Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1898-02-26
A COLLEGE CALL.

1.-THE stories printed about Smith col
lege lately appeal to me very strangely, "
said a Harvard man. "Man is of SO
small part in it all A senior year ex-
perience of mine will illustrate.
"When / met the girl, | didn't know
she was a college girl The front of her
waist was decorated with crazy shaped
iewelry Of various sorts, but was not
sufficiently enlightened at the time to
know that they denoted the feminine
life academic She was mighty nice
girl She WASH t afraid to wet her bath
ing suit she did mind chasing around
in the mud after her own fiddler crabs,
and. more wonderful still, she wouldn t
even shudd when they crunched as she
ran the hook through them. she was no
stern, analytical, cold blooded thing
either You ought to have heard her
yell when the fish bit; also, she knew
enough when her hand was squeezed to
squeeze back. | had very interesting
summer Of it. In the course Of the sea
son | learned, of course, that she was a
Smith girl Just as | learned where she
! lived and who her folks were and what
her first name was and that she WASH +
| engaged to anybody (and never meant
to be) and all that sort of thing. The
Smith part didn't bother me at all. /
began to feel that she was type. The
higher education was the thing woman
had needed all these years to make her
little more rather than little less
than the angels.
"At the end of the season my goose
was cooked all right, but | lacked sand.
| wanted time 10 think it over / also
had a sneaking idea that perhaps after
we had been separated for awhile the
girl wouldn t be so all fired indifferent
to personal considerations and my pass
ing tentative expressions Of interest in
our future existence. l asked her if |
could come up to Northampton to see
her and if | couldn't take her to the
Yale Harvard football game at Spring
field. She fairly grabbed at the chance
to go to the game. She had never been
to Springfield game, she said, except
with an Amherst man, and that, of
course, didn't count. 1t would be too
awfully jolly for any use to so with a
Harvard man.
81 suggested that | would like to go
over to Northampton a week or two be-
fore the game. OF course she said |
must. Just at the time of the game
there were so many men in the chapel
every morning that there was no partic
ular glory in having one there. But
about two or three weeks before the
game it would be glorious to have a
real Harvard man III chapel all by his
4 lonesome.
Somehow this sort of response was
not altogether satisfying, but | was too
enthusiastic to inquire too Curiously. In
the fullness Of elapsed time / don't
mind telling you that / had some pretty
| definite plans about that visit to North
ampton. In meditative moments l had
/ pleasing ideas about certain condolences
/ would make to the boys before / an
peared with the girl at the game.
81 went to Northampton | arrived
on "a Thursday evening, l went to the
cottage where she lived. l waited half
an hour before she came down. Then
she appeared with her hat ON.
"'I'm so glad you've come, she said,
and I'm so sorry that / have a voice
club meeting to attend to! The presi
dent is sick, and I'm the vice president,
so | really have to 90. I'm really awful
ly late now, You may walk over with
me if you like
ut was about three minutes walk.
She told me in that time how to come
to chapel the next morning.
~ went back to the Norwood and re-
tired to the little box in the basement
that they could call cafe and con
tenfplated things. After awhile the
things contemplated became less
gloomy. | met two Amherst men down
there and told them my experience and
disappointment. They looked at each
other and laughed good deal and said
that it was rather strange considering
that | was not an Amherst man. They
were rather bitter about it and not alto
gether polite and l went to bed.
Il went to chapel in the morning.
The girl was waiting for me i'll the
vestibule. was looked over imperson-
ally by GOO or more young women a.
they came in, also when they went out
Then l was told to- hurry away like q
good boy and come back after dinner
say, about o'clock. | gently intimatec
that IL hours in Northampton was &
lonely prospect. She was awfuliy sorry
of course, but there was an especially
important basket ball practice that aft
ernoon. If she staid away, she wouldn' =
be allowed to play in the match game
the next day. Might | come to watci
the practice? Good gracious, not Mer