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X GETTYSBURG, PA., MAY, 1901 No. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS The Social Qualities of Robert Burns as Manifested in His Poems, 70 The Cultivation of Patriotism, . 77 Superlatives, . 80 Perseverance, . 82 A Dutch Schoolmaster's Adventure, . . . . .84 Editorials, . 88 An Old Reader, . 90 Pictures, . 91 Spontaneity in Literature, . . . . . .93 In Nature's Realm, . 96 A Country Barn on a Rainy Day, . . - . 97 All Souls Day, . 98 Exchanges, . 100 Now the bright morning-star, day's harbinger, Comes dancing from the east, and leads with her The flowery May, who from her green lap throws The yellow cowslip and the pale primrose. Hail, bounteous May, that dost inspire Mirth, and youth, and warm desire; Woods and groves are of thy dressing; Hill and dale doth boast thy blessing! Thus we salute thee with our early song, And welcome thee, and wish thee long. -Milton. Through wood, and stream, and field, and hill, and Ocean, A quickening life from the Earth's heart has burst As it has ever done, with change and motion, Prom the great morning of the world when first God dawned on Chaos; in its stream immersed The lamps of heaven flash with a softer light; All baser things pant with life's sacred thirst; Diffuse themselves; and spend in love's delight The beauty and the joy of their renewed might. -Shelley. 70 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY THE SOCIAL QUALITIES Of ROBERT BURNS AS MANIFESTED IN MIS POEMS D. C. BURNITE, '01 [Graeff Prize Essay] A CAREFUL comparison of the lives of poets, with their pro- ■*"*• auctions, discloses this fact, that almost universally there exists more or less inconsistency betiveen their true characters and the characters which their poems would lead us to believe they really possessed. In some cases the former belie the latter completely. In others, the works are in a large measure faithful transcripts of the men. Great uncertainty would attend an at-tempt to paint pictures of the natures of many poets were we to use as materials only the evidence drawn from their productions. Recurring bombast and affectation preclude any possibility of using their poems, with any great amount of reliability, as stand-ards by which to judge their real characters. Not so, however, with all poets. Here and there in the field of our inspection appears a bard, whose writings are a faithful reflection of his real nature. But before we can be sure that this is true of any poet, we must be certain that he is thoroughly sin-cere. So, before we can proceed to show that the qualities indi-cated in the poems of Burns are revelations of his actual personal characteristics, we must prove his sincerity. And we do this, not by a comparison of his verses with his biography, but by testi-mony drawn from the poems themselves, apart from all historical evidence. Men who talk much of themselves, as Burns does, are not gen-erally prone to admit their own shortcomings. But this poet, contrary to general practice, makes no attempt to present only the good side of his character. Frequently he gives us glimpses of his own weaknesses; not a shameless exhibition of guile, but always with expressions of sorrow and remorse. Never hidden, always open, he bares his whole heart, and shows himself as he is. He seems anxious to have us see him in a true light. How frankly and clearly he reveals his true self when he proposes "A Bard's Epitaph" for his own tomb. Read his condemnation of his own self: . THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 71 " Is there a man whose judgment clear, Can others teach the course to steer, Yet runs, himself, life's mad career, "Wild as the wave; Here pause—and thro' the starting tear Survey this grave. " The poor inhabitant below Was quick to learn and wise to know, And keenly felt the friendly glow, And softer flame; But thoughtless follies laid him low, And stain'd his name !" Can we read this and believe that Burns was not sincere ? But there are other evidences of his genuineness. Affectation and sincerity are incompatible. But, no matter how closely we scrutinize his lines, we find no indications of the former in Burns' works He must have been a lover of the truth, for he never descends to the expression of feigned emotions. His pictures are real; all are undoubtedly the products of his own experience. Of his hundreds of poems, with one or two exceptions, none are the offspring of imagination. All he presents he himself has seen and felt. We see no indications of anything assumed about his addresses "To a Mouse" and "To a Mountain Daisy." Neither is there anything false or overdrawn in his descriptions. Per-fectly natural himself, he presents things as they are. Nothing could be written with much more fidelity to life than his "Cotter's Saturday Night." Without his characteristic straightforward-ness such complete depiction of Scottish peasant life would have been impossible. All his poems manifest in the man a spirit of genuineness and deep sincerity. With this conviction, then, that Burns wrote exactly as he saw, thought, and felt, we can be certain that the social qualities which his poems suggest are identical with those he really pos-sessed. Our investigation, then, involves an answer to the question, What social qualities do Burns' poems make us think he pos-sessed ? With this answered, we then know, with some measure of accuracy, what Burns himself was socially—what it was that, in all probability, must have rendered him an ever-welcome guest both in the humble homes of the Scottish peasantry and in the mansions of the gentry. But in order that we may be competent judges as to what features in his social nature were attractive and 72 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY what were not, we must make allowance for the differences in time, place, and circumstances, and view the matter, not from oicr point of view, but from the standpoint of his Scottish contempo-raries. Only then can we avoid the danger of an over or an under estimation of the man's social constitution. We have already spoken of what we regard as the crowning social virtue of any man—sincerity. "L,et a man but speak forth with genuine earnestness the thought, the emotion, the actual condition of his own heart, and other men must and will give heed to him."* Burns, as we have stated, does this. We here have a certain quality which would of itself draw men to its possessor. A writer whose poetic works are imbued throughout with the truth must himself have been sincere. Burns must have attracted his fellows because of this one social quality, if for nothing else. The whole world loves a patriot. Even those of other nations than his own admire him; but especially his own countrymen. Burns' poems indicate the presence of patriotism in the heart of their author. Compare his stanzas with those of former Scottish bards, and what do we find ? The subjects of their themes are foreign, and they even scout their own native dialect. The poeti-cal works of Burns are the initial achievement of a new era in his nation's literature. He is the first to give out a body of dis-tinctively Scottish poetry. He saw no need to step beyond the borders of his own laud for things of which to sing. He writes of things, not English, or Irish, or Continental, but of things Scottish—thoroughly so, from his country's ' 'braes'' to her moun-tains, from her field-mice to her horses, from her beggars to her kings, from her daisies to her trees, from her " burns" to her rivers; all of his own "bonnie laud." Nor does he hesitate to take the initiative of using the language of his fireside; not, however, because he was unable to write in pure English. Some of his poems show that he could. But he prefers his native tongue, and seems to delight in the use of its quaint expressions. He appears proud of his dialect, and all he describes with it. In almost every poem there breathes the true spirit of patriotism, a quality which we believe helped to make his society desirable. What Scotchman could have avoided a feeling of attraction to the "loyal native" who wrote such things * ♦Carlyle. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 73 .'* ' j as "My Heart's in the Highlands" or "Scots wha hae wi' Wal-lace bled?" Another social characteristic is revealed in his verses; a trait indispensable to gaining the good-will of the Scottish peasantry. How generously he applies himself to the faithful interpretation of the thoughts, feelings and manners of that class amongst whom he was reared ! His poetry teems with this natural sympathy for the lowly inhabitant of the thatched cottage. His were the first Scottish poems to show it, and from it we can be sure that the man himself thoroughly loved the humble people of whom he writes. How nobly he exalts their simple lot in the words he puts into the mouth of Luath, "the ploughman's collie" in "The Twa Dogs." In the "Cotter's Saturday Night" he brings to the notice of the humble bread-winners, not the ills, but the blessings of their toilsome lives. He would make them proud of their station and their labor. He appears at all points to have been a thorough democrat, and evidently was in close touch with the lives of the poorest people. It is such qualities as these that hold men in social esteem, with thehighas well as the low. A highly sympathetic nature was a social trait which undoubtedly helped to make Burns popular. Cheerfulness is a prime essential to social success. A glance convinces us that the man who wrote these poems surely had this attribute. Such a one must have cheered the lives and bright-ened the very faces of those with whom he came in contact. At every turn we meet his genial poetic laughter. And this, too, in the same poems in which he tells of his own misfortunes. To be happy in adversity; what an enviable trait! And if he could shake off his coil of pitiful thought and recognize the good things in his own life, he surely would shed some beams of happiness on the lives of those about him. All his songs attest this quality. "When at his best, you seem to hear the whole song warbling through his spirit, naturally as a bird's."* Note it in this stanza: "Ye banks land braes o' bonnie Doon, How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair? How can ye chant, ye little birds, And I sae weary, fu' o' care?" A vein of humor makes its possessor welcome. "I,augh, and the world will laugh with you." Doubtless Burns' little world "Jeffrey. 74 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY enjoyed many a laugh with him. For some of his poems fairly bubble with humor. And the author of these must have exhibited a like trait when he spoke, as well as when he wrote. We realize this when we "Remember Tarn O'Shauter's Mare;" or read the following from "Death and Dr. Hornbook": "The Clachan yill had made me canty, I was nae fou, but just had plenty; I stacher'd whyles, but yet took tent ay To free the ditches; An' hillocks, stanes, an' bushes, kenn'd ay Frae ghaists and witches. "The rising- moon began to glow'r The distant Cumuock hills out owre; To count her horns wi' a' my pow'r, I set mysel'; But whether she had three or four, I could na tell." These and many other poems, manifest in Burns himself a spirit of jocularity which, we believe, heightened the attractive-ness of his nature wherever he went. That a man was a friend of "John Barleycorn" was no social defect in Burns' day. And he'seems, from his poems, to have been a participant in "those convivial enjoyments which were not only counted excusable by the temper of the time, but gloried in by all whose heads were strong enough to indulge in them without ruin."* In fact, as a "total, abstainer" Burns' social career would likely have been curtailed. It is perfectly natural, therefore, that he gives drink and drinking a very prominent place in his verses. And the fact that he does so leads us to conclude that he was a not infrequent participant in the then prevalent jolly tavern carouses. Many evidences in his poems manifest his inclination toward convivial enjoyments of a more healthy character. He seems to have had a fondness for other gatherings than those where the consumption of "usquebae" was the central feature. We refer to such social functions as he speaks of in his "Hallow E'en." He evinces perfect familiarity with the jolly practices of that mysterious night, as he describes the mirthful sports of the country "lads and lasses." In fact, his frequent description of J *Blackwood'6. Feb., 1872. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 75 such scenes convinces us that he must have been an important member of the peasant society of his locality. But we see evidences that he would also make a valuable ad-dition to a higher plane of society than that of his own country-side. The mere fact that he was able to produce such remarkable verses is enough to show that he was fitted to move on a higher level than that of the peasant class. We can treat only briefly of a few of the many manifest traits which, besides those already cited, would make him a social attraction in the hall as well as in the hut. It is hard to prove conclusively from his poems that Burns was a good conversationalist. But we think there are indications that warrant us in believing that he was. The ease with which we understand the thoughts he wishes to convey in his lines, i. e., his extreme simplicity, together with his vivacity of expression and his powers of vivid description, lead us to think that he was a good talker. Nor would such a writer be at a loss for topics for conversation. He seems perfectly familiar with the full details of an immense variety of topics. Burns undoubtedly was at perfect ease in conversation. A keen insight into human nature, as we see it in his verses, would enable him to throw himself quickly into close sympathy with new associates; an almost invaluable social quality. His oft-appearing spirit of independence would gain him respect. The thoughtful tenderness he exhibits, not only for his fellow-men, but for beasts and flowers, too, suggests a feature in his nature which would draw men to him. Thus we see in his poetry, char-acteristics which would make his company acceptable to those of high rank. Of Burns' actual social successes in a certain direction, we have positive evidence. The great majority of his poems are con-cerning women with whom he has been in love, or at least ad-mired greatly. And we can easily see that, if not as a lover, at least as an admirer, he was accepted in .some cases. At any rate, we can judge from these poems that he had sufficient attractions to make him acceptable among the lasses of his native land. This gives us a clue, though an uncertain one, to his personal appear-ance and manners. To have been admired by so many women, he must have been to some degree attractive in looks and move-ments. 76 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURi Thus far we have considered only those things in Burns for which he was undoubtedly admired. But he shows traits that we cannot believe were acceptable to all of his contemporaries, for he refers in different passages to the fact that he had enemies. Certainly there were some who did not admire all he did; but just as we are limited in giving all his good qualities, by the fact that he does not make manifest in his poems all the traits he really pos-sessed, so are we limited, but to a greater degree, in observing all his bad qualities; for though he constantly confesses that he had monstrous faults, he has not specified what the particular immor-alities were that he committed, and we cannot know all these without referring to his biography. However, he does exhibit definitely some traits which, we believe, would be hindrances to his free movement among all classes of society. Profanity may have been attractive to his tavern associates, but must have been a shock to the strict piety which we know prevailed in his community. Reference to "Holy Willie's Prayer" manifests a spirit approaching blasphemy, an indication that the poet himself was probably not averse to the use of strong expressions by word of mouth, as well as pen. As a sincere man, Burns was a hater of hypocrisy, upon which subject he wrote several poems. But this feeling leads him into a fault. The satires he has written against hypocrites are too bitter to be commended. Were we to see only those works, we would have little desire to meet their writer. The acrimony of his invective seems unreasonable and repulsive, rather than at-tractive. We have mentioned Burns' drinking habits; but though we have no direct testimony in his poems that he himself was over indulgent, yet some of the scenes he depicts make clear that he must have been present at them, or he could not have described them so well. He at least practically confesses that he frequented places and associated with persons of low repute. Whether it is likely that he indulged in the orgies he describes, the reader can judge from the evidence. Such tendencies as these thus indi-cated certainly did not at that time constitute admirable social qualities. That Burns was positively vulgar, we must admit. A look into certain of his poems, which we do not deem fit to make more public by quoting them here, will convince us of this. It is seen, THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 77 for instance, in certain lines of ' 'The Kirk's Alarm.'' A betrayal of such lack of decency, in the eyes of some, would seriously affect his social character. Though to many persons the absence of Christian qualities in a man would be no social objection, yet we must be of the opinion that Burns' great lack in this regard would form a barrier to his entrance into close acquaintance with many persons at his time. We are sorry to admit that such a genius, in all his works, shows no spirit of true devotion to his Creator and His Son. Probably a closer inspection of Burns' lines would manifest more qualities wherein he would be attractive or not; but we think we have drawn from his poems enough of both kinds to indicate whether or not he deserved to be popular. It is our decision that his good far outweigh his bad social qualities. We believe that were Burns' biography to be forever lost, with noth-ing but his poems for grounds from which to reason, the world today, were he to come back again, would greet him—just as Scotland would have done immediately after his death—with open arms. And we would welcome him, if for nothing else, because of his social qualities as manifested in his poems. THE CULTIVATION OP PATRIOTISM FRANK LBNKER, '03 HPO have a thorough understanding of the subject one must ^ necessarily have a full and true conception of the meaning of the word patriotism. Patriotism is—" L,ove and devotion to one's country, the spirit that originating in love of country prompts to obedience to its laws, to the support and defense of its exist-ence, rights and institutions and to the promotion of its welfare." From the definition of the word it is readily seen that without patriotism no good government can exist and by as much as the people of a nation are patriotic or unpatriotic, by so much that nation will be either pre-eminent or debased in the galaxy of nations. Patriotism is of different kinds. It is patriotism that leads a man to shoulder his musket and amid storms of applause and the entrancing strains of his national air to dare to fight for his country's honor. It is still greater patriotism that enables him to endure 78 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY the privations and hardships of a severe campaign and which enables him, when some very daring service is required, willingly to lay down his life. It is patriotism that a man displays when for a season he leaves the pleasures of his home, neglects his business and exposes himself to the censure of those opposed to him, to become a voice of the people in the nation's council. But only the true statesman, the man who stands for right and principle against personal interests, displays this patriotism. Then, too, anyone may be a true patriot. He need not be a soldier, he need not be a statesman, but one thing Me must be—a man—a man true and firm, a man of high principle and lofty sent-iments and above all he must dare to stand by the right. If each one should place his country's welfare above his struggle for per-sonal gain and aggrandizement, what a powerful nation such men would constitute. It is acknowledged that there is no power equal to the mother's in shaping the characters and disposition of the young. If the solemn duties and obligations of motherhood could but be more strongly intrenched in the minds of those who have assumed the positions of wives and mothers, patriotism would surely become a more self-sacrificing and deep-seated kind. Mothers should endeavor to bring their children up to maturity even-minded and devoted to their country and to their God. Early in life children should be taught to reverence the starry ensign—the symbol of their freedom, to respect the nation's laws —safeguards of their liberty, and above all to know our history. Let them know how the nation was established on a foundation of right, cemented with the blood of some of the noblest men who ever lived. Let them know how, when the nation was in its in-fancy, our statesmen studied and planned so that laws tending only to progress might be promulgated. Let them know how gallantly our warriors punished England's insult to that banner, which so long as the true American spirit prevails will tell of the freedom of our nation and assure every American citizen protec-tion abroad or a speedy vengeance if molested. It should not be forgotten to tell them of the Civil War which for a time threatened to disrupt the Union. Tell them how the North was arrayed against the South and how bravely brother engaged brother to the death. But most emphatically tell them that each fought for principle. They fought not concerning petty THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 79 matters but rather concerning deep-rooted belief that each was right. Then review how at first there seemed to be bitter feeling, then gradually take them through the intervening space of time and at last show them how gloriously a united, a thoroughly . united and closely associated baud of men, representing the North, South, East and West, defeated the cruel Spaniards on San Juan hill. Our young should also be led to hate the greatest curse of the nation, they should be taught to abhor the greatest enemy of true manhood and upright living—the moral-debasing and character-weakening rum. Can a drunkard be a true patriot? No, most decidedly not. For how can a man who weakens himself morally, physically and mentally by using the vile stuff offer his ablest and best services to his country either as a statesman, a soldier, or as an exemplary private citizen. Double-dealing, rottenness and corporation influence in politics is another great evil and the one which probably above all others might possibly cause the downfall of these United States. Oh, would that some of our statesmen were more honorable men, would that they were more stalwart warriors in the defense of right and more zealous to forward measures drawn up for the public good rather than for personal gain and advantage ! L,et those, in whose power it is to elect the law-makers, cast their ballots for none but honest men. Then, with an honorable man guiding the ship of state, and none but honorable men on the crew, how can it be otherwise than that a more patriotic spirit would be displayed in the next generation. We turn our sad, reluctant gaze Upon the path of duty; Its barren, unwilling' ways Are void of bloom and beauty. Yet in that road, though dark and cold, It seems as we begin it As we press on—I/O ! we behold- There's Heaven in it. —Ella Wheeler Wilcox. 80 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY SUPERLATIVES J. B. BAKER,'01 WHEN, in accusing Peter of affiliation with Jesus of Nazareth, the morbid scions of Jewish authority, said "Thy speech bewrayeth thee," they described a condition of more than local interest. The sentiment their charge embodied has outlived the perverted Sanhedrin. It prevails to-day and applies to us. We are the heirs of a rich language; londled were we in the lap of opulence and children of fortune are prone to squander. Our language, being as it is a composite one, necessarily, by the survival of the fittest, contains the accumulated grace and vigor of its varied progeny. Its verbs express accurately every shade of human thought, even to the antipodal range of a Shakespeare. Its nouns are like the notes of a pianoforte, so varied is their tone. Its adjectives, in their several degrees embellish even that which already is sublime. They are the grace notes in the vernacular strains and of all things the most difficultly used. The proper adaptation of an adjective, even in the positive de-gree, to its corresponding noun is of itself a task of no mean im-port; the comparative requires more skill, while the superlative, like a run of extras on a key board, is accomplished gracefully, only by a practiced man. And yet how prone we are to use them. With what readiness we carry every thing to a ne plus ultra. Why is it thus? Wherein lies the cause ? Emerson has probably answered it, in his essay on history, without intending directly to do so. After a short disser-tation on the various nations that have come and gone over the highway of time, he says, "But I will make no more account of them. I believe in Eternity, I can find Greece, Palestine, Italy, Spain, the islands, the genius and creative principle ofeach andall eras in my own mind." The much-travelled man does not call each high hill a cloud-piercing peak, nor does he speak of every landscape as nature's last attempt. Those are the foibles of childhood. The evolutions of such whose peregrinations have not as yet translated them be-yond their native shire. Precisely the same is true in the world of thought. The cos-mical mind uses few superlatives. The farther out it pushes into unknown tracts, the more it discovers of hitherto unrevealed re-ality, the closer appears its affinity with it, and with that increasing THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 81 identity there comes an increasing frugality of terms. He who has thoroughly established his identity with all reality could not possibly predicate a superlative of any thing without paying his own self an indirect compliment, and this, if report be true, is of all things the most odious to men of a larger growth. So much' so at least that they will use them stintingly, save only as applied to Divinity. As proof of this we need but resort to the sayings and writings of such great men. The genial paternal Emerson is judiciously sparing even in the use of his comparatives and yet there \s an ex-hilarating loftiness in all his thoughts. The many sided Ruskin speaks most frequently in simple, homely, childlike terms, and yet Carlyle compared his words to copious lightning bolts pour-ing incessantly into the black words of anarchy about him. Tolstoi, whose boldness has incurred the hostility of the Russian royalty, seldom calls things by their hardest names, yet his pen is a very scramasax in the side of monarchial iniquity. Nor is this abstemiousness from any thing that smacks of hy-perbole a characteristic only of him who sits down quietly at his desk and writes in his pacific words. It is characteristic of great men everywhere. Even in the forum, tempest-tossed and raging. The men who kindled and maintained the fires of patriotism through seven years of blood strife were men whose speech was as plain as their garb. A few months training in a country school and a six weeks course in law would not be likely to embellish much the speech of any one. But "give me liberty or give me death" had a potency that added superlatives could not augment. Daniel Webster, in that paragon of American philippics, his reply to Senator Hayne, is deadliest when he is plainest. His unadorned arrows are the swiftest. Lincoln, the great, in his speech on these hallowed grounds, gives us not only a model in structure well worth study, but manifests a chastity in terms seldom seen. Not once, in referring to the war in which we were then engaged, does he use an extravagant term such as thousands of others might with apparent justification have employed, and yet there is an Alpine sublimity pervading it all. So we might continue our citation almost indefinitely, pushing our observations out even beyond the confines ofour native tongue; including all ages past and present, all lands and climes, and find the great men every where corroborating the truth. The greater 82 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY the man, the smaller will things appear, and with the diminution of things will come a corresponding frugality of terms; deducting from this the converse and we have in very truth the modern ap-plication of those ancient words, "Thy speech bewrayeth thee." PERSEVERANCE EMORY D. BREAM, '02 T^HE old saying, " A rolling stone gathers no moss," has been * illustrated so often, and in so many ways, that when we see a young man going from one thing to another, not following one pursuit long enough to overcome its difficulties, we at once con-clude that he will never amount to much. The youth who comes to college with the intention of being a doctor, a lawyer, or having in view some other profession, and when he encounters difficulties in Greek, mathematics and other hard studies, has not the conquering spirit to master them, shows to a marked degree the lack of persistency. Or if, during his college course, he is swayed from his purpose, and decides to take a special course because he has failed in some department, or there is in the regular course a laborious, abstract subject which he dislikes, and which he has not the courage to attempt, it is evi-dent that he will never be well prepared to face the more difficult problems of life. Hence, instead of steering to a position of trust and honor, he will drift down the stream along with thousands of aimless beings like himself. On the other hand, the young man who chooses a worthy and honorable calling because he knows it is right and noble to do so; because he knows that to attain the desired end he will have to work long and hard; if such a young man will do with his might what his hand findeth to do, and, like Henry Clay, Daniel Webster or Abraham Lincoln, overcome every obstacle that comes in his way, each victory won will strengthen and encourage him for something higher. With such persistency he is bound to make life a success. The boy who enters life as a clerk, and looks forward to the time when he will be a prominent business man, lending a help-ing hand to the needy, using his influence in every good cause or having some other worthy aim, and takes for his motto this I THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 83 proverb of Solomon, "Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings;" the boy who enters a blacksmith shop, determined to hammer out, as it were, link by link the very chain by which he is to be raised to honor and usefulness; if such boys keep in mind the life of Iceland Stanford or P. D. Armour or Clem. Studebaker, never dreaming of failure, future genera-tions will not fail to call them blessed. The drummer-boy who says to himself, '' I shall not always beat the drum. I will rise just as high as my talents or the neces-sities of war will permit;" the youthful soldier behind the gun, who performs faithfully every duty, no matter how small it may be; if within his breast burns the spirit of patriotism ; if he feel that faithful work insures success, and that success means that a man must make the best possible use of his God-given talents for the benefit of his fellow-men; if he never allow himself to be deceived nor turned from the path of martial glory by spending his time, strength and money in the regimental saloon; if such drummer-boys and soldiers take as their ideal Paul Jones or An-drew Jackson or Ulysses Grant, their names will be recorded on the pages of history. To-day there is a greater need than ever for able men in the pulpit; for h°nest cashiers in our banks; for upright and noble statesmen, who do not enter politics for money or the gratifying of selfish desires; for truly patriotic generals and admirals, like him who was called "Father of His Country," and who will not, after the war is over, fill the columns of our newspapers with abominable wrangling as to who won certain battles, Santiago for instance, or who will be promoted-and who will not. We shall be needed. Our future depends upon the present. To make the best use of our present opportunities, we must per-severe. "Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul, As the swift seasons roll! Leave thy low-vaulted past! Let each new temple, nobler than the last, Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, Till thou at length art free, Leaving' thine out grown shell by life's unresting sea." —The Chambered Nautilus. 84 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY A DUTCH SCHOOLMASTER'S ADVENTURE A. 0. WOLF, '04' SOME eighty years ago, in the vicinity of the little village of Gettysburg, there lived two celebrated characters. One a long, lank, ungraceful Dutch schoolmaster by the name of Joseph Sleutsenslizer, who wielded the birch in a most prolific manner and who was noted for his arrant cowardice and marked suscepti-bility to feminine influences; the other, Mike Miller by name, a type of Herculean manhood, famed for his ability to break the most vicious horse, and for a diposition to indulge in all the pranks and roguish proceedings-of the most recklessly disposed element of the mischievous young men among whom he lived. It so happened that these worthies were rival suitors for the hand of the village belle. Their antagonism had attained to such proportions that our friend Joseph had felt himself constrained to exert his influence to prevent his rival from receiving an invita-tion to a ball which was to be held at a neighbor's home some distance south of the village. For thus, the schoolmaster argued to himself, he would be able to anticipate the advances of his rival and to monopolize the society of the fair one in question. His plans had worked well. The revelry was over. The tracing and retracing of the woof and weft of the dizzy dance by the light of the roaring logs had ended. The dingy rafters had ceased to ring with peals of girlish laughter and strains of the violin. The swish, swish of fantastic feet was no longer heard. Echo from her rocky cavern stepped forth perplexed at the sudden transformation. A scamper for wraps, a change from almost tropic heat to the crisp atmosphere of a November night, and the terpsichorean revelers bid adieu to their host and the dancing. As they trudge homeward beneath the brilliant emblazonry of a star-lit sky, oceans of midnight air poured over the mountains into the forest-covered valley making its branches groan with forebodings of the coming storm. The maidens became startled at the demoniacal laughter of some melancholy night-bird only to give the attentive swains an opportunity for reassuring them. Jest is passed from couple to couple, and their hilarious spirits find vent in snatches of song and in pertinent thrusts of wit. At the fork of the road they separate with a hasty "good night" and a counter ejaculation of unthought-of-until-the-last-moment inter-rogations hurled at each receding party. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 85 Joseph was now reaping the fruit of his well laid scheme, as, with the fairest of the fair maids in the little village on his arm, he turned to the right on the road that leads past Devil's Den. His heart beat wildly for it was rarely that he had the opportunity of enjoying the society of the beautiful but somewhat reticent maid. In fact, the society of others seemed preferable to his own. This made him gloat over his good fortune as an ogre would gloat over his cannibal repast. The infatuated schoolmaster failed to conceive himself anything but a brilliant courtier in at-tendance on the object of his affection. Moreover, his bigotry would not permit him to offer his awkward, uncouth appearance and decidedly rustic air in striking contrast to the trim figure of his companion, as a possible explanation of her reticence and her disposition to indulge in a peculiar sort of suppressed laughter. Suddenly she became communicative and deftly turned the drift of their conversation on ghosts, hobgoblins and other super-stitious fancies so dear to the heart of the early Dutch settler. Oh, what's that ! she cried, clasping his arm in terror. His heart stood still. But just then a passing breeze rustled the dead leaves on a bush by the roadside which she had mistaken for the crouching figure of some wanderer from Spiritland. After this his aroused imagination saw ghosts innumerable; headless hobgoblins and winged fairies. Even the murky air seemed teeming with imaginary hosts. The drift of his com-panion's conversation by no means tended to allay his trepida-tion. In a fearful whisper she told him of a time when her father passed along that very road after nightfall, and how a horned creature with gleaming eyes and nostrils that breathed forth sheets of flame snatched him up and was bearing him away. It became frightened at the wild cry of a panther, dropped him half dead and galloped into a cavern in the adjacent hillside. Again, she related the story of the adventure of a certain deacon which happened at the rocks which they were then Hear-ing. The deacon was going home from a visit to a sick neighbor and on passing the rocks he heard an unearthly crash and felt the rock on which he stood heave under him. Thunder pealed. The sky was kindled by a lurid blaze. The ground was on flame, and fiery torrents came down in tumultuous avalanches. The rocks melted and the valley assumed the aspect of a basin of glowing ore. He bounded with the speed of the wind through the raging 86 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY conflagration. The sulphurous molten tide pursued him, spouting white columns of vapor and sheets of vitreous lava. As he ran, it gained speed on him; when he bounded, the spot Irom which he sprang was on fire before he alighted on the ground. At length he sank exhausted, but the indefatigable lava rolled on like armies rushing to battle. Suddenly the earth quaked and a fissure appeared, out of which leaped a compan}' of devils as if shot from a subterranean catapult. The foremost, whose stature was as that of a tree, advanced and with a claw-like hand had picked him up and was about to hurl him into the bottomless pit. The deacon recollecting himself cried, "Get thee behind me, Satan,'1 which so enraged his captor that, with a horrible roar, he hurled him through the air with such force that he continued his aerial course until he lauded on his own door step. Joseph was now fully aware of his danger. His natural cow-ardice prompted him to cast his eyes in every nook and cranny of that mass of rocks which now bears such a sinister name, and from which he firmly expected to see the beginning of a sponta-neous combustion which would overwhelm him. Nor had he long to wait. Just as they came opposite the rock a blood-curd-ling yell resounded which would have put to shame a vociferous Comanche brave. By a sudden contraction and relaxation of his muscles, Joseph was elevated some three or four feet in the air. He turned to look for his companion, but she was fleeing with the speed of a whirlwind and giving vent to that series of ex-quisitely rendered screeches, in which startled women delight to indulge. Another whoop from the rock, accompanied by the rattle of chains and clank of iron, and Joseph's knees began to strike each other in a remarkable manner. He looked up, and there on the summit of the rock stood his Satanic Majesty plainly outlined against the stony vault. To the excited beholder he seemed panoplied in all the regal habiliments of a prince of the nether world. His hoofs and horns gleamed in the starlight, and from his eyes scintillated the fiery sparks of his wrath. The poor pedagogue was in a serious predicament. His limbs moved convulsively. His hair rose and with it his hat, allowing the cool breeze to fan his throbbing forehead. His heart palpitated wildly. His breath came in short quick gasps. Hoping that he was in some horrible nightmare, and that his visitor would soon vanish, he looked up. His majesty was de- I THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 87 liberately stepping to the edge of the rock where he tore a tree from its roots, and with a sepulchral roar leaped headlong, with the tree in his grasp, upon the terrified Joseph. The branches of the tree struck him and bore him to the earth. His tormentor leaped upon him, kicked him, pulled his hair, spat upon him, at the same time producing the most hideous noises. Tired of his diversion, he threw the trunk of the tree across the breast of the prostrate pedagogue and started, roaring like an enraged buffalo, in pursuit of the fleeing girl. A rescuing party, aroused by the clamor, came and released the terror-stricken Joseph and heard his fabulous tale. Their mirth knew no bounds. And ever after when the irate school-master was asked to relate his adventure at the Devil's Den he would exclaim, "Vat ! you dink a Dutchman's a geece, hugh ! Do you dink I shust come over tomorrow ?" This, dear reader, is how Devil's Den came to be so named. Again the sun is over all, Again the robin's evening call Or early morning lay; I hear the stir about the farms, I see the earth with open arms, I feel the breath of May. Century Magazine. Oh, the merry May has pleasant hours, And dreamily they glide, As if they floated like the leaves Upon a silver tide. The trees are full of crimson buds, And the woods are full of birds, And the waters flow to music, Like a song with pleasant words. Willis. & There is something grander than the ocean, and that is con-science; something sublimer than the sky, and that is the interior of the soul. —Victor Hugo. