Susquehanna University - Lanthorn Yearbook (Selinsgrove, PA)

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Senior Prophecy ' Twas a clear, cold night in early March. Outside, the stars twinkled and danced in the keen air, but within the electric lamp cast its warm brightness over the shining beakers and tubes of my long laboratory with great good cheer. I had been working for many hours with those beakers, striving to realize my fondest hope-that of discovering the future. For I am a dreamer. I believed that in each person, there were certain qualities, which so combined as to produce unnatural growth, would reveal the after life. That just as the flower, under the influence of artificial heat, blooms before it ' s time, so the germs of success and ambition properly nourished would show signs of what was to come. But so far, failure had been my reward and the row of little amber vials, each of which contained a few drops of the life fluid of my friends, given for the sake of experiment, seemed to mock me as they flashed in the light. Discouraged, I poured chemical after chemical into the test-tube, neither noting nor caring what it was, hoping against hope that I might find the true solution. Finally to a portion I added a drop or two from one of the amber bottles and sank back into a chair to watch the result. Within the tube, the bright red liquid seethed and bubbled as it had so oft before, the light flashing and playing in a m riad of colors. But all at once there was a change. Grad- ually the colors faded and the liquid became clear as crystal. Then a slight milkiness clouded the tube and in the cen- ter I saw a quaint, little Dutch church. The bell was swinging in the tower and around the door stood three or four farmers. Up the path to the church came the minister, slowly and thoughtfully, his curly hair lifted by the gentle breeze. I had found it! This, then, was the true solution. Feverishly I reached for the bottle and there was the name, A. C. CURRAN. Success had attended my efforts, for now I had what I had long sought. Taking the bottle marked Thompson, I poured some into the e.ssence and after bubbling had subsided a brilliant scene appeared within the tube. There stretched long stands to left and right filled to the brim with excited people. Below, the white soil and green sod showed in sharp contrast to the running forms of players. And there at short- stop stood TOMMY, resting easily after a magnificent one-handed catch. The third bottle brought no result.- At times the liquid seemed to be about to clear and then the inrushing atoms clouded over once more. The bottle was labeled gaylor, and remembering how near and dear the two had been be- fore, I added the contents of a tiny vial marked dutch. Instantly there was a change and soon I saw a large, new farm house along a country road. On the porch, a man clad in blue jeans, rocked slowly back and forth in an arm chair, gazing about him with great contentment. Beside him stood a little woman with sunbonnet and apron, scattering corn to a breed of chicks about the yard. Then the picture faded and the liquid grew red once more. 26

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terrible now in the light of the present. Reflection on this fact ought to make us more courageous to meet the trials that must surely come to us as we go through life. We know of no way of judging tlie future but by the past. In so much, only as we have been earnest, hard work- ing, conscientious students, we may predict reasonable success for the members of the class. We do not make the error of supposing that we stand upon some pinnacle from whence we are about to step down to an awe struck world to be received like e.xpected saviours. Saviours are not received in that manner. Besides, there are hundreds of in- stitutions sending out at the same time with Susquehanna, as many graduates as she is. Some are sending out more, and all these graduates are presumably as well trained and taught and as eager as ourselves. The world will have need of them according as they have made themselves useful to it. But withal, we look with happy anticipation to the labor and service in the world that awaits us, glad that we are somewhat equipped to do for ourselves, society, humanity and God. Historian ' 09 25

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The next bottle produced a scene in a court-room. The judges in their black robes, the jury with their fixed attention, the lawyers with t heir briefs and books, all stood out clearly in the tiny tube. And there, pleading with an eloquence that brought tears to the eyes of those about him, stood WALTER, waving his hand majestically toward the prisoner. He sat down, the jury conferred without leaving the box and then the judge spoke to the prisoner. With a look of astonishm-ent he left the docket. He was free. As the crowd surged forward to congratulate the lawyer the picture dimmed, though a ray of sunlight glinted on his hair to the last. After the usual procedure, I found myself looking at a magnificent home. The marble front, the massive pillars all betokened wealth and success. The scene seemed strange; apparently it was in England. The door opened and two flunkies appeared on either side. A carriage dashed up as the master came down the steps. Dressed in the height of fashion and bearing himself like a lord, he entered the carriage which drove rapidly away. But not before I had rec- ognized the man as l.WVRENce. Evidently he was a rich mine owner and business man in London, the home of his people. The seventh bottle, after much trouble, gave the scene of a large school room. Rows of desks filled by busy pupils stretched out into the background. At the front a large class was reciting, and at the desk sat the teacher expounding the whys and wherefores to the assembled pupils. His hair was gray and his face stern, but often a smile wreathed his countenance as he explained the lesson to the class Puzzled as to who it could be I reached for the vial and read the name irwin. Evidently the principal of a large and successful high school, respected and loved by his pupils. The scene still lingered in the tube as though loath to pass away and leave nothing but its memory behind. There were but few bottles left. In fact, only three, labeled Ross, Seiler and Swope. Only a little of the true solution remained, so I carefully divided it into four parts, one of which I would analyze and so obtain the exact pro- portions of the fluids it contained. A few drops from one of the remaining vials, the same bright bubbling, and then a scene of waving grain and tasseled corn. In the distance the roofs and spires of a town showed on a little rise and behind them rose the dim and misty outlines of a mountain range. Along this dusty road in the foreground, a gang of men were working, .some with sledge and stakes, others with rod and chain. At one side of the road stood a transit and behind it was our old friend SEILER, giving directions for the work. It was a party of government surveyors, with George at its head, preparing a detailed survey of the state roads. The next scene was one of a city church. The numerous pews were filled with fashionable men and women; the choir of youths and men in cossacks wound its way slowly up the aisle; the minister in his gown reached forth his hands from the pulpit. At the front were boys and girls in confirmation dress, waiting for their acceptance into the church. The vial was marked ross. His great revival services in New York had attracted more attention and had 27