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

Thus do the alumni and the gradu-
ates set at war eternal and fratcrnise
at commencement with a peace and
love which implies a certain under
standing under the crust. 1t is "a con-
filCt of mock herOiCs. II time in which
1t is criminal not to feel the stir of
hope. Back again in the campus the
alumni walk about with carefully pur-
SCd lips and an air of maddening
depreciation. Undoubtedly the place
has been improved. Handsome build
ings stand where formerly there We're
old fields given up to the bottles and
tn-cans of your midnight revels. But
YOU perceive a change. 1.-THE spirit of
the place. has altered you say. The
boys are younger than m your day.
they have a staggering Importance
which your CompcerS were too modest
to assume. They are inclined to be
SupcrCiliOuS you observe. Also you
perceive that nobody is noticing you.
You reflect that YOU and your crowd
knew how to be boys. These fellows
are evidently tame cats. The gig
CLING joys of the commencement girl
is the quantum OF their resources.
Now. in your day, there were sure
enough bellies. Imagine the Senior
waltz. composed Of these bumptious
youngsters and girls who are just
learning how to hold their dresses up
behind You become hOpolcSSly SOr-
roWful yer the inevitable passing of
the good old dignified traditions-and
and "~eVerything like that you CON
clude tamely. for YOU have had a
thought. Thoughts are strange
guests With you these busy lays and
YOU resent the intimate tanner of
this one and particularly the vulgar
honesty with which it spurs your
memory. 1t is like meeting a disre-
putabIc acquaintance of the night be
fore on the street on the morning
after. You would like to forget him,
but he is awfully glad to see YOU.
"Renember that cut-a-Way and the
white duck pants?" your unbidden
friend is saying. You try to change
the subject, but it is no use. And the
yellow shOcs-oh. they were a particu-
a chaste, light yellow, With q long.
rakish PROV like the flush gun-deck
of a monitor with a beak in front"
"Oh, WE'LL you excuse Yourself
"tooth-pick shoes were fashionable"
But the coat" insists our inner
self, and the pants-the white duck
pants, why they were twenty-five
inches wide. You had to turn EN- VI
twice at the bottom to give the pub
lie a chance at the shoes, wen with
their extension proW!'
But it is the coat that hurts. You
get red about the ears when you think
of it. It was properly named a cut
a-Way. 1t was of a retiring DISPOSE
ton. When you sat down across {
table it was almost invisible. 1t re.
tired hastily from the neck, reap
Deared in the embrace of q lonely but
ton located somewhere about tn
diaphram and cut for the rear like {
yellow dog when he is by
the investigating committee. But i
was long on tail, In fact the Whol'
thing was devised after the grey por
ton of the plumagc of a dove. WheI
YOU had put it on you were 3 cOOin:
dove yourself! The tail Of you sWep
as YOU walked Carressing1y about you
ham-strings. 1t tangled itself Wit
your legs. 1t dragged you behind til
YOU Waddled like a duck in the effor
of self-propulsion. But YOU were i
your own mind the prettiest thing OF
the landscape. True, the robins tina
had almost eaten out of your han
when you approached them in you
sweater. flew up afriShted as you pass
ed. You remember now that Their
was the mixture of a quiet smile i
he Difference with which the profes
S0r& answered your SaIutatiOnS, tina
there was a suspicious light i'll tn
dancing brown eyes of the little gil
you had known at home in her pig