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY Entertd at the Postoffice at Gettysburg as second-class matter VOL. X GETTYSBURG, PA., MAY, 1901 No. 3 E. C. RUBY, 'Oi, Editor-in-Chief R. ST. CLAIR POFFENBARGER,' 02, Business Manager J. F. NEWMAN, '02, Exchange Editor Assistant,-E.d,.it.ors Advisor•*y Board . -K, o ,"-. PROF. J. A. HIMES, A. M., LIT. D. M. IS"S "ANNIE M. .S"W" ARTZ, '02 _ " _ " ." ~ PROF. G. D. STAHLEY, M. D. A. B. RICHARD, '02 _ T _. _ ' -. PROF. J. W. RICHARD, D. D. Assistant Business Manager CURTIS E. COOK, '03 Published each month, from October to June inclusive, by the joint literary societies of Peuusj'lvania (Gettysburg-) College. Subscription price, One Dollar a year in advance; single copies Fifteen Cents. Notice to discontinue seudiug the MERCURY to any address must be accompanied by all arrearages. Students, Professors, and Alumni are cordially invited to contribute. All subscriptions and business matter should be addressed to the Business Manager. Articles for publication should be addressed to the Editor. Address THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY, GETTYSBURG, PA. EDITORIALS '"pHE first day of May was once a festival in honor of an Ameri- *■ can "saint," canonized simply by popular acclamation. Our colonial troops deprived themselves of the patronage of St. George by their rebellion, and at once they looked about for a saint of their own. Their choice fell on Tamina, a sagamore of the Delaware Indians, who, tradition says, bad whipped satan. Naturally the soldiers concluded that the conqueror of satan could also overcome St. George. The name of St. Tamina was in-scribed upon the banners of the colonial troops and on the first day of May celebrations were held in his honor. These celebra-tions were a combination of the Indian war dance and the old English May Day frolics. The May-pole was crowned with a THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 89 liberty cap, and bore a tomahawk instead of the garlands of flowers used to decorate the English May-pole. The army was not alone in doing honor to the "saint." Poets sang of his virtues. His life was dramatized and appeared on the stage in many places. Societies, which usually took the place of the modern club, were formed under his name. In England it was customary, on the first day of May, to wear a sprig of green gathered in the early morning and worn all day. This sprig was called the " May." The narrow-leaved elm and the hawthorn were the trees from which the sprig was usually taken. The expedition into the grove after it was called " going a-Maying," and the carrying of it home was " bringing in the May." The erecting of a May-pole, the young men and maidens dancing around it with flowers and song, and the choosing of the most attractive maiden as the " Queen of the May," to whom homage was paid as long as the day lasted, were characteristic features in the observance of May Day. This festival was quite general in England until the Puritans of the Commonwealth put a stop to it and uprooted the May-poles. It was again revived after the Restoration, but has now nearly, if not entirely, died out. In the New England States this same festival had been observed for a short time. Here it was also opposed by the Puritans, who regarded it as an emblem of satanic rule. In such an atmosphere it could not flourish long, and soon became a thing of the past. The custom of giving " May baskets," however, survived a little longer, and for aught we know may still be observed in some places. A basket, tastefully arranged with flowers, was left by the love-sick swain at the door of his lady-love; children tied baskets and bouquets on the door-knob of the house wherein dwelt their playmates, and friends remembered each other by gifts and flowers on May Day morning. r"pHEPvE is a surprising lack of knowledge in regard to *■ South America, its people and their ways. There is more known of Europe, Asia and Africa than of South America, once an echo of Spain in her glory and the home of a brave people con-quered by treachery and deceit. When we do study its history at all, we start with its discovery and almost abruptly end there. 90 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY Perhaps it is because we do not have so much in common as we have with the people of other countries that we know so little about the people, but it would be better to be more familiar with the doings and character of the people who live on the same side of the world as we do. We usually regard South America as made up of a number of little republics always at odds and the people as indolent and uneducated. We might change our minds some-what if we knew more about them. The natural resources of the country are worth study also, the magnificent mountain-ranges, the valuable forests and mines, the rivers and bays, the fertile plains equal to any which nature has ever bestowed on any country. —S. AN OLD READER CHAS. W. WEISKB, '01 I picked up an old school reader, Which up on the attic lay, Covered with the dust of ages, Brown with mold and decay. I opened its well-worn pages— They were soiled and marked with grime, By the little hands which used them In a by-gone, happy time. And out came the flood of memory, "With a rush, a flutter and sweep, And I lived those days all over— Those days ere I climbed life's steep. Aye! there was the old brown school house, With its warped and beaten floor, And there were the old wooden benches, Arid the old thumb-latch on the door. And there was the rude cut initial, Carved on the desk and seat, And under the forms the shuffling Of stout-booted restless feet. Around me arose a murmur, A chatter and whisp'ring gay, The humming of happy children, In the school beside the way. But the cold winds weirdly sighing, Awoke me from my dream; The present lay before me— Iafe's bright and silvery stream. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 91 PICTURES MARY C. SIELING, '03 HPHERE are pictures not painted with the brush of the artist. * The hills, the valleys, the sky, the rivers—all the works of God—what are they to him that see, aught but so many beautiful pictures ? How the hills, with their trees rising rank above rank, brighten the valleys between them. What artist can imitate the delicate shade of their green ? What colors mixed by man are so beautiful as their red and gold in autumn, and in what picture hung in our houses is there expressed the desolation of those same hills in winter, when the trees are bare and the winds moan through their branches ? The stream sings through the valley, hurrying on to the sea. The sunbeams dance upon the waters, making the scene still more pleasing, while the flowers along its banks add to its,beauty. All this is a beautiful picture, and it fills our hearts with peace. In the sky, too, there are pictures. The heavens are a moving panorama. The blue of the noon-day sky is to the sight what far-off beautiful music is to the ear. It fills us with a vague longing, and turns our thoughts to what is high and spiritual. The sunset is the most beautiful of all pictures, for do not the rifted clouds, bordered in gold, with the splendor spreading from them, seem like outer battlements of heaven when the inner gates are opened ? These pictures are around us and above us day after day. They gladden us, purify us and uplift us. He who can copy these pictures on canvas is the painter, and that man is the best painter who can most com-pletely forget himself and yield his soul and his hand to the Mas-ter of all paintings, content to let himself be the means through which the copies of the paintings, engraved deep on his own soul, are made to stand out on canvas. Raphael painted his beautiful Madonna because, in his mind, there was a beautiful picture of the purity and love of the mother of Jesus, and this picture was his, not only from a study of the Bible, but from the memory of his own pure and noble mother. Michael Angel o, who in the age in which Christian art had reached its zenith, stood almost unrivaled as a painter, sculptor, architect and poet. He painted and carved as never man painted and carved before or since, because he more fully than other men let nature and the God of nature speak through his life and his hand. 92 THE GETTYSBURG MEBCURY But artists are not the only men who try to copy these pictures which God has painted. The poets and prose writers also paint pictures, not with brush and palette, but with words in writing. "The Great Stone Face," how clearly we see with Hawthorne the long valley with the great family of lofty mountains beyond, the great face of stone carved in the side of the mountain, the people of the valley. Ernest, who, as a boy and man, looked through a long life for the face that should resemble the great face carved in stone, and who should thus fulfill a tradition of the valley ! With him we look into the face of the rich man, warrior and poet, and with him we are saddened to find in each one something lacking, but with the people we shout to see at last that he, Ernest himself, is the man who resembles the great stone face. But these pictures drawn by prose writers and painters, in the end mean to us only as much as we put into them. We cannot enjoy a poem or a painting of a forest stream unless we ourselves have felt the restfulness and delightful coolness of a streamlet murmuring over the pebbles under the shade of the overhanging trees, nor will the most beautiful pictured children Millias appeal to us before we have learned in some way the beauty and inno-cence of childhood. Thus in truth, all the pictures, of which we have spoken, depend on the great painter, Nature. But every-body is to a certain extent an artist, because everybody is paint-ing a picture called character. This picture is of more importance in the sight of God and to us than any other kind of picture. Upon this picture depends our happiness hereafter. Some people are trying hard to paint the picture well, while others handle the brush so carelessly that in the end the picture is a mere daub. There are a few men whose characters stand out above others like the paintings of the mas-ters. We should study these pictures, and let the beauty of their character enter into our own lives. If you would teach a boy self-poise, coolness of judgment and majesty of character, let him read about George Washington. If you would have him sincere, looking through the glamour of symbols to the things beneath, let him study long and well the lives of such men as Socrates and Lincoln. But if you would have him to be a true man, rounded, combining all virtues, let THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 93 him study the life of Him more majestic than Washington, for He was the God of man, and more sincere than Socrates. "We should study His life until just as Ernest, by looking long and lovingly into the great stone face, grew like it in feature, we also, by looking at the picture of His character, may grow more and more like Him. SPONTANEITY IN LITERATURE J. RUSH STONER, '01 QPONTANEITY, applied to literature, may be used to desig- ^ nate that spontaneous flow of eloquence or spirit from the depth of the author's own nature, giving to literary work spice and attraction. It may have an ennobling effect, or it may have a degrading effect, according as the life and ethical ideas of the author are high or low. It constitutes the ground upon which what is commonly called good and bad literature are distinguish-able. In the higher sense it might be looked upon as inspiration in literature; in the lower sense, merely as an evil tending to de-moralize the race. All who are familiar with the poetry of Robert Burns have recognized there the naturalness with which the poet gave vent to his feelings. And with the exclusion of his coarser poems, he might be taken as a good type of authors, whose writings flow with natural freshness of pure humor, pathos and wit, appealing strongly to the higher sympathies and the nobler passions. There is in literature a force that molds the character or indi-viduality of the reader. This element, or subtle force, makes itself clearly manifest in the life principles of different individuals, through the subconscious impressions it ingrains upon the mind. For the reader, if he is in the highest sense a true reader, must be in a receptive state, imbibing the spirit and tone of the litera-ture perused. And these impressions are stored up for future reproduction in the principles of life. Enthroned thus in the ruling element of the world, this force becomes at once a power in shaping the destiny of the race. Those who are at all susceptible to literature resort to it either for rest, pleasure, instruction, or for its ennobling influence. The scientist, exhausted from his deep abstraction in the realms of nature, searching for laws and principles in large collections of 94 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY facts, comes hither to quaff from this sparkling fountain, this source of the emotional nature. It is to him a source of rest and pleasure, indispensable to his well-being, that he may draw from his life's work the best results. And, too, what wealth of in-struction is yielded to the earnest seeker after knowledge as he pries into this mine of wisdom. Above all, the ennobling effect ofgood literature is universal; experienced alike by scientist and all who come within the scope of its power. The existence of this subtle force in literature may be verified by the career of a distinguished scientist of the nineteenth cen-tury, who neglected entirely the fine arts and the reading of in-spired writings for the absorbing interests of his life's work. In this description of his own life, Darwin tells his pathetic story. He tells how in the early part of his life he took great delight in poetry and music, and then, after many years of their utter neglect, he tried to read some poetry. But he could no longer appreciate it. His mind had become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts, and was so revolutionized that poetry seemed unendurably dull and even nauseating. He had lost all appreciation of the higher tastes. He says this atrophy of the emotional nature is doubtless a loss of happiness. And he expresses an intense regret that he could not have his life to live again, that he might, at regular intervals throughout his busy career, pay some attention to those things which appeal to the spiritual side of life, that this horrible atrophy in his mind might have been averted. Here was a man who accomplished a vast work in science, but his absorption in the work, and neglect of the finer arts, brought him to a painful consciousness of the reality of this element in literature, and its influence upon the reader. While there are many instances that demonstrate the reality of this force by showing the change brought about in the indi-vidual who is isolated from its influences, there are also numerous evidences of its positive influence upon the individuality of the reader. So positive is this influence, that the literature a person enjoys is an unfailing index to his character. If the mind be turned into the channels of heroic and active literature, a heroic spirit of'strong and manly principles, master of circumstances and capable of resisting the most powerful evils, is the inevitable re-sult. If, on the other hand, time is spent in devouring nonsensi- THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 95 cal trash of a doubtful, or possibly degrading moral tone, you have as a reward, or rather demerit, a nerveless, sentimental tem-perament, unfit for the accomplishment of any great work, be it in the study or in life's profession. There is no more contemptible type of human character than the nerveless sentimentalist and dreamer, who spends his life in a "weltering sea of sensibility," and never does a concrete, manly deed. But, ah ! the individuality formed by contact with inspir-ing and ennobling literature ! How sublime is that character, standing firm amid the tempests, like a tower when everything rocks about it, and the weaker fellow-mortals are winnowed like chaff in the blast ! Since there is. a spontaneous force in literature exerting its influence over every reader, whether he is conscious of the fact or not, how essential it is that all current literature and fiction should be idealistic, upholding the ideal of the race; for this is the law of human progress. It would be better if the realistic novel were never published. What we want is a stalwart ideal-ism. In life " aim and ideal are everything;" so it is in litera-ture. And if these be high and just, the author is true to his profession, and will be false to no one. How great is the responsibility resting upon the author ! He may be the agency through which humanity is brought into the most exalted phase of moral excellence, or into the vilest degen-eracy, endowing the race with real wealth to promote its civiliza-tion, or bringing upon it the deadliest curse. Then let those who are looking forward to a higher order of things, social and politi-cal, equip themselves and aspire to win the favor of the people by making the idealistic literature surpass in splendor the low-grade realistic novel, as the glorious mid-day sun outshines the insignificant glow-worm. And let the unscrupulous author, who has no higher ambition than to cater to the populace, sink into oblivion beneath the weight of a refined popular taste and criti-cism. This mournful truth is everywhere confessed, Slow rises worth by poverty depressed. -Johnson. 96 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY IN NATURE'S REALM J. RUSH STONER, '01. How oft in life's deep vestige sought,— Be it in Nature's realm and throne, Where fleeting time has strata laid, And plant life quivering, by zephyrs blown, Wafts perfume o'er the sacred dead, Or in the search of truth and lore,— The Unintended lifts its head And speaks in oracles of yore! In the closing days of winter drear, When anon begins through Nature's veins To course the life of a living world, We strolled through field and rustic lanes; Enchanting for romance were they, In facts for science richer still. We searched for minerals, types of rock And phenomena caused by rippling rill. And lo! within a fractured rock A microscopic plant was seen. Perennial, delicate, tiny thing, It has of Nature's marvels been One oft escaped the human eye; A life unscathed by Aeolian breath Or Zeus' cataclysms wild, Nor felt Apollo's scorching dearth. But clinging to the rugged cliff A lonely, solitary form; In all the great, wide universe Only a little speck forlorn; Yet symmetry and order plain Are there set forth in clear design By the Supreme Intelligence, Its "Great Original," benign. A useless infinitesimal plant! But it a mission has to fill: It may proclaim the law Divine, And be of greatest value still. If it but shows that God, who keeps The stars in cosmic beauty bright, Regards the smallest forms of being, It turns on science floods of light. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 97 i And man, a spark of the Divine May see in this the message clear, That God who rules things great and small In sweet compassion holds them dear. And he may catch the inspiration, That love, the essence of the soul, Controls and rules the universe And pilots safely to the goal. A COUNTRY BARN ON A RAINY DAY D. S. Weimer, '03 TT is a warm summer morning, the folks have arisen from the long, A sweet slumbers of the night, breakfast has been prepared and served, the horses have been fed and harnessed, and all are ready to go to their respective duties, when, lo! the sky becomes dark, ened and in a short time the rain begins to descend upon the parched earth, causing the drooping plants to lift their heads, as it were, and to spread out their leaves that they may be bathed by the gentle rain. All stand wrapped in delight, as they watch the rain which has been needed so long, no one being unwilling to rest from his labor, while the gentle rain descends to replenish the earth with flowers and fruits. Soon the scene changes. The father, ever mindful ofhis duties, bids the sons go to the barn to unharness the horses. When this is done, they are told that they must go to the barn-floor and pre-pare to thresh some rye in order to have some long straw for tying the corn in the autumn. Soon the doors are thrown open and you see the boys sweeping the floor to get ready to place upon it the sheaves of grain ready for the flail. When the sweeping is completed, you see James climb thelad-der and pass into the mow, while Henry remains upon the floor to arrange the sheaves in order, one after the other, until the floor is fairly covered, when James ceases to throw them from the mow and descends to the floor and prepares to begin with the flail. Taking their flails, they step to their places, and at once begin to strike with alternate strokes, creating a great noise so that it is very difficult to be understood in speaking, but doing the work to which they were appointed with apparent ease and skill. They 98 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY labor during the long hours of the day, ceasing only when thefact that it is time to perform the regular evening duties is made known to them. From what I have said, you may infer that the "Country Barn" is, besides being a protection for the animals against the inclem-ency ofthe weather and a storehouse for grain, a kind ofworkshop, where boys are taught to improve their time and not to throw away the golden moments. We shall see that it is something more. While James and Henry are busy at their work, Willie, Ned, and Joe, who are yet too small to bear the greater burdens of life, are rolling over the hay, turning somersault, standing upon their heads, playing "Run and Jump," "Hide and Seek," and indulg-ing in other sports. Seated in the corner of the barn-floor or run-ning to and fro, or lounging in the swing made by Henry, are Jane and Nell, too selfish to engage in sport with the boys, or probably keeping away, pouting on account of some trick which the boys have served them. Thus wesee that the "Country Barn" is a shelter, a storehouse, a workshop, and a playhouse, teaching to us the lesson that the things which exist may be used for different purposes, each pur-pose in its own time, being necessary for full and complete devel-opment and advantageous to all. «f^£> ALL SOULS DAY W. H. B. CARNEY, '99. Arched above, a reefless ocean Gray of clouds; no sunny glow: Leafless trees affect no motion To the biting' winds which blow. Everywhere are solemn faces,— Father, mother, daughter, son; Over all I see the traces Of a sorrow, deep and lone. Towards God's acre slowly walking Where a loved one lies "At Rest"; Thinking all, but none are talking: Sometimes Silence speaks the best. w THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 99 On the arm a wreath of holly With white flowers wove between; But the gnawing melancholy Of the heart cannot be seen. In the churchyard there is weeping Over every ivied mound; Some have infant forms in keeping, Some by sculptor's hand are crowned. On the graves the wreaths are lying, Glistening with blood-warm tears, Tribute of a love undying, Living on through dragging years. In a homestead sits a maiden Sighing o'er a golden band ; For his grave her hands not laden; There's a trench in foreign land. In her dreams a wife is hearing Lashing waves that froth and roar; And she sees a boat that's nearing,— But it never reached the shore. • In the church is told the story How the Christ, in village Nain, Gave a widow cause to glory, Raising up her son again. While the trumpet tones are blowing All the dead in Him shall rise; And the living, those reknowing. Shall meet with them in the skies. Every desert yield the treasured, Every mountain, and the Bea, Thousands in whose deeps unmeasured Toss like leaves upon the lea. Then I see the faint hearts strengthen And the tears are wiped away; For the shadows soon will lengthen, Herald of Eternal Day. —Berlitz School of Languages, Berlin, Germany. 100 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY EXCHANGES TVTE have been pleased to receive more than the usual number " of magazines and journals from different colleges and universities during the past month, many of which visited our desk for the first time. Among these the Red and Blue, because of its neat and attractive appearance, and wealth of both poetry and prose, will always be most heartily welcomed. The Harvard Monthly is unassuming in appearance, and filled with excellent literary productions. The Nassau Literary Magazine and the University of Virginia Magazine are both entertaining as always. In addition to these, many others could be mentioned. It has been interesting to note that nearly all the magazines have given considerable space to poetical selections, and also that the number of really good prose articles is greater than dur-ing the previous month. The Lesbian Herald contains a tender and beautiful poem, "The Trailing Arbutus," whose title was probably suggested by John Burrough's poem on the" same subject. We quote the fol-lowing : " Her presence like glimmering sunshine seemed, And the soft sweet breath of the spring, The blue of her eyes was the blue of the heaven, Her voice had a gladsome ring. " Like the voice of the birds as they sing in the trees, When the sweet April shower is done, Or lift to the heavens their anthems of praise When a glad new day has begun. " But the wind swept by with a wailing moan, And the maiden so wondrous fair Was gone in her glory of summer sheen, But the prints of her feet were there. " You call it the trailing arbutus flower, A sweet breath of spring, you say, But I know the glory which gave it birth In the foot-prints left that day." The author of '' The L,ady of the L,ake '' in The Mountaineer evidently appreciates the vivacity and beauty of one of Scott's grandest productions, and thoroughly enjoys the chivalric spirit manifested by the characters. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 101 In the St. John's Collegian appears an article on " The Bible as a Text-book.'' The importance of this subject cannot be ques-tioned when we think of the efforts which are made to exclude the Bible from the curriculum of our educational institutions, and the author's very thorough discussion has our entire appro-bation . The Juniata Echo is publishing a series of articles on Porto Rico, written by Prof. M. G. Brumbaugh, Ph. D., Commissioner of Instruction in Porto Rico. These articles contain valuable information. The last issue contains an article on Martin Luther, part of which we take the liberty of quoting: " Martin Luther was the example of loyalty, the exponent of freedom, the guiding star of the Reformation, the advocate of the genuine Pauline Doctrine, and the mainstay of Christendom since the Apostles. . ******* " 'Thou, who art so great in whatever aspect we view thee, so worthy of admiration, so deserving of universal gratitude, alike great as a man, a scholar, a citizen, and a Christian', hast so in-spired us with the thought so characteristic of thy life, that he who steers his frail canoe the best, truest and noblest in the ser-vice of himself, his Alma Mater, his nation and his God; steers it longest when he receives his reward." "The Chemist's Guess" in The Free Lance teaches two important lessons—" the result of careless work " and " honesty is the best policy." J-Other exchanges to be acknowledged are: The Dickinson Lit-erary Monthly, The Susquehanna, The College Folio, The Western Ufiiversity Courant, The Catthage Collegian, The Scio Collegian, The Phoenix, The Campus and The Forum. PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS. C. R. SOLT MERCHANT TAILOR Masonic Bldg., GETTYSBURG Our collection of Woolens for the coming Fall and Winter season cannot be surpassed lor variety, attractive designs and general completeness. The latest styles of fashionable novelties in the most approved shades. Staples of exceptional merit, value and wearing durability. Also altering, repairing, dyeing and scouring at moderate prices. In buying don't forget the Advertisers. They support us. ESTABLISHED 1867 BY ALLEN WALTON. ALLEN K. WALTON, President and Treasurer. ROBT. J. WALTON, Superintendent. flammelstomn Bromn Stone Gompany Quarrymen and Manufacturers of Building Stone, Sawed Flagging and Tile Waltonville, Dauphin Co., Pa. Contractors for all kinds of Telegraph and Express Address. Cut Stone Work. BROWNSTONE, PA. Parties visiting the Quarries will leave cars at Brownstone Station on the P. & R. R. B. For a nice sweet loaf of Bread call on J. RAMER Baker of Bread and Fancy Cakes, GETTYSBURG. PA. EIMER & AMEND, Manufacturers and Importers of Chemicals and Chemical Apparatus 205, 207, 209 and 211 Third Avenue, Corner 18th Street NEW YORK. Finest Bohemian and German Glassware, Royal Berlin and Meissen Porcelain, Pure Hammered Platinum, Balances and "Weights. Zeiss Mi-croscopes and Bacteriological Apparatus; Chemical Pure Acids and Assay Goods. SCOTT PAPER COMPANY MAKERS OF FINE TOILET PAPER 7th and Greenwood Ave. PHILADELPHIA PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS. The Century Double-Feed Fountain Pen. Fully Warranted J6 Kt. Gold Pen, Iridium Pointed. GEO. EVELER, Agent for Gettysburg College PRICE LIST. Spiral, Black or Mottled $2 50 Twist, " 2 SO Hexagon, Black or Mottled 2 SO Pearl Holder, Gold Mounted S 00 THE CENTURY PEN CO. WHITEWATER, WIS. Askjour Stationer or our Agent to show them toyon. Agood local agent wanted in every school No. 1. Chased, long or short $2 00 No. 1. Gold Mounted 3 00 No. 3. Chased 3 00 No. 3. Gold Mounted 4 00 awfwmiffmmmmwiffmiffifmrmiffmmiffifrTffffgg 7k Printing and Binding We Print This Book THE MT. HOEEY STATIONERY AND PRINTING CO. does all classes of Printing and Binding-, and can furnish you any Book, Bill Head, Letter Head, Envelope, Card, Blank, or anything pertain-ing- to their business in just as good style and at less cost than you can obtain same elsewhere. They are located among the mountains but their work is metropolitan. You can be convinced of this if you give them the opportunity. Mt. Holly Stationery and Printing Co. *SPRINGS, PA. UMkJttiUlUiUiUiUiUiUiUiUiUiUiUiUiUiUiUiUiUR H. S. BENNEF?, .DEALER IN. Groceries, Notions, Queensware, Glassware, Etc, Tobacco and Cigars. 17 CHAMBERSBURG ST. WE RECOMMEND THESE BUSINESS MEN. Pitzer House, (Temperance) JNO. E. PITZER, Prop. Rates $1.00 to $1.25 per day. Battlefield a specialty. Dinner and ride to all points of interest,including the th ree days' tight, $1.25. No. 127 Main Street. You will find a full line of Pure Drugs and Fine Sta-tionery at the People's Drug Store Prescriptions a Specialty. J. A. TAWNEY_^ Is ready to furnish Clubs and Boarding Houses with Bread, Rolls, Etc. At short notice and reasonable rates. Washington & Middle Sts., Gettysburg. . A. WONDERS, Corner Cigar Parlors. A full line of Cigars, Tobacco, Pipes, Etc. Scott's Corner, Opp. Eagle Hotel. GETTYSBURG, PA. M. B. BENDER Furniture IRON BEDS, MATTRESSES, SPRINGS Picture Framing" and Repair Work done Promptly 27 BALTIMORE ST. GETTYSBURG, PA. .GO TO. fyokl Gettysburg Barber Sfyop. Centre Square. B. M. SEFTON WTJ /~T\P\r\Dl Successor to . r . {JJUKJKl, Simon J.Codori Dealer in Beef, Pork, Lamb, Veal, Sausage. Special rates to Clubs. York St., GETTYSBURG. .GO TO. CHAS. E. BARBEHENN, Barber In the Eagle Hotel, Cor. Main and Washington Sts. * CHAS. S. MUMPER (Formerly of Mumper & Bender) Furniture Having opened a new store opposite W. M. R. R. Depot, will be pleased to have you call and examine goods. Picture Framing promptly attended to. Repair Work a Specialty Students' Trade Solicited FAVOR THOSE WHO FAVOR US. Spalding's Official League Ball and Athletic Goods Officially adopted by the lead ing Colleges, Schools and Athletic Clubs of the Country Every Requisite for— BASE BALL FOOT BALL GOLF TENNIS ATHLETICS GYMNASIUM Spalding's Official League Ball Is the Official Ball of the National league, the princi-pal minor leagues and all the leading-college associations Handsome Catalogue of Base Ball and all Athletic Sports Eree to any address Spalding's Offi-cial Base Ball Guide for 1901, edited by Henry Ohadwick, ready March 30,1901. Price 10 cents; A. O. SPALD1NO & BROS., Incorporated NEW YORK CHICAGO DENVER ROWE, Your Grocer Carries Full Line of Groceries, Canned Goods, Etc. Best Coal Oil and Brooms at most Reasonable Prices. OPPOSITE COLLEGE CAMPUS. S. J. CODORI, ^4 Druggists Dealer in Drugs, Medicines, Toilet Articles, J* Stationery, Blank Books, Amateur Pho-tographic Supplies, Etc., Etc. BALTIMORE ST. R. H. CULP PAPER HANGER, Second Square, York Street. COLLEGE EMBLEMS. EMIL ZOTHE, ENGRAVER, DESIGNER AND MANUFACTURING JEWELER, 19 S. NINTH ST. PHILADELPHIA SPECIALTIES: Masonic Marks, Society Badges, College Buttons, Pins, Scarf Pins, Stick Pins and Athletic Prizes. All Goods ordered tltrough A. N. Beau. To Repair Broken Arti-cles use Remember MAJOR'S RUBBER CEMENT, MAJOR'S LEATHER CEMENT, Meneely Bell Co. TROY, N. Y. MANUFACTURERS OF SUPERIOR BELLS The 2000 pound bell now ringing in the tower of Pennsylvania Col-lege was manufactured at this foundry. PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS. The Pleased Customer Is not a stranger in our establish-ment— he's right at home, you'll see him when you call. We have the materials to please fastidious men. J. D. LIPPY, Merchant Tailor 39 Chambersburg St., Gettysburg, Pa. Try My Choice lane of ,\ High-Grade Chocolates 3 'at 40c per lb. Always fresh, at ,£ CHAS. H. McCLEARY J Carlisle St., Opposite W.M.R.R. jj Also Foreign and Domestic Fruits A i Always on Hand. B,C L. D. Miller, GROCER Confectioner and Fruiterer. Ice Cream and Oysters in Season. 19 Main St. GETTYSBURG City Hotel, Main St. Gettysburg. Free 'Bus to and from all Trains Thirty seconds' walk from either depot Dinner with drive over field with four or more, $1.35 Rates $1.50 to $2.00 per day John E. Hughes, Prop. 1 k Capitol Cit£ Cafe Cor. Fourth and Market Sts. HARRISBURG, PA. Pirst-Class Rooms Furnished. Special Rates to Private Parties. Open Day and Nig-ht. European Plan. Lunch of All Kinds to Order at the Restaurant. ALDINQER'S CAPITOL CITY CAFE. POPULAR PRICES F. Mark Bream, Dealer in Fancy and Staple Groceries Telephone 29 Carlisl e St., GETTYSBURG, PA. .Photographer. No. 3 Main St., GETTYSBURG, PENNA. Our new effects in Portraiture are equal to photos made anywhere, and at any price. PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS Wright, 140-142 Woodward Avenue DETROIT, MICH. Manufacturers of High Grade Fraternity Emblems Fraternity Jewelry Fraternity Novelties Fraternity Stationery Fraternity Invitations Fraternity Announcements Fraternity Programs Send for Catalogue and Price List. Special Designs on Application. MOTEL GETTYSBURG LIVERY GETTYSBURG, PA. LONG & HOLTZWORTM, Proprietors Apply at Office in the Hotel for First-Class Guides and Teams THE BATTLEFIELD A SPECIALTY Uhe JSolton Market Square •fcartfeburg, fl>a. Earge and Convenient Sample Rooms. Passenger and Baggage Elevator. Electric Cars to and from Depot. Electric Eight and Steam Heat. J. M. & M. S. BUTTERWORTH, Proprietors Special Rates for Commer-cial Men "EZ 1ST IMMER CUT ET WAS ZU WISSEIN." These are the words of Goethe, the great German poet, and are as true in our day as when uttered. In these times of defective vision it is good to know something about eyes. A great deal has been learned about the value of glasses and their application since Goethe lived. Spectacle wearers have increased by thousands, while at the same time, persons losing their eyesight have been greatly diminished. If your eyes trouble you in any way let me tell you the cause. Examination free and prices reasonable. We grind all our own lenses and fit the best lenses (no matter what anyone else has charged you) for $2.50 per pair and as cheap as SO cents per pair, or duplicate a broken lens if we have one-half or more of the old one, at a reasonable charge, returning same day received. .E. L EGOLE. 807 and 809 North Third Street, HARRISBURG, PA. PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS. ^entpol Jlotel, ELIAS FISSEL, Prop. (Formerly of Globe Hotel) Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, Pa. Two doors from Court House. MODERN IMPROVEMENTS. Steam Heat, Electric Inght and Call Bells all through the House. Closets aud Bath Rooms on Every Floor. Sefton & Flem-minfr's Livery is connected with this Hotel. Good Teams and Competent Guides for the Battlefield. Charges Moderate, Satisfaction Guaranteed. Rates $1.30 Per Day. GET A SKATE ON And send all your Soiled Einen to the Gettysburg Steam Laundry R. R. LONG, Prop. Horace Partridge & Co., BOSTON, MASS. Fine Athletic Goods Headquarters for Foot Ball, Gym-nasium, Fencing' and Track Supplies. Send for Illustrated Catalog. 84 and 86 Franklin Street R. W. LENKER, Agent at Penna. College. JOHN M. MINNIGH, Confectionery, lee, ■•««>Iee Creams Oysters Stewed and Fried. No. 17 BALTIMORE ST. The Leading garber v5f)op (Successor to C. C. Sefton) Having thoroughly remodeled the place is now ready to accommodate the public Barber Supplies a Specialty. .Baltimore Street. Grymi5£im(i, PA. ESTABLISHED 1876 PENROSE MYERS, Watchmaker and Jeweler Gettysburg Souvenir Spoons, Col-lege Souvenir Spoons. NO. 10 BALTIMORE ST., GETTYSBURG, PENNA. L. i\. kiimm Manufacturers' Agent and Jobber of Hardware, Oils, Paints and Queensware. GETTYSBURG, PA. The Only Jobbing House in Adams County. i I - >- L PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS. For Fine- Printing go to Tte Jo Co Wile Pnviqjg HOOK CARLISLE ST. GETTYSBURG, PA. C. B. Kitzmiller Dealer in Hats, Caps, Boots and Douglas Shoes GETTYSBURG, PA. R. M. Elliott Dealer in Hats, Caps, Shoes and. Gents' Furnishing Goods Corner Center Square and Carlisle Street GETTYSBURG, PA. EDGARS. MARTIN, F^CIGARS AND SMOKERS' ARTICLES. Chambersburg St., Gettysburg Leadership IN THE CLOTHING and MEN'S EURNISHING Business It is strictly here—everybody knows it. Testimony ? The stock itself. The pen suffi-ciently nimble to tell all the good points of our ::::::: PALL AND WINTER. SUITS AND OVERCOATS has not been found. We will keep you dressed right up-to-date if you buy your Clothing and Furnishings here. : : : : STIINE McPherson Block- No. II BALTIMORE STREET <5ett\?stmret pa. /iDerville E. Zinn, proprietor The Leading Hotel Rates $2.00 per Day Long & Holtzworth Livery Attached Cuisine and Service First-Class We furnish The swellest Furnishings for Collegians in America. Ties, Hosiery, Gloves, Underwear, Sweaters, Hats, Caps. PRICES EXTREMELY REASONABLE. Joseph Auerbach, 623 Penna. Ave., Washington, D. C

