Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1898-03-01

wrapping Of gray Spanish moss, into
which is stuck, with happy irrelevance.
hydrangeas, sunfowers, roses and glad.
| ioluses.
From the keystone Of this gorgeous
arch springs always the symbol of as
piration, as int, rpreted by the lady dec
orators Of Singleton. ladder made
of cedar wisps. more or less successful
ly hiding from view an intrusive
groundwork Of white pasteboard II is
under this work Of art that the pallid
and quaking orators Of the day take
their stand, 10 make targets Of them
selves for countless bright eyes and for
the crueler darts If rival criticism.
Girls are always out in force ON com.
menceI2ent day, not that they take any
abiding interest i'm the educational AS
pect of the occasion, but the brass band
which occupies the choir loft and dis.
pens,s the most depressingly solemn
music during the exercises is engaged
TO of!ieiate at the dance in which COM
menccment always eliminates.
Shingleton has just cause for pride on
these occasions, and some orator is
sure To assert from the rostrum, with
out fear of contradiction, that ~ much
Of beauty and talent and grace could
not possibly be gathered together in any
other known spot ON the earth
After the d,claim ing is all safely
throrgh with there will be- a dinner out
under the cedar trees in the old church
yard No one objects TO the somber
presence of the occasional tombstones
that crop above the tall weeds in the
churchyard. They come rather handy.
in fact. the tall and conical ones IA
batracks, the flat ones as receptacles for
the ice creGm fre,zers and the lemonade
buckets The sunken and effaced in
scrip:ions appeal To no unhealed griefs
They are at once too obscure and too
familiar 10 huttcr tie faintest pulses
Shingleton's resurrection day is for the
quick, not for its dead.
Every housekeeper within radius Of
ten miles stands sponsor to the dinner
spread that day on the long, precarious
plank tables under the cedar trees,
through whose breeze stirred branches
the sunshine falls upon the white table
cloths in diets and checks
Enforced attention for several hours
to deClamhtiGGs, sometimes trite, al
ways crude, is productive Of ravening
hunger From the inevitable roast pig
with the red apple clinched in its fixed
jaws, down 10 the lightest salads, ev
erything is provided on colossal sale
by the experienced housewives Of Shin
gleton, who for weeks past have merg-
ed private interests. personal dislikes,
moldy disputes and inherited fcuds in
the one cause for which Shingleton
moves and has its being
Commencement day Of 1889 was no
exception TO its predecessors. 1t came
in June, as it always did. II was hot
and dusty, as II always WAS Every
thing and everybody who shared the
social responsibilities Of the occasion
were in state Of smiling readiness as
they always were. II now the boys
would only quit themselves like men"
Shingleton proud record would remain
unbrokcn.
To the usual interest of this partic
ular commencement at the eleventh hour
was added an element of painful sur
prise An ominous whisper was afioat.
\ foreshadowed disgrace threatened
Shingleton. An illusive veil Of mystery
dropped like pail over the familiar
scene of the decorated church with its
befiowercd rainbow and the precarious
tables with their load Of comestibles
A robbery had been committed at the
college. not only st the college, but in
the college. Cash and valuables belong.
ing to the professors and students had
disappeared under circumstances COM
pelling the conviction that some one u
the students was the culprit.
Shingleton accepted the possibility Of
crime in connection with its college
slowly and incredulously. In view OF
the fact that nearly all of the boys
came from well known families Of high
social position, it was almost beyond
conception that any one of them should
stoop to the plebeian otfense Of stealing.
To u man they belonged to the slave
holding aristocracy. They were the sons
Of planters, doctors, lawyers The Off
spring Of senators and congressman had
drunk at the Shingleton fountain OF
learning. and, crowning boast, the
grandson of u bishop was among the
declaimers booked for that identical
mystery shadowed commencement day.
There was nothing commonplace
about Shingleton. Nothing shocking
had ever .sppened there, and the posi-
bility Of disgrace overtaking it through
the medium of any one Of its young
aristocrats shook the congregated house
wives to the very center Of their nerv-
ous systems.
Mrs Fitzwilliams, absently dipping
long handled gourd in and out Of the
lemonade barrel, conveyed to Mrs. Ma
ginnis, who was slicing cold tongue in
to newspapers spread on a neighboring
tombstone, her conviction that 1.-THE
thing was impossible. There was not
plebeian in the whole college, from
President Hopkins down."
Mrs. Maginnis poised her carving
knife refiectively. 'Yes, one
"You mean that young Martini"
Eyes"
"Why, he is the valedictorian. They
say he is dreadfully smart, studious
and ambitious beyond everything; mid
night oil sort Of boy, You know"
His father is old Colonel Strong's
overseer, F" said Mrs Maginnis, stabbing
the cold tongue severely.
Yes, that's true. But the boy came
here with Adrien Strong. That ought
to be Endorsement enough. In fact, as !
understand il, Colonel Strong sent him
with his grandson because the boys
had grown up together on the planta-
ton and the overseer had named this
boy for him, which inclined him to give
him better chance for an education
than overseers' sons usually get.
''Or need. think Colonel Strong is
doing wrong very wrong indeed, in
breaking down the barriers in this way.
What will that poor boy do with the
education he has spent four year in ac-
quiring when he goes back to the plan
tation?"
''He need not necessarily go back to
the plantation. The world il not bound
ed nv Colonel StrOnQ's plantatiOu fence.
Let him strike out for himself"
Mrs Maginnis fixed q troubled gaze
nm the heaDad cold tongue I'm fhe tomh-