St Johns College - Yearbook (Annapolis, MD)

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S 45 wifi studies, but occupied his leisure time more in general reading. I have always greatly feared that john's choice of professions did not chord with his natural tempera- ment, and was the indirect cause of many of the mistakes in his after life. But enough of this. Two pleasant years of inti- mate friendship passed away, and John, having finished his course at the public school, and meanwhile taken up a special course of study under a kind friend who offered to give him private instruction, was preparing to leave for college. His education had of necessity been but fragmentary in his early years, so that he was compelled to strain every nerve in order to make up the deficiency. Yet perseverance and energy won, and he was at last prepared to enter the Freshmen Class at college. Nobody can tell the sacrifices the mother and fa- ther made in order to send that boy to college, but he was a worthy lad, and the brightest hopes were enter- tained for his future success. How his last few weeks of time at home sped on,' bringing nearer and nearer the opening of the collegiate session, and what a wrench it was to feel that we must so soon be separated l At length the day of departure arrived. I was up bright and early, and had run over to the Heilt farm to see john off. john strove hard to conceal his emotions 5 but to a boy of his temperament leaving his home for the first time, this was too much of a task 3 and as he helped to place his trunk in the wagon, and then climbed in him- 152 self to be driven to the railroad station, I could see that his cup of sorrow was well-nigh full to overflowing. His mother and I watched him until he was lost from view behind yonder stretch of Woodland, and when he had looked back and waved his last farewell just before disap- pearing, the mother's silent tears fell thick and fast for a few moments, and I am not ashamed to confess that mine followed. However, we knew it was best for john, and so we wereconstrained to repress our feeling and betake ourselves to our respective duties. John's first few days at college were fraught with many new experiences to him. Although used to wait- ing upon himself, still he missed the ministering hand under the parental roof, and in many respects found mat- ters entirely different from the quiet life on the farm. Little by little he became acquainted, however, and after that peculiar malady known as homesickness had worn off, he settled down to work, and made for himself a fair record. He corresponded regularly with his mother and me, and as it was in accordance with his nature to be frank and open in all matters, we were kept well informed respecting his experiences at college. The receipt of his letters was, you may suppose, a source of great joy to his mother, and it was not long before she was outwardly reconciled to the separation, and the daily routine of the farm went on without interruption. john fully enjoyed the work at college, and was never so happy as when a holiday gave him opportunity md

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father first moved in this vicinity, and although my home is many miles from here now, I always manage to pay occasional visits to my former home, and whenever pos- sible, to commune with my thoughts in this secluded spot. At the time of our arrival this farm was owned and cultivated by a highly respectable family answering to the name of Hielt. Of this family there were only three sur- viving members,-the father and mother, and a son john sixteen years old, about the same age as myself. john had an impulsive, somewhat poetic nature, but was, alas, too easily influenced by circumstances, which fact often led him into serious blunders. Furthermore, I may state that he was very fond of his parents, and seemed to delight in fulfilling their wishes. This feeling of love was returned by them 3 so that the three formed as happy a family as it has been my lot to look upon. t'There was a public school about a mile from this place which we both attended, and as the road to it ran through my father's farm, john used to stop for me in the morning, and in the afternoon, after the session of the day was over, we invariably strolled homeward together. Often times when I was at leisure I would accompany him to his home and help him with his odd- ends of work, while at other times he would return the same favor. So we lived peacefully and happily in each other's company, while the neighbors were wont to aver that when either of us were seen, the other could not be far behind. 1 151 How I remember the holiday tramps we used to take through the green fields, and amongst the huge trunks of the forests ! Never so happy were we as when, the days chores being completed, we found ourselves in each otherls company, to delve into the haunts of Nature and pry into her secrets. John was naturally bright, and also studious, and it was not unnatural that, under the influence of his pict- uresque surroundings, he should develop a taste for natural science. He borrowed several small works on botany and read them, and collected quite a number of botanical specimens. He acquired such a love for the study of nature that he had almost determined to lead the life of a naturalist, when a single incident, seemingly of the most trivial character, was sufhcient to turn the bent of his inclinations towards a profession which calls into practice not so much the sympathetic, loving investiga- tion of the lower orders of God's creations, but rather a cold, critical study of human nature itself. I mean the law profession, and the fatal incident was this: 'Une day at school after a particularly interesting lesson in Grecian History, the teacher asked john a question which had for its object the testing of his judgment as to cause and effect. His answer, though not remarkably brilliant, was good, and elicited the remark from the teacher: ' john, you ought to be a lawyerf This remark, though said in a joke, preyed upon his mind, and from thence forth he ceased to take so much interest in his botanical . F

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to visit his home, and receive the heartfelt welcome always accorded him. But towards the close of his Soph- omore year a slight change began to be manifest respect- ing his relations to home. His letters became more and more irregular in coming, and often were very incom- plete. Yet we made due allowances for this, and attrib- uted it to pressure of work. W'e should not have noticed this so much, but he soon began to form excuses for not coming home on holidays. Sometimes he remained at college, while at other times he would go home with one of the students. Yet his motherls heart was even recon- ciled to forego the pleasure of seeing her boy, because she thought that his visits furnished him happiness. He firmly believed that he loved the old home as much as ever, and perhaps he did, but to my mind there is a limit to the action of the brain, and in proportion as new subjects of thought came crowding into the mind, so old ideas and sentiments are wont to be obscured, or pushed back into the innermost recesses of the brain, as grain is stored in a warehouse. These ideas or sentiments require continual effort to keep them in prominence, and so it was in johnis case. His home-love yet burned in his heart, but the busy routine of college life so occupied his brain that it was no difficult matter for his home-thoughts to slink into the background 3 and he was slowly, uncon- sciously allowing the pressure of occupation to cast a shadow over the glow in his heart. , The summer's vacation after his Sophomore year I he passed at home, but although he willingly did what- ever duty came to him, still he never manifested his old enthusiasm over the scenes of nature or the affairsiat home. He read most of his leisure time, and seemed bent upon one object. That object was law. I have said that john was of an impulsive disposition, and that same disposition led him to throw his very soul into whatsoever project he took a fancy to. Law was such a project, and law he meant to pursue to the bitter end. Furthermore, he took the sternest possible view of the profession. He felt that there should be only cold dis- crimination in acts of justice, and although he did not intend to read law proper until his graduation from col- lege, he nevertheless trained himself to look upon the deeds of men from a purely critical standpoint. Neither would his energetic disposition permit him to maintain a happy' medium of sentiment 5 but in the pursuit of his chosen aim his desire to do right transformed him into a pessimist 5 the cold calculations of his brain preyed upon the sympathies of his heart until he seemed unable to see life's brighter side, or even the brighter side of his own profession. Sometimes while in society his inborn gen- iality would reappear, 'only to disappear in what seemed to him the proper training for his pro- fession. It was evident that some circumstance or some ' word fitly spoken' was required to bring again into prominence the tender side of the nature of this naturally affectionate lad. Fate decreed otherwise. ,.- .M -nn-1, .