The Mercury March, 1901 u >—I N D c THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY The Literary Journal of Pennsylvania College Entered at the Postoffice at Gettysburg as second-class matter ■ I VOL. X GETTYSBURG, PA., MARCH, 1901 No. 1 WANTED:—A MAN JAMES MCCREE. Wanted:—a man, a true real man; Too proud to stoop and too clean to steal. Too broad for party, or clique, or creed, Yet loving his country's weal. With an open hand for friend or foe, And a restful faith where he cannot know. Wanted:—a man without a price, Who will do the right, nor count the cost; Scorning a world broad title deed If purchased with honor lost. With nerve to look a wrong in the eye, And courage to strangle it till it die. Wanted:—a man with a woman's heart, To swell in pity at human woe; With god-like grasp of intellect For the cause that deals the blow; And, with sturdy stroke of word or pen, Smite the curse from the hearts of his fellow-men. GETTYSBURG COLLEGE LIBRARY GETTYSBURG, PA. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY THE RELATION OF THE JUS NATURALE TO THE JUS GENTIUM J. RUSH STONER, '01. TN order that we may arrive at any idea of the relation of the jus *■ naturale to the jus gentium, we must first try to get a clear conception of the real nature or characteristics of these two forms of Roman law. When the stoic philosophy came into the hands of the Roman jurists, they extracted from its vigorous and elevating theories the idea of Natural Law as applicable to Roman jurisprudence. These jurists held that what they termed the jus naturale was the natural and ethical foundation upon which must rest all Civil Law. Thus the origin of Natural Law among the Romans might be referred to the philosophical ideas of the Stoics. These Grecian philosophers looked upon the universe as "imbued with an all-pervading soul or power," which they considered not only as a "dynamical force producing motion, but as a rational principle producing order and perfection." This rational principle, the}'' taught, is a constituent element of all being, and reveals itself not only as a law of the physical world in external nature, but also as a guide for human conduct, having its throne in the conscious-ness of man. Man's greatest duty, they claimed, is to discover the law of reason and conform to this law as it is set forth in the "essential constitution of his nature." The highest precept in the Stoic philosophy was "to live in harmony with nature." It was the ultimate principle laid down to guide men in all the rela-tions of life. And how true is the statement made by one of the writers on this subject: "By his original constitution, man is a participant of the Universal Reason, and by the exercise of his rational faculties he can discover the Law of Nature, so far as it is necessary to control his own conduct. When looked at from a moral point of view, the Law of Nature is thus the highest rule of human conduct, and the ultimate standard by which all human actions, whether individual, social or civil, must be judged." This Stoic philosophy, since the conquest of Greece, had a vast influence over Roman thought along the line of morality,— individual and social,—and legal rights and duties. Roman lit-erature from the time of Cicero to Alexander Severus was per-vaded" with the idea that law has a deeper foundation than mere conventionalities or customs. Cicero was the first to make the important step of grounding law upon nature; and in his "Laws" THE GETTSBURG MERCURY the fundamental principle is laid down "that man is born for jus-tice, and that law and equity are not a mere establishment of opinion but an institution of nature." This principle was specially applied by the jurists of the Empire in determining legal rights and duties. Just what idea the Romans had of Natural Law seems to be somewhat vague. Ulpian says that Natural Law is common to all living creatures, both man and beast; but this view was not generally accepted and had no influence on the legal thought of Rome. It was generally considered, in a proper sense, as applicable only to rational being. Cicero, in a striking passage of his "De Republica," gives his views regarding Natural Law, declaring that God is its author and its duties are unchangeable obligations. Therefore, he says, "It is not one law in Rome and another in Athens, one to-day and another to-morrow, but it is ever the same, exerting its obligatory force over all nations and throughout all ages." Here we perceive the germ of International Law planted in the alluvial soil of heathen philosophy; after the elapse of many centuries, to spring up into the vast system of In-ternational Law now involving much of the ripest modern thought and promising a vigorous growth to perfection in the future. There is not a universal agreement in the theories of the dif-ferent writers on the Law of Nature. However, Chancellor Kent follows very nearly the definition given by Grotius, when he says, "By the Law of Nature I understand those fit and just rules of conduct, which the creator has prescribed to man as a dependent and social being and which are to be ascertained from the deduc-tions of right reason, though they may be more precisely known and more explicitly declared by Divine Revelation." It is said to be written on the heart of everyone by the Divine Hand and that no one can claim ignorance of it, in so far as his degree of intellectual and moral development makes him able to read it. And its author, essentially just, is everywhere and always the same. Taking this view of Natural Law it would seem to belong more appropriately to ethics than jurisprudence. In fact, many writers do consider it as equivalent to Moral Science. Many writers, as Dr. Paley in his work on "Moral Philosophy," main-tain that it embraces man's duty to God, to his neighbor and to self. Some exclude all other significance of the term Natural Law, and confine it strictly to the "rules prescribed to man, by THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY right reason, in his conduct to his fellowmen." Then there is a third class who use it in a still more restricted sense to mark out the theory of only that part of man's duty to his fellowmen that can be enforced. There are rules of justice which are universally recognized as founded on the rational nature of man and dictated by reason. Agreeing with the statement made in Prof. Lorimer's "Institutes of Law," I believe that Natural L,aw may be most accurately de-scribed as "the dictates of reason with reference to human rela-tions." Judging from some of the ideas cherished by the Romans, their conceptions of the true significance of Natural Law were vague. They looked upon it at times as equivalent to equity, and this seems to have been the real point of contact, through which the jus naturale and the jus gentium blended into one perfect code of law. Then again they considered it as synonymous with the jus gentium. Whatever is the relation the jus ?iaturale bears to the jus gen-tium, one thing is sure, it performed an important role in estab-lishing for Rome her vast and matchless system of law. The jus gentmtn, according to Main's interpretation, was "a collection of rules and principles determined by observation to be common to the institutions which prevailed among the various Italian tribes." Whenever a certain custom or usage was observed to be common to a large number of races, it was set down as a part of the Law of Nations, or jus gentium. A great many observances of this kind were made, and if, after a careful examination, a common characteristic having a common object was found in all of them, it was thus classified in the jus gentium. This new system thus established was not favored by many at that time. It was con-sidered as a mere appendage to the jus civile, as a practical means for adjusting civil relations between real Romans and foreigners. But this new system of law was destined to hold a more impor-tant place in Roman jurisprudence. Soon it came to be regarded as a constituent part of Roman law, equal to the jus civile and even more superior in dignity. And the whole body of Roman law was then made up of these two essential and co-ordinate parts, .the old jus civile and the jus gentium. These two elements were combined to form one body of jurisprudence, and henceforth there was a tendency in legal development at Rome for "law" and "equity" to blend into one "single and organic system of justice." THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 5 The close relation the jus naturalehore to the jus gentium may be seen in the prevailing belief existing among the Roman jurists when the theory of Natural L,aw was introduced for their consid-eration. They believed that 'the old jus genthim was in fact the lost code of nature, and that the praetor in framing an edictal jurisprudence on the principles of the jus gentium was gradually restoring a type from which law had only departed to deteriorate." When viewed in the light of Natural L,aw, the jus gentium took on a significance vastly different from the old. It was no longer looked upon as a mere "body of customs common to Rome and the states subject to Roman dominion," but those common laws collected by the praetors were now believed to be the laws that Universal Reason had instituted for men in primitive society. And the fact of their common existence was a strong proof that they were taken from 'universal principles inherent in the very nature of man." And as a consequence there was a tendency among the philosophical jurists to identify, in this highest sense, the jus gentium with jus nalurale. Gains declares that "the law which natural reason has constituted for all men, obtains equally among all nations and is called jus gentium." We have associated with the conception of nature the ideas of "simplification" and "generalization." And the result of a close study of the L,aw of Nature by the Roman jurists was that of in-ducing them to regard "simplicity," "symmetry" and "intelligi-bility" as the main characteristics of a good legal system. And when the jus gentium was looked at in the light of the theory of Natural Law, the copious and involved phrases of the law became out of taste, and the many ceremonials and other useless difficul-ties quickly vanished. Thus the contact of these two principles not only gave to the established system of Roman law a greater dignity but also made it more concise and direct. The jus gentium, when thus transformed from its old signifi-cance to a higher meaning by the reforming power of Equity as cherished among the jurists, was brought into so close a relation to the jus nalurale that the two principles became one and insep-arable. And while the idea of equity seems to have been the ele-ment through which these laws were united, yet the union of these laws had the effect of establishing a higher conception of ' 'aequi- /os" itself. The'jus gentium " "a^«Vai"andthe "jusnaturale," all bear a very close relation to each other. Their similarity is ■"■I1,M" 6 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY evident from the fact that they were so often considered identical. But each, if carefully examined, is noticed to have its own indi-vidual characteristics to distinguish it from the others. These terms of Roman jurisprudence might be considered successive steps in the development from a mere germ of International Law approaching the "perfect law of reason." But when we attempt to determine exactly what the true relation between \hajus naiut-ale and the jitsgentium was, we enter upon disputed ground. The real meaning the Roman jurists attached to the famous phrase, jus gentium, is not yet satisfactorily decided. And until this is rightly settled, no accurate conclusion regarding their real relation can be drawn. But one thing is certain, when Grotius drew up his famous system, known as the "Grotian Law of Nature," he adopted many principles of the jus gentiuni, declaring that they were part of that Natural Law, which all men are compelled by their own reason to obey; and his system of law was universally accepted by the civilized world. eQtfb THE HARM OF EXCESSIVE NOVEL READING ROBERT W. LENKKR, '03. [ OVEL reading is one of the principal diversions of the present day. Great is the number of persons who, as soon as they have partaken of a meal, lie idly about to digest, as it were, the plot of a novel along with their food. Neither is novel reading confined to that class who are well able to be at leisure at almost all hours, but it is indulged in by all classes from the common laboring man to the best families of the earth. Thus the novel has a great range and is read by a vast multitude. To read a good novel occasionally, thinking about what you have read, and storing it away, is beneficial and instructive, but to skip over any novel, good or bad, as many do, is harmful. Some one has said, "Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting." It is necessary that novels should be classified for this discus-sion. First, we have the classical novel which has stood the test of years and has been given a permanent place in the literature of the world. Nothing harmful can result from the excessive read-ing of this class except that the habit may be carried so far as to THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 7 be at the expense of biography, history and other matters of fact which are needful. The popular novel is the next to be considered. In this class are found such books as David Harum, Janice Meredith, Richard Carvel, and scores of others of not quite so recent publication. One is not considered " up to date " who has not read these books, but let me ask how many of these books will stand the test of years. Just one step lower than the popular novel we find books by such authors as Bertha Clay, Mfs. Georgie Sheldon, and hun-dreds of others of the same rank. The constant reading of books of this kind is most injurious. Of course the novel must have its hero or heroine, and it must of necessity be a tale of love. In these books the sympathy of the tender hearted reader goes out to one or more of the fictitious per-sonages. Sympathy gives way to compassion, and compassion to tears—the usual sign of grief. Were this to happen occasionally there would be no harm done, but when one is addicted to the novel it is a frequent occurrence. Softness of the heart disappears gradually, and finally all sense of tenderness and sympathy is destroyed. The last and worst class of novels is that class of dime novels so fitly styled 'blood and thunder." They frequently lead to heinous crimes those who are so unfortunate as to be drawn into the habit of reading them. This is a work of the devil which finds willing victims among school boys, and to which the corruption and ruin of many a precious soul may be attributed. It is need-less to describe this class of vile literature, but let it suffice to say-that the excessive reading of it has sent thousands of men to jails, penitentiaries and even to the gallows. Taken all in all, the reading to excess of any novels, whether classical or not, is harmful to humanity, first, because it destroys all sense of feeling; second, because it keeps from us the history of the world and its great men, and lastly, it takes up many hours which should be spent more profitably. An educated mind is a full-blown rose whose fragrance rejuv-enates all that come near.—Exchange. *-""-" — THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY MAS JOHNNY DEAR. CHAS. W. WEISER, '01. Johnny was a little man Who never told a lie, He never stole at mother's jam, Or "swiped" a piece of pie. (?) He spent his early years at home, Obedient (?) to his "ma," He was an angel in the sight Of his doting "pa." And when at last the day came That he was sent to school, He had a little "swelled head," And meant to keep the rule. (?) The fellows called him "sissy," He called them names as well; They had a "scrap" at recess Of which I "darsent tell." But when at eve returning He had a battered nose, A blackened eye and "strubbled" head, He made a prelty pose. His mamma had the tantrums, His papa took a fit, He was "as mad as blazes" That Johnny "wasn't it." * * « * He went to see his grandma Who lived upon the farm— All dressed "a cock-o-lorum" He did the "rustics" charm. He "grabbed a hold" the black cat, He held her by the tail, She scratched him on the "paddy" Which made the "youngster" wail. While playing with the house-dog, He fastened on a can, And clapped his hands, a shouting While the creature ran. He stole into the barn-yard And scared the poultry out, He stoned the pigs and cattle, Running 'round about. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY He "grabbed a hold" a cow's tail, She started on a run, She threw him in a mud hole— You should have seen the fun, They penned him in the wash-house, From there he "took a sneak," He climbed out thro' the window— He was a "perfect freak." He stole into the pantry, And helped himself to jam; He then ran down the mill-race, And fell into the dam. Old Towser saw him struggling, And helped him get away; He fled into the hay-loft, And lay upon the hay. "Twas there they found him sleeping- "Ma's darling little one," When they found he's missing, And all in search had run. «f£» A TOAST S. W. HERMAN, '99. 'TWAS a brilliant assemblage. Men famous as artists, sculp- A tors, authors and specialists of every kind had been gathered to grace the banquet. The odor of flowers and costly perfumes verily saturated the air. The tables were ladened with priceless gold and silver vessels heaped up with delicate viands. All that was beautiful seemed to be there to please the eye and delight the taste. Among the group of men there were but few in youthful prime. The springtime had passed and the autumn of life was draw-ing near to the great majority. Amid the clink of glasses and the clang of platters they lingered long over the feast. Then came the toasts and there was but one subject given to which each should respond—"The Happiest Day in Your Life." One of the youngest arose and holding high his bright goblet drank to the day when his ambition was realized in producing his first book. He recalled the intoxication of the joyous moment when he was assured of its success. Another drank to the day when his master-piece, a great paint- rsm 10 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY I ing, was completed and he stood before it drinking in its sublime beauty. Another told how happy was the day'when he restored, by a cut of his knife, the life of a patient. And another told of a life rescued from the depths of degradation and saved to a new life. Thus they spake of the days that brought to them the greatest joy. There was but one left and he was very old. The far away look in his eyes mirrored the character of his thoughts. As a swift rush of the incoming tide, his boyhood came back to him and he retraced it step by step. Slowly, almost unconsciously, he arose and with voice low, but distinct, gave his toast. He spake as though he were talking to some unseen person, relating a tale that had become the sweeter the more he told it. A silence that could almost be felt fell upon his hearers and thus he spake: "How well do I remember that day, the day of days, when joy rushed into my heart with an over-powering sense of completeness. Standing at this distance and looking into the past, memory brings back its relics and lays them here before my mental vision. Yes, almost as real as when they happened. Only the rough places are smoothed over now and the sharp corners are rounded by time's peculiar power. I thought upon that bright day that sor-row could never enter into my life again. The cup of happiness, which was held to my lips, was so full that it overran the brim and was wasted. I did not care because I had so much, neither did I think that some day I would agonize in spirit and begrudge even one drop spilled. But many days and years have filled in the gap between that day and this. Days of varied pleasures and sorrows. Pleasures that tried hard to measure up to the joy of that one day, but somehow failed. Sorrows which by comparison seemed very bitter, even bitter unto death. I will tell the story of that day and you may judge what happiness was mine and now the pain. I awoke at the call of the birds that morning. Such melodies poured forth from their throats that it seemed the very air I breathed was sweet with mu-sic. It thrilled me so. A song of praise rushed from my heart and lips. With the song came words of prayer and thankfulness. My life had been one unbroken dream of tender care and comfort. Where'er my eyes turned that morning I caught glimpses of that which made me glad. And then I closed my eyes and saw bless-ing upon blessing passing before my vision, coming back in this THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 11 memory's hour, to show me cause for gratitude. But I arose and threw open the window to let in the pure fresh air of spring-tide. Oh! glorious vision of life everywhere. As I threw open the win-dows of that dark room, I threw open the windows of my soul and let in the light. And it seemed to rush in and bear me up to the great fountain of light so that I was cleansed and purified for the day's toil. I could not help but say : 'Thanks be to Thee, who gavest light of day to dissipate the darkness of the night and for that light which removes the darkness of ignorance and sin.' From my window I could see far down the valley. I could see fields green with growing grain. Here and there upon the winding road were wagons wending their way to the little village lying in the midst of the valley. Down by the side of a dancing brook were the cows taking their morning drink. In the barn the horses were being harnessed. The chickens were busily scratching in the barnyard for their breakfast of flies and worms. Everything betokened peace and plenty. On the other side of the brook the ground rose in undulating swells until it reached the foot of the distant bluish mountain. I seemed to absorb that quiet yet beautiful scene, unmoved by the forces about me, not feeling my-self akin to the life powers that existed in them. Then I hastened to come down and bathed in the cool sparkling water, making my body as pure and clean as my soul had been cleansed before. I can feel even now the vigor which that bath imparted. The blood fairly rushed thro my veins. That was life, strong in its intensity. And then came the breakfast and the morning greeting of father, mother and baby sister. Father's loud and cheery voice, mother's quiet and tender and sister's baby greeting. All these were infinitely tender and joyous as I recall them over the space of years. Was there disappointment or sorrow in any of those tones? It didn't seem so then. Ours was a perfect home, full of unselfishness and love. The daily chores were soon done and well done, since the day would be given me as a holiday in which I might do whatsoever I desired. Mother smiled to hear me singing at my tasks. The wood was sawed, split and carried to the wood-box. The water was drawn. Then I sat and/watched mother as she worked, and after many attempts, countless digressions and falteriugs of speech, I unveiled my heart to her. She understood me as only a loving mother can, and coming, took rny hand in hers and stroked my boyish curls. I can feel her cooling hand L ""Il" ■"■'■■ ' ""* 12 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY upon my brow even now—hands hardened by toil in deeds of love. What healing power was in those hands ! By their magic touch the fever in my veins was conquered. Aye, even the heart throbs of youthful sorrow melted away like the tiny ice-diamonds in the warmth of the morning sun. How often since have I wished myself back upon that old doorstep, telling mother all my trials and being prescribed for with her love that probed deeper than a surgeon's knife, yet with infinitely less pain and far better results. You will have guessed ere this the love which I had hidden in my heart. It was to me so sacred that I scarce could breathe it aloud for fear the winds might catch it up and tell to all the world my sweet shame, for so it seemed to me in those first hours. But 'mother heard it all and wished me well. She told me the old saying that the lady fair was never won by a heart that fainted. So I resolved to do that day what had lain upon my heart so long and begged for utterance. No more did my love seem boyish in my eyes, for under mother's magic spell it assumed its true pro-portions and I knew that the grandest thing in all the world was love. I had not cared now even if the birds had told it where'er they went, or the winds had found out my secret and had whispered it to all parts of the universe. Indeed I tried to think and speak aloud how I should plead my cause, and when, late in the after-noon, I went to see the one who awoke within me all this tender care, I had mapped out my plans. As I drove over that familiar road, all nature seemed transformed. The plants and trees sent forth an aroma than which I never breathed a more delicious fra-grance. Even the clouds of dust through the sun's rays appeared as showers of gold. And as I rounded the last bend of that little lane down by the garden, I saw her picking weeds from out the beds. How like her ! A weed troubled her until it was removed. There was not a weed in her pure soul. I stopped to gaze when suddenly she turned and saw me. I wasn't prepared for that. I wonder which of us felt the more embarrassed. She with a sud-den turn had torn her apron off and unrolled the sleeves which had revealed to me a dimpled, dainty arm. And I was caught as a spy, it seemed to me, gazing upon forbidden objects. My courage slowly returned, as with a graceful bow she welcomed me. My! but now my new born boldness had deserted me. Where was that self-assurance now, which was so self-assertive 7HE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 13 but a short time since. All my forces put to flight by a little pink dress. There I sat and pondered over this question until she came forth to take a drive with me. We chose the road along the little dancing brook. The memory of that evening comes to me now, with such a wealth of meaning, that my words to de-scribe it seem to clothe it with poor rags. We talked of indiffer-ent things. But there was something that I wanted to say which seemed to choke me. I would make a bold attempt, only to fin-ish my remark with something concerning stream or sky or when these became exhausted to repeat them. At least a silence fell. I said I alwa)'S liked to view such a scene in silence and simply think. But really I wanted time to bring up reserve forces for the final attack upon this little defenceless fortress by my side. It was unfair I know. But had she been armed with all the weapons of war I would have had more courage. Every-thing about me seemed to speak of love. This little brook which rushed along so gayly, kissing the bank and babbling words of love to the fair water lilies, urged me on. The trees, aided by the winds, clasped their branches around each other and sighed with very surfeit of love. And yonder setting sun blushed rosy red as he kissed yon mountain top. With the increasing fervor of my imagination and the figures which it formed, I grew bolder. But now my beautiful words had flown. I thought it best to cap-ture by a quick attack, and so I blurted out my love. I would give half the years of my life to see again that flush of glad sur-prise, to see those deep blue eyes look into mine with sweet sur-render. Silence now was welcome, while our hearts tried to calm their startled beat and understand their wondrous joy. We loved and all the world can never know our secret until it feels the power within its breast. The hours glided by and we came home. Then followed days of sweet assurance. No longer doubts came into either mind to mar the sweet security ofmutual surrender. All days were bright when I had her to see. But that day seems to me brighter than them all. And if my choice were granted me to bring back whatever day I might choose from my past life, 'twould be that day in which we told each other's love. That night the stars shone with dazzling brightness. The moon seemed to rival the sun. The katydids sang for me and the fire flies be-came as attendant spirits to show me home. Mother was waiting for me and I poured into her listening ear 14 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY the story of my happiness. She wept with very sorrow at losing me. No longer was she as brave as when she urged me on that morning. But her tears of self-loss were soon spent and she only remembered my joy. Who can understand the depth of the mother's love? My love has long since died. Father and mother, too, have gone to join that invisible throng. I live in the past, in those days when my happiness was overflowing day by day. Memory is my faithful servant to recount the sweet old story. Even when I glance forward into the future, memory brings me the materials from the past with which the vision is built. When I may see her again after these years of separation, will hold her again in my arms and tell her how my love for her has remained young and strong, that will be the happiest day of all days." The old man's voice faltered and broke, but suddenly his eyes brightened. He seemed to be listening intently to some one speak-ing to him. And then again he spake in tones loud and distinct. "But listen, I hear again the song of the birds. Throw open the windows. I^et in the light. There they come, all of them, father, mother and sweetheart." The toast was ended. Tears were the applause. Reverently they laid the old man down. At last the happiest day had dawned. c^p SOUL, WHAT ART THOU? Oh my soul! what canst thou be, With thy unknown heraldry— Thy ceaseless ebb of consciousness ? Wilt thou tell me whence has come This thy strange incessant hum, Made manifest with vividness ? From what weird ethereal realm Hast thou found a ready Helm, To guide thee to this senseless clay ? Closely shrouded in a cloud, Or the thunder riven loud, Has chance in some way shown the way ? Maybe thou hast been evolved And must yet be all dissolved With that which gave thee thy birth. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 15 Then wilt thou like meteor flee, . Where the sun from gilded sea Of clouds looks down upon the earth ? And wilt thou leave to its fate Clay thou didst inanimate, When it distasteful is to thee? Or, returning, bear away This clod to elysian day, Transformed to angels' symmetry? Soul. Oft in adversity ; Oft filled with amenity. The strangest of all things below. Perceiving and defining ; Recalling and combining; And feeling knows and knows it knows. Soul—essence in unity With powers of a Trinity— Wilt thou reveal thyself to me ? Or to immortality Change, and with celerity Reveal then thy identity ? «^SL> 'PORTER. Are you one of those noisy people ? Are you ? Stop and think. Noise never wins a man anything. It is never construc-tive— it is ever destructive. Know a poor, imperfect machine by the noise it makes. The mightiest of mechanisms, the solar system, works in perfect silence. Men who have moved their fellow men have ever been the most quiet in their demeanor. There is real power in silence. Seek to gain that power now while at college. Remember that "voice answereth to voice," and it is the "still small voice" you must awaken in the hearts of men if in any way you are to rule them. e*$b I hold in truth, with him who sings To one clear harp in divers tones, That men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things. —TBNNYSON. I \J\J H *— * ' —■ ■lllWMl I ■■■■' I HUM THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY Entered at the Postoffice at Gettysburg as second-class matter Vox. X GETTYSBURG, PA., MARCH, 1901 No. 1 E. C. RUBY, '02, Editor-in- Chief R. ST. CLAIR POFFENBARGER,' 02, Business Manager J. F. NEWMAN, '02, Exchange Editor Assistant Editors Miss ANNIE M. SWARTZ, '02 A. B. RICHARD, '02 Advisory Board PROF. J. A. HIMES, A. M., LIT. D. PROF. G. D. STAHLEY, M.D. PROF. J. TV. RICHARD. D. D. Assistant Business Manager CURTIS E. COOK, '03 Published each mouth, from October to June iuclusive, by the joint literary societies of Pennsylvania (Gettysburg) College. Subscription priced One Dollar a year in advance; single copies Ten Cents. Notice to discontinue sending- the MERCURY to any address must be accompanied by all arrearages. Students, Profesiors, and Alumni are cordially invited to contribute. All subscriptions and business matter should be addressed to the Business Manager. Articles for publication should be addressed to the Editor. Address THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY, GETTYSBURG, PA. EDITORIALS nPO the members of the retiring staff we do not hesitate to say *• that we voice the sentiment of every friend of the MERCURY in extending to them a vote of thanks for their very acceptable and efficient service rendered to the literary journal of our Alma Mater. The editorial and the business departments have been so managed as to reflect great credit upon the staff. The high rank which the MERCURY, as a literary journal, holds to-day among the college publications and the excellent financial standing of the same shows that the student body had not misplaced their confi-dence. Whether this can be said of the new staff is a question which remains to be answered one year hence. To the Getlysburgian we extend our thanks for its words of THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 17 encouragement. We bespeak for the members of its new staff unparalleled success in the work which has been placed into their hands. With this issue the MERCURY enters upon its tenth year. It has not grown up without its trials and difficulties. In fact, it stands to-day as an excellent example of the truth that "strength is born of struggle." Let us not think, however, that it can maintain its present position without any more support. The pressure which is brought to bear upon it is greater each year. The more it grows and reaches out the more resistance it must necessarily overcome in order to move forward. With this in mind we trust that the students and alumni of Gettysburg College will give us all the encouragement and assistance possible in try-ing to push this journal to the foremost rank of its class. As to the case of plagiarism referred to in the February num-ber of this journal, we suppose it will be satisfactory to our read-ers to learn that the Princeton student has made a confession of his guilt and has been expelled from the University. The follow-ing is an extract from the letter which was written by the Prince-ton student to the editor of the Nassau Literary Magazine: "A great injustice has been done by me to Mr. Heilman, of Gettysburg, the University, my class, especially those who took part in the oratorical contest last June, and all who are proud of belonging to an institution where the principles of true Christian manhood are taught. I want to frankly confess the gross plagia-rism of which I am guilty, and remove any censure that may be brought upon your magazine, for upon me alone devolves the blame." J» The observance of the twenty-second of February as a national holiday is an important factor in the life of every American citi-zen, for it serves as a constant reminder of Washington and his relations to the history of the country and affords a good oppor-tunity for every one to show his patriotism, and his gratitude for the services of the man who threw himself, body and soul, into the life of the nation. Although set aside as a memorial to Wash-ington, it ought also to be looked upon as a remembrance of those who were silent participants in the struggle for success, in order that this country might be free. —S. %J\J> 18 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY AN ALUMNUS HONORED BY THE PEN AND SWORD SOCIETY The Pen and Sword Society has again invaded the ranks of the alumni and succeeded in capturing one upon whom they thought it fitting to fasten their badge of honor. This alumnus was Rev. William M. Baum, D. D., of Philadelphia, Pa., who delivered the address at the recent public meeting of the society. Dr. Baum prepared for college in an academy at Reading, Pa., entered Gettysburg College in 1842, graduated in 1846, entered the Theological Seminary the same year, and was admitted to the ministry in 1848. In 1861 he became a member of the Board of Trustees of Gettysburg College and also of the Board of Di-rectors of the Theological Seminary. He is the oldest member of the Board of Trustees, but is still as young in his activity for the welfare of his alma mater as ever. He seems always ready to grasp any opportunity to further the interests of Gettysburg Col-lege. We feel confident that no one will say that the Pen and Sword has made a mistake in choosing a man whose feelings towards the institution are in perfect harmony with the objects of the society. A NIGHT OF TERROR TN the course of a lifetime one is called upon to undergo many varied experiences. Most of these experiences are transitory in their effects ; but not a few of them, on the other hand, produce an indelible impression upon the mind of the individual, and are never forgotten. It is to this latter class that the one which I am about to relate belongs. Like an evil intruder it broke in upon the peace and monotony of my earlier years, and, at the time, seriously endangered my mental health and happiness. Now, however, although the memory of it is still unimpaired, I am able to look back with a smile of composure upon what was to me at the time a veritable night of terror, and, in the light of a fuller aud riper knowledge, make myself believe that what I so distinctly saw, heard and felt upon that night never had any existence,—in other words, that I was the victim of gross deception on the part of my senses. The northern part of the county of Monroe, in northeastern Pennsylvania, is still covered with vast tracts of woodland in which the ruthless axe of the woodman has not yet been permitted THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 19 to enter upon its work of destruction. Here the wild and pictur-esque Paconas reach skyward in rugged grandeur and beauty, as if in mute appeal to Him who created this old world to be spared from the spoiling hand of civilization. Here, amid venerable peaks, enveloped in hazy blue, deer, bears and other wild animals still find comparative peace and security. And there, too, issuing from out the mountain sides, are many brooklets of clearest and coldest water, which rush in glittering cascades down over pre-cipitous rocks, or, like interminable threads of silver, wind their devious ways among the underbrush in the bottoms of deep and shady ravines. Fortunate indeed is the angler or hunter who finds his way into these primeval regions, for here every brooklet is the home of countless numbers of beautiful, golden-spotted trout which have not yet learned to distrust the deceitful advances of the cunning followers of old Isaac Walton ; while clumsy Brunos frequently apprise you of their presence by suddenly emerging from the dense underbrush and deliberately looking at you in a surprised and inquiring manner, at the same time snorting their decided disapproval of your intrusion , and frequently beautiful deer with large watery eyes will suddenly confront you and then bound off again into the mountain fastnesses. Nor is this region pre-eminent alone for its natural beauty, but nearly every height and valley is invested with a strong romantic interest because of the many curious Indian legends connected therewith. One of these we shall here relate because of the direct bearing which it has upon our story. In a particularly obscure and unfrequented valley in these mountains, miles away from any other human habitation and al-most inaccessible to all but old mountaineers, is a rude and de-crepit log cabin, no longer tenanted by any living creatures but bats and wild animals which at times find in 'it refuge from the fury of the elements. A.nd yet, I hardly dare say that it is with-out any other occupants at present, for, if popular report is to be credited, evil and mischievous spirits of departed tenants still re-turn from time to time and make this old cabin a weird scene of diabolical revelry. Thirty-five years ago this cabin was inhabited by an old Indian sorcerer or medicine man, by the name of Wapohootche. He was the last one of his tribe to resist the civilizing tendencies of the time and place, and for years had dwelt all alone in his se- " " !UM-'' ff—"———- ""—"—■—■ 20 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY eluded valley, appearing among the whites only about once in four or five months in order to exchange venison and furs for the few products of civilization which he might need. Wapohootche was a remarkable character. The term, "old as the hills," was often applied to him, for his shiny, yellow pate, with its few sparse white hairs, his wrinkled and flabby skin and general ap-pearance indicated great age; he was evidently a centenarian be-fore our fathers knew him. However, his erect carriage and glit-tering eye showed that he still possessed much of the vigor and fire of younger years. Because of his reputed powers of sorcery he was held in superstitious fear and awe wherever he went. Wonderful stories were told of his fabulous wealth, and that these stories were well-grounded was shown by the fact that Wapohoot-che continually carried upon his person, as inseparable ornaments, four heavy golden armlets, probable relics of early barbaric splen-dor. It was in the summer of '64 that this Indian was last seen among the whites and it was generally believed that he had been murdered for his money, but not until some years after was any investigation made, so great was the superstitious fear entertained by the whites of entering Wapohootche's valley. At this time, however, two bold young hunters entered the Paconos with the avowed intention of visiting the valley and its solitary cabin. These hunters were never seen again, and popular report had it that they had fallen into the power of the evil spirits of the valley and had been spirited away. A rescuing expedition resulted in ignominious failure, for before it had come into sight of the cabin it was in some unaccountable manner seized with the greatest fear and panic, and the terrified rescuers were only too glad to escape with their lives. No further investigation was made and Wapo-hootche's Valley was shunned by all as an accursed place. In view of what has been said the reader can readily under-stand why I, a boy of fourteen at the time of which I write, should hail with delight the prospect of a trout-fishing trip to the Paconos. It required but little time to make the necessary preparations, and so, early one beautiful May morning, our party of ten started out for a point about two miles north of Wapohootche's Valley where the trout-fishing was exceptionally fine. We arrived at our des-tination just before sunrise, and in an hour or so were all stationed at different distances along a small stream upon the mountain THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY plateau, pulling out the finny beauties at a rate that would satisfy the most zealous fisherman. In the afternoon, by common consent, we divided our forces, some going up stream and the others down. L,ate in the day, about six o'clock as far as I could judge without a watch, I found myself so far down stream that I could obtain no response from my companions to my repeated halloos. However, inasmuch as my luck was very good just then, I determined to continue fishing down stream for awhile and then rejoin my friends. So interested was I in the sport that I became utterly oblivious to the passing time, and was only brought to my senses by the nearby rumbling of thunder. L,ooking about me, I observed that the sun had long since set and darkness, increased by a rapidly approaching thun-der- storm, was settling down. By the time I had put up my fish-ing tackle and had begun to retrace my steps, the storm was upon me in all its fury. I now found that while it was an easy matter to follow the stream on its downward course, it was a very difficult task to travel up stream. With a terrific rain beating in my face and vivid flashes of lightning blinding my eyes, it was impossible for me to make any progress. But, as I was now almost terrified at the prospect of spending a night alone upon the mountain, I de-termined to adopt what seemed to be my last resource, and follow the stream on its downward course until I should come to an old wagon-road which I supposed to be about a mile distant. On I now went with frantic haste, stumbling over rocks, run-ning into trees or becoming entangled in the underbrush. At last, utterly exhausted and completely bewildered, I leaned up against a tree and endeavored to regain my breath and quiet the painful throbbings of my heart. All about me was Stygian dark-ness. I made frenzied and ineffectual efforts to keep from my sight the scenes which every flash of lightning would reveal. The woods about me seemed full of horrible and menacing forms. The white trunks of dead trees with their bare limbs writhing in the storm were magnified by my highly excited imagination into frightful ghosts and the whole mountain seemed peopled with angry spirits. Overcome by exhaustion, fright, and a terrible sense of loneli-ness, I gave way to what was a very natural impulse for a boy of my age and sobbed spasmodically as I leaned there against that —-— yur *-• F^^^™"™™ ■■"■ ■■■■■ ■mniMmiM 22 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY tree. In my tears I found at