Newark post., 1915-02-17

doors IN the 1OllOWluS boept0lh'0h.
The town, whose sleep of the last
decade had been only less sound
than that of the college, woke with
a start of interest. According TO
the census of 1870 Newark had less
than 1000 inhabitants. Its nam
street was dusty in summer and
ouagmire in winter, while its side
walks were narrow and i'll paved.
There was no public water supply,
and the streets were dimly lighted
by a few oil lamps. The pubic
schools, one situated half way up
1.-The Hill" near the western end OF
the town. the other little above
the site of the bakery, were Ill
housed. wretchedly furnished, and
crowded to suffocation. They had
little or no apparatus, and the Gus
tomary excuse when fellow dldn t
know his lesson was "the baby tore
out the leaf" Miss Maggie Wilson
had an excellent private school,
where some of us had all our pre-
paration for college, and the Misses
Chamberlain had a seminary for
girls. My father had put me at
Latin rather early, and | had at
tended the Academy year or two
before entering college.
Customs at Newark were still
primitive. To watch William Will
son sell a pair of shoes to a farm,
er's wife was an impressive lesson
in tact and patience, for some of
his customers made it rule never
to pay the price originally named
by the merchant. Almost every
body in town and country went to
church, and a pure and uncom-
promising orthodoxy was preached
fl ON the local pulpits. Lectures
were rare and theatrical entertain
ments, even by amateurs, unknown.
Signor Blitz came once about this
time to give an exhibition of VEN
tliloquism and sleight Of hand, and
the Swiss Bellringers were popular
Every few years a writingmaster
came to town. orgapi"odi a class and
held sessions for SIX or eight months
in one of the schoolhouses. My
friends will with difficulty believe
that | belonged to one of these
classes. Some of the pupils devel-
oped great skill in fourishes and
shaded capitals. l did not.
Those of us who hoped to go TO
College discussed with lively inter
est the possibility Of being excluded
for lack of preparation. We heard
with surprise and delight that col
lege students were not required to
sit for hours at their desks prepar-
ing lessons under a master, but
were free to go and come as they
pleased so long as they attended
recitations. The thing looked like
mere sport. We found the entrance
examination mercifully easy, as,
indeed, they must have been if the
College was to open with more than
half dozen students, for hardly a
youth in the State, except such
as attended special preparatory
schools with the intention of enter
ing larger colleges, was prepared
to pass anything like a strict exam
nation Many of those applying
for admission had never studied
Latin, and few if any had studied
Greek. Most had some knowledge
of Algebra. Geometry we began in
college. Some of us had been well
drilled in English grammar, and
we all probably spelled as well as
youth of college entrance age now
adays, for that was the time of the
spelling bee, and the drill in spell
ing was thorough in almost all
schools, public or private. We
knew very little history, and some
of us had read little or nothing that
could be called literature. Very
few knew aught of French.
College opened on a fine Septem-
Der day, not on Monday, as we had
expected, but ON Wednesday even
ing. The little group of matricu-
lates from Newark, all of whom had
been acquainted since childhood,
watched with interest the strangers
from Wilmington, from Kent and
Sussex counties, and from the East
ern Shore. There were few from
other regions than the Peninsula.
Most of us, l think, We're under
nineteen, though a few were well
over twenty-one, and one at least
had a full brown beard. There
were twenty-eight of us in all, four
from Newark, five from Whining
ton, twelve from other parts of the
State, and the rest from Maryland
and Pennsylvania. Some of us were
two or three years short of real
preparation for college entrance
n