The Republican journal., 1906-02-08
A FRESHMAN AT U. OF N.

! xxx.
That Junior spread was an affair to
be remembered! AS usual, you had
waited until Jack emerged from the
chrysalis state of a baseball suit into
the gorgeous raiment of Sunday best, y
and you were a bit late in entering the
gym. The place was so utterly trans
formed from the bare hall where you
had spent so many hours that it took
your breath away as you stepped
through the familiar doorway into a
strangely unfamiliar banqueting hall.
The dantily decorated tables, the color
ed gowns of the ladies, and the general
air of festivity that pervaded every
thing combined to make the picture
an attractive one. Jack and you got
seats at table near the door which
was mostly occupied by Freshmen,
where you had good view of the hall
speakers were. Everybody said just
what they should have said; everything
tasted just as it should have tasted;
and everybody was just as radiantly
happy as they should have been. The
songs went with will, and the speech
es were enthusiastically applauded.
Maine had won from Bowdoin, and the
cup of JOY of every Maine supporter
was full to overlooking. After the
spread was over the company drifted
out, in groups, for walks about the cam
to do any pleasant thing that suggested
itself for whiting away the time be-
tween the spread and the beginning of
the open air concert by the musical
clubs.
Your time was disposed of for you;
for, as it happened, it was your night to
60 after the mail, and it was sup to you"
to perform your last Freshman duties
with the best grace possible. By the
time you got back to the house again
with the contents of the box down
town, people laden with pillows were
drifting campusward again. You Joined
the procession, but before you got COM
fortably established were seized upon
as a likely recruit for collecting mate
rial for the mammoth bonfire. One of
the huge farm carts had been pressed
into service and with a dozen energetic
youths as a motive power made fire.
quent trips to and fro from the center
of action, laden each time with in
flammable material collected from
goodness knows where! The tenn
porary bandstand erected in front OF
Alumni Hall was strung with colored
lights, ropes of which also extended to
the building, and the picture resulting
was fairylike in effect. The flames from
the huge fire leaped up by fits and
starts, throwing the faces and figures
of the spectators seated near it into
bright relief in one minute only to let
them return to oblivion the next. The
musical clubs were in fine form, and
the effect was doubly pretty as the old
favorites were given in such a novel
setting.
When the concert was about half
over, and everybody was comfortably
settled just near enough to, or far
enough away from, the fire, someone no.
ticed ruddy glare that did not proceed
from the bonfire, Illuminating the hori-
ION. 1t was evident that a contagra-
ton of some sort was in progress, and
the hearts of some of the spectators
stood still, for the light came from ex-
acty the direction of one of the frat
houses. One by one, and group by group,
unable to stand the suspense any long
er, the audience melted away until the
Glee Club found itself singing to empty
chairs. with here and there someone
either too tired or too lazy or too COM
Portable to follow the popular lead.
After the crowd once left the campus
it melted away in some mysterious
manner, and as soon as it was seen
that none of the houses in the lmme-
diate vicinity were being consumed,
some returned to enjoy the remainder
of the concert, while others sought the
river bank by the easiest route, where
they could determine the real cause OF
the excitement. AS they neared the
bank some Of the people remembered
that it had been predicted that if Maine
won from Bowdoin the old Orono pest
house, mere shell of rotting boards,
which had been USED to shelter some
unfortunate smallpox victims during
the epidemic few years since, would
catch fire; and in some mysterious and
unknown manner the prophecy was
evidently being fulfilled. You gained
good vantage point from which to
watch the brilliant spectacle, and stood
there, fascinated by the sight. The old
place was evidently as inflammable as
tinder and as the flames crept up, foot
by foot and leap by leap, the whole of
the surrounding country was illumi-
mated and the figures of the members
of the Orono fire company, hastily