least a temporary relief; tliey not only helped to shut out from my sight the terrifying scenes about me, but they also had a soothing effect upon my greatly overtaxed physical and mental faculties. A certain numbness seized me, and sinking down into a reclining position, I endeavored to nerve myself for whatever might come. Suddenly there was a particularly vivid flash of lightning and that instant I observed that my wanderings had brought me into a deep ravine. Immediately the appalling truth confronted me that I was lost in Wapohootche's Valley. Nor was I obliged to wait long for a confirmation of this truth, for all at once, with startling suddenness there broke out upon the night air a most hideous and blood-curdling scream which died away in a series of groans and sighs. At the same time I saw, by the aid of the lightning, a log cabin only a short distance before me which I in-stinctively knew to be that of Wapohootche. My knees smote each other and the cold sweat stood in beads upon my forehead. I sank to the ground in abject terror, but found my whole atten-tion involuntarily directed towards the cabin. The fury of the storm had abated, only fitful lightning remain-ing to lend to the scene a weird and ghostly effect. But now I longed for the crash of thunder again and the roar of the wind and rain, for, breaking in upon the oppressive stillness which ensued, there came to my ears from the cabin, heart-piercing sighs, groans and muffled screams of agony and despair, accompanied by fiendish laughter. Then arose a sound as if of some terrible struggle, ending in the fall of a heavy object after which there would again be those screams of agony mingled with demoniacal laughter. I tried to rise and flee, but I found myself riveted to the spot. And now I was able to distinguish a faint reddish glow about the door of the cabin, as it was slowly and silently opened, and presently, to my horror, I beheld in full view the hideous, skin-clad skeleton of Wapohootche, yellow with age and possessing a certain strange and terrifying luminosity. From out of the hol-low sockets of his eyes and from between his grinning jaws issued a reddish light. Suddenly that horrible, grinning skull riveted its gaze upon me; the light from its glowing sockets seemed to penetrate me through and through. And now the hideous appar-ition approached towards me with ghostly stride, the demoniacal grin becoming continually broader. I made another frenzied ef- THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 23 fort to escape, but could not budge. Closer, closer, closer it came until it stood directly over me. Down it stooped, and I felt its cold, clammy fingers about my throat. My blood was frozen in my veins; I could not utter a sound. Slowly, but surely, the vise-like grip of Wapohootche tightened. I was being choked to death. At last, summing up all 1113^ strength, I gave vent to an agonized scream, made a frantic struggle, and thereby ended one of the most disagreeable dreams it has ever been my misfortune to have. The scene which now greeted my eyes was strange indeed, but it had none of the terrifying characteristics of my hideous dream. The dark ravine, the solitary cabin, the weird sights and sounds and the apparition of Wapohootche had disappeared. Instead of these, the moon was shining brightly through the leafy canopy overhead, causing the drops of water, left b}' the recent shower, to sparkle like diamonds, while all about was forest, and only a few yards before me the little stream, in which I had been fish-ing the afternoon before, gurgled and purled as it tumbled along its stony channel. My .mind soon grasped the situation. I remembered the shower, the darkness, the frantic flight, my terror and exhausted condition when I sank at the tree; and I knew it was thus that an unnatural sleep induced by exhaustion, had overpowered me and rendered possible my frightful dream, in which all the worst fears and apprehensions that had seized me during my flight had been more than realized. As I was sitting there, pondering over the strange experiences of the night, the stillness was broken by a familiar voice calling for me from some point not far distant. I immediately answered, and in spite of my stiffness and drenched garments set out with surprising speed along the path which I had followed the evening before. A few more halloos were exchanged, and presently, to my great joy, I met with two of my companions of the previous day who had been searching for me ever since the storm had ceased. There remains but little more to tell. By the time the sun had risen we were well on our way home, my companions re-proaching me more than once along the way for the trouble I had caused them, and I, for my part, being willing to bear all their reproaches without murmuring, inasmuch as Wapohootche and his mysterious valley had been left far behind us. —R. D. C, '00. IW' 24 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY THE OLD SPELLIING SCHOOL EMORY D. BREAM, '02. \ BOUT sixty-five years ago there arose in the country schools ** of this part of the country the custom of devoting a part of one day in each week to a spelling match. Reading, writing, arithmetic and spelling were the principal branches then taught. The teachers had very limited knowledge of arithmetic, so that the children learned little more than reading, writing and spelling. As spelling was the foundation of reading and writing, the teach-ers felt that it should have special attention. Out of these spelling matches in the school grew the night spelling school. The primary purpose in view was to learn to spell correctly. The school terms were short. The farmers did not have the im-proved machinery and labor-saving methods that they now em-ploy. Competition was not so great and money making was the chief aim of progressive country people. Their plain ways of living and dressing were inexpensive, so that by beginning early and working hard a young man was in most cases able to start in life with a comfortable income. Owing to these facts the children as a rule were not sent to school until late in the winter and then did not always attend regularly on account of threshing and other work that was done during the winter season. Often, too, they did not go to school after they were fifteen or sixteen. Al-though the people paid little attention to education, yet they felt the need of spelling when they wished to write a letter or trans-act business. It was to this end that such schools were begun. The social benefit of such meetings was also taken into consid-eration. Places of entertainment and social gatherings were few. Anything that would afford a meeting place for the young people was sure to be well attended. The boys and girls not only learned to know each other better but became acquainted with those who came from a distance. The only place that could be obtained for such a meeting was the district school-house. These buildings were the property of the people and everybody was made to feel welcome. The only convenient time to hold such a meeting was in the long winter evenings when the days were short and the people were not tired and exhausted from toiling through long hours in the scorching sun. The meetings were usually held weekly and always on the same evening of the week. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 25 Spelling schools were started for the benefit of young men and women, but the teachers soon became very much interested and in this way used their influence in getting their pupils to attend. The children were anxious to go and often succeeded in bringing their fathers and sometimes their mothers with them. About seven o'clock was the time to begin spelling. Before beginning, however, the class had to be organized and some num-ber chosen for a game. Two persons were selected to choose those whom each wished to spell on his or her side. Desks such as we now have in our school-rooms were unknown to them. Long benches were used instead. These benches would be placed along the wall on each side of the room, and each of the two di-visions of the class occupied the benches, one division facing the other. The best spellers were chosen first and took their places in order, commencing at the front end of the room. Either Web-ster's or Walker's common school dictionary was used. The teacher of the school, or some other person who could articulate distinctly, dictated the words and kept "tally," as it was called; that is, kept an account of the words missed by one side and gained by the other. Sometimes the teacher would ap-point another person to perform this office. Commencing at the head end of the class, one word and one trial was given to each member, passing alternately from one side to the other. In case a word was misspelled by one person it was given to one on the opposing side. Should he or she spell it cor-rectly that counted one for the side on which it was spelled. A word was always permitted to go until spelled correctly. Return-ing from the foot to the head of the class, spelling continued until the game was won. The number usually taken was fifteen or twenty, varying according to the ability of the audience in general. When one game had been spelled an intermission often or fifteen minutes was given. This was a time for conversation and finding a partner to take home when the meeting should close. Recess being ended, a new class was chosen and another game spelled after which "spelling off'' took place. Taking the two at the foot of the class, one from each side, they were permitted to spell against one another until one ' 'spelled the other down.'' The unsuccessful one now sat down and the next person on the same side rose in his stead. In this manner the spelling was continued ■——- DJ\JI BUI ■ mgBKB^Bimmmmmmmfiimmummimmwiimmnmmmmim 26 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY till all of one side had sat down. The audience was then dis-missed and the engagements made at recess were fulfilled. The growth of spelling schools was rapid. Not only did they increase in number but soon became well attended. With growth came success. By taking part in one or more of such matches each week for several winters, persons of ordinary ability became good spellers. Those who took special interest in the work would master all the words in the abridged dictionaries. Some who could not even read or write learned to spell comparatively well. This helped them to higher planes in society. Taking into con-sideration these facts, we feel safe in saying that the old spelling school reflects very creditably upon the people of half a century ago. To say that spelling schools have simply gone out of style is not sufficient. They are not altogether a thing of the past, but are few in number and little interest is taken in them. Various causes have contributed to their decline. Probably the introduction of more branches into the schools and the advance along all educational lines has taken the attention of the people from spelling to other studies. The children remain in school a few years longer than formerly. Many of these young people prefer to spend their evenings in study. Not as many people are required to do the farm work as formerly. Many young people have gone to the factories and schools of the cities so that there are not as many young people in the country as there were years ago. Other causes might be in-cluded among the foregoing reasons but the result would not be altered. From these facts it must be obvious that the spelling schools will not be revived to any great extent. Nor will the coming generations ever attain the proficiency which characterized many of our fathers and mothers. «t*£> Too much of joy is sorrowful, So cares must needs abound ; The vine that bears too many flowers, Will trail upon the ground. —ALICE CARY. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 27 RUSSIA'S ATTITUDE TOWARD AMERICA MoNTFORT MELCHIOR, '02. '"THE twentieth century opens with a continuance of the same * relations between Russia and America that existed at the dawn of the nineteenth century. Russia has ever maintained and still maintains a friendly policy toward America. There has never existed any complications or strained relations between these two colossal nations of the world. In the past her friendly policy has been plainly recognized. Russia was very glad and even anxious to sell' to the United States the territory of Alaska for a mere trifle, in order that she might have some feasible excuse for friendly overtures toward America. She has never been jealous of Amer-ica's expansion; on the other hand has rather encouraged it, seem-ing to say, "You take all you want in the western hemisphere, Cuba or whatever it may be, and wink at me when I grab on the eastern side of the globe, so that we may grow great together." Russia has probably felt the need and desired the aid of Amer-ica in checking the marine domination of England. England's advancement and especially her naval success has always been an eyesore to Russia, and she has smiled with satisfaction at the stride America has taken in rivaling England's marine career. Another evidence of Russia's friendliness was shown when, in the early days of the American empire, she so earnestly desired an embassador from that rising nation. Jefferson, then President, was desirous of establishing a minister at St. Petersburg, but the Senate thought that there were not sufficient reasons for such a policy, and whatever reasons there were they did not justify the extra expense. As a result the proposition was lost, much to the dissatisfaction of Jefferson, to say nothing of Russia. When Mad-ison became President and advocated the same policy, he met a like opposition, but by his obstinate perseverance finally succeeded in winning his point, and John Quiucy Adams was sent as Amer-ica's representative at the Court of the Czar. The personal bear-ing of Adams and his policy in diplomatic relations won the friendship of the Czar himself, as well as that of the whole nation, and to Adams was due much of the friendly bearing of this des-potism to the American Republic* During the civil war of the United States, Russia, if ever, I *MemolrB of J. Q. Adams. TU7WI «■»' ■ii" —'■iiTfiifiri'iiftfrnmirmTtnimiffliimmmiiiiiyiyiiiiiiMiiiiiyiin 28 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY manifested the interest of a firm and loyal friend. At this mo-mentous crisis when all the world favoured and even abetted se-cession or the partition of America, Russia, like the mighty bear she is, gave a murmuring growl of sympathy, and it is fair to say she would have felt little hesitancy in manfully expressing herself, had it been necessary. Russia alone stood out and refused to do aught against the stalwart youth who had developed from the valorous few who dared brave the long dreary years of New Eng-land and Virginian hardship. At the present everything seems to show that Russia still maintains the same attitude toward America, that she always has maintained. Along commercial lines it is to her advantage to keep relations just as friendly as possible, and no less for political reasons. Russia well knows that she can depend on none of the Eurasian countries as a friend, and she feels the sore need of a formidable ally. Her great hope lies in America, and if an alliance could here be formed she would fear no one. In the recent disagreements between the two great continents, Russia always showed ber sympathy to be with the United States. She gloried to see Spain go down under America's powerful arm, and is no less anxious to see the Philippines quieted, and America triumphant over all. Some great man whose name has now escaped our memory, said, a few years ago, that if the whole world became involved in a chaotic state of warfare, Russia and America side by side, or shoulder to shoulder would battle against the world. That, no doubt, has been Russia's opinion exactly. At the present time the partition sooner or later of China seems inevitable. All the European powers have their eyes trained on this vast empire, and are waiting only for a plausible opportunity to jump in and help themselves. Russia is among the foremost of these powers, and right there is where she wants the co-operation of America. If an alliance could be formed between these two nations, then with her own great armies and the civilizing and enlightening agiencies of America the success of her eastern conquests would be certain. Here is where Russia's present attitude toward the old Amer-ican colonies blends into that of the future. We can entertain no doubt but that her policy in the future will be the same that it has been in the past and present. No one can fail to see the immense opportunities and resources of Russia. From the fur-bearing re-wm THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 29 gions on the north to the tropical fruits of the south; from the grain fields and manufactories of the west over the platinum and gold fields of the Ural mountains to the mines oi Siberia, she is provided with all the necessaries of human life. No one can help but see the same wealth of America. Russia has seen and thought of this for years. If these two nations were united commercially and politically, what could they not do ? Let England become unruly. Then let Russia and America close their ports, and say to the rest of the world, "You close yours"—where would Eng-land be in forty-eight hours ? Think of a federation reaching from St. Petersburg to the Ural mountains, from the Ural mountains across the whole continent of Asia to Kamtchatka, from Kamt-chatka across Behring strait to Alaska, or directly aross the Pacific to San Francisco, and from San Francisco across America to New York ! Think of the possibilities of such a union ! And Russia has been thinking about them. She, with all her despotism, is shrewd and quick, and distinctly sees that it is to her advantage to maintain friendly relations with America. Such has been, is, and no doubt will be her attitude toward the old American colonies. As to the United States, nothing is less probable than such advances, but let us ever remember that in Russia we have a firm and ever loyal friend. THE PROPER CARE OF HUMAN LIFE /~\NE of the great mysteries in this world is that of life, and es- ^^ pecially human life. We are told that "God created man in His own image and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.'' With this view of the origin of human life we have come to regard it as a divine gift placed into our hands for a definite period of time and conditioned upon a proper care and use of it. What constitutes a proper care of human life has never been universally agreed upon, but we believe that the human race is beginning to realize more and more the importance and necessity of a proper care. There are two important phases of this question; first, the care which each individual should have for his own life, and second, the care which he should have for the life of his fellow-men. Every human being shows his care for his own life by observ-ing the laws which pertain to the healthful condition of the body. 30 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY Health is a priceless blessing. It is often called the greatest of blessings; and we are told that without it life has no worth. This language may be too strong, for we have seen those who, amidst infirmity and frequent illness, through force of intellect, and still more through religious principle, devout gratitude and trust, have found life a greater boon than the multitude of the strong and healthy ever dream of. Still, health is an inestimable good, and is essential to the full development and gratification of our powers. Without it life loses its bright charm, and gradually declines by m_vsterious decay. Without it human life falls far short of its true mission in this world. Health and disease are physical conditions upon which pleasure and pain, success and failure, depend. We may also safely consider what is known as self-defense against the violence of human hands, or the brutal attacks of wild beasts, or even the threatenings of the elements of nature as a part of the proper care for one's own life. The man who does not try to preserve his life when he is assaulted by his fellowruan without a cause, or when he is attacked by furious beasts, or when storms, floods, and fire threaten him, surely does not have much of a price set upon that mysterious gift from God. He cares little for his own life who goes through the world unconcerned as to what may befall him and regardless of the fact that he is created with the power and the necessary means for defending his life in very many instances. Then again, it must not be forgotten that there are circum-stances which require that human life must be given up. Our lives have an office for others, to help save and lift up humanity. Who are the men in whom human life seems to be manifested in its brightest glory, who appear best to have fulfilled its end ? They are those who have made the greatest sacrifices for truth, humanity, religion, patriotism and freedom. It is not to those who have watched over and kept their lives, but to those who have cheerfully given them away, that the tribute of reverence and joyful commemoration has been paid. This view of the proper care of human life may be implied in the teaching of Christ—"He that loses his life for my sake shall find it." This, however, re-fers more to the principle of unselfishness in general than to the sacrificing of life. We shall now consider the care which man should have for the life of his fellowmen. In all ages the individual has, in one form Hill! THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 31 or another, been trodden in the dust. In monarchies and aris-tocracies, he has been sacrificed to one or to the few, who, re-garding government as an heirloom in their families, and think-ing of the people as made only to live and die for their glory, have not dreamed that the sovereign power was designed to shield every man, without exception, from wrong. In the ancient republics, the glory of the state, especially conquest, was the end to which the individual was expected to offer himself a victim. It was the glory of the American people, that, in their Declaration of Inde-pendence, they took the ground of the indestructible rights of every human being, and in the Emancipation Proclamation they have given to the world the evidence that they meant what they declared. Indifference to human life is probably at its height in times of war. Such indifference was found in Napoleon when, for the amusement of some mistress of the night, he sacrificed fifty of his soldiers in an escalade which he knew to be positively futile for any military purpose, or in Abdul Hamid when, probably for no other reason than that he feared the downfall of his own power, he sanctioned the horrible massacres in Armenia, or even in our own Civil War, when thousands of men were carelessly sacrificed, both in the north and the south, for the sake of the military glory and fame of certain individuals. The sufferings and death of a single fellowbeing often excite a tender and active compassion, but we hear without emotion of thousands enduring every variety of woe in war. A single mur-der in peace thrills through our frames. The countless murders of war are heard as an amusing tale. The execution of a crimi-nal depresses the mind, and philanthropy is laboring to substitute milder punishments for death. But benevolence has hardly made an effort to snatch from sudden and untimely death the inumer-able victims immolated on the altar of war. Even to-day the voice of those, who forget that they have a care which pertains to the life of their fellowman, is heard in terms of reproach when we seek to avoid war. In most of these cases which I have mentioned there still ex-ist opinions which lead to either extreme. Like many other things of this nature it may be safest to say that the proper care for human life is the golden mean of these extremes. There are circumstances which demand that the right of self-defense be dis- TUrerr-T-T 32 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY placed by the willingness to give up life; that the rights and lib-erties of our fellowman be taken from him for the good of society; and that the government of a country must furnish some of its citizens as victims upon the altar of war, especially when it is car-ried on for the sake of bettering the conditions of the human race-s' EXCHAMGES TT is said that no two minds follow the same channel of thought. A We each have our likes and dislikes and what is attractive to one person may not have the least charm for another. A department entirely devoted to exchange work has recently been added to the MERCURY staff, and the editor takes this oppor-tunity to say that any criticism which may be given in this col-umn will be offered with perfect frankness but with not the slight-est intention of giving offense. We shall try to avoid useless and nonsensical "cutting," which has always reminded us very strongly of the proverbial "feline quarrel," but shall be ready to defend ourselves and our institution as best we can, if occasion demands. Among the exchanges which we have examined, we note the following: The Lafayette of February 8th contains an excellent article on fraternities. We agree with the writer throughout. If the sensi-ble ideas he expresses were followed, the membership of many fraternities would be smaller, but their moral character would undoubtedly be of a higher type. "His Professor" in the February Touchstone displays a bit of the real class-room spirit. The story is interesting and ends in a pleasant manner. The Lesbian Herald is a very welcome exchange—one which we enjoy thoroughly. Its appearance is unpretentious but at-tractive; its arrangement excellent; and its articles in general of a high type. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 33 We could wish that every person who tries to make puns would read the article "Puns and Punsters" in the February Mountaineer. We congratulate Allegheny College on her recent endowment of thirty thousand dollars for the purpose of building a chapel. Other exchanges to be acknowledged are: The Saint John's Collegian, The Western Maryland College Monthly, The Haver ford-ian. The Roanoke Collegian and The Ursimis College Bulletin. In men whom men condemn as ill I find so much of goodness still ; In men whom men pronounce divine I find so much of sin and blot, I hesitate to draw a line Between the two, where God has not. Burns and Byron—MmER. In battle or business, whatever the game, In law or in love, it is ever the same; In struggle for power, or the scramble for pelf, Let this be your motto: Rely on yourself! For whether the prize be a ribbon or throne, The victor is he who can "go it alone." -SAXB. c*p The very power that molds a tear And bids it trickle from its source, That power preserves the earth a sphere And guides the planets in their course. —ROGERS. uu> PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS. C R. SOLT MERCHANT TAILOR Masonic Bldg., GETTYSBURG Our collection of Woolens for the coming- Fall and "Winter season cannot be surpassed for variety, attractive designs and g-eneral completeness. The latest styles of fashionable novelties in the most approved shades. Staples of exceptional merit, value and wearing durability. Also altering-, repairing, dj-eing and scouring at moderate prices. .FOR UP-TO-DATE. Clothing, Hats, Shoes, And Men's Furnishing- Goods, go to I. HALLEM'S MAMMOTH CLOTHING HOUSE, Chambersburg St., GETTYSBURG, PA. ESTABLISHED 1867 BY ALLEN WALTON. ALLEN K. WALTON, President and Treasurer. ROBT. J. WALTON, I Superintendent. flummelstooin Bromn Stone Company Quarrymen and Manufacturers of Building Stone, Sawed Flagging and Tile Waltonvllle, Dauphin Co., Pa. Contractors for all kinds of Telegraph and Express Address. Cut Stone Work. BROWNSTONE, PA. Parties visiting the Quarries will leave cars at Brownstone Station on the P. & R. R. R. For a nice sweet loaf of Bread call on J. RAMER Baker of Bread and Fancy Cakes, GETTYSBURG. PA. EIMER & AMEND, Manufacturers and Importers of Chemicals and Chemical Apparatus 205, 207, 209 and 211 Third Avenue, Corner 18th Street NEW YORK. Finest Bohemian and German Glassware, Royal Berlin and Meissen Porcelain, Pure Hammered Platinum, Balances and Weights. Zeiss Mi-croscopes and Bacteriological Apparatus; Chemical Pure Acids and Assay Goods. SCOTT PAPER COMPANY MAKERS OF FINE TOILET PAPER 7th and Greenwood Ave. PHILADELPHIA -■ ■'■'■HI"!'" ! GETTYSBURG COLLEGE LIBRARY GETTYSBURG, \.

APRIL, 1903 Gettysburg GETTYSBURG COLLEGE GETTYSBURG, PA. DAKBIHENN * LITTLE, LTD., QfTTYBOUHO V PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTIZERS. Geo. E. Sparkler, PIANOS, ORGANS, MUSICAL MERCHANDISE Music Rooms, - York St. Telephone 181 GETT1TSBUBG C. B. KITZMILLER, DEALER IN Hats, Caps, Roots, and ^^^■■•^Douglas Shoes GETTYSBURG, FJRL. h. M. AMxEMAN, Manufacturer's Agent and Jobber of Hardware, Oils, Paints and (joeenswar Gettysburg, Pa. THE ONLY JOBBING HOUSE IN ADAMS COUNTY W. F. Odori, ^DEALER IN^k- D ± ^S-SS,!) . ^r. SPECIAL RATES TO CLUBS. York Street, Gettysburg:, Pa. THESE FIRMS ARE O. K. PATRONIZE THEM. DO YOU KNOW WHERE The Choicest Candies, The Finest Soda Water, The Largest Oysters, The Best Ice Cream, Can he found in town? Yes, at Young's Confectionary On Chambersburg Street, near City Hotel, Gettysburg, Pa. IF YOU CALL OH C. A. Bloehet*, Jeuuelet*, Centre Square, He can serve you in anything you may want in REPAIRING or JEWELRY. SEFTON & FLEMMING'S LIVERY Baltimore Street, First Square, Gettysburg, Pa. Competent Guides for all parts of the Battlefield. Arrangements by telegram or letter. Lock Box 257. J. I. MUMPER. 41 Baltimore St., Gettysburg, Pa, The improvements to our Studio have proven a perfect success and we are now better prepared than ever to give you satisfactory work. EMIL ZOTHE COLLEGE EMBLEMS Engraver, Designer and Manufacturing Jeweler, 716 CHESTNUT ST., - PHILADELPHIA. SPECIALTIES : Masonic Marks, Society Badges, College Buttons, Pins, Scarf Pins, Stick Pins and Athletic Prizes. All goods ordered through PHILIP BIKLE, JR. HELP THOSE WHO HELP US. The Intercollegiate Bureau or Academic Costume. Chartered igo2. Ootrell St Leonard, Albany, ]ST. IT. makers of the Caps, Gorans and Hoods To the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Columbia, University of Chicago, University of Min-nesota, Leland Stanford, Tulane, University of the South, Wel-lesley, Bryn Mawr, Wells, Mt. Holyoke and the others. Illustrated Bulletin, Samples, Etc., upon request. I A. Wright's Engraving House, 1108 Chestnut St. PHILADELPHIA We have our own photograph gallery for half-tone and photo engraving. Fashionable Engraving and Stationery. Leading house for College, School and Wedding Invitations, Dance Programs, Menus. Fine engraving of all kinds. Before ordering elsewhere com-pare samples and prices. GET THE BEST The TEACHERS' AID PUPILS' CYCLOPAEDIA. ANEW, RELIABLE and BEAUTIFUL WORK OF REFERENCE in three volumes, edited by B. P. Holtz, A.M., for the homes, schools and colleges of America. It has over 2,200 pages, quarto size, is absolutely new, and treats thousands of selected topics. Many prominent educators have already recommended it for gener-al use. Sample pages furnished on ap-plication. AGENTS WANTED. The Hoist Publishing Co., Boone, lo-wa. PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTIZEKS. "\X7~e al-re/ays na-v7-e tine; sea-sons novelties, besides a complete line o£ staples at prices to tempt you, • SPECIAL CARE TAKEN TO MAKE WORK STYLISH AND EXACTLY TO YOUR ORDER. - CUill CQ. Seligman, Taiio*, 7 Chambepsbupg St., Gettysburg, Pa. R. A. WONDERS Corner Cigar Parlors. A full line of Cigars, Tobacco, Pipes, etc. Scott's Corner, opp. Eagle Hotel GETTYSBURG, PA. Pool Parlors in Connection. D. J. Swartz Country Mnce Dealein Groceries Cigars and Tokco GETTYSBURG. Established 1867 by Allen Walton. . Allen K. Walton, Pres. and Treas. Root. J. Walton, Superintendent. Hummelstown Brown Stone (Jompanij, QTT_£L.i^:R,-5r:ivd:E isr and Manufacturers of BUILDING STONE, SAWED FLAGGING, and TILE, WALTONVILLE, 1£E. PENNA. Contractors for all kinds of cut stone work. Telegraph and Express Address, I3ROWNSTONE, PA. Parties visiting Quarries will leave cars at Brownstone Station, on the P. & R. R.R. THE GETTYSBURG JIERGDRY The Literary Journal of Gettysburg College Voi,. XII. GETTYSBURG, PA., APRIL, 1903 No. 2 CONTENTS MY GUARDIAN STAR 48 C. E. BUTLER, '05. JONATHAN SWIFT AS A SATIRIST 49 HERBERT L. STIFEL, '03. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOR WOMAN S3 M. ADA MCLINN, '04. THE BLACK SHEEP . 57 ESSAY-WRITING AS A COLLEGE DISCIPLINE . . 62 N. R. WHITNEY, '06. A SOLILOQUY 64 B. A. STROHMEIER, '06. THE INFLUENCE OF THE NOVEL . . . . . 66 J. EDWARD LOWE, '05. THE RURAL TELEPHONE 68 BRUCE P. COBAUGH, '05. SHOULD A STUDENT KEEP HIS COLLEGE TEXT-BOOKS? . 70 C. EDWIN BUTLER, '05 EDITORIALS 72 EXCHANGES " . 75 48 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. MY GUARDIAN STAR. C. E. BUTLER, '05. *m MiERE are spots in the far away sky *• Where the heavenly bodies stand, Like sentinels over all nature To keep the peace of the land. Here alone, great bodies are strewn And there sweeps a beautiful lake, And an angel brings a rose every night To hang as a clear silver flake. If one were to pause in the evening And gaze to the heavens all aglow, He would find there, a star, by instinct Whose secret only one man can know. This bright and heavenly body Has been placed by the hand of Fate To keep watch o'er a certain pilgrim On his journeys early and late. The Fates favor not only one, But each has his guardian star, And if you will but eagerly look Your guardian is watching from afar. 'Tis sweet to be so shielded By a Father who watches from above, For such stars are the works of his hand As our guardian angels of love. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 49 JONATHAN SWIFT AS A SATIRIST. HERBERT L. STIEEL, '03. {Graeff Prize Essay.] SATIRE has been defined as criticism that searches for de-fects in order to ridicule them. Being destructive rather than constructive, it is not the highest form of criticism; in fact it occupies a low plane in the scale of literary merit. Neverthe-less, it has been a popular form of writing from the times of the Athenian Aristophanes and the Roman Horace down to the present day. At no time, perhaps, was it so prevalent as at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Those days formed a period of literary duels, personal, political, and religious, such as the world has never seen before or since. Satire, lampoon, and epigram were the weapons ; such men as Voltaire, Swift, Addison, and Defoe, were the contestants. Masters of their weapons, all of them ; able to send home their rapier-like thrusts with telling effect. Pre-eminent among them, in satire at least, stands Jonathan Swift, author, clergyman, politician and misanthrope. Many a brilliant production has come from his vitriolic pen, but none of his works contain a satire more keen than his own life. At college he was a poor student. He read much, but the regular studies of his course had no attraction for him. Mathematics and the sciences of the day were his especial bugbear. This dislike may have been the origin of the ridicule to which he subjected them later, in his "Voyage to Laputa." At times he was pinched with poverty. An extremely dis-agreeable disposition prevented his making many friends and soon lost for him the few he did have. Joseph Addison was one notable exception, however; his friendship for Swift was firm and lasting. Swift was a man of irascible passions, mis-anthropic to the last degree. Life, to his mind, was not worth living. He had a horror of old age and a desire for death which would have been pathetic had it not been so cynical and bitter. "God bless you, I hope we shall never meet again," 50 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. was his customary farewell to his friends. Brutality towards woman was another of Swift's traits, Esther Johnson, the subject of his "Journal to Stella" and Miss Vanhomrig, known in his works as Vanessa, were the principal sufferers. The last few years of his life were spent in total insanity. Even on his death bed the habit of satire was strong in him. With satirical intent, as he himself admitted, he willed his entire fortune to a home for incurable madmen. Of the writings of Swift, "Gulliver's Travels" is the most im-portant and best known. Nearly all of his other satires are at times licentious, indelicate, and coarse. Particularly is this true of his "Tale of a Tub," a general satire, lashing in all directions. This was one of his earliest works and though very offensive, it has been pronounced "the most powerful satire of the century." The "Drapiers Letters" and the "Battle of the Books" are also among his more important productions. In his two pamphlets written along almost parallel lines, the "Argu-ment Against the Abolishment of Christianity" and the "Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children in Ireland from Being a Burden to their Parents" by fattening and eating them, we have two of the best examples of unrestrained irony known to the English language. He is also the author of numerous political pamplets which are worthy of consideration as examples of pure, simple En-glish. Throughout all of them we can trace the unfailing vein of his satire. The style of Swift is simple, direct and even. Sentences flow naturally and easily from his pen. A child would have no difficulty in understanding the words which he uses. Originality is another "characteristic of his works. Sir Walter Scott draws our attention to this fact, claiming that Swift was more original than any other author of his period. Swift has been imitated, as in the "Travels of Baron Mun-chausen," but never did he imitate. An interesting peculiarity of his writings is his power of giving "the wildest fiction an air of realism." The characteristics and methods of Swift's satire are best discerned by an examination of his well known work, "Gulliver's THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. Si Travels."* Here he makes the wildest invention and most grotesque humor hide a serious purpose. So well does he succeed that I have heard a college man, a Senior, declare that the work is a story for children, written with that purpose in view. The voyage of Captain Gulliver to Lilliput refers chiefly to the court and politics of England. The political parties in Lilliput, the one insisting that high heels shall be worn upon the shoes, the other equally insistent that only low heels shall be worn, are the Tories and Whigs of England. When Swift tells of the heir apparent of the country, who wears one heel high and one low, the shaft is aimed at the Prince of Wales, whose political leanings were equivocal, to say the least. The petty disputes in Lilliput as to whether eggs should be broken at the small or the big end, find their parallel in the differences of the English Papists and Protestants. Horace Walpole, Prime Minister'of England, is said to have laughed heartily when, on reading Swift's ridiculous account of the Premier Flimnap, he recognized himself. Placing the scene of the story in a country where the inhabitants are six inches high and their surroundings and deeds in proportion, only adds effectiveness. In the next voyage we are taken to Brobdingnag. The satire here is more general. Few particular references to persons or events can be discovered. The littleness and vanity of our desires and the insignificance of our pursuits are shown the more strongly by increasing them to Brobdingnagian propor-tions. The third voyage is to Laputa, and this time the scien-tists of England suffer. It is not real science which Swift de-rides, but the many pretenses and imitations of the day. Nevertheless, some pointed passages are directed against Sir Isaac Newton and the Royal Society. In the author's gloomy account of the Struldbrugs, the immortals of Laputa, we are reminded of his own indifference to life and his fear of old age. * Analysis based on notes of Rev. John Mitford ; W. C. Taylor Edi-tion, Vol. I. 52 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. The satire which we find in the fourth voyage is bitterly mis-anthropic and repelling. On this voyage, Captain Gulliver is thrown ashore upon an island where the horse is the superior animal and man the inferior. The picture which Swift here draws of human nature is nauseating and disgusting. The mind at once rejects so horrible a caricature. Had the "Voy-age to the Houyhnums" never been written, "Gulliver's Travels" would be a much more readable book. With all his coarseness, Swift was undoubtedly a genius. Thackeray, with all his adverse criticism, admits that he was "the greatest wit of all times ;" Macaulay claims that he was the "ablest man in the Tory party" and the "keenest observer of men and manners ;" Joseph Addison calls him "the greatest genius of his age." Of Swift's use of English, Dr. Hugh Blair says, "He knew beyond almost any man the purity, extent and precision of the English language." The consensus of opinion is that he was the greatest satirist of his own, if not of any, age. Sir Walter Scott not inaptly compares the personality of Swift to Shake-speare's description of Cassius in "Julius Caesar :" "He reads much ; He is a great observer and he looks quite through The deeds of men. Seldom he smiles ; and smiles in such a sort, As if he mocked himself and scorned his spirit. That could be moved to smile at anything." THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 53 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOR WOMAN. M. ADA MCLINN, '04. "Ignorance is the curse of God. Kowledge is the wings with which we fly to heaven." IF knowledge is so significant for the uplifting of the human race and the lack of knowledge equally significant for its downfall, it is worth while to investigate it and discover in what way it means so much to mankind in general. It is through education that one obtains knowledge. Education is too comprehensive in its workings to admit of definition. This much can be said of it, however. It is an all-round de-velopment of the mind by means of which it expands and changes in character. This development guides the mind to the great realms of thought where a vast, vast expanse stretches before it. There the minds sees by-ways, roads and large avenues which lead to undiscovered knowledge. The only pass needed for traveling upon them is thought—deep, re-searchive thought; but, to speak literally, the training of one's intellectual powers is of untold value. Ask any educated per-son if he would be willing to part with what he knows. He will answer positively in the negative. It means too much to him to part with it at any price. What mean the phenomena of nature to the untaught? What does he see in the sky above him other than a canopy over the earth set with lights ? He does not see the stars as worlds revolving in the endless blue aether. What does he see in the gorgeous cloud formations and hues of dawn and sunset other than a sign of to morrow's weather ? The orchard in its dainty dress of blossom pink and leafy green means only a prospective crop of fruit. To one whose mind has been trained by thought and study these sights give inspiration, they open a new world to him, they fill his mind with glorious reflections and create within him a desire to become something. 