tellectual society in Philadelphia, aud DR..
Jameson, of some university in Chicago, and
Mr.. Lockwood, who had something to do
with State education. DR.. Hiram-Foote
was squat and short and pompous Dr..
Jameson was tall and dry and talkative; he
always made remarks about your name and
asked great many questions in a loud,
impressive Yankee drawl Mr.. Lockwood
was lean and meek. He always'seemed sat
upon, and when he ventured to make re-
mark, or ask question, he looked fright
ened, as though he thought we were going
to hit him. Then there was terrible female,
who wore terrible bonnets, and had wonderful
little curls gummed all around her massive
brow; she had an awe-inspiring nose, an
air of an injured and indignant Roman
matron. She was a barrister-at-law, she
had even been nominated for Presi-
dent, and she came to all the conferences
and debates and spoke at them all, in loud
strident voice, never minding whether she
knew anything at all about the subject
under discussion or not. She sometimes
got hold of Chris and me; she awed US with
the glitter of her eye, and asked us hun
dreds of ques stions; we used to be so ashamed
of our Ignorance that at last we answered
wildly and m ade random shots We called
her the Inquisitor Then there was fat
woman who had no waist, and who wore
most awful hat. She came to "lovely
Oxford to hear the rousing lectures and to
get soul, " she told us. She had BODY enough
in all conscience, SO perhaps she needed
soul. There was also a man with lank,
black hair, who was an Extension lecturer
in New York; he spoke sometimes, but he
was failure. And lastly there was Ned
among ourselves we always called him Ned.
His name was Edward Slimfeld; he told us
that his mother called him Eddie, and his
sisters called him Ned. We had never
come across such a cool, audacious, light
| hearted, erratic, joyous and altogether de-
lightful young man in our lives before
He was a revelation to US, this merry
| hearted Yankee
Some of US had met him year ago at the
previous summer meeting, and he claimed
us as old acquaintance when he came upon
us in the schools, at the conversazoine, at
the beginning of the meeting. It was i'm
possible to be dignifed, or even ordinarily
conventional, with this irrepressible young
man. He was tall and fair, with blue eyes
full of roguish mischief He was utterly
unabashed; nothing disconnected him. We
thought he admired Hannah, for he made
point of sitting by her at lectures and find
ing out where she was going, and Hannah
was bonnie lassie truly. We laughed at
her sometimes, and Hannah would smile
and laugh, too, for nobody could help laugh
ing when we talked of Ned. He had been
student at the Leipzig University for
the past two years, and had just taken
his degree as Doctor Of Philosophy, he told
me one day, as he overlook me on my