News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1900-09-12

himself laughing and II was an unu-
sual habit with him.. Willis roared
boisterously and seemed to know the
slang names for all the actors and gave
Edward brief bits of personal gossip
about some of them. Between the acts
Willis went out twice and got a glass
of beer each time at the theater res
taurant. Edward of course knew that
his roommate drank, and they had one
sharp debate over the fact. but the SUBJ
ject was not referred to after that. Ed
ward had never known of Willis be-
coming intoxicated, although he had
heard the other Greek letter society
men speak of Willis as if he was drink
ing more than was good for him.
When the play was over and they
were climbing college hill, Willis sud-
denly asked: well, what did you think
of it? Wasn't it funny"
YES" replied Edward. THAT is.
parts of it were"
"You couldn't expect the whole of
roaring farce to be funny" replied
Willis with sarcasm. THAT would be
too much. But | tell you, old man, 1t
did you good. You ought to go once In
awhile to brighten you up. | saw you
actually laugh out loud tonight Why,
if you don't do it once in awhile you'll
scare yourself to death one of these
days when you laugh by accident and
wonder what it is"
Edward was silent, and while Willis
was as usual backing his shoes he
was going over the evening in way
that would have astonished his care
less roommate if he could have read
his thought.
For Edward Blake, college student,
had reached, very largely unconscious
ly to himself, a crisis in his life. As he
lay wide awake for an hour after Will
lis was fast asleep, he was going over
all the scenes in the play and especial
ly those scenes that at the time had
made him uncomfortable. There was q
positive fascination for him in the i'm
pure suggestion that for the first time
burned into his imagination, with pic
lures Of fire set about the stage realism
with a vividness that glowed like q
bly, pure and unsmirched soul.
When the college term closed for the
holidays, Willis went home and Ed
ward was left alone. There were but
few men left in Rankin hall. Freeda
had remained in the ladies' hall,
which also was largely deserted. On
the Saturday after college closed Ed
ward had been over to see her. He re-
1ected as be went back that evening
that he had said nothing to his sister
about the play or his going to it. They
had talked about the folks at home,
and Freeda had again raised the ques-
ton of leaving the hall to secure a
place somewhere near the college
where she could work for room and
board. Edward had opposed the plan,
but he had vague feeling when he
came away that Freeda, who was a
very independent and determined girl,
might at any time do the very thing
she had suggested.
I'm perfectly able to do the work,
Ned. 1t will save at least 5000 a year,
and you know mother is really shaving
at the dairy work to keep me here in
the hall"
Edward demonstrated again. but he
knew very well that what Freeda said
was true. AS he went away he vowed
that in some way he would work day
and night to make his own expenses
and Freeda's, too. and so relieve the
loving. faithful mother of her constant
| burden.
And then the boys great temptation
| faced him. and he was swept under by
his yielding to it. In the next two
weeks he lost one of the best, brightest
| jewels of a young mans life-he lost
his sense of personal purity. The thea
| tiers had never offered to the public
such a large number of cheap ques-
tionable shows as they offered that
winter during the holiday season.
| Night after night Edward climbed the
| gallery and sat through plays that
robbed him of his clean, healthy mind
and put in its place imagination that
made him ashamed to see his own
face. He skunk up the stairs and took
obscure seats where none of the other
students who might chance to be pres
ent could see him. He found that his
taste for the plays, where seldom any
one but men were present, was grow
ing and deepening and, while he knew
we'll enough how deep down he was
sinking and despised himself for it,
he continued to go, and for the first
time in his life he knew what the
drunkard begins to know before he has
become altogether lost to love of wife
and children. He was appalled, at the
end of the vacation to realize that he
had spent over $40 for theater tickets.
Ten dollars mednt as much to him as
a hundred or more to most students.
Yet even that fact did not influence
him to give up going. On Christmas
eve he attended another roaring farce,
where the principal attraction was adj
vertised as a ballet uneXcelled on
two continents" and the very bill
boards that announced the play insult
ed the Christian sentiment of every
disciple of our Lord as Christendom
reverently called to mind his angelic
birth and the world in its mighty
need, sunk in its vice and degradation,