54 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. To the ignorant person, the world is as an opaque mist. He can see dimly the outlines and positions of objects, but can-not define them. It is education that clears away the opacity and enables him to view his surroundings through a clear transparent atmosphere. It is in our literature that we find the greatest thoughts of the greatest minds, the most soul inspiring thought, the most beautiful songs of gifted poets. These mean nothing to the unlearned. He thereby loses all the best that the world which lived before him left him. Education gives one a constant source of entertainment and instruction. Place an educated person on a lonely island. He can do more than exist. He can find friends in the birds, the trees, in fact, in all of his surroundings. Place him in the crowded city and, because of his insight into human nature, he will be the leader of his circle. In any place, he is at home and capable. Through education one discovers what a potent force is mind—how it rules the world with its all-compelling sway. Before this development one leads, as it were, a vegetative ex-istence ; he is merely an individual—one of the many millions upon the earth's surface. Educate him and he is a person with a personal plan before him to carry out. He is a character with influence. This and much more does education mean to every human being who lives on God's earth—both to man and woman, but we shall now proceed to show what it signifies to woman, specially, in her own sphere. No one will deny that woman's mental constitution is dif-ferent from man's. Her nature is more sensitive to her sur-roundings, she requires a more ideal existence, her sense of sympathy is keener, her heart is the controlling force. To such a temperament education means more than to the more staid temperament of man. Her sensitive nature quick-ened, by such training, to a sense of the great possibilities be-fore it, will make a new world for itself. The horizon will stretch away from the four walls of the house to the great round THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 55 - world. To her, personally, it means a life flavored with con-tinual happiness, it is "a thing of beauty and a joy forever." It gives her the ideal existence that she needs. Instead of be-ing bound down to the hum-drum routine of her household duties, she rises above the drudgery of them. With systematic order she can arrange these duties, then lay them aside to en-joy life in a realm above the culinary department. Her tendency to be ruled by the heart is restrained, which, while most humane, is sometimes dangerous without the con-trolling power of reason. Her judgment and reasoning powers are developed. She views the questions of life with logical perception. Her sanguine temperament is brought to its proper balance and her mind in emergencies becomes calm and clear. It is the ideal existence which makes woman happy, and Ruskin says, that is what makes her lovely. It is education that gives substance to her day dreams. With clearer vision than man she grasps the ideal which stands out upon the heights of possible achievement. She listens to the low voice of duty which commands the actualization of this ideal, and with the power which the intellectual life bestows, she approxi-mates it more closely, in her daily life, than man can do. In the home it establishes her as queen. What does it not mean to a home to have an educated mother in it? Her trained faculties, combined with her innate love and sympathy, make her an ideal mother. It is safe to say that the rudeness of American children, for which unfortunately they are noted, would disappear could educated and cultured mothers be placed in all homes. To his mother a child owes his mental endowment. Review the biographies of the great men of the age. It will be found that from their mothers they inherited superior mental traits. Again to be an ideal wife a woman must have reached such a stage of mental development that she can meet her husband on any ground. Can there be per-fect congenialty and love between two minds, one of which has expanded and been broadened in its development, the other a small intellect filled with trifles ? In addition to the influence education exerts upon a woman 56 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. personally, and her elevation in the home, it means a great deal to her social position. One can judge the status of a com-munity by the women he finds in it. Woman rules the social world about her. Every one will acknowledge that it is desir-able to live in a community of some standing and culture. Then he must acknowledge that it is necessary to have the women educated who live in the community. An educated woman will have no time for petty gossip and slander. And by conversing with her one will gain more than mere diversion. It gives her presence, assurance and tact in her intercourse with others. If one wishes to know what education has done for woman previous to this, let him note the changes in her condition and in the condition of the world, since the time when she was de-nied the privilege of learning even so much as the alphabet. Education enables woman to help man directly and indirectly in his work in the world. It was Psyche, in Tennyson's "Princess," who in speaking of this union of the minds of man and woman, said with prophetic voice: "Everywhere Two heads in council, two beside the hearth, Two in the tangled business of the world, Two in the liberal offices of life, Two plummets dropped for one to sound the abyss Of science and the secrets of the mind." This combining of the two minds she expected to see brought about by woman's being educated apart from the world. We are seeing her prophecy fulfilled, not by woman's exclusion from the world, but by her mingling with it, and being edu-cated to dwell in it. In this way she is becoming an interesting factor in the world's history, while at the same time she is becoming a womanly woman, full of charm, and ready to fill any place where the world needs her, be it within or without the home. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 57 THE BLACK SHEEP. IN his library, one December night, an old man sat watching the flames as they leaped higher and higher in the old fireplace, each one seeming as though it were trying to reach a greater height than its fellow. His head rested in his hands, and on his face was a look of sadness, such as might have been produced by some mental agony. If the old man's face could have been seen, a tear would have been noticed trinkling down his old, wrinkled face. He might, perchance, be recalling the dark days of his life. For no life, no matter to what height of perfection it has attained, but has had its hours of temptations and darkness. Outside the winds howled and moaned. The snow flew in clouds. A fierce winter's storm was raging. The streets were deserted except for those whom business compelled to be abroad on such a night. Yes, on such a night the home was the Mecca of all pedestrians. The old man continued to sit in silence until he was aroused from his musings by the opening of the door into his den. And turning around he beheld his daughter in the doorway. She was a woman of perhaps twenty years of age, not to say beautiful; but her face had that in it which makes one feel at once that he has found a woman of noble character. One whose life was filled with noble sentiment and pure thoughts. "You wish to see me, father?" she asked, approaching the old man. "Yes, my dear," replied the old man, raising his head, "draw a chair up to the fireplace, I wish to talk to you." While she was doing as her father directed, the old man's head was again in his hands and he seemed lost in thought. She sat for some moments in silence, waiting for the old man to speak, but he did not move. At length she ventured to say, "I am still here, father." Without seeming to notice her remark the old man began : "Nellie, I have always been a good father to you, haven't 58 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. I ? I have always done all for you that I should ? I was always good to your mother before she died? I never brought disgrace or sorrow to our home ? We were always happy, we three ?" "Why, certainly, father, why do you ask ?" his daughter questioned, in some surprise. "Because, my daughter," the old man resumed, "I feel that my life is almost at its close; that my race is almost run." "Don't talk so foolish, father, you know that you will live many years yet." "Ah ! my daughter, I wish it were so, but I know it cannot be. And before I die there is something which I must tell you. Something which only myself and my God know, yet I feel, my darling, that when I have told you that you will turn away from your poor old father in disgust. You won't do that, Nellie ? Say that you won't do that." And the old man stretched his hands appealingly toward his daughter. "You have always been true and noble to me, father, and whatever you may have done I am sure that I will love you still," replied the girl taking the old man's hands in her own. They sat in silence for some moments but at length the old man began: "Having started out in life under favorable circumstances, it was not long until I had made a name for myself. At a quite early age I became cashier in the bank then run by Howard & Rawlston. My mother and father were proud of their son. He was an honor and joy to them. Soon my name became a by-word for honesty and integrity. But not so with my elder brother Dick. On the contrary, Dick was a wild sort of a chap. The old folks never mentioned his doings excepting when things had gone so far that we could not bear them any longer. Time after time father had gotten him out of one scrape only to find that he had gotten into another. At last it came to a crisis and when father had given poor old Dick his last chance, he ignominiously failed. Then father left him shift for himself. I really pitied my brother often, believing that we THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 59 did not fully understand him. For I knew that at heart he was a noble fellow. " Year after year glided by, during which I met your mother and our friendship was eventually consummated in our happy marriage. At length, one day, I was shown a chance by which I might make my fortune. I invested. Then came the crash. What should I do ? I needed money. An idea came to my mind, but I would not listen to it. No, I had lost my all but I was still honest. " Oh ! how many sleepless nights I spent. Oh ! how many days of torture I lived through, no one will ever know. And then to cap the climax you were born. There were three mouths to feed now, what should I do? After much delibera-tion I resolved to give way to the thought which had come into my mind, and make of myself a criminal. I was surprised to see with what complacency I arranged my plan. Really, I was astonished with myself. " I waited with impatience the fatal day. It came at last, bringing with it rain and a high wind. A very suitable time for my opprobrious project. After the business hours of the day were over I went home, ate my supper, and told your mother I must go out on business. This being a frequent oc-currence did not surprise her in the least. 'About midnight, muffled in a long coat, I made my way to-ward the bank. The rain was falling fast. No one was on the streets. All the better for me. At length I stood on the bank steps; my heart almost failed me. No, I would not turn back, I had made my resolve and would stick to it. I took out my keys and soon had the door open. It was only the work of a moment to get to the safe and open it. Quickly taking out ten packages of bills, each containing ten one thousand dollar bills, I put them into a bag which I had brought with me for that purpose. Ah, I was rich once more, but the bank! The bank was ruined, but what cared I for that, I had gone too far to turn back. The bank must look out for itself. "In a few moments I had the safe closed and was soon on the outside. I hastily looked up and down the street. No one 6o THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. was in sight. I started quickly up the street. Soon I was at the corner and just as I turned around it I bumped into a man coming in the opposite direction. He muttered something about people looking where they were going. We looked at each other, my God! It was my brother Dick. He did not apparently recognize me, or if he did he did not care to let me know it. "I was soon at home and after having put the bank notes in a safe place turned to my bed to spend a sleepless night. ******** "The next day the town was wild., The robbery had been discovered. The bank was on the verge of ruin. Detectives were sent for, but they could find no clue. The robbers had left not the slightest trace of their identity behind. "A few weeks after, one of the parties believed he had traced the crime to me. He as much as told me that I had done it. What should I do ? Was all my work for nothing ? I must prove an alibi by all means, but how ? That was the question. "The directors of the bank were in meeting. I was there against my will. I was to prove to them that I had had no connection with the robbery whatever. If I failed in this I should be handed over to the authorities in the morning. I was almost frantic with fear. I believed myself lost. I had been away from home that night and they knew it. Try as I would, I could not think of any plausible thing to tell them. "Many questions were asked me, and I was given a chance to prove that I was not near the place of crime. But it was of no avail. I could not do it. I was doomed. At length Mr. Howard arose and looking squarely at me said, 'John Gilford, we have given you a chance to clear yourself. You have failed. Yet you stoutly maintain your innocence. We wish to believe you. I wish to God I could do so. But if you are not guilty, who is?' "Not a sound was heard. The perspiration was trinkling down my face in large drops. The fatal moment had come. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 61 All eyes were riveted upon me. I resolved to confess, to tell them all. I was just about to answer when 'I am' came the answer in a clear and distinct voice. We all turned and there standing in the doorway was a man, worn and haggard-looking, and that man was my brother Dick. "I tried to see Dick during the trial but he would not let them admit me to see him. All too soon the trial was over, and Dick was sentenced to twenty years in the State prison. But the poor boy did not last long. The next year we buried him in the cemetery on the hill. He had fallen a victim to typhoid fever, contracted shortly after he entered the prison. "My darling, what years of torture I have gone through since then no one can realize. What remorse and anguish have filled my soul God alone knows. But I was a coward then. I could not confess and clear him, and Dick, poor boy, did it for myself and your mother. He loved your mother, Nellie, and he would not see her disgraced." The old man in his earnestness arose, stretched his hands toward his daughter : "You forgive me my child ? You will love—you will love—me—still ?" He tottered and fell to the floor. Quickly his daughter was by his side. "Speak to me, father," she cried, "speak to me." She felt at his heart. It had ceased to beat. No, he would speak no more. He had gone to his God. His race was run. He had gone to join the Black Sheep. w. A. G. 62 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. ESSAY-WRITING AS A COLLEGE DISCIPLINE. N. R. WHITNEY, '06. THE end for which men come to college is to gain a lib-eral education. To attain this end it is necessaiy to make use of some means besides that of poring over text books. These means are to be found especially in literary-work. This must not be understood as implying that the knowledge gained from text books is of secondary importance. On the contrary such knowledge is of primary importance, for one must have thoughts worthy of utterance before he begins to write; and the knowledge gained from a course of study is such as to suggest these thoughts. Besides text books we have access to another source of in-formation. This is found in the reading of good literature. When a person reads a book properly it is not the thoughts of the author that impress and benefit him so much as it is the ideas suggested to him by the book, but enlarged and converted into thought by his own brain. We never truly appreciate a book or its author until we possess ourselves of the facts he had and then strive, by our own mental powers, to arrive at the same conclusions at which he did. Reading, in addition to furnishing thoughts, will give one an ideal of the proper literary form and thus serve a two-fold purpose. The ability properly to express one's thoughts is an accomplishment of no mean worth and will be found of great value in whatever occupation he may engage. Language is but the garment of thought. Good taste is just as evident in the selection of language as in dress. It is man's nature to wish to communicate his joys and his sorrows to others. His joys are never half so enjoyable as when shared with others, and his sorrows never so heavy and depressing as when borne alone, hidden in the depths of his own heart. So in all his experiences he feels the impulse to communicate them. Language, either written or spoken, is the means by which he makes known his innermost feelings THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 63 and desires, hence we see the value of this practice in express-ing thought. The ability to communicate with others is not restricted to man alone. The lower animals also have some means of communicating with others of their kind, and as we advance in the scale of intelligence and civilization this means of intercourse becomes more perfectly developed. In fact we have come to gauge the degree of the civilization of a people by its literature. In studying the history of the Middle Ages we regard the revival of learning as the chief instrument or agent in dispelling the darkness of ignorance and superstition, and awakening the human mind from its long sleep to witness the dawn of a new day in the world's history. The expression and progress of this intellectual revival is found in the literature of that period. Thus literature is synonymous with enlighten-ment and education. This being true, practice in literary work is a necessity to a liberal education. Exercise in this branch of college work will gain for one the habit of thinking logically and of arranging his thoughts in the most effective manner. It will increase our vocabulary and improve our diction. The reading necessary to this work will enlarge our fund of general information and develop the aesthetic side of our nature. If one attempts to write a descriptive article, the necessity of observing more closely his surroundings will be forcibly impressed upon him—it is truly amazing how little one sees in comparison with what there is to be seen all around him. Thus, looking at the matter from every side, one must be conscious of the great benefits to be derived from this work. It is true that it requires a great deal of time and effort, but the results will prove it to be a profitable investment. Bacon has said, "Reading maketh a full man ; writing an exact man," to which we might add, and together they make a liberally edu-cated man. 64 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. A SOLILOQUY. B. A. STROHMKIER, '06. TEJTAVE you ever been off with a college team— ■^■*- With a basket-ball, base-ball, or football team, When your spirits were high and your heart was light, And your soul bubbled over with hopes all bright? Say, have you? Have you ever thus gone from your college home Like the legions that marched out of ancient Rome, Full of confidence born in a brilliant past, Gone to war with a foeman that stands aghast? Say, have you? Have you entered the land of the foe and felt All at once, at Uncertainty's shrine you knelt, When you heard the wild crowd giving hostile cheers And the young vulgur rabble hurl stinging jeers ? Say, have you? Have you girded your lions for the coming fray Thinking still that your prestige will win the day ? Have you heard the shrill, referee's whistle blow When, relieved, in to conquer or die you go? Say, have you ? Then alas! has your prestige and fame dissolved Like the mist into air by the sun resolved ? Have you lived not to glory, but groan.in pain, While the ignoble foe sings the victor's strain? Well, I have. Of a truth it is bitter to taste defeat; It is sweet to be feared as unconquered, unbeat. But in all the wide world, and in any age Who can find such a one writ on history's page ? Say, can you,? THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 65 When Ambition appeared, then great Caesar fell; It was Carelessness sounded vast Rome's death-knell; And Napoleon met with his Waterloo When he least was afraid. Can it be it's true ? Say, can it ? Then remember the lesson, and hold it tight: It is power not prestige that wins the fight; And defeat now and then is a wholesome thing That conceit, too high flown, back to earth will bring, For a man's but a man, that withal he's done, Though there's many a man thinks he's more than one. Say, do you ? THE YOUNG SINGER. He sang the charge song of the Guard A mad, wild fever seized me. He crooned a mother's cradle-song ; What far fond dreams it weaved me ! With bursts of laughing opera airs Tumultuously he'd wake me; And through a flaunting Gypsy dance His tripping voice would take me. He sang of love, my blood caught fire, For lo ! soft hands caressed me. He sang of death ; a calm cold breath With mystic power oppressed me. He sang, but now his voice is still. Why should his memory grieve me? For in the spirit of his songs He lives, he ne'er shall leave me. —The Monthly Maroon. 66 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. THE INFLUENCE OF THE NOVEL. J. EDWARD LOWS, '06. THIS is an age of education, and the present generation is a generation of readers. Illiteracy, at least in the most pro-gressive countries, is no longer the rule, but the exception. Since education has become so general, it is hard to find a man, who has gone beyond the purely elementary stage of mental train-ing, who is not somewhat familiar with the literature of his mother-tongue. There is a class, often referred to as the read-ing public, who compose the material for the newspapers, magazines and books. Since literature is a subject with which so many are inter-ested, it might be proper to inquire what particular branch of literature is the most powerful and far-reaching in its effects. The answer, I think, is not hard to find ; it is the department of prose fiction. It will doubtless be readily considered that the novel is at least the most popular kind of writing. There are reasons for this. For to appreciate poetry properly often requires no small degree of culture, if not, indeed, a special cast of mind. Not every-body enjoys reading history, be it ever so graphi-cally portrayed. There are few who do not enjoy reading a good story and who cannot appreciate, in some degree at least, the work of a master-hand in this department. Who does not follow with breathless interest the vivid narrative of Scott ? Who does not laugh at "Mr. Pickwick," the inimitable creation of Charles Dickens ? Or again the vividly portrayed story of "Rip Van-Winkle," written by Washington Irving? It is safe to say that ten novels are read to every volume of poetry; a hundred to every volume of history. One great reason for the popularity of the modern novel is its realism. It is in this respect that it is so very different from its prototype, the romance of the Middle Ages. The hero of the Medieval romance was generally a king or knight, an impossible creature, who was the very embodiment of virtue and bravery. En- THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 67 chanted castles, witches, ghosts and spectres played a promi-nent part in the plot. These went to make up a story so fan-tastic that it could have appealed to minds only the most imaginative and credulous. The modern novel, on the contrary, is decidedly realistic. "Robinson Crusoe," by some called the first English novel, is so well composed, that it is often hard to convince a boy. who reads Defoe's celebrated story that it is not gospel truth. Every cause can be best judged by the effect it produces and,, judging the influence of some of the world's greatest novels bjr the results they have achieved, it is beyond doubt that they have been most potent factors in the great work of moral re-form, and social progress. It was the publication of Dickens' "Nicholas Nickelby," that opened the eyes of the English people to the abuses existing in the public-school system, and its direct results was a radical change in that system. In "Oliver Twist" the evils in the system of poor-relief were pointed out. We turn to the United States, for the most re-markable effect a novel has ever produced upon the public sentiment. That novel was "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which a prominent Southern writer recently asserted was the cause of the Civil War. This may seem a little far-fetched, but it was at least one of the causes of the awful conflict between the North and the South. It has been predicted by certain writers, that there will come a time when the novel as a form of literature will cease to exist. They think that eventually everything in the form of a plot will have been so completely worked out that the new will be only a repetition of the old. This, it seems to me, is a foolish view. Solomon was doubt-less correct when he said, "There is nothing new under the Sun." But the fact remains that there have always been minds that could present the old in a new and attractive form. When the military hero has ceased to win the admiration of the ap-plauding millions ; when all the world has ceased to love a lover; when, in short, the human mind has lost the faculty of imagination; then, and only then, will the novel cease to live. 68 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. THE RURAL TELEPHONE. BRUCE P. COBAUGH, '05. THE telephone is one of the great factors of modern pro-gress. Now, it is a noticeable fact, and a deplorable one too, that, while miles of telephone lines stretch across the country, the farmer seldom avails himself of the benefits afforded by the telephone. Nor is it wholly through ignorance that he does not do this, for any intelligent man must recognize the usefulness of the 'phone; but the farmer must consider the cost of the telephone service, and in the stock companies the yearly rate is so high that he cannot well afford the expense. What the farmer needs is a line that will connect him with the market, and his neighbors as well, at a moderate expense. The question of the rural telephone has been successfully solved by the mutual company. By this is meant the entire ownership and operation of the line by the subscribers. In order to show that mutual control of a line is practical, the writer will state a few facts concerning a mutual line with which he is familiar. This line has been in operation for several years and has given good satisfaction. The residents of a certain community held several meetings to discuss the necessity of a telephone line. It was agreed that the telephone would be of advantage but that the cost was too great. This was based on the offer of a stock company, which proposed to place 'phones in the homes at a yearly rent of fifteen dollars each. This led to the suggestion of a cheaper method: the mutual control of the line, and accordingly a company of twenty subscribers was organized. The members of the company did as much work as possible in the construc-tion of the line, thereby restricting the cost to the minimum. The line when completed was ten miles long and connected a small town to a larger one. The total cost of construction of the line was twelve hundred dollars, or an average of sixty dollars per member. But new members were added at once and so the cost was lessened THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 69 greatly. Each member paid eighteen dollars in cash and the remainder in yearly payments of six dollars each till the line was paid for. At the end of his payments the subscriber owned a full share in the company and his 'phone as well. The yearly cost of operation was found to be not over two dollars per member. The line has later been extended by con-nection with another mutual line and by a rate free exchange of connection with a good stock company. The necessity of the 'phone is clearly shown by its many advantages. It brings the farmer into close touch with the markets. He can keep track of the fluctuating prices of pro-duce by ringing up his home dealer, for the business men are generally connected with a farmers' line. In this way some men have saved more than the cost of their 'phone. Then the telephone brings the people of a community into close contact. The farmer finds it rather more convenient and more pleasant to sit down to his desk and speak with his neigh-bor than go a mile to borrow an implement only to find it in use. Formerly it was a half-day's work to procure hands for threshing. By use of the 'phone it is done now in an hour. And in procuring assistance for all kinds of work, the 'phone is especially useful to the farmer. But we should not omit the social intercourse which the 'phone affords the farmer's home. This is probably one of the greatest advantages of telephone service. No need of braving a winter storm to inquire about the health of a sick friend. One great advantage is yet to be named : it is the time which the 'phone saves in summoning a physician. All physi-cians within reach of the line are connected with it. In many cases they have arrangements for night calls. The time saved in their arrival may save the-life of many a sufferer. These are only a few of the advantages of the rural telephone. Others could be named which would prove further the profit-able use of the 'phone and the comfort and pleasure as well which it affords the home. The farmer can well consider him-self fortunate in having the 'phone, by it a comparatively isolated life has been socially strengthened through a ready means of intercourse. 7o THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. SHOULD A STUDENT KEEP HIS COLLEGE TEXT BOOKS ? C. EDWIN BUTI,ER, '05. THIS is a question every college man must meet, and that very early in his college course. Comparatively few men go through a course of four years at college without pur-chasing a number of text books. Everyone knows the neces-sity of them for a successful study and research, and if it is so essential to have them during the college life, why should they not be just as necessary afterwards, or what is the reason for parting with them ? There can be only one of two reasons : either the student has no use for them in later life, or the money he gets for them—which is generally a very small sum—is of more value than the books themselves. If it is proven that a student has need, and great need, of his books after he leaves college; and if it is proven that they are of greater value to him than any price he can obtain for them, then is it not clear that a student should keep his college text books ? It is the prevailing custom of the human race to have friends. Each person, no matter of what degree or station in life, enjoys the companionship of certain friends. Whether he be a doc-tor, minister, statesman, or common day-laborer, they are as necessary to his peace of mind and contentment as food and clothes are for the body. And what are books to the student, but friends? They help him over the rough places in his course and stand by him in all his need and labors. What he does not know they tell him. When he chances to go astray, they put him on the correct path. Verily, they are friends indeed as well as friends in his need. At least it does one a great deal of good to think of them as such. While seated in the class room many little notes and marks are made in those books that in later years are found to be a source of fond recollections. The memory of them will float through the mind as sweet incense. Hence they would be THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. n worth the keeping for old times' sake, if there were nothing else to enhance their value. It matters not into what profession you enter, your college text books will prove themselves friends to you at many times. You will have need of them. Being thoroughly acquainted with their contents you can very readily turn to any subject which may have escaped your memory and refresh yourself in half the time and with thrice the ease you would find by con-sulting any other book. And back of it all, you have the authority which you have been prepared so well to defend dur-ing all your college course. The cost of college books now compared with former days is so small that the student of moderate means finds it within his power to retain them even for his whole life and then hand them down to his children, from whom they could not be pur-chased for ten times their value. When you purchase your text books you pay full value for them, and if you sell them to another student, you cannot receive more than that, and gener-ally but half as much. ' They have become endeared to you by frequent use, and like old friends you dislike parting with them. The price you paid for them is incomparable with the value of them to you now. Even should you never have any cause to use them, are not the recollections they recall worth the cost? Any man who should dare to insult you by offering to buy your friends would receive a blow from you that would com-pensate him in full for his audacity. Why then should any college man misusing or offering you a mean price for your books not receive as much or more? Fellow-students, keep your text books ! Under no circum-stances barter them away for a mess of potage. They will prove a monument of pleasure more enduring than brass and which the countless succession of years cannot wear away. You will love them in later years as you do no other books, and curse the hand that dares to misuse them. Honor your college career, your library, and your home, and take with you the joy and comfort of your old age, which may be found in your books, and which treasures should not purchase from you. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY Entered at the Postoffi.ce at Gettysburg as second-class matter Voi,. XII GETTYSBURG, PA., APRIL, 1903 No. 2 Editor-in-ch ief LYMAN A. GUSS, '04 Exchange Editor M. ROY HAMSHER, '04 Business Manager F. GARMAN MASTERS, '04 Asst. Business Manager A. L. DIHENBECK, '05 Associate Editors M. ADA MCLINN, '04 BRUCE P. COBAUGH, '05 C. EDWIN BUTTER, '05 Advisory Board PROF. J. A. HIMES, LITT. D. PROF. G. D. STAHI,EY, M.D. PROF. J. W. RICHARD, D.D. Published each month, from October to June inclusive, by the joint literary societies of Pennsylvania (Gettysburg) College. Subscription price, one dollar a year in advance; single copies 15 cents. Notice to discontinue sending the MERCURY to any address must be accompanied by all arrearages. Students, Professors and Alumni are cordially invited to contribute. All subscriptions and business matter should be addressed to the Busi-ness Manager. Articles for publication shoidd be addressed to the Editor. Address THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY, GETTYSBURG, PA. ■ THE REASON WHY EDITORIALS. Scientists tell us that in this world of ours all is strife. Of all the forces in the universe every one is antagonistic to every other. The domin-ating and controling are eternally being opposed by the minor and subordinate. All is constant strain. In the physical world the animating energies of nature are continually work-ing counter to one another. Although there is interpenetration yet there is resistance. In the lowest forms of life, in the smallest microcosms, there is unrelenting conflict. In a higher grade we find the same warfare exemplified in the continued existence of the most capable. Finally the antagonism finds its culmination in the great struggle for existence common to the race. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 73 Even as this is the climax, so it is likewise the point of demarcation. Success now crowns the efforts of the strong ; failure those of the weak. Success! That for which all men hope. Strength ! The means by which they attain it. The latter is the cause, the former the effect. The inference is ready. The effect is the necessary consequential of the cause, but let it not be supposed that the strength incident to success is that typical of a Cyclops, or that symbolic of a Hercules. Rather it is that kind which has been evinced by the master-minds of all ages—intellectual strength. And this is the reason why men go to college ; to attain intellectual power, to cultivate brain-energy, to discipline mental vigor, to learn to appreciate the good, the beautiful and the true, to exalt their being in every way tending to symmet-rical development and, in short, to bring out all that is worth the effort in self. But too often, alas, do college men fail to realize the vitality of their situation; they neglect to seize circumstance and to clinch with time, pregnant with the possibilities of future great-ness. Too frequently is the collegiate life considered one of imposing task work, a mighty preponderance of labor over-shadowing the student. Hence his constant aim is to elimin-ate it, not by conquering it, in which case the law of compen-sation yields ready returns, but by shirking it, whence comes only a void which the craving of later years will seek in vain to satisfy. Instead of surmounting obstacles he shuns them, instead of trodding boldly over the rocky places he rides over them, while his companion plods. But the tortoise beat the hare at the finish. This is the reason why some college men are, and forever will be, in the great but glorious struggle for existence. Their lot must ever be commonplace. They can-not rise above the common level of humanity. The scholar must overcome, not surrender, must conquer, not submit, and must take advantage of all advantages. As Winter, with his cold and stormy winds takes his departure, Spring appears before us in all the beauty of awakening life, and if there is one place especially favored with a beautiful Spring-time it OPPORTUNITIES OF SPRING. 