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festation of interest which can only arise from an enthusiastic devotion to their pursuits; with men from almost every state, both in and out of the Union, and certainly from every condition in life; bringing with them the crude and varied notions which have been acquired from old associations at home; finding as they meet together and live together that no one's opinions were infallibly correct, but that they must be modified and liberalized with every new contact and additional acquirement-I say with all these causes at work, even if no more be adduced, the republican character of our College becomes at once a most simple and natural result.

Besides all this, and one of the best things too about it all, we are by necessity-and thank heaven for it-we are happily cut loose from all the trappings and humbuggery which give for a time, at least, gilded positions and galvanized respectability among men, and are left to good staunch common sense-rare as it is-to adopt for us some other and truer standard of excellence. Everybody who is blessed with two eyes and two ears and a tolerable amount of brains, and who has lived long enough to enter college, must know, if not from personal discovery, at least from the evidence of his senses, that somehow or other there has been a queer jumble made in the distribution of money and power, and that while integrity and patient industry have made a few men rich, mere luck or downright rascality have quite as frequently built brown stone Fronts and imported statues from Rome. Well, we can't help it. We may knit our brows a little when their carriage wheels go whirling by, throwing the dust upon our meaner coats, but we might just as well laugh; we can't mend the matter by a scowl, and it might be quite unpleasant to hurl after them a stone. So snap we our fingers at what has has been and what too we know must be, and with something akin to quiet satisfaction, begin a new kind of life, where simple merit becomes the fixed and only fair criterion of personal worth.

This then is our Declaration of Rights. We are "independent," and if not "free and equal," it is because of the decrees of Nature and the Faculty, against either of which experience has taught us there is little use in rebellion. But we are independent; let us be thankful for that, for it is not always to last. Here at least we occupy common ground. No aristocracy of the codfish sort finds countenance among us. For anything that we know or for anything that we care, this man may be the heir to millions and an honored name-that one may have shaken hands with honest poverty; this man may have been the "head boy" of his school, praised by teachers and idolized at home-this one

may have been the lowest of his " form," and never known an encouraging word or a steadfast friend. No matter now. We ask no questions about that here. Bring only the wealth of God's gifts of heart and mind, and rejoice that in one place at least they will claim the position of an unsold birthright.

Well, we move on in our course-slowly it seems, but after all the years soon glide by-and we find that insensibly we have swerved at times from the theoretic standard which we all adopted, and which for the most part we have maintained. It is the exception rather than the rule, which we have to do with now. We are far enough from perfection-and who expects differently-but let us see if we cannot unite more closely our ideas and our acts in a consistent and practical union.

From the nature of the case customs have grown up among us, which sometimes promote and sometimes hinder the perfect working of this principle. In the first place, here are our class distinctions. Unquestionably they are to some extent not only a necessity, but a positive good. But need they be so marked and so rigid as we have them here? Much depends upon the general spirit which pervades every class, and which oftentimes distinguishes it from the rest, but that spirit it must be remembered is only the expression of aggregate private sentiments to which you and I and all of us have contributed our share. Now instead of being blindly governed by this, is it not our business to act independently of it, whenever our judgment prescribes for us a different course? Now my good friends let me right here relieve you of any idea that I am either a disciple and advocate of pseudo college reform, or that I purpose to inflict upon your patience any pet scheme of my own, which looks towards any such end. I do not intend after the fashion of young Copperfield "to take my woodman's axe in my hand and clear my way through the forest" of college customs" by cutting down the trees till I come" to a distant and chimerical perfection. But you and I can at least walk among and talk about them, and if you like them, by all means let them growit is as much your business as mine.

Here then is this hedge of class distinction. What do you say about it? Is it not too high? Do not these great shoots, that have been so long growing up destroy the symmetry and beauty of the rest? Ought they not at least to be evenly lopped off? There certainly can be no use, nay there must be positive harm in allowing them to become an ugly and impassable thicket. Now if I could have my way I would trim close and trim low, and in many places I would cut away

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altogether. Surely we are not animals that must needs be fenced in to keep every one in his own lot. Our restraints should be only those which propriety and common sense impose. When neither are possessed or acknowledged, we have no objection to seeing men put in the pen, and, if you please, wear a poke beside.

Seriously, we fear too much is made of this class relation. In many cases it is, as we have said, undoubtedly a good thing. But we all know what is pretty apt to happen when there is too much of a good thing. Ordinarily, it is true. every class of a hundred men will afford pleasant society for all its members. But this is not always so. Exceptions will every day arise, and when a person finds an agreeable acquaintance or a warm friend in another class, and prefers his society to that of less congenial men of his own, why, forsooth! if he be a Senior, he is patronizing; if a Sophomore, he is a toady. Of course he is. How is it possible that he should be anything else? Who will gainsay so astute a decision! There is an axe to be ground there! You may not see it, you may not know exactly who is to hold it on, or who is to turn the crank, but you may bet your life there is a grindstone between them. Is'nt it perfectly contemptible to see every honest impulse maligned and every generous act assailed, as the off-shoot of the meanest self-advancement? Well may they ask-" who made you a judge and ruler over us? Whence the authority and significance of your credentials? Produce them now, or stop the canting, officious meddling which you know can only end in disturbing harmony and in breeding distrust among friends."

