Davidson College - Quips and Cranks Yearbook (Davidson, NC)

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tender womanhood — all alike are eng-ulfed in the drowninof sea. The sea, therefore, is not a symbol of divine mercy. It is the very emblem of tremendous and remorseless power. Indeed, if nature had no other face but this, we could hardly believe in God, or at least, that He had gentle attributes ; we could only stand on the shore of existence, and shake with terror at the presence of a being of infinite power, but cold and pitiless as the waves that roll from the Arctic pole. Our Saviour walked on the waves, but left thereon no impress of his feet ; nor can we find there a trace of the love of God as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ. We were eight days out of sight of land. Water, water everywhere ! Ocean to the right of us, ocean to the left of us, ocean in front of us, and ocean behind us, with two or three miles of ocean under us. But our good ship, the Lucania bore us over the sea like a conqueror, and we landed safe, at last. U U U

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mother, sits at a window and looks out upon the sea, and sees a shining path over the waters, and thinks he sees his mother coming to him upon it from heaven. But with all these moonlight nights, and sun-rising dud sun-settings, the seas had little attraction for me, and its usual impression was one of profound melancholy. As I sat on deck and looked out on the gray and melancholy waste, or lay in my berth and heard the waves rushing past, I had a feeling more dreary than in the most desolate wilderness. That sound haunted me ; it was the last I heard at night, and the first in the morning ; it mingled with my dreams. I was indeed floating among shadows. But I found no sympathy in the sea. On the land nature soothed and comforted me ; she spoke in gentler terms, as if she had a heart of tenderness, a motherly sympathy with the sorrow of her children. There was something in the deep silence of the woods that seemed to say, peace be still ! The brooks murmured softly as they flowed between their mossy banks, as if they would not disturb our musings, but ' glide into them and steal away their sharpness ere we were aware. The robins sang in notes not too gay, but that spoke of returning spring, after a long dark winter ; and the soft airs that touched the feverish brow seemed to lift gently the grief that rested there, and carry it away on the evening wind. But in the ocean, there was no such touch of human feeling, no sympathy with the human woe. All was cold and pitiless. Some find in many of nature ' s forces proofs of God ' s moral governments over the world. But none of these do they find in the sea. That speaks only of wrath and terror. Its power is to destroy. It is a treacherous element. Smooth and smiling it may be, even when it lures us to destruc- tion. We are sailing over it in perfect security, but let there be a fire or collision, and it would swallow us up in an instant, as it has swallowed a thousand wrecks before. Knowing no mercy, cruel as the grave, it sacrifices without pity, youth and age, gray hairs and childish innocence and 24

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' 99 IN ATHLETICS. It is impossible for an outsider to form any true concep- tion of the position held by a class in college until he is in possession of all the facts connected with the class The general history of ' 99 has been written, but in this article we wish to give a more minute account of her successes and her failures in the realm of college sports. When a boy comes to college he is supposed to be able to take care of himself; to know a few Latin and Greek constructions, to doff his hat to the Professors; but above all he must know the first rudiments of base ball or he is branded as having issued from the ark, while the school from which he came is at once associated with the fair Garden where cuts and kicks and broken bones were never known. The members of ' 99 come and brought with them the required essentials. A week had hardly passed before some of our boys were willing to test their skill, on the diamond, against the unknown ability of the upper classmen. From among the numerous applicants a team wass soon picked and a game was arranged with the Sophs. As the game progressed it was seen that we were weak in the box, while in fielding and batting our new players far outclassed those who had the advantage of a years practice together. Behind the bat Weddington did good work; but still the game went against us. The com- passionate Sophs, wishing to appear generous, would not consent to allow this game to be counted in the college championship series. We knew it was their last chance 26