The news & observer., 1905-10-14
Old Student of the Fifties
Visits Chapel Hill.
HIS WERE BRAG DAYS
Students Spent From Fifteen Hundred
to Three Thousand Dollars Year.
Gave Elaborate Suppers, Mixed
Toddies, and Studied to Enjoy
Themselves.

1t is more literally true lndn we
are wont to imagine that "times are
not like they used to be- Particularly
is this true Of college life. The old
time students were a rare and racy
crowd. We are apt to think of them
through the mist of the years in the
manner of soft smoke clouds from a
well-seasoned briar The whole per-
spective is softer. more alluring. more
impalpable with distance. Go 60 a
college and look at the boys. They are
clcan-yisaged set, with red checks
and bright eyes; for the most part,
rather ordinary, uninteresting in their
wholesomeness What can one expect
from such a body of youngsters as
this? There is not a sad-faced Poe
among them? There is no staggering
Dugal Dalgetty. no swash- -buckling
and no braWlerS as we'll as none with
tho gift of dreams. 1t is a sober crowd,
taking their college life in a matter
of fact way. They would be aston
ished if they We're expected to be in
teresting in the sense of being distin
guished from the ordinary run of
humanity Going to college is a busi-
ness: heretofore it was a pleasure,
a the most a diversion. The fellow
who sat up with his books was looked
upon as a freak. The ideal college
student was one who did not work and
who yet had the ability to pass his
examinations. The man who could
not pass, was excused. He was too
busy doing something else. If he had
had the time,> he would have done
wonders. Witness the few eXamina-
tons he did pass.
This train of thought was brought
forward by a student of long ago d
man now in his seventies no doubt,
who went up to Chapel Hih last
Thursday on his first trip since the
spring of 1852. The years that nave
passed made the old alumnus an old
man; otherwise he was a boy At
University Station. a new place to him
who had come ovel on the dirt road
from Durham. he fretted for a sight
of the old buildings. He wanted to-
put his foot once more on Chapel
Hill soil. He wanted to feel the shade
OF the old oaks again, to look at the
buildings which he had known as a
student II was vivid thing to
watch. this old alumnus renewing ties
which had been undone for more than
half century. But there was yisi-
bic disappointment in mis- face as he
looked at the students. Were these
simple, steady going. Sober-yiSag ged
young men the student body? Did they
content themselves with old clothes.
with the routine of college life, with
the coming off Of classes and going to-
meals. seeking afterwards the labra
tory and the football field at best?
Where were the card games and the
drinking bouts? Where the dashing
young fellows in fine clothes and the
air that told they were beyond the
common herd? For these the old
alumnus looked in vain. He appre-
ciated the conditions that prevailed. AT
the same time it was not the same
University. Only the South Building
and the Old East spoke OF that for
gotten time of his. He looked and
wondered and sighed.
Old Student Days.
Boys of this generation don't have
the times that we did, said he. "They
haven't the money and they haven't
been trained to enjoy themselves. Col
lcge students are workers. In my day
we were playing. Most of us had
money. We spent it freely and we
enjoyed ourselves
"Do you think boys of the present
time do not have as much fun as those
of the old days?''
The old graduates eyes frightened
with memory:
Il know they do not. We knew what
Il good time was then. 1t was touch |
and go. we lived faster, these fellows
couldn't have kept pace with US a
month. In those days the students
at the University We're for the most
part the sons of rich parents. Those
who were not rich were respected but
they were in the minority; they were
not or our crowd. Those fellows |
thought practically of but one thing: |
how TO enjoy themselves. They had
plenty of money. The average stu |
dents expense was fifteen hundred |
dollars for the term. Many students
spent much more. Night after night, |
! myself have spent as much as twen- |
ty-llve dollars on a turkey supper and
thought nothing of it. We lived in
those days. We were men who pro-
we'd that they We're gentlemen by liv
ing at rate that other people couldi !
ont hope to keep up with As to
drinking? Well we took something, |
now and then l should say. 1t was the
custom to drink then Every enter
, tainment of any sort had its brandy
accompaniment We did not take much
stock in abstinence
AS he walked about the present
University the old man looked and
looked at places that he had known
which were now filled with buildings.
There were more boys. He hunted in
vain however for his favorite type.
I'VE used to get our clothes from
Philadelphia, said he, land they
were the finest to be had in the coun-
try These fellows here know moth
ing about having a good time They /
have not either the money or the ira
ditions to sustain them or to sus-
tain.
The whole system of University and
college life had changed since his day |
The old graduate remarked that he |
never heard of any duels. In his day
they were of frequent occurrence 1t |
was common experience for two stu
dents to meet. fight and meet again
with seconds. Fatal duels were by
no means unordinary.
Graduating With Il kuifc