The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1895-07-19
CONTAINED In aORACE.

one OF the streets of New Haven.
His full name, as it appeared in the
catalogue of the university, was George
Ellis Wilson, of Smithville, Pa. He
had just eaten supper, and hurried
across the busy streets and down this
little lane till he came to a dimly light
ed, secondhand bookstore. After paus-
ing at the threshold long enough to
shake the snow from his coat, he en-
tered.
The air Of the room had the musty
odor peculiar to old books, and the lit
tie old man who kept the store seemed
to have absorbed some of the musty
learning of his shop, such scholarly
s.oop did he have and so dusty were his
clothes.
An effort had been made to sort some
OF the books, and over several shelves
was hung the label Religious" and
over some others "GreNk and Latin"
while in the extreu,A corner were
"Translations."
Wilson eyed these last suspiciously,
for he had "boned" hts way through
preparatory school. ans he had made
up his mind not to horse" through col
lege.
Turning to the Latin books, he look
ed them through till he came to a copy
Of Horace, somewhat the worse for
wear, but still serviceable,. Wilson
glanced over the pages of the Horace
and decided that 1t would answer his
purpose, paid the old man thirty-fve
cents, put the book in his pocket, and
went out into the street.
Tho naYt ba oot lo+ opl
in his hurry to get to breakfast put on
the coat just as he had left it the night
before. At chapel, however, during the
long prayer, while the president was
imploring blessings Tor the heather
in all lands" under which head Will
son would have little thought himself
included, he pulled out the Horace and
looked at the fiy-leaf.
There were two of the initials of the
former owner, W. b.. and his class, 50.
The last name had been carefully
scratched out. Up in the corner there
was note. evidently written during
Come recitation thirty years before.
Can you tutor me an hour in trig. to-
morrow"
BY the time that Wilson had observ-
ed this much the prayer was ended,
and the president was walking down
the middle aisle while the seniors, in
accordance with a custom handed down
from long ago, were making prodigious
bows as he passed, and falling in un-
tremendously behind him.
Pocketing the book, Wilson returned
TO his room, and after few prelimi-
naries began TO get ready to study
No one can study book until he has
thumbed it over and over and made
himself familiar with it. The first
thing Wilson did, therefore, was to
glance over the pages of his Horace"
and see wha- sort of fellow its former
owner was
On the nth page he saw something
that attracted his attention. Written
in mans hand, in rather small char
acters, as though the writer would not
have it too public, and on the inner
edge of the leaf was the name Mary"
Smiling TO himself, Wilson turned
on. Nothing else noteworthy appeared
till he came to what was evidently a
very difIicult passage on the fifty-first
page, for the leaf was badly worn and
soiled, and written in the same hand
as before were the names "Mollie" and
"Mame"
Wilson turned to the first ode, and
worked steadily over the dictionary for
two hours Then he started for the
recitation room.
The professor was William b. Hen
derson, but the boys always called him
Billie behind his back, and OCCASION
ally some one made slip and called
him Billie TO mis- face.
He was very serious, seldom known
to smile, and a regular grinder" Sto-
ries We're abundant about some love
affair that he had while a student at
Yale, and Of a girl whom he had been
engaged to, who left him for wealth
Ter man and a trip to Europe.
But stories about college professors
are common, and no one pays much at
tention to them. No one supposed that
Billie Henderson could ever have
thought much of anything except Lat
in.
Every time that Wilson took up his
Horace to study, his eye caught sight
of Mary" or Molly" or Name"
One day, in looking over the notes
in the back OF the book, Wilson made
discovery. Down in the corner of
a page in the same handwriting was
my Mary"
I'D like TO know who that fellow
was, and what became OF Mary"
thought Wilson. What a nice little
plot for true story! | could make
out a whole love affair from these
names in the book Let's see. Some
thing ike this:
Chapter !. Student comes to New
Haven from Western home, is hazed,
meets a pretty girl, name Mary some
thing or other; tries to study Horace,
ands finds himself writing Mary In
his book.
Chapter II. Takes her to glee club
concert, borrows money for the tickets
and gets uncomfortably in debt, be-
comes absent minded, and begins to
write 'Mollie' and Name
Chapter Ill. Scene-A beautiful
parlor' Mary. beautiful and collected,