Florida Agricultural College - Pinakidia Yearbook (Lake City, FL)

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i6Much Ado About Nothing. HE average cadet of our college is an easy-going fellow wl1o does not pay very much attention to the slurs C that are thrown at l1i111 by the envious students of our other State institutions, who, jealous of our SQLDCQ growth in numbers and inliuence during the last few years, strive in very mean ways some times to throw mud on our fair name. But sometimes it happens that one of our boys awakens to anger, and when such is the case the sun is very apt to Go down on his wrath, unless he gets angry before chapel in the morning. Gne little article, from a Gainesville paper, of course, came to our notice some time since. It was a description of the victory of the East Florida Seminary at Jacksonville during the Convention of the Daughters of the Confederacy last January. The article closed with these wholly uncalled-for words: VVe are sorry the Lake City cadets were not present to see our boys drill. They might have learned something about the artf' Had this been said by one ol the Gainesville cadets in the presence of one of our students, that same East Florida Seminary cadet would probably have been sent home on a stretcher or in a long black box. Gainesville claims to be the Hrst in rank of the military colleges of the State, and says that she holds the championship. VVe observe that she has never strained her eyes looking for an opportunity to drill against us. Our reasons for 1lOt drilling against them can be soon stated. XVe organized a picked company in October to drill anything in the State, expecting the contest to come off some time in December. After we had drilled three weeks Lieutenant Cox, our worthy conimandant, received word that the Convention was postponed indefinitely, and so disbanded our company. Then he received word about the Ist of January, or during the last days of the Christmas examinations, that the competitive drill would come off on the rzth ofjanuary, thus giving us less than two weeks in which to organize, equip and drill a company to go up against companies that had been drilling steadily for several nionths. 77

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But on this Friday afternoon the clouds hung low and threatening, and he kept looking anxiously at them. and, thrusting his hands deep down into his pockets, as if he were searching for the dollar which wasn't ther'-. As the afternoon advanced the rain began to fall slowly, but steadily, like the earth on a cofiin where are buried our dead hopes. a As can be imagined, the young man was at a loss what to do. He went to the 'phone and rang up the proprietor of the livery stable, intending to hire a carriage again on credit, only to receive the encouraging news that he had a bill there of several month's standing, and no carriage could come without the money in advance. People who are familiar with the lives of our college boys will readily see that there was only one course left, and it was astonishing to see how rapidly he changed after he discovered that there was no hope of procuring a carriage. In less than ten minutes he was suiiering from sick headache, dyspepsia, rheumatism, sore eyes, sore throat and several other diseases of a similar nature, any one of which would, he felt sure, cause his death before Monday. He borrowed a pen, ink and paper and carefully worded the following' note: DEAREST ALICIA :- It is with a sorrowful heart, as well as a pen and ink. that I write you this short note. I had thought to be by your side again to-night, and to enjoy the exquisite delight of feeling the touch of your dainty fingers on my coat sleeve as we zmlkfd together down the street. But fortune has robbed me of my pleasure. I have been threatened all the week with pneumonia, and this afternoon I was taken down by a chill directly after the time for drill formation, and now I have a high fever. 'YVords cannot express to you my grief at being zuzablc to be with you this evening. I am told the play will be Hne, but it is not for the play that I care. I am always supremely happy when I am in your presence, and it seems baud, oh, so hard, that I must be so disappointed this evening. Ever yours, EVERETT. The cadet was on the sick list until the following Wednesday. 76

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Under these circumstances we refused to drill in jacksonville at the Convention, and quite justly, too, as will be clearly seen by any fair-minded person who is Willing to look at a question from two sides. Now it so happens that one of our young lady students is in correspondence with a student of john B. Stetson University fa very large sounding name, isn't it? and by-the-way, John B. makes a very good hat, tool. This young hopeful writes to the said young lady thus: I had thought, dearest Beatrice, that I would see you some time next month: that I would once more gaze into those beautiful brown eyes and bask again in the sunshine of your smile. We thought the State College was going to give us a game of football: but since they have backed out, and I cannot get permission to visit Lake City 011 any other pretext, I shall have to get along as best I can without seeing you until commencement. just a simple statement of facts is all that is required here to explain matters to any reasonable person. We organized a football team quite early in the season, but did not practice to any considerable extent, because we did not think our Board of Trustees would consent to our playing any inter collegiate games. We received a challenge from Stetson, and, as soon as we obtained the consent of the Board, we wrote accepting the challenge. Then we received a reply, saying that it was rather late in the season 1 that they had ceased train- ing3 that they were preparing for a Held day in March, and could not train for it and the football game at the same time and do justice to both. So, as a matter of course, we did not play them. In the language of this Stetson student we backed out. ' We replied that we would like to get a game, and would play them any Saturday between the date of the letter and the end of the football season. Since then we have heard nothing from the football team of Stetson University. Now we will present this problem to our readers: Did Stetson really want to play or were they bluffing? 78