74 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. is the country surrounding Gettysburg. Not only do the climate and natural contour of the country with its hills, woods and creeks make it pleasing, but the avenues over the battle-field furnish ideal walks for recreation hours. For the lover of natural scenery this country furnishes a magnificent prospect with charming color effects. To the botanist it gives a most varied flora. The country is also full of birds. Many rare kinds may be found by the close observer. One of the stu-dents has counted thirty different kinds of birds from his win-dow already this Spring. For the student of geology the land formations will repay any attention given them. And if one unfortunately should have no taste for any of these things he can at least study the history of his country in the many mon-uments and tablets erected over the battlefield. Rarely does one find a place so inviting to the man who wishes to increase his store of general knowledge; and these delightful spring days furnish time to make use of the opportunities. Instead of a spring fever that gives one a desire to loaf and neglect all his work let him contract a fever for making use of what Gettysburg and her surroundings offer him in the above men-tioned lines. THE TRUTH FOR In all colleges there exists a spirit of mis- ITS OWN SAKE, chief and diablerie. No college is without it; none can be without it. It is peculiar to the college world. As such it can scarcely be called an infection, yet it is in the atmosphere, and may be said to be an all-pervading character-istic of every collegiate community. The infusion of this unavoidable, yet not always desirable, element in the student body often finds its manifestation in some overt acts on behalf of its most arduous enthusiasts, rang-ing even from the quite insignificant to the violent, but for the most part in our own college this diablery has existed only in a dormant state, and its most ostentatious expression has been, excepting extremely rare cases, of a mediocre kind. Therefore, when in its mild form it so impels a few students to commit a mischievious act of harmless and unimportant con-sequences, resulting in nothing but a slight inconvenience to THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 75 the usual routine of college affairs, why should it be enlarged upon to such proportions and amplified to such an enormity as was the case in the recent chapel disorder? Such misstatements as appeared rife and rank in the city papers a few days ago cannot help but redound to the degredation of the good name of the college. May not our reporters be more considerate in noting details? May we not have more of the truth for its own sake ? ALUMNI REUNIONS. As the spring term opens we gradually be-come aware of the approaching end of the collegiate year. Then naturally our minds turn to the events which always take place at such time and the abundance of pleasure derived from their occurrence. In other words, we begin to think about commencement and its attendant circum-stances. This time is undoubtedly the most enjoyable time of the year, but its success is only made possible by the presence of the students, in the first case, and by the alumni, in no less degree, in the second. One of the best means perhaps of per-suading the congregation of a large -number of alumni is by class reunions. The class spirit never dies out in the breast of the college man, and if he can come to his alma mater with the expectation of meeting old-time friends and class-mates, the chances of his coming, no doubt, will be greatly enhanced. The class spirit, redoubled by the college spirit, would certainly act as a powerful stimulus or persuasion in inducing the alum-nus to visit the scene of his college days. It is to be hoped that we may have several class reunions at least during the coming commencement week. Now is the time to arrange for them. EXCHANGES. The editor of the average college literary monthly is usually at a loss for material to make the magazine truly interest-ing to all its readers. Several of our exchanges seem to have struck the proper means of awaking interest, in publishing 76 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. articles on travel and foreign lands, written by recent graduates. "Random Sketches" in The Otterbein Aegis was written by an alumnus travelling in Europe. The Swarthmore Phoenix contains an article on "A Journey to the Second Cataract of the Nile" and another on "University Life Abroad," written by a graduate of Swarthmore, who had taken a course in the Ger-man Universities. Such contributions certainly add to the in-terest and value of a college monthly. There is the danger, however, that the true object of a college paper, which con-sists in securing literary contributions from the students, may thereby be neglected or forgotten. The Pharetra comes out in a very pretty blue and white dress with the representation of a demure college maiden on its cover page. We find several delightful storiettes in the last number; and may say that the paper is characterized by a general tone of pleasantness rather than by any philosophic traits. "Tell a tale of troubles March wind and April rain, Second term has ended Marks are here again— Sing a song of quizzes, Are we to take them all? Reports they'll soon be reading, How great may be the fall!" —Maryland Collegian, The Mountaineer has again devoted the greater part of her exchange column to a pleasant criticism of our former editor. We agree with one of our exchanges in saying that our col-league of Mt. St. Mary's should not have blamed the MERCURY representative for words that were not his; and that he should reconcile his preaching with his practice. We sincerely hope that our "smoky" (?) article will cease to inflame the wrath of our neighbor. May we add our regrets that The Mountaineer of last month has not arrived in time to be reviewed. Among the influences that tend to corrupt our speech there is none more pernicious than the play upon words. It is with THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 77 some surprise then, that we find an article entitled "A Defense of Shakespeare," in one of the college papers, which ends with the following paragraphs : "In the second place, why should anyone who loved the name of BACON SO lose all sense of his own dignity and all respect for his own good name as to give a play of "his own make" by the name of "Ham-let." "Now I hope I have made myself clear and vindicated my client. If I have not, this has been 'Love's Labor Lost'— yea, even more ! it has been 'Much Ado About Nothing.' This, however, is a serious matter; it is no 'MidsummerNight's Dream' but a plain 'Winter's Tale.' Take it ^As You Like It' but remember All's Well That End's Well.' " EASTER LILIES. Sweet emblems of a purity unknown to earth, They wake the soul of man to aspirations fair, And fill the palace—aye, the cot of meanest worth— With fragrance like the incense of an angel's prayer. So fragile all, so weak, they seem a tempting prey To every hostile gale—each hand untaught of ruth; But ah ! the spoiler e'en should know that in the day That beauty dies, the world must die to love and truth. Fit consorts these of faith and prayer and holy praise; Mute worshippers and witnesses of Him above, Whose skill can wed to matchless glory simplest grace, And veil in wondrous art the mysteries of love. —University of Va. Magazine. The Monthly Maroon has a poem to Robert Louis Stevenson as its frontispiece. One of the best features of this number is the well-written paper on Stevenson, depicting the life and character of this Scottish author. "Unto the End" is a beau-tiful story; the author portrays an ideal love which seems none the less real for its beauty. Some of the shorter stories are of a bravado character, but "The Cub-Errant" depicts a phase of college life seldom represented. 78 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. Quite a number of the exchanges this month contain "Char-acter Sketches" of different great men or characters in fiction. We refer the reader particularly to "Francis Parkman : a Study-in Success," in the Nassau Literary Magazine ; and "Mr. Jack Hamlin," a study of one of Bret Harte's heroes in the College Student. This is a most commendable kind of essay-writing, and every student should try his ability along this line. The Medico-Chirurgical College of Philadelphia, DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE Offers exceptional facilities to graduates of Gettysburg College, especially to those who have taken a medical preparatory or biological course. The instruction is thoroughly practical, particular attention being given to laboratory work and bed-side and ward-class teaching. Ward-classes are limited in size. A modified seminar method is a special feature of the Course. Free quizzing in all branches by the Professors and a special staff of Tutors. The College has also a Department of Dentistry and a Department of Pharmacy. All Gettysburg College students are cordially invited to inspect the College and Clinical Amphitheatre at any time. For announcements or information apply to SENECA EGBERT, Dean of the Department of Medicine, 17th & Cherry Streets, PHILADELPHIA, PA. tfrjp, \\ \ Co. 140-144 Woodward Avenue, DETROIT, MICH. Send for Catalogue and Price List- Special Designs on Application, Manufacturers of high grade Fraternity Emblems Fraternity Jewelry Fraternity Novelties Fraternity Stationery Fraternity Invitations Fraternity Announcements Fraternity Programs PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS. ^m«*mw«««w*«»mw*««««w«m«*«w««««« AMOS ECKERT Latest Styles in HATS, SHOES AND GENT'S FURNISHING .Our specialty. WALK-OVER SHOE AMOS ECKERT Prices always right The Lutheran puMigfjing {louse. No. 1424 Arch Street PHILADELPHIA, PA. Acknowledged Headquarters for anything and everything in the way of Books for Churches, Col-leges, Families and Schools, and literature for Sunday Schools. PLEASE REMEMBER That by sending your orders to us you help build up and devel-op one of the church institutions with pecuniary advantage to yourself. Address H. S. BONER, Supt. FAVOR THOSE WHO FAVOR US. E.C.TAWNEY Is ready to furnish Clubs and Boarding Houses with . Bread, Rolls, Etc., At short notice and reason-able rates. Washington & Middle Sts., Gettysburg. Shoes J^epaifed J. H- BAKER, 115 Baltimore St. near Court House. Good Work Guaranteed. J. W. BUMBAUGH'S City Cafe and Dining Room Meals and lunches served at short notice. Fresh pies and sandwiches always on hand. Oysters furnished all year. 53 Chambersburg' St. mm mmm m m. 3 :V\= :**: :\*= A*= A*: - : -\\= A\= A^ -V*: =VX= I U-PI-DKE. A new Co-cd has alighted in town, U-pi-dee, U-pi-da! In an up-to-datest tailor-made gown.,U-pi-de-i-cla ! The boys are wild, and prex is, too, You never saw such a hulla-ba-loo. C HOKUS. — U-pi-dee-i-dee-i-da! etc. Her voice is clear as a soaring lark's, And her wit is like those trolley-car sparks ! When 'cross a muddy street she flits, The boys all have conniption fits 1 The turn of her head turns all ours, ton. There's always a strife to sit in her pew; 'Tis enough to make a parson drunk, To hear her sing old co-ca-che-lunk ! M The above, and three other NEW verses to U-PI-DEE, Cl/fl antl NEW WORDS, catchy, uo-to-date, to many Tl others of the popular OLD FAMILIAR TUNES; be- Ph> sides OLD FAVORITES ;nnd also many NEW SONGS. fTff SONGS OF ALL THE COLLEGES. jfbji Copjriciit. Price, $r.jo, postpaid. IPOO. ULU HINDS & NOBLE, Publishers, New York City. ! ff ff Schoolbooks of all publishers at one store. } n*pv7 r«z A*: **= Act= :\*r :**= z\^= =«r =**=^A\= r _C^_JC^ JC J^ _c _e^ _c^ i m PI mm PI PI mmm PI 50 YEARS' EXPERIENCE TRADE MARKS DESIGNS COPYRIGHTS AC. 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Under-taking a specialty. * Telephone No. 97. S. IB- Bendei 37 naltimor St., Gettysburg, Pa. THE STEWART & STEEN CO. College EngTCLvers and, (J?Tvnters 1024 Aroli St., Philadelphia, Pa. MAKERS AND PUBLISHERS OF Commencement, Class Day Invitations and Programs, Class Pins and Buttons in Gold and Other Metals, Wedding Invitations and Announcements, At Home Cards, Reception Cards and Visiting Cards, Visiting Cards—Plate and 50 cards, 75 cents. Special Discount to Students. N. A. YEANY, Gettysburg College Representative. 4. §. Raiding & §ros., Largest Manufacturers in the World of Official Athletic Supplies. - Base Ball Lawn Tennis Golf ield Hockey Official Athletic Implements. Spalding's Catalogue of Athletic Sports Mailed Free to any Address. A. G. Spalding & Bros. NEW YORK - . CHICAGO - - DENVER - - BUFFALO - - BALTIMORE WE RECOMMEND THESE FIRMS. The Pleased Customer is not a stranger in our estab-lishment— he's right at home, you'll see him when you call. 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A~ & & rczejty coTlheoo MAY, J899 Oettysbmr ercory CONTENTS. " She Stoops to Conquer," 81 A Lesson from an Inscription,. 86 America in the 20th Century,. 90 Wages of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, 92 Moral Growth in College 9S A Bicycle Episode, 98 In Memoriam, Adonais Eycidas, 101 Editor's Desk 106 The Qualities of Present-day Wit 108 History of the Phrenakosmian Society.—1831-1882 no r FAVOR THOSE WHO FAVOR US. For Fine Printing GO TO ^illS The J. E. WIBLE m .PrintinQ Rouse Carlisle Street, GETTYSBURG, PA. C. B. Kitzmiller, Dealer in Hats, Caps, Boots and . Douglas Shoes GETTYSBURG, PA. J. H. Myers, Fashionable Tailor, Clothier and Gents' Furnisher. The best place in town to have your Cloth-ing made to order. All workmanship and Trimmings guaranteed. No charge for re-paVrsamlVessing for one year D.™ and Repairing a specialty. Ready-maae Clothing the largest stock in town Up-to-date styles. Bicycle Suits and Breeches Headquarters. 11 Baltimore St., Gettysburg, Pa. R. A. WONDERS, Corner Cigar Parlors. A full line of Cigars, Tobacco, Pipes, Etc. Scott's Corner, Opp. Eagle Hotel. QETTYSBURQ, PA. EDGAR S. MARTIN, Fi^CIGARS AND SMOKERS' ARTICLES. Chambersburg St., Gettysburg. ~JOHN M. MINNIGH, Confectionery, lee, .ndiee Cream* Oysters Stewed and Fried. No. 17 BALTIMORE ST. Like to ////// lam Spanish ? 2z An easy lan-guage to learn. Hossfeld's Spanish Method. Self-teaching. Sl.00 S"a"ish-English,English-Spanish Diction y. SI.00 HmsleWs Italian Method. Self-leaching. SI.00 Italian-English, English-Italian Dictionary. S1.00 IlossfehVs German Method. Belt-teaching. SI.00 German-Eiiolish.Higlish-GermanDictionary.^.m IlossfchVst \h Method. BclMnohiiig. $1.00 French-English, English-French Dictionary. $2.00 Brookt' \st Latin Hook-. SOcts. Latin-English, English-Latin Dictionary. 82.00 Urooks' 1st Greet: Lessons. 50 ctB. Greek-English, English-Greek Dictionary. S3.00 Literal Translations of the Classics—Latin, Greek, German, French. Eighty-live volume*, told separately, fiO cts. ea-c-hh,. Sendfor Int. HTHDS & NOBLE, Publishers t-5-13-14 Cooper Institute N. T. City Schoolboohs ofall pub- orsome other lishers at one store. 1////////// y\ language? .THE. GETTYSBURG MERCURY Entered at the Postoffice at Gettysburg as second-class matter. VOL. VIII. GETTYSBURG, PA., MAY, 1899. No. 3 Alumni Editor. REV. F. D. GARLAND. Editor-in- Chief. J. FRANK HEILMAN, '00, Assistant Editors. IlUTHER A. WEIGLE, '00. S. A. VAN ORMER, '01. Business Manager. Assistant Business Manager. JOHN K. HAMACHER, '00. CLARENCE MOORE, '02. Advisory Board. PROF. J. A. HIMES, LIT. D. PROF. G. D. STAHLEY, M. D. PROF. J. W. RICHARD, D. D. Published monthly by the students of Pennsylvania (Gettysburg') College. Subscription price One Dollar a year in advance, single copies Fifteen Cents. Students, Professors and Alumni are cordially invited to contribute. All subscriptions and business matter should be addressed to the Business Manager. Articles for publication should be addressed to the Editor. Address THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY, GETTYSBURG, PA. 1 "SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER." AS in the world of nature, so in the realm of art and letters, there are varied phases of worth and beauty, different de-grees of excellence. But each separate work of art has its place in the grand whole of earth's literature, its mission to fulfill, just as every part of nature's unity is adapted to meet some one of the many needs, the varying moods of man. In the physical world the valley has a peace, as the mountain peak a grandeur ; the violet a tenderness, as the oak a strength ; the brook ripples ' tighter, while the cataract roars thunder. Each has an individual beauty, each performs its appointed task. L,ethim, to whose soul appeals the awful majesty of nature, stand in wonder at the brink of Niagara, or silent within the shadow of snow-capped Alps. One whose heart responds to a gentler touch may find greater joy in the sunlit meadows, or by a quiet stream. Perhaps he lacks strength to climb the steep mountain I 82 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. path, or courage to face the spray from a dashing torrent. Shall he less enjoy the breath of a forest flower, or the voice of a wood-land bird ? There are times when the soul struggles skyward, and stands with a Shakspere on some lofty summit, from whose height is caught a glimpse of the vast panorama of human history; or times when the soul loses itself in the sublime music of a Brown-ing's mighty thought; but there are also seasons where the mind turns for recreation and refreshment to rest by the laughing brook of a Goldsmith's fancy. So to-day we leave the heights of philos-ophy to spend an hour in the pleasant vale of humor. Someone has classified Man as the only animal having the power of laughter, and while the definition is hardly an exhaust-ive one, it is by no means inapt. And surely there can be no more wholesome sound than the audible expression of a pleasant emotion, the merry, ringing laugh whose spirit is everywhere in-fectious, whose very memory is refreshing, the beneficent effect of which can hardly be overestimated. The ancients recognized the value of a cheerful spirit when they ascribed joy and mirth to the Muse of Comedy, and prepared systematic entertainment for the cultivation of the humorous sense. Modern writers of high ability have deemed it not unworthy of their inspired pens to in-voke Thalia. A keen sense of the comical, a faculty for seeing the humorous side of life and depicting it, is everywhere regarded as a happy gift. Perhaps no author has possessed this gift in greater degree than Oliver Goldsmith, and surely no drama of modern times, in apt illustration of ludicrous situations, in the power to provoke expressions of mirth, can take the place of his comedy "She Stoops To Conquer." From the time of its first production on the stage, when it was unanimously granted by an enthusiastic audience chief place in comedy, up to the present time, " She Stoops To Conquer " has won commendation, both for its literary and its dramatic merit. As a play it is essentially a comedy. For tho' the situations are at times so ludicrous as almost to partake of the nature of a farce, yet the plan of the whole is connected, the conversations, while humorous, are not undignified, the incidents, tho' often ridiculous, are never grotesque ; and these considerations, to-gether with the real literary excellence displayed in skillful delineation of characters, in ready adaptation of words to thought, THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 83 unite in raising it above the level of mere farce to the plane of purest comedy. The plot of the play, while not entirely original with Gold-smith, is nevertheless handled by him in a new and attractive manner. He is not the first writer to conceive the idea of a lady's concealing her identity from a bashful lover, but the de-velopment of the story is marked by the author's peculiar mode of thought and expression. Some have even seen in the com-plication of events as portrayed a reference to some personal ex-perience, but be that as it may, the characteristic wit and humor, the individual style, are undoubtedly Goldsmith's own. Whether or not he himself ever committed the blunder of mistaking a private mansion for a public inn, we are not called upon to de-cide. But from what we learn of the man's disposition, such an error seems quite consistent—as is the plan of the play—with his per-sonal character. Eet us note the different actors as they pass before us on the stage. With the art of the true dramatist our author has given in the first scene the back-ground of his picture—in this case a chamber in an old-fashioned English country-house—and with a few brisk dashes of the pen sketched an outline of each character. In the very first conversation we catch the spirit of the situation. But a few words from the worthy dame of the house suffice to show us her shallow and rather vain, tho' withal good-natured disposition; her fondness for dress, only surpassed by a partiality toward her wayward son. Nor are we long in recognizing, from the stately manner, the testy temper of the Squire, a typical English gentleman of the old school, one who loves everything old, " old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine." A boisterous laugh, breaking iu on the domestic scene announces the spoiled boy " Tony," who throughout the play is destined to be the torment of his indulgent mother, the practical joker and scapegrace generally. The appearance of " Kate " in all the "pretty innocence" of her girlish finery, brings a breath of sweetness into the atmosphere of comedy. Her manner on re-ceiving the news of a lover's early arrival, while showing the dig-nity of her spirit, yet gives us a hint that she is not incapable of playing a dainty trick. In Miss Neville we have a portrait of the ordinary amiable girl of the period, whose love affair, being more conventional than Miss Hardcastle's, lacks the charm of novelty 84 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. attaching to that of the heroine. Leaving the mansion for an ale-house in scene second we catch another glimpse of "Tony's" disposition, and in the joke practised by him upon the two gentle-men who, he learns, are his father's expected guests, we find the clew to all the subsequent "mistakes of a night." Of the characters of the two lovers, thus tricked, enough is gleaned in the short conversation to excite a keen interest as to the outcome of the adventure. The play glides on with an easy, rapid movement, introducing scene after scene full of exquisite humor, ludicrous incident, and startling situations, yet all connected by the smoothness of a con-sistent whole. In the scene at the Three Pigeons one detects a spice of satire on the sentimental school of drama, in vogue at that time, a bit of pleasantry quite justified by the attitude of critics toward comedy. In the second act, the amusing sight of Mr. Handcastle training his awkward servants how to behave " when company comes " causes a ripple of merriment, but the quaint courtesy he employs in welcoming his guests recalls to our notice the dignity of the Squire, and makes it quite natural for him to be imperious enough on occasion, and very impatient, in the course of events. His indignation at the conduct of his visi-tors is not to be wondered at! Marlowe with his double nature of impudence and modesty is admirably drawn. What could be more delightfully ridiculous than his first meeting with the heroine ? His stammering diffidence, his embarrassed silence— but " Kate" with woman's keen insight, discovers the merit in him, and with woman's ready tact, evolves a scheme to bring it out. To match her lover's spirit she, too, assumes a double character, and well does she maintain it. Her sparkling wit, her lively spirit, her clever disguise, make the " conquest " a glorious one. Mr. Hastings with the policy of a would-be suitor flatters the the vanity of his lady's guardian with splendid effect. He also makes a friend of " Tony," who, glad to be rid of the " bitter bargain " of his Cousin Constance, is willing to serve Hastings to the last drop of his blood ! For all his mischief the boy is good-hearted, and his efforts of assistance tho' clumsy and bungling are well-meant. The theft of the jewels is eminently characteristic of "Tony." But the climax of the ludicrous certainly comes in the scene at the back THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 85 of the garden, when, after driving many miles in a circle, sup-posing herself lost and attacked by robbers, Mrs. Hardcastle falls at the feet of her husband, and begs him to " take compassion, good Mr. Highwayman"—within forty yards of her own door. The crisis past, as is usual in drama the closing scenes are given to making up differences and setting everything right, so that all ends " merry as a marriage bell," and we are left to sup-pose— as fairy-tales say—they " lived happy ever afterwards." In relation to its own time '' She Stoops To Conquer '' easily holds first place among dramas of the eighteenth century. For at the time of its presentation, as we are informed in the Prologue, the Comic Muse was on the point of breathing her last, having been almost smothered by the atmosphere of sickly sentimental-ity and affectation then prevailing. But the fresh, healthful air of Goldsmith's delightful humor seems to have revived her. Hence it is but true poetic justice that the " sweet maid " should award first honor to her rescuer. As regards our time, or indeed every time, little need be said of the function of comedy. All the world enjoys a laugh, and as long as this '' touch of nature '' remains to humanity the pure fun in Goldsmith's play will be appreciated. There is a permanent place—not only on the shelves of the world's library, but also in the hearts of earth's people, for " She Stoops To Conquer." " Sharan." —ANNA R. WBI,TY. Edition Consulted—Harold Littledale-s, with Introduction and Notes. The voice of one who goes before, to make The paths of June more beautiful, is thine, Sweet May! -Helen Hunt. Now the bright morning star, day's harbinger, Comes dancing from the east, and leads with her The flowery May, who, from her green lap, throws The yellow cowslip, and the pale primrose. Hail bounteous May, that dost inspire Mirth and youth, and warm desire! —Milton. ■ 86 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. A LESSON FROM AN INSCRIPTION. EARL,Y in June of their Junior year in Pennsylvania College, Will Gray and Harry Brane, as was their custom, left their boarding house immediately after supper for a stroll on the Battlefield. A shower, during the afternoon, had cooled the air, though it did not make walking unpleasant on the avenues. They walked leisurely past the National Cemetery, seemingly unconscious of their surroundings,—they had become accustomed to historic en-vironment,— and soon found themselves on Culp's Hill; where, partially hidden from the slanting rays of the sun by the foliage of the trees, they sat down for a little rest. They were somewhat warm by study, and especially by an ex-amination during the afternoon ; but as they sat here, thoughts of the examination were driven from their minds by the panorama that presented itself to their gaze. Eagerly they looked at the surrounding scenes: before them was that magnificent equestrian statue of Gen. Hancock and the group of monuments that sur-round it, all marking the spot where contending forces struggled. Farther in the distance they could but dimly distinguish the shafts on the field of the first day's fight; through the gathering haze of evening they could yet see the observatory on Big Round Top, and while looking in that direction they saw the emblem that waved in triumph there during the battle lowered over Meade's Headquarters. Feeling the need of more exercise and being somewhat rested, Will suggested that they go to Spangler's spring. Harry con-sented and soon they were descending the eastern slope of the ridge, shut off from the rays of the waning sun but enjoying the cool, invigorating breeze. As they proceeded Harry broke the silence. '' Will," said he, "the inscription on yonder stone fills me with sadness whenever I look at it, or even think of it; it seems too bad that the state of Maryland should have to make the distinction." They stopped and looked at the stone; its peculiar shape had attracted their attention before, but on no previous occasion had the inscription struck Will so forcibly, if, indeed, he had ever thought of it at all. Now he read aloud, '' Maryland's Tribute To Her Loyal Sons." THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 87 I Having passed a few comments on the great evil of holding human souls in subjugation, and on the great misfortune that it was started in this "Land of the Free," they walked leisurely on, little dreaming that at the end of their journey their attention should be called to the same inscription on another monument. As they proceeded they commented on the artistic design, the classic figure, the coat of arms, the corps badge, or whatever was particularly attractive about the several monuments along the avenue. Soon they arrived at the spring where they beheld a man sit-ting at the trunk of a large tree near by. As they advanced, the gentleman raised his head from a posture of meditation and said, "Good evening, young gentlemen." The boys returned the sal-utation, observing at the same time that his eyes were full of tears. He presented the general appearance of sadness. Will, extending a glass of water, addressed him, "Do you care for any?" "Thank you," said he, as he rose to his feet and took the glass in his large but pale hand. He was tall and well proportioned, though his face was some-what wrinkled and his hair and beard were gray with advancing years. The thirst of all having been satisfied, the stranger asked, "Are you students at Gettysburg?" Simultaneonsly they replied, "We are." "I assumed as much," said the gentleman, "for my long expe-rience and association with young men has led me to think I can tell students when I see them." "Then you are a teacher, I infer," said Harry. "Yes, I have taught in a North Carolina College since'68;" he replied, and continued, "I find delight in dealing with young men, I enjoy seeing the mental unfolding and the development of man-hood and character, but I shudder when I think of the possible course of each—excuse me, joung gentlemen, I do not wish to— I forget myself sometimes." Here the gentleman was filled with emotion by some thought that we were curious to know because of its effect upon him. While he thus struggled with some inward force there was a profound silence. The shades of night had already begun to settle, and through the leaf-latticed windows of the sheltering foliage we 88 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. could see scattered stars. The pale moon was also visible, for the sky had cleared and was without a cloud. The song of the whip-poorwill, mingled with the chirp of crickets and the croaking of frogs made it all the more dismal. As the boys looked upon the struggling man, many thoughts came to their minds, and finally Harry said, "My dear sir, you need not hesitate to point out to us anything that you, with your broad experience, have found detrimental." "Your observation may save us much trouble," added Will. "My story, boys, is the burden of my own heart; and this is, in many respects, the most impressive spot in the world to me. On yonder monument is an inscription that tells the sad story. '' My father owned a few slaves in southern Maryland at the break-ing out of the Civil War, and naturally, he favored the South. My mother, a Northern lady by birth, was opposed to slavery and had long plead with father to free those he then owned. This he would not do. She constantly prayed that her sons would not take up arms against their Nation's flag and fight for a 'curse' to humanity. Her only children, Charles and myself, had frequently during family worship, heard her offer this petition: in fact, we had promised that we would not do so. ' 'To avoid being pressed into the service both of us left home to visit mother's parents in Massachusetts. Before leaving, while on our knees, our mother asked God to give us strength to carry out our purpose. Both of us had graduated at Harvard, my brother in the class of '58 and I in in the class of '59. Charles responded to the President's call for troops and, by request, was assigned to a Maryland regiment. A few days after he left, I received a letter from a former associate of mine stating that I could have a Captain's commission in the Confederate army if I would ac-cept it. At first I spurned the idea, but I could not drive it from my mind. Later, I begati to consider that during the disturbance I could not engage in business, that father's property might be con-fiscated or destroyed, and I would be penniless in the world. These thoughts I could stifle, but when I would picture to myself the officer drawing big pay, and above all wearing epaulets, and holding a commission, I could not resist. I went south and joined the Confederate army ! O, why did I do it! I had gone through the great University and withstood all THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 89 temptations : I had abstained from the use of liquor in all forms ; I had done all my work honestly; in short, I had led a practically pure life throughout my college course, and now could not con-quer my desire for vain glory and aggrandizement! I had forgot-ten my mother's prayers and my promise to her. I was deaf, dumb ! I loved the 'Stars and Bars,' because under that emblem I received my honor. O delusive phantom !'' Here he sobbed as a child. Presently he continued,' 'The war progressed; my brother and I both fought here ; I as a captain un-der an unjust flag, a rebellious emblem; he as a private, under the Stars and Stripes of Liberty. He fell here on that fatal day of July '63; I retreated with the army to Virginia, not knowing that, had I listened during the night I might have heard him in his death agony ! He died a hero and a patriot; I lived a rebel. Yonder inscription, 'Maryland's Tribute To Her Loyal Sons,' in-cludes him, but oh! it condemns me ! Mother died during the war and father, a Confederate Colonel, was killed at Antietam. I alone remain, and I often wish I too had fallen on the field of bat-tle in the height of that vain glory and enshrouded in that uniform —wearing those gilded epaulets, that allured me from the path of duty and right. Young men, I came to a realization of my mis-take too late, but I endeavor by my experience to lead others to see the folly of worldly praise." During the recital of these events, their companion spoke with an impressive earnestness. At the conclusion they walked to town together. He gave them his card in exchange, and they left him at his hotel. Deep and lasting was the impression made by this sad story on the students ; so deep and permanent was it that after fifteen years, they refer to it as if it were lately heard. The impression made entered into and influenced the lives of the boys, and the good results are now visible in their ministry. The new-born May, As cradled yet in April's lap she lay. Born in yon blaze of orient sky, Sweet May ! thy radiant form unfold, Unclose thy blue voluptuous eye, And wave thy shadowy locks of gold. ■—Erasmus Darwin. go THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. AMERICA IN THE 20TH CENTURY. THE history of the world is the sum of the histories of nations. Some have come into being, and like the mist of an early summer's morning, have passed into utter obli-vion ; others into comparative insignificance, yet each working out its own destiny. The story is one; the nations are but chap-ters. The story of the world is the story of a progress which had its beginnings, its marvelous advancement, but which has not yet attained its end. Each century is not only the heir of the past, but the past repeated in an ever enlarging horizon. The nineteenth century has gathered up into itself all that was of permanent value in the eras that have gone ; but is at the same time only the last expression of an impulse that has been strengthening from the beginning. At the dawn of the twentieth century we look out upon a new era in which not might but love shall be the dominant principle. The early stage of humanity made warfare and strife a neces-sary characteristic of the race. The survival of the fittest seemed to be the ruling spirit. But with the evolution of society the pre-texts of war have changed. The stream of history which had its origin on the coasts of the Mediteranean and is fast reaching the remotest parts of the earth, reveals human warfare in an entirely different light. It is the struggle of civilization against the modes of barbarity, each chapter describing its own influence upon society. May we not believe that the brightest chapter of the world's history is the history of America. Our political family is a pecu-liar one. Its citizens are representatives of almost every nation of the world. Men of different languages, manners and aptitudes are here thrown together, the result of which must be a new man. As the florist crosses and recrosses the various species of the lower order until there is developed a new plant of surpassing growth and beauty, so this silent yet continuous process of mixing is de-veloping in the American people a new race which promises to be the greatest factor of the 20th century civilization. I can not conceive that our government is only a fanciful creation of the mind, which like a bubble, floats gently and majestically on the placid bosom of the stream of history only at last to be seized by the swiftness of the tide and hurled against the rock of destruc- THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 91 tion. Rather is it the beginning of a realization of the Utopian dreams of the ancient philosophers. We are accustomed to censure the nations of Europe at whose hands our fathers were driven forth to the wilds of America, but we must not forget that such persecution was neces-sary to the ethical evolution of the race. Character can be formed only under freedom from political coercion. Such freedom was guaranteed by the constitution which united the American colo-nists into a great government '' of the people, by the people and for the people." The flower of character is love, which is only another name for altruism, the impulse which makes a man seek for his highest happiness in the welfare of another. And it is with a view to this altruistic spirit that we look for the future greatness and integrity of our land. Do you ask what we have done to merit such high claim. Is it nothing, then, that from the beginning of our existence as a government we have afforded a refuge for the oppressed and wretched of all lands ? Is it nothing that we have sent of our substance to the starving and distressed of far off India, China, and Africa? Is the justice and humanity which we have ex-hibited in our warfares only the passing dreams of a sleeping na-tion ? What was it that caused us to permit those who in our late Civil War wantonly caused the death of so many thousands of their fellowmeu to live in safe obscurity beneath the shelter of a government they sought to overthrow? For shame to those, who in our late war with Spain, could use the revengeful battlecry, " Remember the Maine." This was not the spirit of the nation. I,ove! Eove! was its motto. The great powers of Europe boast of their twentieth century civilization, yet before their very thresholds they permit the per-petrations of atrocities that can be compared to those of the Mid-dle Ages only. Humanity and justice are sacrificed for selfish interests. Not so with America ! The cry of the oppressed for liberty rings across the sea, and like a flash the answer flies back, "In the name of Humanity receive thou it." In the name of Humanity we have taught the world that here the progress of civilization has reached that stage of development where it can no longer permit the rude barbarism of the past ages, but will hurl itself before the iron tread of the oppressors, and having smit-tem them to the earth will yet look upon them with compassion, 92 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. and in the face of a glorious victory utter the tender admonition : " Boys, don't cheer, the poor fellows are dying." What though the arts have reared few monuments among us, and scarce the trace of the muse's footstep is found in the path of our forest, or along the banks of our rivers, yet our soil has been consecrated by the blood of heroes, and by great and holy deeds of peace. This the Goddess of Liberty is proclaiming to the very isles of the seas. A government standing on such principles can rightly claim the favor of the God of nations ! There are those who look with apprehension upon the newly proposed policy of the United States. They point us to Greece, whose very hills resounded under the eloquence of a Demos-thenes, to Rome who held the nations of the world spell-bound un-der her material powers. Yet, say they, to-day there is no Greece ; there is no Rome. It is not alone art and philosophy, nor politics and jurisprudence that form the safeguard of a nation. These are only the pharaphenalia of Government. Its true splendor is em-bodied in its ethical character, the ideals which it seeks to realize. It is this which has placed America on its proud eminence. It is this which at the end of the nineteenth century, we offer as our tribute to the new era upon which we are about to enter. Because America is the incarnation of this altruistic impulse, her integrity and stability are assured, and in the coming century she will direct the world's progress toward that far off period to which the human mind looks for the fulfillment of its vision of a perfect social state. —T. J. R., '99. WAGES OF MASSACHUSETTS AND PENNSYLVANIA. IT is surprising to note how that a state so heavily handicapped in the race for prosperity as Massachusetts is, may by good management and good political economy be placed in that en-viable position of being as is claimed, the state that pays its labor-ers the highest wages in the Union. Think of the various difficulties that she has to grapple with. She is compelled to bring all her raw materials, food and fuel vast distances, thus adding greatly to the cost of production, and hence necessarily subtracting from the wages; yet, notwithstand-ing these drawbacks, she stands at the head in the amount of wages paid to laborers. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 93 Of course we must take into consideration the fact that the laborers of Massachusetts are of a comparatively high state of in-tellectual capability, and are as Walker says, "so gifted with mechanical insight and aptitude as to acquire the rudiments of any art in an astonishingly short time," thus by their very con-stitution helping in the race for prosperity. In the case of Pennsylvania, we have a state directly opposite to Massachusetts in many respects. She is not compelled to haul her raw materials, food, fuel, any great distances, for her soil amply supplies the wants of the people. To gain an adequate idea of how the two states compare in the wages paid to laborers, it is pertinent to give some data for the average individual wages of various occupations. The average number of laborers em-ployed in the particular industry and the average amount of wages paid per man per annum are given: ♦INDUSTRIES. Agricultural implements Baskets, rattan and willow ware Blacksmithiug and wheelwrighting Book-binding Man. boots and shoes Boxes, fancy and paper Bread and other bakery products Brick and tile Carpentering* Cotton goods, + Cutlery Foundry, machine and chop products- Hosiery and knit goods Iron and steel Masonry Painting and paper hanging Plumbing and gas-fitting Printing of newspapers Silk and silk goods Tobacco, cigars and Cigarettes S S 2 a d p.