Hobart College - Echo of the Seneca Yearbook (Geneva, NY)

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EDITORIAL extend in advance to expectant readers the word in V’AX .apologetic. We shall he unable upon this occasion fw to exhibit our classic shades.” They are barely convalescent from a severe attack id tht classic oo- tic, and their long-continued services assuredly entitle them to sym- pathy. '• The rugged portion of the sleep hill of learning ” is in the hands of the Main Street Improvement Societ. , and will be ready for climbers when “Gay comes marching home. Weave sorn to be obliged to state, in addition, that our “ time-honored halls ” give more marked evidence of the existence of the historic jack-knife of the student than the immediate presence of the Halo of Glory. We all “studiously shun the “ pathway of knowledge. A com- pany of young men. dwellers among us for four years, having set out upon this mythical highway last June, have not been heard from since, and—probably never will be. Aristophanes, Josh Billings, or some other philosopher with more than philosophic acumen lias remarked : “ Blessed are they who expect nothing, for they will never be disappointed. If our readers will accept this wise “ saw in good faith, we will guarantee them the highest satisfaction with the Echo, and shall, at the same time, proceed with our responsible labors, confident of the attainment ol our ends. Astonishment, very faintly conveys an idea of the feeling aroused in the writer of this editorial, when upon looking over an old file of The Geneva Gazette recently, his eye was attracted by an article descriptive of a public dinner to the Board of Trustees of Hobart College, The issue was that of June 26th, 1829, and the account was rich, rare, racy, and withal complete. “Joke followed joke,’ etc., (vide Shakspeare). Was that feast the last that gladdened the hearts of those old patriarchs ? Were those venerable perpen- dicularities then liorizontalized to await the final trump? Or has the sleep of Rip Van Winkle been emulated in successive continui- ty ? Will fifty years suffice to span their deep, unbroken slumbers ? If so. then may the Sun rise on Old Hobart in 1879. The friends ot culture have been much cheered this fall by the many indications of activity at our prominent seats of learning. The Yale boys heroically attacked a procession of Odd Fellows in Sep-

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Chairman, wm. p. Mcknight. HARRY S. TUTHILL, JOHN H. JOHNSON. Chairman, . . . CHAS. T. WOOD. w. ray delano, r. Cleveland cone. Chairman, . . . THOMAS DUCK. WM. B. RANKINE. S. FLETCHER WEYBURN.

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4 of tin Seneca. lumber, anti the skillful manner in which they projected the black diamonds gave evidence of their proficiency in geometrical studies. The Harvard students created a little temporary diversion by means of the premature explosion of some nitro-glycerine, which made considerable stir, and illustrated the practical utility of the genus glazier. The undergraduates of Dartmouth in a mild way mobbed a bookstore, and at Hamilton the pole ” was elevated by assisting the President’s carriage to a secure position on the Chapel. These little circumstances are very refreshing to those who begin to despair of the interest manifested in intellectual pursuits. The ennui, at Hobart this fall has been appreciably relieved at times by “ waking up the town. There was a lire alarm and great excite- ment at two o’clock A. M , all caused by the ringing of the College hell. Some ascribed the difficulty to an undue proximity of ye re- doubtable Fresh. At any rate one of them paid twelve dollars for supposed complicity in producing the aforesaid gentle tintinnabu- lations. No cards ! Taken all in all. the Class of'79 has given evidence of unusual precocity, and the wonderful development on the part of the Fresh culminated in their appearance at Chapel one morning with the forbidden cane. Although a small class—only twenty-six — they looked formidable, especially when seen through the goggles of the Sophs. The honor of the College, however, was heroically vindicated by '78 in the : ush which took place after Chapel. There were then fifty-two canes where there had been hut twenty-six, and on the ground where stood the noole men of '79 but six remained, and they are here yet. Two Sophomores water-logged by the Fresh, and one man with a fractured skull are the only other casualties worthy of mention. There is no interest in boating at Hobart whatever. Which ar- ' gues that the quality of her muscle could gain distinction at the Inter-Collegiate regatta; which argues that site has a fine boat house ; which argues that within one hundred yards of her doors lies one of tire finest sheets of water for aquatic sports to he found in all America. Were she obliged, like Amherst, to carry her oars three or four miles, or like Williams, to scull on the bed ol a dry stream, or like Hamilton, to feather on the toe and heel paths, be- yond question her energy in surmounting obstacles would place “a six” with poised oars at the start, to respond to the signal gun at Saratoga. Speaking on this subject, reminds us to suggest that the lumber remaining from the erection of the boat house, at present a disllg-