Carleton College - Algol Yearbook (Northfield, MN)

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honor, of honesty, his aesthetic, his spiritual nature. Wphen had he opened his mother's Bible? Who ever thought of coming to him for aid in a philanthropic movement? And then, in the midst of it all had come the impulse to go back, quietly and unannounced to this spot, to live again in memory the sweet old days when with his companions-youths and maidens- he passed in and out of the small group of buildings overlooking river and wooded hill, in that simple life of the little western college. And now, all the sweet holy influences of the place were upon him again, but he felt them now with all the deeper intensity of his ripened manhood, and as contrasted with his full knowledge of what sin and temptation meant. He lifted his head. All about him was bathed in the tender radiance of a half-grown moon. Below him, the river shone white as angel's wings, the new beams drank the silver light and smiled. A tiny throb of hope shot throught his burdened heart. Was it possible that he, all sin-smirched, could drink this holy calm? Could he whiten his spirit again? He arose-What God-given impulses were guiding him this night! Up in the path paced an aged man, it was a professor whom he once nloved, returning from some duty, slowly in the cool of the evening. Face to face the two men met. The elder stretched out glad arms to welcome a pupil always a favorite, and hand in hand they passed beneath the whispering trees. At such times may such men meet as spirit with spirit, and it was as if God spoke the shriven soul. The night was far spent when the Man sought his resting place, and in the morning' an early train bore him back to imperative duties, but it carried a changed man. A year past, and at sunset of the same month and day, the Man had reached the end of a long journey, and stood before Hilda. She looked up with her steady, unsurprised eyes, I always knew you would come, she said simply. HI was never worthy before, nor am I now, but I had to come and I shall never go away, he said. She was busy, useful, calm, and gentle. Receptive to all the happiness which ,her intellect and heart could bring her, she was able to give out the stores of her ripe, rich nature, and to be a Hilda indeed-a. conscience for others. By and by he told her of that night a year ago, andwondered about the maid with Hilda's eyes. HMy little sister, they do tell us we are like, she interposed. And they spoke long and tenderly of the dear old days, and most of all they talked of the spirit of kindly sym- pathy, of comradeship, of unitedness, which bound young and old together, and of the noble and unselfish type of Christianity in the leaders which had been instrumental in rightly direct- ing the lives of many. 22

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ONE EVENING After many a sad, sin-burdened year the Man sought his Alma Mater. Again his feet touched the well-known path. Overhead the maples arched their branches interlocked in closer union than of old, as if each living being and palpitating leaf-richer in stores of the love and sympathy which had long pervaded the place-must hold its neighbor in close em- brace. Behind him, the glow and gladness of the sunset bathed hillside and roof in its tender light. Beneath the trees the shadows were gathering around him. It was at an hour when the routine of student life claimed most, and except for an oc- casional stroller, the beautiful square with its grass and trees was quite his own. The gray stone of the Hall before which he paused, recalled the stability which he knew was as real a part of it all as were the lime-stone walls themselves. The vines in all the freshness of the spring verdure, as they clung to the rough, rugged surface spoke no less of the tender pro- tection, the brooding love, which had ever been the spirit of the place. A ripple of girlish laughter, a little whirr of dainty garments and sheen of white draper- ies, and a knot of maidens returning from an evening stroll fiitted across the grass, and one of the number brushed past him so close that he could have touched her. A Pk as Pk 21 Pls if if 96 Pk He did not pause until he had reached the little hollow below the hill. I could almost have sworn that it was Hilda herself! The Man sank upon a bench between two great oaks and hid his face. 1 How long he sat there he never knew, but during -the time, his whole life passed as it were before his mental vision. He saw himself,-a careless, merry lad, full of spirits, perhaps lacking in reverence for those in authority, but always a man, ready to say, Yes, sir, I did it, and to bear the blame like a man. Then he saw a pair of sorry, sympathetic gray eyes-how like them was the pair which Hashed a glance at him, just now in the gathering twilight-now dancing with merriment now grave and darkening, as he told her all about the fun and then the dire result of the escapade. I It was only a boy and girl friendship then, but how often since had her face with those candid eyes, and the fair brow with its waving brown hair, come between him and an eager client, or a sweet girlish-womanly vision whom he mentally Called Hilda-my monitor, in- tersposed itself in the midst of a doubtful transaction. Then he thought of the past decade, of his boundless ambition for wealth, for influence: of the measure of success which was his, but at the expense of-what? His own ideal of 21

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CHAT WITH MISS EVANS On Sunday nights, Miss Evans' room is bright and cosy. The fire burns cheerfully on the open hearth, and as the girls' come in, in little groups like flocks of birds, they are greeted by a pleasant, smiling face and a loving voice which speaks its Welcome from the heart. Seats are found on chairs and stools, and all about the floor, and then the talk begins. Sometimes We learn to look with a new and clearer vision at some great work of art in which heretofore perhaps, We had failed to see the beauty and the meaning. Sometimes it is the .beauty of Nature and of the common things which lie all about us, While We go blindly on not seeing, that is pointed out to us. Now we are told of many Wonders of foreign lands and of varied and interesting and sometimes ludicrous experiences in visiting them. Again the talk is of great and inspiring lives, perhaps those of some of our own Carleton alumni who as missionaries and teachers are heroically struggling against great odds, and making their iniluence and Works a blessing to humanity. There is a Genius in this room Which makes a girl's life seem nobler, more Worth the livingg which gives higher ideals, and Worthier purposes, which makes us dissatished with our narrowness and selfishness, and 23