- a a & w 787 932 3,257 1,829 69,934 2,710 4,479 3,261 17,092 76,213 1,784 25,027 4,675 1,604 10,384 6,145 4,532 5,996 3,216 2,835 1,895 172 4,773 1,962 7,952 2,503 6,915 1,361 12,727 12,960 1,047 40,635 15,941 86,437 13,854 6,558 4,205 10,658 9,522 18,969 t»a o $570.17 $474.16 $96.01 387.07 422.56 641.29 507.76 133.53 445.67 440.65 5.02 499.75 421.20 78.55 354.94 279.60 76.34 553.96 495.06 58.90 334.39 342.67 707.29 683 51 23.78 344.16 369.29 509 53 484.61 24.92 619.04 592.29 26.75 319.84 296.89 22.95 491.31 563.13 701.75 665.85 35.94 667.33 660.06 7.27 665.73 642.22 23.51 691.19 616.21 74.98 403.10 313.09 90.01 517.63 341.19 176.44 0 K'n 135.49 8.28 25.13 71.82 * Statistics from 11th commercial census. X The difference may be accounted for by the fact that Massachusetts employs six women to one man. The Massachusetts data are obtained from the average reports of 26,923 industries, those of Pennsylvania from the averaged re-ports of 39,339 industries. In Massachusetts the average number of people employed is 485,182 receiving $239,670,509 in wages;in Pennsylvania the average number employed is 620,562 receiving $305,590,003 as wages. The average amount of wages paid a Massachusetts laborer is $494 per annum; average amount paid a Pennsylvania laborer is $492.44 per annum. 94 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. I say we wonder how it is that Massachusetts, destitute of agreeable climate, of navigable rivers and lakes, of iron and copper, silver and gold, cotton, wool and other raw materials, of coal, oil, wood and other fuels, wheat and corn, cattle, rice, sugar, fruit and other foods,—is able to pay more to her laborers than is Pennsylvania, which is admirably situated, plentifully supplied with the necessaries of life, with fuel and metals. How is it that Massachusetts being compelled to transport com-paratively all of her raw material can pay these wages ? Let us take a look at the people, at their qualities, and I think we can read our answer there. The people are intelligent, therefore are able to work to their best interests; are, because of their intelligence, capable after a short apprenticeship able to manipulate the most intricate machin-ery ; they are not strongly attached to any given community, but are ready to move about if their best interests call for it; are alert, aggressive, inquisitive, all of which qualities are essential to a la-borer in order that he may get what is properly his. The people of Massachusetts coming the nearer to having these qualities from the theoretical standpoint, obtain the larger wages, as must inevita-bly follow. Seeing now that the Massachusetts laborer obtains the more wages, it is pertinent for us to inquire whether the wage earner of Massachusetts has so much more left over from his earnings after his expenses have been paid than has the laborer of Pennsyl-vania. As has already been mentioned Massachusetts has prac-tically no raw materials, no fuel and no food. She is compelled to bring her raw materials, food and fuel vast distances, and it is undoubtedly true that this necessity of her's to transport her supplies, increases the prices of the things greatly. On the other hand Pennsylvania produces, within her own boundaries, all the raw materials that she needs, hence the retail price of goods is less than in Massachusetts. It is an acknowledged fact that the cost of living is higher in Massachusetts than in Pennsylvania. And since the average wages of the two states differ but by $1.56 in favor of Massachu-setts, we are justified in concluding without further demonstration, that the difference in the wages is not as great as supposed, and that the balance is in favor of Pennsylvania. —H. C. R. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 95 MORAL GROWTH IN COLLEGE. TO those who have had the privilege of spending four years at college the affirmation of "moral growth in college" may-seem somewhat inconsistent with what they experienced. In regard to the individual, as a rule, the opposite is noticeable. We have seen young men, who came from Christian homes and were known to have been active in Christian work before entering college, from the beginning of their course, begin to decline mor-ally and ere long behaving in a manner unbecoming to any pro-fessed follower of the Master. The reason why it is so easy for students to become careless during their college course is obvious. Students in general live in a little world of their own. Many of them are completely iso-lated from society and all are free from the responsibilities of ac-tive life. Those with whom they come in contact, are young, hopeful, and vivacious. The jests and laughter of merry com-panions oftentimes cause them to forget the wise counsel of loving parents and drowns the sound of the still small voice." Other things being equal, our college days ought to be happy days in our life's history. We know, however, that many by forming a wrong conception of what their college days are for and by not heeding the obligations and responsibilities that are in-volved upon them as students, have turned the joy into sorrow, the blessing into a curse, and blighted the hopes of those who loved them best. The failures, that are made in college, are generally due to bad influences that are brought to bear upon students on entering col-lege. Some are very susceptible to the evils that are usually lurking around college and they become contaminated imme-diately. It is very seldom, if ever, that a student, who entered college without conditions, is dismissed for not being able to keep up with his class. If a student has been sick, he is treated very leniently by the professors, and when it is hard for a student to grasp his studies, if his instructors know that he is an honest, hard-working student, he is generally marked so that he can get along with the class; when a student has been expelled, it is quite likely that he has been careless and mischievous and al-though, at times, it may seem hard to do it, still in the end it may be best, for all concerned, that such severe measures are 96 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. taken. There is an evil idea that is prevalent in college: the notion that one is not held accountable for what he does morally. Students have been guilty of doing things, that outside of college, would have branded them as criminals. When we consider the matter thoughtfully we can readily see how misleading that feel-ing is. The fact, that what we do during that period is going to influence our future usefulness, ought to weigh heavily with us ; besides we owe it to our friends, to society, and to God, to make the most out of our opportunities and to remember that it is not only a preparation for life but that it is an important part of our lives. Among the different agencies, in college, that are intended to develop the moral side of the student, that of the Young Men's Christian Association is without doubt the one most potent in either preventing him from neglecting his Christian duties, or if he is not a Christian in leading him to accept his Master. The organization stands for all that is noblest and best in elevating the lives of the students to a higher plane of Christian manhood, and judging by the marked success with which it is meeting, it is deserving of the encouragement and prayers of all interested in higher education. For the benefit of the alumni and others who may be inter-ested but unacquainted with the work of the Y. M. C. A. in our own college, we can truthfully say that it is flourishing at pres-ent and the spiritual condition of the institution is considered to be at a high standard. The society has enthusiastic officers and leaders in the different departments of the work, who, we feel sure, will carry on the work very efficiently during the coming year. The improvement, in the moral condition of the college dur-ing the last few years, is recognized by all the older students of the institution, who are interested along the line we have been indicating. There are more students in college to-day with the idea, that to have a good time during their college days does not consist in disobeying divine and college laws, which would be likely to bring them into trouble and disgrace, but that there are innocent enjoyments to participate in, the validity of which is not questionable. Since we have been engaged in writing this article, it has given us pleasure to see the enthusiasm of those taking part in the THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 97 different college sports and manifesting what we consider to be true college spirit. The track team men are practicing hard and a good showing for the team can be expected. The baseball team is doing fairly well this spring and gives promise to be an honor to the college. The musical talent of the college has been gath-ering in front of the dormitory during the beautiful spring even-ings and the campus has rung with songs and merry laughter. If you were to have the pleasure of witnessing these scenes, it is not likely that you would have your ears insulted by bad language. We do not wish to create a false impression and have you think that profanity is obsolete around the college, for it is not; but we do not mean to intimate that it is not encouraged but rather is looked upon as detracting from the popularity of those who are guilty of it. We believe that all who are interested in the col-lege will agree with us that its moral condition is very essential, and our desire is that it may have its proper place in college in-terest. Alumni when inquiring about the college affairs ought to remember it, for perhaps the fulfillment of many of your hopes that are centered here is conditioned on the moral influence of the institution. Shall we not encourage and pray for all the agencies that are helpful in promoting it ? c*p The daisies peep from ev'ry field, And vi'lets sweet their odor yield'; The purple blossom paints the thorn, And streams reflect the blush of morn. —Peter Pindar. Among' the changing- months, May stands confessed The sweetest, and in fairest colors dressed. —Thomson. 98 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. A BICYCLE EPISODE. ALBERT LATIMER was a young man from a small town of Pennsylvania, who came to college when seventeen years old. Albert's father though not wealthy, was able to send his son to college with a modest allowance for pleasure and comfort. But when Albert left home his father said among other parental advices, " Now Albert be careful of your money, don't spend it foolishly." And I think his words were heeded. Young Latimer was a youth of ordinary ability, he had very good chances of making a scholar of himself, for he was ambi-tious. He had a strong, healthy body, a little above the average build and weight, and, as he grew older, he thought he would de-velop and perhaps become guard or tackle on the "Varsity" eleven. He had other ambitious, however, besides football. He was a plodder and hoped to become a professor upon receiving his degree. His intention was to make the most of his time and this he did. About a week after entering college, when he was comfort-ably settled in his college quarters, he began taking little trips over the battle-field, after his studies for the day were done, visiting some special point of interest each evening. He was delighted with the wheeling the excellent avenues afforded. Ever since he began the study of History in the public schools Abert always had admired "The Battle of Gettysburg" and that was one of the topics he always had "learned by heart." He had heard and read about Devil's Den, Little Round Top, the Peach Orchard, Valley of Death, the High Water Mark, Bloody Angle, and Culp's Hill. Now since he attended a college situated on this great field, he had an excellent opportunity of seeing and learning all about these places, and in less than a week he might have conducted a party of tourists over the field, lecturing as fluently and eloquently as any of the famous battle-field guides. One evening in September he took his wheel and started for Culp's Hill. It was at this place that some of the most bloody fighting occurred. Culp's Hill lies South of the town, and from a distance you can see an observatory on the summit. Numerous monuments mark the positions of the different divi-sions of troops. The earthworks are still noticeable. On the top of the hill stands a small monument that is pointed out to every THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 99 visitor because it is the only confederate monument on the field. Spangler's spring is at the base of the hill on the opposite side from which you approach. It was at this spring and over this hill that I ©utfite Complete Catalogue Spring and Summer Sports Free. The Name the Guar-antee." a. ©. Spalftlng 8. JBros. New York .\ Philadelphia •.• Chicago ROWE, .Your Grocer. Carries Full Line of Groceries, Canned Goods, Etc, Best Coal Oil and Brooms at most Reasonable Prices. OPPOSITE COLLEGE CAMPUS. S. J. CODORI, Jr. *M Druggist** Dealer in Drugs, Medicines, Toilet Articles, ^ Stationery, Blank Books, Amateur Pho-tographic Supplies, Etc., Etc. .Baltimore Street. R. H. Gulp, PAPER HANGER, Second Square, York St. COLLEGE EMBLEMS. EMIL ZOTHE, ENGRAVER, DESIGNER AND MANUFACTURING JEWELER. 19 S. NINTH ST., PHILADELPHIA, PA. SPECIALTIES: Masonic Marks, Society Badges, College Buttons, Pins, Scarf Pins, Stick Pins and Athletic Prizes. All Goods ordered through . H.Tilp. Gotrell Leonard! 472-474 Broadway, Albany, N. Y. makers of CAPS, GOWNS and. HOODS To the leading American Colleges. Illus-trated Manual, etc., upon application. Meneely Bell Co. TROY, N. Y. MANUFACTURERS OF SUPERIOR BELLS The 2000 pound bell now ringing in the tower of Pennsylvania Col-lege was manufactured at this foundry. PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS. You can't expect to create the im-pression that yon are well dressed unless your clothes are MADE FOR YOU. Equivocate as you may, the fact remains that ready-made garments lack that air of exclusiveness which custom work possesses. J. D. LIPPY, Merchant Tailor 39 Chambersburg- St., Gettysburg-, Pa. G. E. SPANGLER, j» Dealer in Pianos, Organs, Music, Musical Instruments, Strings, Etc. YORK STREET, 1ST SQUARE. GETTYSBURG. L. D. Miller, Grocer, Confectioner and Fruiterer. Ice Cream and Oysters in Season . . . \9 Zrtairt St., Gettysburg. City Hotel, Main St. Gettysburg. J* Free 'Bus to and from all Trains Thirty seconds' walk from either depot Dinner with drive over field with four or more, $1.35 Rates $1.50 to $2.00 per day. John E. Hughes, Prop. WILL INSUREYQUR^ FAMILY ONEYEAR/ i pA6AINSTlLLNE55.1 PHYSiciANs"& PLUMBERS' BILLS.DUETO IMPURE AIR , iFROMCLOGGEDDRAINS., L To/ifrAiPf/i RLBANY.NYJ flew York. Bos/on. Sanfranc/sco. London. PamJerM Co/o^/je. CALL ON F. Mark Bream, The Carlisle Street Grocer Who always has on hand a full line of Fine Groceries. JfXLd^ .Photographer. No. 3 Main St., GETTYSBURG, PENNA. Our new effects in Portraiture are equal to photos made anywhere, and at any price.

PEBRUARY, 1901 ooTheoo ettysbiir Mercury CONTENTS The Flight of the Birds 239 The Taking of a United States Census 240 Pan-American Sports 243 A College Romance 244 The Treatment of the Skeptic 246 A Glimpse of Byron 248 Giving 254 Exchanges 255 Editor's Desk 258 The Past Our Present Pilot 259 A Financier (Continued) 263 A Twilight Reverie 266 "Taps" 266 An Era of Progress 268 G'BURG C. LIB. pUPLICATE FAVOR THOSE WHO FAVOR US. For Fine. Printing go to Tk Jo Eo Wile ftkilm Staff CARLISLE ST. GETTYSBURG, PA. C. B. Kitzmiller Dealer In Hats, Caps, Boots and Douglas Shoes GETTYSBURG, PA. R. M. Elliott Dealer in Hats, Caps, Shoes and. Gents' Furnishing Goods Corner Center Square and Carlisle Street GETTYSBURG, PA. EDGAR S. MARTIN, ^CIGARS AND SMOKERS' ARTICLES Chambersburs St., Gettysburg Leadership IN THE CLOTHING and MEN'S FURNISHING Business It is strictly here—everybody knows it. Testimony? The stock itself. The pen suffi-ciently nimble to tell all the good points of our ::::::: PALL AND WINTER. SUITS AND OVERCOATS has not been found. We will keep you dressed right up-to-date if you buy your Clothing and Furnishings here. : : : : STINE McPherson Block. No. II BALTIMORE STREET THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. The Literary Journal of Pennsylvania College. Entered at the Postoffice at Gettysburg as second-class matter% VOL. IX. GETTYSBURG. PA., FEBRUARY, 1901. No. 8. THE FLIGHT OF THE BIRDS. MARGARET (HIMES) SEEBACH. Not one by one on lonely wing, They seek afar a sunny clime, When winds a chill from ice-fields bring The sombre Autumn-time; But when the cold rain comes to beat On tattered nest and drooping feather, They rise in rushing flocks, to greet The South-land all together. Not one by one, as single souls, We seek thy sunshine, Land of Light, When o'er our love-lit sky uprolls The first black shade of flight. When Pain comes whispering, " Rise and go I I bring the heart's bleak winter weather," Our pilgrim souls clasp hands, and so We journey home together I 240 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY THE TAKING OF A UNITED STATES CENSUS. C. W. WEISER, '01. HPHE book-agent or peddler may meet with a door slammed in * his face, a couple of cross dogs let loose, or an angry and citrous tongue set wagging ; he may even meet with the toe of a boot, or some missile hurled violently at him—poor man ! But the enumerator who is discreet and courteous has none of these weapons of local warfare to fear. His way is paved by the an-nouncement in the local papers of his coming. All the cross dogs seem to be away on a visit, or else tied. The people greet you with, " I knew you'd be along ; I saw it in the paper.'' He, unlike the wretched book-agent, starts out knowing that he is going to succeed. He is not asking the people, in an indirect way, for dollars ; all he wants is their census. "Well, you hain't a going to get any of my senses," replied one woman. The census enumerator learns lessons and acquires experience which could be obtained in no other way. He comes in contact with all sorts and condition^ of men. Some of his experiences with these people are indelibly fixed in his memory. Many of them, indeed, are pleasant, and some of them ridiculously humor-ous ; while some of the scenes and tales of woe which incidentally come to his knowledge are pitiable in the extreme. It is our purpose to relate some of these experiences in the active service. In town the work was pleasant, and progressed rapidly, until I came to the manufacturing establishments, where it went slow. It was necessary to make a complete inventory of the books and property, which took much time. The proprietors, however, acted in a very courteous manner. In the country the work was more troublesome, owing to the distance between the different farms, and the rough roads I had to travel over. It was not an unusual occurrence to be seen pushing a wheel up a hilly road, which was almost too rough even for a buggy. The farmers were usually to be found in a back field at their corn. This meant a long tramp, and some-times several hours spent standing out under a scorching hot sun filling out the Agricultural report, for no one kept a book ac-count. But this was amply atoned for by a cordial invitation to a farmer's dinner. The required statistics were freely given, except in the case THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 2A\ of a few illiterate people, who thought that this was only a scheme for increasing taxation. I met one man only who was unreason-able. Him, no amount of explanation would satisfy, until fright-ened into answering by the presentation of my census badge. All in all, the farmers proved themselves to be a well read, intel-ligent, courteous and hospitable people. It was, however, among the poor classes in or along themoun-tain side where one met with the most varied experiences. We came in contact with poverty and illiteracy of the most flagrant kind. The lack of suitable food and clothing was most evident. Some of the narratives were heartrending. I rapped at the closed door of a little shack one June morning, and soon saw the hag-gard and disheveled head of a distracted woman peer through a sidewindow. Soon the bolts were drawn and the door was opened. After I had completed the Population Schedule, and asked for the cause of the death of her child, the poor mother answered in tones of despair that it had frozen to death in bed one cold mid-winter night. Perched in an agony of physical and mental torment, in a lit-tle black hovel, through whose single window peered the dim light, I found a murderess—an ex-penitentiary convict. The look of despair, and fear, and torment, mirgled with every sign of the wildest passion, were sufficient to make one shudder. After a long and lonesome journey on horseback, through the wildest and most picturesque mountains in the state, I arrived one mid-day on the top of a lofty mountain. Far below lay a deep, narrow vale, wooded with the verdant forest. On the op-posite side loomed up lofty crags and peaks, proud sentinels of a scene of native grandeur which few have ever beheld, and which brought tears of rapture to the eye. In all this grand and lonely fastness there were but four families, for two of which I had to make this long trip. They had never been to school. Had no-where to go to church. Creeping in among the bushes I came across some rude hovels, in which dwelt gnome-like creatures, who spoke a dialect scarcely to be understood. The chief object which showed of any com-munication with the outside world, which I saw in one hovel, was a tin cup filled with tobacco standing in the centre of a rough table. Of this both men and women smoked and chewed. I suppose it was their only consolation. When asked the date of 242 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY their birth, the one replied that she was born in "the corn husk-ing time," another in the " huckleberry season." When asked their age, they simply couldn't tell; they hadn't the faintest idea. At another house I rapped at the door. A woman answered, and after I had stated my business she simply turned her back and walked away. I followed her into the house, opened my portfolio, and began work. When I asked the date of her birth she studied awhile and finally drawled out, "Why—m—1749." (She was about thirty years of age.) Another woman said she was born in 1896. One old man replied, " My mommy hut mir net gesat" (His mother hadn't told him). No doubt you will ask whether the condition of these people of the mountains cannot be helped. It cannot, at least in this generation. It has been tried. Some of the children have been brought out to the town schools, and after years of hard toil and unceasing, patient effort 011 the part of the teacher, these chil-dren have gone back as ignorant as when they came. They could not spell d-o-g or c-a-t. When given warm clothing they could not be induced to wear much of it. Habits of thought and neat-ness could not be taught to them. When they spoke to each other it was in such guttural, and so rapid, that no one else could understand. And is it any wonder that these people have become so de-praved and mentally estranged ? Isolated from the world, amidst wild and lone surroundings, they have always lived in the same spot where their ancestors lived for two hundred years back. Under such conditions the natural condition would be for these people to drift back towards a wild and animal state. Thus, coming in contact with the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it will readily be seen what a wide range for the study of humanity the enumerator has. Much of the social and moral condition of our country cannot be conveyed by the great round numbers of a census report. It remains buried in the heart of the enumerator. 'Many a dream has vanished away, Many an ideal turned to clay ; Many a friendship proved untrue— Constant and lasting, Oh, how few !" THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 243 PAN-AMERICAN SPORTS. '"PHE President of the Pan-American Exposition recently appoint- *■ ed a Committee on Sports, as follows: Jesse C. Dann, Chairman, Dr. Chas. Cary, J. McC. Mitchell, John B. Olmsted, Chas. M. Ranson, Seward A. Simons, Wm. Burnet Wright, Jr. Soon after its appointment the committee invited the follow-ing named gentlemen to act as members of an Advisory Committee on Amateur Sports: Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, Walter Camp, C. C. Cuyler, C. S. Hyman (Canada), C. H. Sherrill, A. A. Stagg, Benjamin Ide Wheeler, Casper Whitney. The appointment of this Advisory Committee emphasizes the desire of the Committee to have all amateur competitions occupy the highest possible plane. The Stadium, with a seating capacity of 12,000, is beautiful in design and promises to be one of the most successful architect-ural creations of the Exposition. It will surround a quarter-mile track with ground area ample for the requirements of all the events proposed. As to the nature of the athletic events planned, it may be said that amateur sports of all kinds will be encouraged as representing the most desirable of athletic competitions, and the members of the Committee on Sports, being college graduates, particularly wish to make a special feature of college sports. In the manage-ment of inter-collegiate events, it is the desire of the Committee that the various college associations be invited to undertake as far as possible the arrangement of the necessary details connected therewith. Although amateur sports will comprise a large part of the program, it is proposed to have such a number of professional events as will allow visitors an opportunity to witness the athletic skill of the best professionals. The character of prizes that will be offered has not yet been definitely determined upon, but the assurance may be given that prizes will be awarded of value as lasting souvenirs of athletic success at the Exposition. It is proposed to arrange a number of college baseball and foot-ball games, and it is especially desired by the Committee that the Eastern Inter-Collegiate (I. A. A. A.) Track Meeting be held in Buffalo next year. An ideal program might be to hold in the Stadium the East-ern Inter-Collegiate Meeting, then the Western Inter-Collegiate 244 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY Meeting; these to be followed by a Pan-American Meeting open to competitors in the two previous meetings and to representatives of other Inter-Collegiate Associations. Other Inter Collegiate events have been considered, such as La Crosse, Cross Country Running with start and finish in the Stadium, etc., etc. The Committee on Sports hope that the Exposition may have a full college representation. It is proposed to hold many other sports in the Stadium, the A. A. U. Championship, Lawn Tennis, La Crosse, Cycling, Association Football, Water Sports, Trap and Target Shooting, etc., etc. All communications should be sent to Jesse C. Dann, Chair-man; 433 Ellicott Square, Buffalo, N. Y. c*p A COLLEGE ROMANCE. '99. Thro' a painted window Soft the sunlight falls, With a rainbow beauty Lighting- up the halls— With a touch of glory, Gilding dim, old walls. Stately arching pillars Rise above the stair, On the carven columns Stone-cut faces rare; Here a laughing satyr, Tearful naiad there. Graven deep, long ages Each has filled its space, Keeping watch in silence O'er the classic place. Time has laid no finger On each cold, still face. Motionless in sunshine, And in shadow so, Heeding not unnumbered Feet that come and go. Oh, what fiue romances Must these statues know! THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 245 Could each sculptured image Open lips of stone, Tell to eager listening Secrets it hath known, Bits of lore and legend, Of the days long gone! Once a dark-eyed maiden Lingered near the stair, And a fair-haired Junior Stood beside her there, With one strong arm resting Strangely near her hair. Eyes of brown are meeting Eyes of tender blue, Hearts are closer beating— Lips are Hearing, too, How it came to happen Neither ever knew. Just a hurried pressure, One keen moment's bliss, But the face above them Saw the stolen kiss. When had graven image Looked on sight like this? Years have closed the lashes Over eyes of brown; One page in life's story Folds forever down. Thro' the classic hallway Others trail the gown. Tho' the silent statue May recall full well That romantic moment, Yet a magic spell Ouardeth still the secret— It can never tell! c*P Howe'er it be, it seems to me, 'Tis only noble to be good ; Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood. —TENNYSON. 246 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY THE TREATMENT OF THE SKEPTIC. J. B. BAKER, '01. TVTHAT the world is to-day, she owes to the skeptic. Before " he walked among men, the race was inert and drowsy and dull. No systems of thought were conceived, no rational explanations sought. It does appear sometimes, however, in going back to mythic lands and mythopceic days, that they must have been, indeed, an active state. The grotesqueness of their various colored myths is sometimes taken as a proof of mental keenness. The multiplicity of their beings, and the variety of their functions, connected as they are with almost every conceivable phenomenon of nature, is said to augur a deep measure of mental acumen on the part of the authors, as well as the people who believed in them and honored them. But they are not the product of a mature analysis ; only the fancies of a dreamy childhood. Their golden fables were nothing more than the gyrations of splendid color to the yawning child who is just rubbing the scales of sleep away from his eyes. They are the capricious imaginings of an awakening mind. In this setni-somiioleut condition the sons of men were long enwrapped, and cared little to abandon it. When Thales, Anaximines, Diogenes and others appeared with their various creeds and myth-dispelling dogmas, they dis-turbed the lethargy of their fellows, and incurred the hostility of many. Their names became the targets of false accusation, and their teachings were branded as dangerous. But the world of philosophy is not unique in its antagonism to the independent thinker. The realm of science is its kin. There was a time when scientific men believed the world to be fiat. Columbus said it was round, and instantly the tongues of ridicule were loosened on him. Yet upon his hypothesis rest the important calculations of to-day. There was a time when the sage men of the world held that "lightning was an almost infinitely fine combustible matter, that floats in the air and takes fire by sudden and mighty fermenta-tion; also, that it was a physical expression of God's wrath against the insects He had created." Benjamin Franklin was too practical a man for such idle spec-ulation, and showed them their folly by the flying of his kite. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 247 No sooner had he seized the bolts of Zeus, however, and shat-tered their theory to the good of mankind, than he was charged with an affront to the Almighty himself. Protecting houses against lightning was said to interfere with the prerogatives of Deity, and when, three years after the experi-ment, New England was shaken by an earthquake, a Boston divine contended, in a sermon preached on the subject, that light-ning rods, by gathering the electricity from the clouds and ac-cumulating it in the earth, were the causes of the upheaval. There was a time, even later than that, when the stage-coach was the fastest mode of transportation, when steam locomotion was unknown and little thought of. George Stephenson went to work to construct an engine, and this is what the Quarterly Re-view had to say: "What can be more palpably absurd and ridicu-lous than the prospect held out for locomotives traveling twice as fast as stage-coaches. We would as soon expect the people of Woolwich to suffer themselves to be fired off in one of Congreve's cannons as to trust themselves to the mercy of such a machine going at such a rate." Another authority of equal prominence said that " the poisoned air of the locomotives would kill the birds." Waile still another insisted that " there would be no further use for horses." Such examples might be added to an almost infinite number, but would only strengthen a truth already quite patent. There is yet another sphere of activity in which the skeptic, or man of thinking, figures prominently, and that is the world of religious thought. Nowhere does dissension touch such a vital point in man's destiny, and nowhere has it been punished with greater severity. The men of courage, who gave us the heritage of a pure gos-pel, were men who felt the hand of inquisitional torture. They were men whose flesh and bones were blistered and charred by the fagots of fire; men who were driven about like the master they followed, with nowhere to lay their heads. We honor them, and mention their names with oracular reverence. But we are judging them all from the vantage ground of tested history. What shall be our attitude toward the skeptic of to-day ? Con-servatism might advise us to shun him as we would shun a ser-pent. Radicalism might tell us to be fearless and read his works. We shall not presume to answer the question, but consider it wise 243 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY to resort to that sage old philosopher, who said, "Know thyself," and to a still higher authority, which says, "Know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Above all things, whether we believe him or not, whether he is right or wrong, it is due to us to respect him for his independent thought and candor. "Honor the honest man. Earth rears but few. Only at God's white forge are such souls wrought. Rare honest man. His mind perchance sees truth In different forms from thine, yet honor him. Perchance his vision thy dim sight transcends And what to thee appears sublime and sure As the eternal hills, to him is but A bubble in the air. Perchance when thou Hast found the crystal spring whereof he drinks Thou, too, wilt quaff, and own the light divine." A GLIMPSE OP BYRON. HTHE meteoric career of this celebrated, but ill-starred poet has * been a subject of study for all lovers of literature and its makers. Meteoric, both because of its brilliancy and short dura-tion. Byron's popularity, in his day, was greater than that of any of his contemporaries, but it was much briefer and more in-constant, and to-day the general verdict pronounced by the read-ing public and literary reviewers, is against him. To-day men praise the highland ruggedness and simplicity of Scott's poetry; its bold irregularity and indifference to minor imperfections, claiming all to be the highest attributes of genius; they speak with unchilled ardor of Wordsworth: his great and sympathetic heart; his tender but manly verse, always sincere, often profound and ever, the genuine utterances of a true priest of the spirit; Southey and Coleridge are both loved and lauded for their large-ness of vision and poetic truth; but Byron who was hailed as he rose over the horizon in the artlessness and inexperience of his youth, as a star of the first magnitude, as the brightest orb in the firmament, is now almost universally despised and deserted; an outlaw under the ban of moral reproach and literary censure, he stands friendless in the gloom of his solitary exile. That Byron was endowed with rare natural gifts, that his poetry bears the evi-dence of exceptional powers are denied by no impartial reviewers; THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 249 that his poems lack energy, emotional colouring, daring in in-vention and many of the less definable qualities of poetry cannot be rationally insisted upon; bat that his poetry is unfit for the hands and hearts of innocent and impressionable youth and that it revolts the moral sensibilities of the more mature in years and experience, as well as offends the literary taste of the cultured, are matters of fact, known to all students of English literature. This apparent paradoxical fact must be accounted for by the unfortunate accompaniments that attended and marred his genius. His powers were of the first order, but they were accompanied by a pessimistic and envenomed spirit, a haughty egotism—though this he endeavored to conceal,—and at last, what reversed his early successes, a growing affectation of contempt for public opinion or private regard. There was a mixture of literary and moral virtues with literary and moral vices in which the propor-tion of vice became predominant, and eventually prostituted his genius to the service of shame and folly in their most attractive and insidious forms. Censorship should not be unjust, not even unsympathetic towards this most to be pitied of poets. His works to be properly appreciated, and his unwholesome sentiment and thought to be viewed in a fair light, must be traced back to his sad life as their source of inspiration, and there though the works may justly be reprobated as unchaste and injurious,we cannot help, at least but partially exonorate their author, when we view the circumstances that gave them birth and determined their character. Born into the world with a tender but impetuous and some-what petulant nature, he was alternately visited with passionate caress and indiscriminate and vindictive disfavor by his mother, —caressed into self-will and pride, he was upbraided and scolded into ill-temper and defiance; his sensitive young nature was embittered; his strong propensity to love and crave it in return was here first disappointed and thwarted; here his spirit began to be discolored with that tinge of hatred and haughty contempt for human kind that disfigured his poetry and ruined his life. Leaving home with scarce a regret save that at the expiration of the school term he would have to return, he hoped to enter a more wholesome social atmosphere, to mingle among more active and congenial spirits, and there find that sympathy, trust and esteem for which his ardent young nature panted. His friendships, 250 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY as may be imagined, were few but fast, nearly always broken, if broken at all, through his own petulance upon the most trivial occasions, but generally soon renewed with ties of stronger affec-tion and mutual respect. Precocious emotional susceptibility exposed him at a very early age to the vexatious experience of unreasoning loves. The mistresses of hisyouthful passions uniformly repelled his advances, little knowing that they were crushing a heart that would bleed, not for a day, or a week, or a month, but for a lifetime; that they were rejecting a passion, which, exalted by a sanctified home-life, would have provided and enriched every endearment of wedded felicity; but spurned with indifference in its first ventures, would turn to the madness of despair. The haughty pride of his untamed spirit was insulted at every turn; his keen sensibility to neglect or offense kept his resent-ment, against somebody or other, at white heat the greater por-tion of his life, making him new enemies, and decimating fre-quently the ranks of his friends—those who generally endured his eccentricities, and enjoyed his confidence and esteem. His first effort in poetry was a juvenile performance, with meagre promise of his later fame in it, written at school and pub-lished when he left the University under the title, " Hours of Idleness." It was assailed at once by Francis Jeffreys, the most celebrated critic of his day, in the Edinburgh Review. The poem, prefaced with a disavowal of all poetical aspira-tions and a cleverly written appeal to the clemency of the critics was condemned without reserve, its faults exposed with relent-less accuracy, and, in general, treated with so much ridicule and contempt that Byron was aroused, the latent powers of sarcasm and irony that lay sleeping within him were awakened, and he seized the pen and wrote with the energy and inspiration of a demon, "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers," venting indis-criminate calumnies upon all writers and critics of his day. This poem, though written in the rashness of youth, and in some re-spects inviting severe censure as " misplaced anger and indis-criminate acrimony," for the first time announced his real power. His skill in versification, the vigor of his thought, the terrible energy of his feelings, and brilliancy of sarcastic wit, proclaimed at once to England that no common man had risen, and prophe-cies were many and sanguine of his future fame. