Dickinson College - Microcosm Yearbook (Carlisle, PA)

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Iwas just about to slip in again as quietly as I had come, when a deep, persuasive sound swelled out across the trees, so much like a real, human voice fthough on a very large scalej, that I stopped and looked around in wonderment. Yes, somebody was talking, fora voice was inquiring, Say, Old West, is it safe to talk now? and after a moment another, more ancient and sedate, replied, Yes, I believe so. But keep a watch out for those stu- dents who just went up the street. They'll be back and catch us, if you're not careful. Robert just turned in as usual, and so we're alone. I leaned back in the darkness against a tree trunk, too amazed to more than barely breathe, and fearful, lest those, whose very voices were so solemnly impressive, should spy me out. Now it was another that sounded forth directly over my head, it seemed, and spoke in a high, cracked voice, that reminded me strongly of that of the French professor we had when I attended College. I almost forget now, but I think his name was Super. They called him the Lithomes of Dickinson-whatever that means. Perhaps some of you may be curious enough to look it up. But there I go on another of my tangents. I listened carefully, for this was so near at hand that I couldn't be mistaken. The spirit of Old East was communicating with its consorts, and I was the unbidden guest, the eavesdropper. I felt guilty, but dared not stir for fear of detection. I wish, it went on to explain, that you and South wouldn't talk so much these nights. I've all I can do to make up for the sleepl lost at the first of the year, when scraps were frequent, and they threw beds and pitchers and cannon-balls down my poor stairs. And then there's Levy and his violin ! Do have a little pity ! All the others f for I saw they all had joined inj began to laugh, but Bosler interrupted and bade them cease, for if he hadn't the violin to endure, he had at least to put up with Davenport's horn six mornings every week, which would sadly disturb him, if it were during sleeping hours. Thus they went on in a droll and clumsy kind of way, bantering one another and taking sides on every discussion. My dread of exposure had now disappeared, and intense interest had taken its place. As is customary with old people, they soon waxed reminiscent, and from some things they said, I should judge that they lived chiefly in the past and derived all their satisfaction from retrospect. Of course, Denny must be excepted, which, wretched thing, had but little past on which to gloat. If she hadn't held a prominent place in And Levy's Fiddle, Too I9

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The Confessions of an Eavesdropper. e, n T'S been so long, that I can scarcely be held for all the details, and if my memory fails me altogether at times, I shall have to supply the vacancies from n1y imagination. I do, however, remember that it all ocurred one sultry, unseasonable, midwinter night, during my Junior year. I even recollect how I had been spending the evening, for that had a direct bearing on what was to follow, which was so remarkable and unusual. QI don't know who teaches Psychology there now, but when I went, it was old Dr. Gooding. He was a great one to relate all your thoughts in mental chains, so to speak, as it were, in the main. If he's still alive, he'1l rejoice to feel that some of his sound precept still lingers in the dusty brain cells of an old grad J. But to resume. You see I'm getting so old and feeble now, that it's most difficult for me to pin my attention continuously upon a single subject, but I shall make my best attempt. Let's see. O yes, I was stating that I even remembered what I'd been doing that evening. Well, I had been over to the Library and while rummaging among some antique volumes, had found one by an old German scholar of the Sixteenth Century. It was, I saw, a book of necromancy, in which were set forth such curious and altogether novel ideas, that I took it to my room, though its poor, old back was sadly broken and the dust of many decades was clinging to its edges. One thing he asserted that I had never heard nor even thought of before-a belief that there was a certain degree of animation in apparently lifeless objects, and that doubtless they held communion with each other, according to a method of their own. l It -was late or rather early as I emerged onto the campus to get a breath of fresh air before retiring. My head was teeming with the novel speculations of my German friend, and I suppose for that reason the great, shining clock in Denny Tower looked really human as it pointed to half-past one-time for all well intentioned folks to be in bed. The clock was right, for no one but burglars, drunks and Sophomores were expected to be seen upon, the campus at such a witching time of night. Of cou'rse, there was old Robert too, but he doesn't deserve a place in such an infamous category as I have made, for he always wore a policeman's uniform, and by the warning glow of his cigar, told prowlers the way not to go. Even as I stood there, I saw him enter his room and slam the door, and I knew that he had yielded to the desire for jes one little snooze. Old West, We Love Thee.

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the life of the College, she must surely have died of loneliness and a broken heart. I believe the others appreciated this, for they seemed to address their remarks in that direction, as if by common consent. As is prudent in one so young, she held her tongue in the presence of superiors. One by one they dropped out and left Old West to carry on the talk, though whether from weariness of or deference to the eldest, I shall not attempt to say. After all, these days are not to be compared to those that have gone and he emphasized his sentiments till he shook all over and set the belfry a-toppling. Those earliest .lays when the hard-listed Presbyterians owned me, and I stood alone upon the campus, were none too pleasant, but in time there was a change to the Methodists, and then they built South, and later thought they had improved his homely face, when they topped him off with that hideous, white cap. He and East, who soon followed, were just to keep me company. If I hadn't soon had a companion, I should '1'hsfv'SDfwvymvd IUSHOFH. Six D:-yea Week certainly have lost the power to talk. Talking to oneself grows monotonous, you know. During the next few decades, the College grew immensely, as I suppose you know, and in the days just before the War, she was second to none in the State. Weren't we proud of ourselves then, Old East, my gray friend ? But there was no answer, and I surmised that he was snoozing. His interlocutor was enjoying his own conversation too much to be offended, and so continued. The students of forty or fifty years ago and more, were so much more individualistic than now, in their fun. I must confess that I'm of the old school and try in vain to adapt myself to the ways of the present and take the lively interest in college pranks that I once did. The Senior Professor fwho occupied my West end and had his flower and vegetable garden out beyondj, and occasionally some other, lived within my walls, and so I had reason to know of every secret joke played upon them-how their sleep was disturbed by sudden, unexplainable rumblings in the corridor, and how the H2 S bottle always lacked a cork when deposited behind the bureau. 'It is impossible but that oifences will come: but woe unto him through whom they come !' So thought the faculty, when the aggrieved victim made known the crime. Some of the presidents, too, like Dr. Peck, because of his pompousness, and Dr. Johnson, because of his leanness, came in fora share in the persecution. I remember how I laughed when it was known that they'd hustled old 20