University of the South - Cap and Gown Yearbook (Sewanee, TN)

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22 @The ®ap anif (ffiotxttx. lie is coming here now. Of course I rose too, and, Miss Angelica saying, Mr. Initoo, I felt my hand grasped as if by a long-lost brother. Very glad to see you, the theologue said; Jack Mayo wrote me about you. Jack is an old boy, you know ; we try to keep the run of all our old students. Hope you have come for the summer? Oh, yes! earnestly. He is hunting for the University, Miss Angelica put in. A shadow swept over the theologue ' s bright face ; it seemed a shame that it should be there even for a moment. We have not much to show, he said rather sadly; all our work goes away in the students, you know, and, indeed, Sewanee is rather a feeling than a seeing. But T shall be glad to show you what there is. Thank you; you are very kind, I answered, and please excuse me, but I did not catch your name. I do no not think Miss Angelica men- tioned it. She did not. Miss Angelica is not to be trusted. My name is Gailor. I have asthma, do n ' t you hear ? And am one of the professors who have to be propped up — ha! ha! Amid all the laughter that shook me as well as the rest, a gentleman with a blonde mustache, a blue-ribboned dandy straw hat, and clothed in a Avay that left nothing to be desired, joined the group. ' Mr. Gailor put his hand on his shoulder. Another of the fossils, he said, Modern Languages— ha! ha! Then all Miss Angelica ' s chaff was repeated. And now if Miss Angelica will excuse you, Mr. Gailor went on, I will take you across the grounds to where the rest of the faculty are laid out on logs, and if you will join me in a cigar we will fumigate the old fellows. So we went, he and I and Modern Languages, to where on a log a num- ber of gentlemen were seated. I found Greek with a tender mustache and a cutaway coat. History in tennis flannels. Metaphysics and the Proctor, one a West Pointer and the other from Annapolis, two of the best set up men I had ever seen; and if there were some silver threads in their beards that had come to be a hopeful sign, seeing the rest were so young. I did not see all the faculty that afternoon, but presently General Math- ematics came game galloping upon old George, a thoroughly well known character at Sewanee, followed by two setters, Dick and Ned,

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®h£ ©up axxi (iSoum. 21 hungry, and home and the bread and butter that Peter, the house boy, got for us from Aunt Betsy, the cook, touched my heart with peculiar ten- derness. Indeed, there were two things from which I did not recover the whole time that I spent at Sewanee — one was hunger, the other was sleep. Everybody seemed in the same condition, however, and, as there was a plenty to eat, no one seemed to mind. After the two o ' clock dinner I retired with a book and a cigar to a ham- mock in the yard where I slept peacefully until little Brown rushed out saying, Everybody is going — hurry! Base-ball! I cried, and sprang up. I got ready in furious haste, and found the young ladies and Smith and Tompkins waiting for me, also a long blue ribbon, which was pinned to the flap of my coat. The grounds were very level, and I was astonished to see the number of people and vehicles gathered. There was no grand stand, nor anything horrid of that kind, but plenty of logs and stumps and chairs and car- riages and wagons. As we mounted the hill from Tremlett Spring, I thought how bright and cheerful it was, and felt my spirits rise. We turned to the left, circling the ground behind the crowd that occupied the logs and stumps, and I think I never heard so many and such pleasant greetings. Everybody seemed so friendly— everybody seemed so happy. Half way round we found a vacant log and took our places in a row. They have not hauled out your old professors yet, I observed, scan- ning the grounds carefully. Have they not? Then you must be patient. You seem to have a good many clergymen, I said, seeing a number of straight clerical coats. We have a theological department. Are not these men a little advanced for theological students? I in- sisted. For other places, perhaps, but we have such very old professors that we have to cultivate very old students. So. And again I looked very hard at Miss Angelica. Ha! ha! ha! I think it was the heartiest laugh I ever heard, and I turned to see one of the straight-coated gentlemen talking to Miss Jemima at the other end of the log. That is the jolliest looking theologue J have ever seen, I said. Re- ligion has not soured him. Sewanee religion sweetens people, Miss Angelica answered, rising;

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©he ©ap anb ( oxxm. 23 equally well known as being able to point a snail, an orchid, or a partridge with perfect impartiality. Mathematics really did look venerable, for his long silver beard parted to right and left as he rode, but even he needed no propping, for he sat his horse like a boy of sixteen. It surprised me just at first to see how deeply interested these gentle- men were in the game, how their spirits rose and fell as one side or the other got ahead. But presently I became interested myself, and forgot to watch them, and when, after some close playing, my side won I was as wildly excited as any one. And at supper I discussed errors as hotly as possible. After supper Miss Angelica pinned a red ribbon on my coat, and told me that I was to belong to the Sigma Epsilon Literary Society. That, as it was an open night when the two societies would meet together we would go. I had a little faint turn remembering the model youth of my dreams, but I thought that perhaps the Sewanee student was not one of those dreadful things, and, thank God ! he was not. The young men spoke well, and all the literary celebrities of the University Magazine were pointed out to me. There was nothing stereotyped in either manner or speech, and mixed with much youthful dignity there was a good deal of fun and humor. Before the evening was done 1 was thoroughly interested. I could easily understand how it was that the professors were so fond of these young fel- lows. How it was that they played tennis with them, belonged to their fra- ternities, cheered their base-ball, and took a vital interest in their Magazine and athletics, at the same time requiring good work and putting up some of the hardest examinations I have ever seen. It is the proper feeling to exist between students and professors, but I had never seen it anywhere else. Miss Angelica took me to church the next day, and seated me on the end of a bench in the middle aisle. If you want to see, she said, step out in the aisle ; everybody does it. Soon the lower half of the building was filled with ladies and children, and some gentlemen. The upper half was filled with students. The pro- fessors and older gownsmen coming in a side door to seats on a platform known as the Synagogue. On a lower level was the Squab ' s Nest, where the young gownsmen sat. It was all very orderly, and presently the organ sounded, the last bell rang, and in the choir-room I heard the singing begin, led by a cornet. It was very sweet, and I felt myself thrill- ing in sympathy with the clear young voices.