The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-05-22

shy mana ana put ON s8l i448L ltAA1+-
Gus fattcrE Of Mr. You are having
q case Of the dry grins all TO yourself.
You give Up the struggle and let the
picture permeatc your memory in all
/ its gorgeousDoSs-that coat those
pants. that broad fiat hat. and the
canet-oh.. come. lets shoot the cane.
but This Is am unsparIng judgment.
You carried it by the end. did you
not? fcruIe in front, big shepherd :
/ crook with your silvered monogram
trailing i'm the dust behind beneath
the shadow Of that coat. Oh,
we'll. cause admitted. You conceda
that the picture has its points and
that its resurrection in the flesh would
be Ii ~caTicature tit to give the statue
Of modcsty warts on the face.
And then, the matter OF age. You
recall that you were q considerable
man in those days. YOU We're all OF
you men in fact. But what does the
record show? Nineteen. Great Scott.
and you were not even large for your
age. You must have been an appara-
ton. q joke. d comic valentine! You
pride yourself ON our quiet taste.
which the limitations of your income
render good policy as well as good
breeding. You sickle for clean linen
as the cheapest way in which TO pre-
serve your self respect When you
~Tccollect yourself. it is at least sooth-
mig to reflect that you have got thus
far along.
And then, if YOU are just enough,
YOU vii! haze come to see hat the
change in yourself which you have
confused with the change in the spirit
of the place. has been no more than an
utterly inadequate progression. You
viii look at the clean-limbed, healthy
specimens about YOU With new eyes
Of an envy that goes deeper han that
of a mere physical vigor. You will
perceive all too clearly for your com
fort that the college boy of today is a
good deal further along the road at the
same ~reEutive period than he Was in
your day. You Will recall that the he
roes of the field and the classroom
who still stand out so wildly in the
high colors of your shallow Judgment
were in all probability less worthy of
respect than the heroes of the college
Of today, at whom you have been
looking with bitterness n amuse-
mcnt.
And then, and this will be a shock,
YOU Will perceive in your own recOllec-
ton the light in which YOU stand be-
fore them, a knOW-nOthing of the past!
All, you are no longer of the inner cir
Gle. You have gained a respect which
is no better than the sop of pity. You
are supposed not to understand. The
Sub-rosa rcVels are not for your par
ticipatiOn-yOu might not approve.
eve you might tell, You are nothing
but an alumus. a link to an inconsid-
cradle and un-hcroic past You have
not even distinguished yourself outside.
You are a good deal of u failure after
all, clinging to the memory of yOur
opportunity, and preSumlng to crltl-
else those who are letting ready to
succeed.
No. YOU are in the same relation to
your collegiate self as is the h~alf-Witted
old negro of the campus dreaming of
an a~nte-bellum master long since dead
to tho ara Of tho rp91 roron ct rIJntiOn-
whispering the achievements of a for
gotten "Marse George" and preserving
his immatcrial escapades from vandal
inspection by an old set phrase. stu
dents business IS students business
And nobody cares and it IS all
strange and unfamiliar and sad. A
fellow in white fiannels sits in the
window of your old chum's room and
picks a banjo, and you remember that
it was your chum's room for only u
few years and there comes the vision
of all the others Who came before and
after him-all picking banjos when
their work was done and primping for
the commencement ball. And, since
in their hearts the students under
stand these things and that they will
soon be You, YOU and they understand
each other-thOugll neither will admit
the fact. And the college song is
really the same whatever its words
ana inc spirit Is lin11lOridl, nONSOCVCr
it be dressed.
After all, it is encouraging the way
the graduates, male and female, go
after the problems. For all the eff
forts of our vaunted past the prob
lens remain unsolved. Nevertheless
a pride of race demands their sOlu-
ton. The men in charge have failed
at the best. The men coming on,
come from the colleges. They cannot
start too soon about their work, nor
Zoe it lie in the mouth of those who
have botched the jOb,to criticize their
methods. What the college man con-
ccives to be the faults of the world
are the things which hav all along
appealed to the idealist. But every
| year the idealist is becoming less and
less of ali abstract quantity. 1t is Il
busy sort Of altruism with which he
is concerned. The remedies that the
graduate has ON his tongues end are
every yea nearer hat perfect SOlu-
ton of faith and deeds. At any rate
the thing that is to he accomplished
is his task. And the just thing is Il
respectful acceptance of the fact.
When the college graduate is pre-
pairing to take the world by the scat OF
the pants and turn it upside down, it
is proper that he should be permitted
| to advise US in advance.
Whether he shall fail to upset it or
not. it lies with him to set it straight.