Well, we are "independent," we said. Relatively, of course. Restraints here, as well as elsewhere. Some necessary, some selfimposed, these all men approve. Some subtle, powerful, sinister,— these all men should condemn. Nor are they a late product of our soil. Their influence is seen, aye and felt too, long before Junior politics begin their squabbles and their hate. We are not sure that Freshman year is altogether free from its contact. It is oftentimes, perhaps we may say generally, content with a smaller field of operation than society nominations. In our walks and in our rooms have we not heard the motives of men's actions canvassed and denounced? And this we call a fair trial! Nay, we even pride ourselves upon the liberality of our sentiments. Four years and less in College, so expands our ideas and elevates their tone! Yes, with a vengeance. Ah, we get so sharp, so shrewd, so penetrating, that we can see through any thickness of millstones and discern at a glance every plot in College. Plot! Good heavens! Have sensible men grown fools and honest

men turned knaves? motives? Is there nothing short of the accomplishment of some secret and cherished scheme, which can account for his action?

Cannot a person be actuated by disinterested

then it l-o-o-k-s so much like it. suppose it must not be disputed. yet learned so simple a lesson as,

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But

Does it, indeed! Really, then, I Now have we grown so old, and not

Appearances deceive,

And this one maxim is the standing rule,

Men are not what they seem."

Would it not be more wise, more just, more manly, first to ascertain the facts-discarding other men's fancies-and then decide from a knowledge of the truth? How much hard feeling, how much sad feeling too would be avoided. Men do not often parade their sorrow. The deepest water is always the most silent. Alone in our rooms, our eyes fixed on the fire, but our thoughts revolving the events of the day, we sit, and by-and-by, they rest on something which we did not think that he, of all men, would have said, and then the fire grows somehow misty and dim, and we rise hastily with-thank God! a few terms more, and College life is done.

Need this always be? Ought we not all, especially old friends, ought they not oftener to think of this? Is confidence, is tried integrity nothing? Is the memory of old associations nothing? Nothing the old fireside tales and stories and songs? Nothing the possession of little secrets which only we two knew? And shall imputed motives, apparent inconsistence or other men's suspicions-mere straws as they are-shall any or all of these overthrow the confidence and friendship, which long intimacy has cemented? If so, we not only do violence to our own better judgment, but we injure private feeling which it will be hard, very hard to restore.

In a little while we will be done here. We shall engage in other scenes. Business cares and the countless duties of active life may press upon us, but they cannot always claim our thoughts. Silver hairs may sprinkle our brow, but the memory of College days can never grow old. "In the still night, and calm night" we will walk among old friends again, and visit the scenes of many a year ago; but in all the forms that come crowding around us, none will be more welcome and yet more sad than those most injured and once most loved. Time will change many things, which now seem fixed. Removed from the influences and prejudices which too often cloud our vision here, we will see things in a clearer and better light. Much mist will

pass away, and much that seemed inconsistent then, will stand acquitted by a riper and more sober judgment now.

Let us try then to have a little more charity for each others faults. Let not our faith in human goodness be easily shaken. Above all let us be slow, very slow to say or do anything which will destroy true friendship. It is not so common a thing as to be hastily formed, and as hastily thrown aside.

"The friends thou hast and their adoption tried,

Grapple them by the soul with hooks of steel."

If then, at any time, appearances-fickle and false as we know them to be should arise, and for the moment shake our trust in character; nay, if the suspicion should be corroborated by seeming proof, better, far better discard the thought at once; better, far better trust the conviction of years before the hastily formed opinion of to-day; and if finally compelled to choose, act then not rashly, but

"Lay this into your breast:

Old friends, like old swords, still are trusted best."

W. H. F.

To Porto Bello and Back.

It was getting to be tedious in Aspinwall. I must take an excursion. But where? To Porto Bello. That was the only place of much interest, in the vicinity, left for me. Now for the arrangements. If some pleasant fellow will go along, so much the better; if not, I will go alone. The morning after these reflections, I tried to induce some one of my rather sparse acquaintances to engage in the trip. Nobody was willing. One had been there, and was not anxious to repeat the visit; another thought it would be better to wait till the New York steamer came in and went up to water. No, if the steamer were here, and were ready to start to-day, to wheeze its way up to the fountains, I would not go in her. There is nothing like riding in a native bungo. That is an experience not to be lost. It was a good argument, but unsuccessful. The most I could effect was, that one of them, who could talk Spanish, should bargain with a bungo-master to paddle me to the object of my journey and bring me back again, when I wished to return.

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