University of Virginia - Corks and Curls Yearbook (Charlottesville, VA)

Page 29 text:

, 1 iQMUVA lei J 00 QsQQQe, OeON sively defying the laws of logic, they would be remembered collectively with the their light songs significantly above the war cries of the outside world. But pas- same intense quality as the memory of a first love. small gatherings Whose outward purpose was the voicing of trivia, could sound

Page 28 text:

depot. All were loaded into two boxcars without any semblance of rations, over- coats, blankets, canteens, etc. Yet the war was on! The next morning the cars were unloaded at Strasburg, where gracious citizens shared their breads and meats with the half-starved but nonetheless enthusiastic troops. Orders to proceed to Winchester immediately if not sooner quickly circulated. Upon arrival, our weary men in arms were greeted by strains of Yankee Doodle and cries of iHur- rah for the Union? Little did the people of Winchester realize that that very day, April 17th, the ordinance for secession had been passed at Richmond. At mid- night, everyone was armed with rifles and reloaded into the boxcars. By daybreak the destination was reached: Harperis F erry. iiHere they fell upon the Federal garrison burning the arsenal and thousands of arms. The objective was to capture these arms for the Confederacy. The Federals quickly withdrew, and many rifles were salvaged or secured from citizens who had secretly concealed them. After a bloodless ten-day campaign in which no one had the opportunity to fire even one blank cartridge, the companies were ordered back to the University and dissolved. The governorls comment was ithat there was too much talent to be risked in one bodyf Truer words are rarely spoken, for in a few years most of the men were to become officers. Phelps let out a great consuming, Neanderthal yawn. Expression of the weariness of the world. iiTime, gentlemen, time. Time for all good men to return to their own racks. This great albatross has a test tomorrow at ten? he said. Stretching of legs. Contagion of yawning. Arms through sleeves, buttons being buttoned, hands gloved, tired but sincere good-nights. Last breaths of the fire-warmed air. They left Phelps like the returning Confederate soldiers leaving the grave of a friend for their homes. Phelps alone. He undressed, washed, and brushed his teeth. He emptied the ashtrays, checked the fire and set his alarm clock. Ecstatic falling into the rack. Pulling the blankets tight around his body. The mattress is hard. It is a mans bed. The sound of time ticking through space. If only one could remember all the sto- ries, all the laughs, all the faces. Phelps knew that twenty years from now there would only be vague remembrances, vague impressions left on the memory like fingerprints on glass. He would always be able to remember the buildings, the statues, the gardens, but they weren,t the important thing. What was important to remember was the state of consciousness whose breeding ground and context was the University, the active collective spiritual force which conditioned both the way he looked at the world and at himself. You could call it the Universityis personality, its soul. You couldift hold it in your hand and say to someone who wanted to know what it was you were trying to say, iiHere, this is what it is? If he hasnlt been a part of it, nothing you could say would mean much. Itls like trying to describe a taste. It would be nights like this that Phelps realized he would miss most of all. It was impossible to distinguish that nightis bull session from all the others that had preceded it. It seemed strange that nights like this,

Page 30 text:

nd like those of a first love, our memories of the University Will retain a fine and crystallized aspect about them. They will be memories of a protean yet immutable thing, of an intangible essence, a spirit, and an atmosphere that is interwoven into the very soul of the Universit . Knowing full well that no matter how many buildings are changed, destroyed, created; no matter how many strange faces seem to slip with enigmatic speed from Erst-year dorms t0 the proverbial cap and gown; no matter What physical changes take place in any facet there Will still be a certain mystique about the University.