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 251 After having been rebuked by every journal, by critic and even friends for his unjust assault upon men of genius and merit, some of established reputation and venerated name, he became dissatisfied at home, and, conceiving his talents not duly appre-ciated, and himself slighted, he sailed from England and traveled throughout the continent, visiting Spain, France, Switzerland and Italy. During his tour he wrote the first two cantos of " Childe Harold." This poem, written in the verse of Spencer's " Fairie Queen," though often affectedly antiquated in style, and always darkened by skepticism and misanthropy, is energetic and manly in thought always, in spirit often, and his language is picturesque and expressive, conjuring from the world of fancy the weird but vivid and copious imagery that so uniformly characterizes all his poetry. This rhythmic tale is regarded as a poetical version of his own life, the central figure throughout the narrative no other than the haughty Byron himself, masquerading in an imperfect disguise. The spirit, the pictured career and dismal sentiments of the self-exiled hero, are all paralleled in Byron, though he strenuously denied their identity, alleging that Harold was wholly an inde-pendent creation, without an existing prototype, at least under his observation. The poet, however, in the fourth canto identi-fies himself with the gloomy pilgrim visiting earth's historic scenes, as if no longer caring to maintain his false character. All the poetry that followed was animated by the same spirit; characters were changed in name, but not in essence ; scenery was altered; the tale diversified by fresh incident; yet through it all stalked Harold's sombre ghost casting a shade of gloom and sadness over it, and breathing into it his philosophy of despair. Frequently Byron was bitter, but that in his attacks upon so-ciety, upon the virtues and excellencies of character, which most men admire and magnify, he was insincere, and did not give utterance to sentiments actually his own, only unsympathetic and misled readers dare assert. His poetry above any other of his age bears the stamp of its author's character, the seal of his spirit, though often gracefully concealed, and impresses the reader that whatever the scenes, whatever the characters, Byron is there and speaks from the innermost depths of his heart. "From the in-nermost depths of his heart," for in all his works the energy of his 252 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY spirit burns with a blazing heat and like a kindled furnace throws its wild glare upon the narrow scene it irradiates; little difference whether he wrote of angels or villains, of princes or beggars, the torch of his thought and feeling was lighted at the same flame. This sombre color and despairing energy of his genius, though admirable in the proper place and proportion, makes it impossible for him to sympathize with the ordinary and more generous feel-ings of humanity. He could not elevate the simple and obscure life, the pure love, the trials, the sorrows, the tradegy and comedy of those low in station and humble in fortune, into the realm of poetic beauty as Burns; Nature had denied him the tender respon siveness of heart to song of bird, ripple of brook, the sigh of wind, which it so richly bestowed upon Wordsworth. Byron was fasci-nated by rugged scenery, by nature in her violent moods but never loved her for herself, and though his poetry abounds with allusions to and descriptions of mountain and lake, ocean and forest, they serve but to suggest by analogy some mood of man—and that mood how monotonously the same ! What a sublime range of character, what inexhaustible re. sources of human feeling, what a wealth of poetic mystery, beauty and truth investing diversified nature and human life were left un-touched by his master pen. Had his energy of spirit not been perverted and confined to the narrow channels into which it was forced, had his harp been tuned to more numerous and pleasing chords, who can say that with his exuberance of imagination, ca-pacity for reflection and poetic insight and art, Byron would not have been the chief ornament of his day and generation, his mem-ory cherished with fondest admiration, and his poetry a more per-manent and vastly more desirable addition to our literature. Of this sad fact Byron was not ignorant and often took occasion in his verse to rebuke his impetuous and monotonous strain of feeling and ardently prayed for tranquillity of spirit and soberness of mind. Serene landscapes, peaceful waters, inspired longings "to forsake earth's troubled waters for a purer spring." "Clear placid Leman," he cries, "once I loved Torn ocean's roar but thy soft murmuring' Sounds sweet as if a sister's voice reproved." During the early stages of his literary career he resolves but in vain to tame his wild passions and to think and feel as other men: THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 253 "Yet must I think less wildly; I have thought Too long and darkly, till my brain became In its own eddy boiling- and o'erwrought A whirling gulf of phantasy and flame, And thus untaught in youth my heart to tame My springs of life were poisoned,—"Tis too late." The tragedy of a soul here seems to reach its catastrophe in the utterance of the concluding sentence: '' 'Tis too late !'' Byron here appears to stand on a commanding eminence and view with retrospective survey the irredeemable past, lamenting the errors of his way, but all "too late," and theu with sublime heroism to submit to the doom prepared for him, "to feed on bitter fruits without accusing Fate;'' to chide himself with the guilt of his own desolation: "The thorns which I have reaped are of the tree I planted—they have torn me and I bleed, I should have known what fruit Would spring from such a seed." His poetry thus is the musical wail of a proud yet broken spirit; a life with many shattered yet many vibrant strings; it is a feast of beauty attended by the unclean spirits of an unchaste mind, a song with the vigor and spirit of a march and the sadness and gloom of a dirge; the tuneful philosophy of a man who knew both too much and too little of himself and his fellow mortals, who in tempest and calm sailed life's pathless sea without chart or compass; a man with more than the usual powers of men, but destitute of their most common possession—character. "A wandering mass of shapeless fame, A pathless comet and a curse, The menace of the universe, Still rolling on with innate force Without a sphere, without a course." —TID BITS. Oh, many a shaft at random sent Finds mark the archer little meant; And many a word at random spoken May soothe or wound a heart that's broken. —SCOTT. 254 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY GIVING. When God brought forth the world we're told, He did it by decree, , Just spake the word, and chaos rolled Into consistency. But when the race of human-kind To sin became a slave, Not all the words in Perfect Mind Could ransom, so He gave. He gave his child, the anointed One, The best in Heaven above, That man might learn through His dear Son How God indeed is Love. And so must we, if we would be Found walking in His ways, Show to mankind that sympathy, That gives as well as prays. A word well said may often thrill, A happy song may cheer, But souls will ne'er be won, until Kind deeds with words appear. They are the vessels that contain The oil of healing grace, And they alone can free from pain The deep-scarred human race. Then let our eyes be e'er alert, Our neighbors' want to see, Our hands and feet grow more expert To bear them sympathy. For thus it is, each little chance Improved, becomes a gem, Whose lustre shall fore'er enhance Our heavenly diadem. —ERNIE. e$P Three poets in three distant ages born, Greece, Italy and England did adorn ; The first in loftiness of thought surpassed, The next in majesty, in both the last. The force of nature could no further go; To make a third she joined the former two. -DRYDEN. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. Entertdat the Postojfice at Gettysburg as second-class matter. VOL. IX. GETTYSBURG, PA., FEBRUARY, 1901. ' No. 8 Editor-in- Chief, . A. VAN OR.MER, '01. Assistant Editors, W. H. HKTRICK, W. A. KOHLER. Business Manager, H. C. HOFFMAN. Alumni Editor, REV. F. D. GARLAND. Assistant Business Manager, WILLIAM C. NEY; Advisory Board, PROF. J. A. HIMES, LIT. D. PROF. G. D. STAHLEY, M. D. PROF. J. W. RICHARD. D. D. Published monthly by the students of Pennsylvania (Gettysburg) College. Subscription price, One Dollar a year in advance; single copies Ten Cents. Notice to discontinue sending- the MERCURY to any address must be accompanied by all arrearages. Students, Professors, and Alumni are cordially invited to contribute. All subscriptions and business matter should be addressed to the Business Manager. Articles for publication should be addressed to the Editor. Address THE GETTYBURG MERCURY, GETTYSBURG, PA. EXCHANGES. [From the January TOUCHSTONE, Lafayette.] Our Contemporaries. I HAVE heard it said that we never have original thoughts; that even those which we consider original have been worked over in the minds of others who have gone before. It seems impossible, however, that two college men, apparently far sepa-rated, should have had thoughts so exactly similar, and above all, that they should have expressed them in language so similar, as have two men representing two of our prominent colleges. This is an age of psychological phenomenon, and the power ot one mind over another is unquestioned ; but, if the case under consideration comes under this head, there evidently remains a field of psychological research yet unfathomed. 2S6 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY We ask the aid of those interested in honest college literary work, in the solution of the following mystery : In the Nassau Literary Magazine for October, 1900, was printed the MacLeau prize oration, entitled "An Ideal of American His-tory." In the Gettysburg Mercury for November, 1900, appeared an oration, entitled " Abraham Lincoln." We quote from these two articles, and print them in parallel columns. AN IDEAL OF AMERICAN HISTORY. Thirty-five years have gone by and the Republic is stronger than ever. The battle smoke of the civil war has rolled away, and to-day when we look into the clear past, our first glance meets the colossal figure of Abraham Lincoln. He is an American mountain—when you view minutely and examine care-fully each particular crag or fea-ture, how homely he seems ! But stand back half a century, behold the entirety—do you not see an Al-mighty hand ? We say an Ameri-can mountain, for you cannot think of Lincoln as a Grecian or a Roman, he is not English and certainly not French—he is ours, the man be-longs to. us alone, while his fame is the world's. Our broad country can no more contain that, than the present race can compute its dura-tion. Ages are the units which shall measure its extent, and eter-nity shall not behold it9 comple-tion. Let us for a while then con-sider him who, under God's provi-dential hand, more than any other, preserved our liberties and main-tained for us our national govern-ment. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Thirty-five years have passed and the Republic is stronger than ever. The battle-smoke of civil war has rolled away, and as we louk into the clear past, our first glance meets the colossal figure of Abra-ham Lincoln. He seems a moun-tain— when you examine each par-ticular crag and feature, how home-ly he appears; but stand back half a century, behold theentirety—Do you not see the hand of God ! We wonder at him for his greatness, and we are proud of him that he is ours. We cannot imaging Lincoln as a Grecian or a Roman; he is not English and certainly not French —he belongs to us alone, but his fame is the world's. Our broad land can no more contain that than the present generation can esti-mate its duration; ages are the units which shall measure its ex-tent, and eternity shall not behold its completion. Let us for a while then consider him who, under God, more than any other, preserved our liberties and kept us as a peo-ple what we are. The Nassau Literary Magazine Princeton University Princeton, N. J., Jan. 29, 1901 Editor Gettysburg Mercury, « Dear Sir: You have probably noticed in the Lafayette Touchstone for January, 1901, in the department headed Our Contemporaries, that attention is called to two orations, one entitled "An Ideal of American History," which was published in this magazine in the THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 257 October number and another, entitled "Abraham Lincoln," which appeared in your magazine for November. The opening para-graphs of the two orations are printed in parallel columns and are so similar that it leaves no doubt in our mind that either one was copied from the other or else both were taken from a common source. If you will read what the Toiichstonc says you will prob-ably come to the same conclusion. Now this matter should be sifted to the bottom and it is to the interest of both magazines to see that it is done. I send you a copy of the Lit. which contains "An Ideal of American History" and request that you send us the November number of the Mercury. Will you also state who wrote the oration on "Abraham Lincoln," when it was delivered, and when probably written. Also the home residence of the man who wrote it. "An Ideal of American History" was delivered here last June and won the Junior McLean Oratorical prize of $ioo. I trust you will appreciate the seriousness of this for both of us, and help me to find out the truth of the matter. Awaiting an early reply, I am, sincerely RALPH P. SWOFFORD. The above are self-explanatory. It but remains for the MER-CURY to clear away the accumulated mist, thus vindicating Mr. Heilman and his alma mater as well as the MERCURY. For this purpose we find sufficient testimony in Mr. Heilman's Statement. "March 9, 1900, I delivered the oration at Collegeville before the Pennsylvania Inter-Collegiate Oratorical Union; March 10, joined Glee Club on trip at Carlisle; March 19, returned to Get-tysburg from Glee Club trip and found awaiting me a letter from Princeton, written by a '97 alumnus of the Harrisburg High- School, whose classmate I had been for about 9 mouths. The letter asked me to send a copy of my oration for a few hints and ideas, as the '97 alumnus was preparing an oration soon to be de-livered. Sent copy of oration to Princeton March 20th or 21st. Handed oration to Dr. Himes in competition for Geis Prize— third number. [The third production for the Geis prizes is due May 1st.—Ed.] Have not seen the manuscript since." The oration came into possession of the MERCURY from the Geis prize committee through Dr. Himes, before the close of 258 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY college in June. We published it in the November MERCURY, and the original manuscript is still in our possession. We hope the above is a satisfactory explanation—that it is not necessary to ramble through that "field of psychological research yet unfathomed." It is to be hoped, further, that this, as a warn-ing to college men, may prove beneficial. Gettysburg does not suffer from the "mix up;" indeed we may feel complimented that one of our men wrote the oration that won the MacLean prize of $ioo at Princeton University, knowing that it was not sent for the use made of it. Princeton, come out. Lafayette, give us due credit. S. A. VAN ORMER, Ed. MERCURY. EDITORS' DESK. Following the custom of former years, no January number of the MERCURY was issued. The question of special programs in our literary societies is be-ing discussed. That they have merit no one will doubt; but whether they should occur so frequently is, indeed, a question. The object of the societies is to train their members for the duties that shall rest upon them in years to come by assisting in and completing that harmonious development that shall send the col-lege student into the world well-rounded. Our discoveries in science have been made by men who worked in seclusion; our masterpieces in literature and in art have not been wrought before the gaze of cheering throngs; the men who have "moved the masses" in days agone have frequently talked to the ocean's waves and the forest's trees. Young men, that they may be successful, must cultivate the habit of working with-out artificial stimulus. As this is the last issue of the present staff, we desire to ex-press our appreciation of the hearty support we have received from those interested in THE MERCURY. We have at all times had sufficient material on hand. Whether or not we have selected wisely the material used, others must determine. We have tried THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 259 to maintain the standard formerly held by THE MERCURY among the college journals of the State. In conclusion, we remind the Professors, Students and Alumni of Pennsylvania College that the standard of her journals have much to do with her success ; and we bespeak for the new staff the same hearty support given us, that the literary journal of the institution may be worthy ot Pennsylvania College. THE PAST OUR PRESENT PILOT. CHAS. LEONARD, '01, Reddig Junior Oratorical Prize. ■CAR back through the dim, dim vistas of the ages, when chaos, ■*■ darkness and void had receded in obedience to the eternal fiats of the Omnipotent, to give place to cosmos, light, and cre-ation, there appeared in that creation a creature whose progress and destiny have been the objects of the concern of two worlds. The earth was man's birthday present. "Go forth and subdue it" was the divine commission, and the history of the race is the story of the warfare that has been going on ever since that com-mission has been received. As the nineteenth century gates swing on their hinges, soon to shut into the hoary past another century, we feel like one who is leaving the harbor to sail an untried sea; in whose vision friends throwing kisses of good-by, and waving handkerchiefs for a suc-cessful voyage, are fast fading from view, and from whose sight the well beloved shore is receding and has at last merged into the misty horizon overhanging the deep. In the stately ship of civilization we are about to launch on a trackless ocean. Farewell to the past—only its lessons are any longer ours. Welcome the future, in which we are to live and act! I^et our prayers be united that our majestic ship may clear all the dangerous rocks that lie just beneath the surface, any one of which may prove fatal to the progress of the "Ship of State." As we stand at the stern of the vessel, looking out upon the watery expanse stretching into eternity on either side of the wake, with our mind's eye we take a retrospective glance into the history of the past. We look into the realm of discovery and we note that the most important contribution of this realm to civilization has been the discovery of laws in the moral and the physical universe. 260 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY Ages ago the minds of men craved to understand the laws of the heavenly bodies, and the skies did speak to the old Chaldean shepherds, but in an unknown language. They were transported by the rich melody of the spheres, but could not appreciate or understand the celestial anthem. Ptolemy listened and caught a few scattered words; Copernicus hearkened and caught the first full sentences: Kepler and Newton gave us the first translation of the rythmical language of the heavenly orbs. Thus we see the gradual development of the scientific spirit in the presence of which truth has always unveiled her face and made herself known, as she has come to answer the everlasting "Why?" of science. In philosophy the same development is strikingly real. Man in his eagerness to answer the two questions concerning himself of "Whence?" and "Whither?" at first indulged in speculations that seem to us to the last degree chimerical. Twenty-five centuries have made but comparatively few changes on the face of the material world. A Greek of the fifth century B. C. might still find his way without difficulty from town to town of his native Hellas, and recognize at a glance the scenes of his childhood days, but he would find the world of thought a new creation or rather the old so transformed as to be unrecognizable. We have emanated from the mist and fog which enveloped the old Pagan philosophers. We have transcended the highest thought of grand old Socrates. Thought can no longer be said to be "An infant crying in the night, An infant crying for the light, And with no language but a cry." In the sunlight of truth this infant of thought has grown to a great stature, though it has not yet attained the perfect symmetry of maturity. The discovery of laws has been just as important and extensive in the social and political world as in the realm of philosophy. Every century has been an improvement over the preceding. Nations have been born, grown up, and died, while history, the coroner of the fallen empires of the past, has declared at the autopsy, "The cause of death was the result of a departure from law, either undiscovered or disobeyed" and standing, a silent sentinel, in the ashes of their former glory, pointing her finger toward the future she says in prophetic voice to all surviving nations "Beware!"— THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 261 a word so full of meaning when uttered by such an authoritative voice. Are we heeding this long sounded warning? Shall we dare say that the past is meaningless? Shall we not profit by the wise instruction it has to give? The Mu

' % JUNE, 1900 ooThe0o Qettysbiir Mercury CONTENTS The Evolution of the Thinker, 103 In the Storm, . 110 The Dawn of Idealism, . . Ill The Voice of the Sea, . . 117 A Critique of the Doctrines of Heraclitus, . . . 118 The Noble Hero, . Women as Teachers, Spring, . Editor's Desk Otsego Lake, The Turk in Religion, 121 124 126 127 129 133 \sW-G'BURG C. US, DUPLICATE FAVOR THOSE WHO FAVOR US. For Fine. Printing go to Tk Jo Co Wile Frigiiii Howe CARLISLE ST. GETTYSBURG, PA. C. B. KitzmMer Dealer in Hats, Caps, Boots and . Douglas Shoes GETTYSBURG, PA. B. Dealer in Hats, Caps, Shoes and. Gents' Furnishing Goods Corner Center Square and Carlisle Street GETTYSBURG, PA. EDGAR S. MARTIN, ^CIGARS AND SMOKERS' ARTICLES. Q£T" t^T* t^* Chambersburg St., Gettysburg. Like to learn Spanish? An easy Jan guage to learn. A JlimfuhVs Spanish Method. Self-teaching. SiianUh-ICiKiHx^Engllsh-SpanUh Diction'y, Hossfeld's Italian Method. Self-teaching. I/nlian-ICinjlixh, English-Italian Dictionary, Hossfeld's German Method. SelJ'-teaehlng. . Qerman-English,Engli8h-German Dictionary, $2.00 lloxsfeld's French Method. Sell-teaching. $1.00 French-Fnr/iish, Enalish-Frenck Dictionary. $2.00 lirooks" 1st Latin Jiook. 50 eta. Latin-English, English-Latin Dictionary. $2.00 Jlrooks' \st Greek Lessons. 50 ct3. Greek-English, English-Greek Dictionary. $2.00 Literal Translations of the Classics—Latin, Greek, Germun, French. Eighty-flvc volumes, sold separately, 50 eta. each. Sendfor list. HINDS & HOBLE, Publishers 4-5-1S-14 Cooper Institute N. Y. City Schoolbooks ofall pub-lishers at one store. orsome other v////////// language? .THE. GETTYSBURG MERCURY. VOL. IX. GETTYSBURG, PA., JUNE, 1900. No. 4 THE EVOLUTION OP THE THINKER. PROF. OSCAR G. KLINGEK. (Address on Education before the Susciuehanna Synod, May 9,1900.) TT is my privilege to engage your attention for a little while in A some phase of the general subject of education. It is a sub-ject in which you are profoundly interested, and of the import-ance of which you have a keen appreciation. I take it for granted that you are accustomed to give this hour, not that you may be entertained by an elaborate discourse filled with educa-tional truisms and platitudes, but to hear from some member of your body the newest and best thought of which he is capable. I conceive, therefore, that from me you desire to hear this even-ing what ideal I have of education—what, in my judgment, should be the aim of every system of intellectual discipline. Without hesitation, and asking no favors of adverse criticism, I present for your consideration " The Evolution of the Thinker." Whatever is true in my presentation, I ask you to accept ; what-ever does not appeal to your judgment, I ask you to believe to be the honest expression of a growing conviction. The first voice of the Aryan race to utter its thought was the poet of the Vedic Hymns. In that remote past, when the migra-tion of nations from the old Iudo-Germanic home was peopling Europe and the western part of Asia, the Aryans that settled In-dia were resting for a brief spell in the mountains which form the northwestern boundary of that country. Their eye swept the valley of the Ganges and the valley of the Indus, and as that magnificent landscape lay before them like another Promised L,and, their bards sang of the future. I mention this because in this first voice there is the recognition of the three-fold mystery of existence which is yet but partly solved—the mystery of self, the mystery of the universe, and the mystery of God. It has been 104 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. peculiarly the problem of the Indo-Germanic peoples. They only, believing in the authority of the Reason, and being free from the paralysis of fatalism, have dared to pry into things to get, if possible, their inmost secrets. The effort to explain the mystery of self has resulted in all that is known as logic, psychology and ethics; the effort to solve the mystery of the universe has resulted in all that is known as science; and the effort to solve the mys-tery of God has resulted in metaphysics. I have said that the mystery of existence is peculiarly the problem of the Aryan mind, and this finds its proof in the fact that in all other races mythology takes the place of thinking. The nations listen to the voice of fancy, and accept her dreams as the explanation of reality. Hence the lack of progress in the non-Aryan races. One glance at the history of thought among Aryan peoples reveals the business of the thinker. It is to explain the universe as he experiences it. It is to construe in thought the facts as they are presented to his consciousness. In doing this he must be alive to the authority of the Reason; he must inexorably follow her leadings; he must accept her conclusions. Not only this, but his thinking must bear the marks of his own individuality. In process and conclusion it must be distinctly his own. To master another man's thought, to adopt it as his own, is a valuable ex-ercise; but at best it can be only a propaedeutic to his own think-ing. What I wish to emphasize is this, that a man's thought is always an abstract of his own psychic being. A brief survey of the philosophy of knowledge will show the truth of this assertion. Objective cognition involves, first, a world of reality, which can act upon the sensory nerves and furnish the materials of knowledge; secondly, a human mind which is capable of reacting upon the stimulus, and interpreting the presentation; thirdly, the postulate that the principles which are constitutive of intelligence shall at the same time be the principles of cosmic being. i. B3' sense-perception we recognize reality as actually exist-ing and objective, not on the testimony of one sense alone but of all the senses. Even if we mistrust the report of the senses, we still have an invincible proof of the reality of a thing in its power to resist our will. Our whole conscious life, too, is the proof that this world of reality does act continuously upon all the senses, whether we attend to all of them at the same time or not; THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 105 and a single moment of reflection will discover to us that all the data of objective knowledge come in through the sensory nerves. Whatever truth there may be in idealism of the type of Berkeley, we are nevertheless certain that an external world does exist, and does act upon the nerves of sense. The first condition of ob-jective cognition, therefore, is met. 2. Again, self-consciousness reveals the existence of a human mind, which is our own true being. This mind exists as states of consciousness, each of which is a complex, and linked by laws of association with what goes before and what follows after. Every moment of our lives is a conscious reaction of this mind against the stimuli which reach it through the nerves of sense. In this reaction the presentation is interpreted by means of the principles which are constitutive of intelligence. Phenomena are brought under the category of substance; uniformities under that of law; persistence amid variety under that of identity; so in the interpretation of every single, definite presentation are used all the categories or ideas of the Reason, and used in the same way by every human intelligence the world over. For the Reason is not individualized but universal, the same for all intelligence. So far, then, all men must think alike. But the ideas of the Reason do not fill up the measure of the reacting mind. Beyond these primary elements which are univer-sal, the objective universe is a variable quantity, being for each mind the creation of its own endowment. As the endowment differs with the individual, it follows that no two persons can have precisely the same universe. Now, since all thinking is the explanation of experience, and as all experience is particularized, it follows that all thinking must be the abstract of the psychic being of the thinker. To this point we shall return a little later. 3. Our warrant for accepting the postulate that the principles constitutive of intelligence itself are also the principles of cosmic being, may find its illustration in the mathematical theory of the universe. Pure mathematics is a deduction from the Reason it-self, and wholly subjective. Its principles belong to the essence of spirit. And yet these mathematical principles are used in the interpretation of phenomena, and so precisely do they fit the sys-tem of things that prediction based upon calculation has become the mark of science. Knowledge is never scientific until it be-comes mathematical. io6 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. It was said above that a man's thought must be an abstract of his psychic being. This psychic being must be studied in order that all the elements which it supplies in the act of cognition may be definitely understood. It is never a chance product. What any man is at any moment is always the resultant of his reaction upon external stimulus under the bias of his inheritance and en-vironment. This statement recognizes three facts of human life —the fact of heredity, the fact of environment, and the fact of personality. Let us study their meaning as it relates to the thinker. i. By the term heredity we name that law according to which an organism tends to reproduce its kind. Its action in the biology of plants and animals is an every day fact, and needs no illustra-tion. Its action, too, in the human physical organism is well un-derstood. In the realm of psychology and ethics its meaning is only beginning to dawn even upon scholarship. There its sig-nificance is truly startling. For in human life it means that all life is an unbroken continuity; that each new life is but the last edition of a long line; that the babe which comes to you with all the appearance of sweet innocence—" fresh from the hand of God," as we are fond of saying—that your babe is but you and your ancestors making a new start in the old life—you and your ancestors, With sufficient marks of difference to constitute a distinct individuality." "He is a new product just because he represents a new combination of ancestral influences." Perhaps you are ready to doubt this teaching, and call for some higher authority than your speaker's. Listen, then, to Prof. Sully, one of England's most conservative and most prominent psycholo-gists : "The normal human brain, with its correlated psychical capacities, is, like the human organism as a whole, the result of the hereditary transmission of specific or typical characters from progenitor to offspring." "The child brings with it into the world an outfit of instinctive tendencies or dispositions constituting the natural basis of the civilized or uncivilized man." "In this way we all bring into the world, wrought into the very texture of our brain-centers, the physical basis ot our future individual charac-ter, mental and moral." " The child inherits from its series of ancestors, woven into the texture of its nervous system, a number of dispositions representing ages of ancestral experience." And Dr. G. Stanley Hall: " Heredity has freighted it (the THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 107 body) with all the results of parental well and ill-doing, and filled it with reverberations from the past more vast than science can explore." You cannot fail to see the truly awful significance of this un-doubted law. It means that the whole life of the offspring is largely, though, thank God, not wholly, conditioned by the men-tal and moral character of its progenitors. The thoughts which the child thinks, the feelings which it loves best to entertain, the bias and disposition which manifest themselves at such a tender age, and generally continue throughout life, are not original with it, but have their roots back in the lives from which its life sprang. It is not what it would be, and for what it is it is not responsible. Its bias and tendencies, its instincts and impulses, are such as its ancestors have transmitted to it in brain and nerve substance. 2. "Men start out, then, in existence with a vital capital sup-plied by their ancestry, which is modified more or less by the law of diversity." But from the very moment when that individual life begins, another fact becomes of supreme importance—the fact of environment. By this term we designate "the sum of the influences and agencies which affect an organism from with-out." Soil and climate, food and work, and, above all, hu-man comradeship, constitute a man's environment. And all of this is individualized. A babe opens its eyes upon a specific set of visual phenomena; its ears are responsive to a particular set of sounds; its other senses are in due time recipient of definite sets of appropriate impressions. Its mind at first is but potential; but at once it reacts upon the incoming currents, at first feebly, but then with growing strength. Its only content at first is the bundle of dispositions and biases, mainly neural, which are ances-tral in their origin ; and the entire furnishing of its mind is that which comes to it through sense-perception. In other words, each individual mind depends for the character of its ideas upon the environment in which it lives. But the mere physical facts that lie about do not constitute its true environment. A selective process is carried on. Out of the whole number of actual pre-sentations to consciousness, it selects such only as are most con-genial to its native disposition. This process continues with the development of the psychic being of every man, his objects of io8 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. knowledge being mainly those phenomena which are most to his taste. 3. Heredity and environment form a large part of every human life, but they do not constitute the whole of it. Their binding power is great, but not entirely irresistible. Men do make choices which are in direct antagonism to both. Many a man whose heredity was all evil has conquered his bias, and lived a true life. This power to choose in opposition to all pre-natal and post-natal influences we call the Will. It is the essence of personality. It is not wholly free, can hardly be said to be free at all at the start; but it is every man's privilege to grow into freedom, and this, in the last analysis, is his chief business in the world. To grow into freedom, to develop into a perfect ethical being, this is his birthright from God—it is the mark of God upon his forehead. The psychic being of every man, then, contains elements which are ancestral in their origin, elements which belong to his early environment, and elements which belong to the constitu-tion of the mind itself. And this is the problem of the educator: Given a human mind, which must react upon and explain the external world, but is itself under the biasing power of ancestral and environmental influences, how shall it construe facts in har-mony with their actual nature ? how shall its thought be a true transcript of reality ? If I have made clear what has been said, then one great prin-ciple has become patent, viz.: Every system of intellectual discipline must have as its supreme aim the mental emancipation of the studejit. All other objects must be subordinated to this. The mind must be so developed that it can cognize a fact in its bleak objectivity. Every prejudice must be laid aside and set at naught. The power of opinion must be broken. The colored lights must be dissipated by the white light of reason. For the true thinker can state his problem only thus : Given the fact, how am I to con-strue it in strict accord with its occurrence ? Now, this freedom of mind is a possible achievement. On its physical side, education is a process of brain-building. It is the creation of new brain-cells. It is a deepening of the convolu-tions . It is no longer doubted by psychologists that thought power depends upon the number and integrity of the brain-cells. Mind and brain are exactly correlated, and every psychic function is accompanied by a corresponding neural process. Since education THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 109 is thus on its one side the creation of new cells, may we not sup-pose that such cells lack, in large measure, at least, the bias which dominates the brain of the undisciplined man ? They will, I am sure, if the master-hand who guides the process be a true educator. But on its psychical side, too, education may lead to freedom. Whatever may be the elements of determinism, the will is yet free in the most of its choices. L,et a youth, dominated by the passion for pure thought, determine to conquer all the bias of his nature —determine to think the universe of his experience for himself— determine that facts shall be construed in harmony with their oc-currence, and then let him persevere in this determination, and the day will dawn which will mark his victory. The universe he thinks must still be his universe ; the facts he seeks to construe must be the facts which he experiences and as he experiences them. His thought, therefore, even when uncolored by sub-jective lights and shadows, must still be his own—must bear the marks of his own individuality. This, then, is the first step in the development of the thinker. The discipline through which he passes must have as its supreme aim his emancipation from every form of bias, gift or prejudice under which at the start he lies bound. This is the first step ; but there is a second of equal import-ance. If a man is to think truly he must have the privilege of thinking freely. His environment must be conducive to freedom of thought. I know of nothing which so paralyzes effort as the expectation of being misunderstood and persecuted. No scholar can object to his thought being brought to the test of reality. That is what he craves. Theories are worthless unless they ex-plain facts. All thinking, therefore, must at every point be brought to the test of things. And no true thinker ever shrinks from this test. What he must fear is that his thought will be brought to the test of opinion. Appeal in philosophy is so often an appeal to authority. Now, in some spheres of human interests authority may have its place, but the sphere of thought is not one of them. Each man's thought is valuable in the degree in which it is a true transcript of the cosmic processes, but upon you and me it can have no possible binding power whatever. From the beginnings of European thought to the present time the objective facts have been pretty much the same. Theories iib THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY have been offered for their explanation. The finest minds of each generation have grappled anew with the problem. Much has been achieved, but more still remains to be made rational. Never in its history has the world needed thinkers as in these days of ours. The world's necessity is the educator's opportunity, and more is being done than ever before to enable the student to de-velop into the thinker. But when his thought is laid before the world, and she sees upon it the stamp of his own personality, let her not scream "sceptic," and " infidel" and " atheist;" but let her humbly and gratefully sift his thought, and save the wheat for her granary. For the time has come when of the thinker we may demand that he accept facts as facts, and that he construe them in thought in harmony with the mind's own laws ; but not that he conform his thought to authority, either ancient or mod-ern. Opinion has no place in the test of thought. IN THE STO'RM. I Fast to the anchor on the shore The boat was rocking upon the deep, A cradle for the sleeping' child. The quick storm rose ; the old sea roar Riyalled the thunder ; jerk and sweep Of wave broke loose the boat, ere, wild, The father came. Though all was black, By the trembling- flash that split the east, He saw the child. Mad with alarms He neared the shore. The sea fell back To its vast heap—then rushing fast Swept safe his child into his arms. II Oh, Father, if the storms of sin Break my hold on the anchor of hope And cast me on the wild life sea, When on that shore the waves roll in, Thy everlasting arms then ope And save and clasp and pity me. I THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. til THE DAWN OF IDEALISM. LDIHES A. WEIGLE, '00. A STUDY in the earlier history of our race, or of some phase **■ of its multiform life and belief, is a task of great difficulty, but which possesses, at the same time, a singular charm. For though that distant world of beginnings is but imperfectly recorded in those of its products which have reached succeeding genera-tions ; though it costs the greatest effort to make real for us the conditions of life and modes of thought of its remote people; thoughstep afterstep in their development can be but conjectured— in these very facts, it seems, there lies a delight which the student alone can attain. There is something intensely attractive about his work as he gropes among the dim shadows of the past, catching here a gleam and here a glimpse of light, which become, to his sensitive soul, a realization, however imperfect, of the dawn of society, of religion, of reason. Among these beginnings, then, that which perhaps appeals most strongly to the mind of the scholar is the dawn of reason, the genesis of real thought. Not without justice, too, for the pre-eminence of humanity lies in the reason, and so may the first steps in the true development of its nascent capabilities be most fit objects of study. There is a peculiar fitness as well as a delight iu looking back at the pioneers of thought approaching the problems with which their successors have grappled likewise; in watching the unfolding of intellect as their conceptions ad-vanced. The proper study of mankind is man ; may we not say with equal truth that the proper study of a rational being is reason. It is significant that this awaking of thought did not take place till so late a date in history as 600 B. C.—the time that men have thought of the great problems of the universe has been centuries less than the former period of mental apathy. But perhaps we should not term it so; it was the period of prepara-tion. The time was ripe for thought; the intellect was keyed to the strain that was to be put upon it; for from Thales, with his turning from mythology to philosophy, but with his poor princi-ple of moisture as the ultimate cause, to Plato, with his turning philosophy into the direction it has since kept, with his doctrines almost Christ-like, and with his idealistic philosophy which has 112 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. only lately reached its fullest development, was a period of only two hundred years—absurdly small as compared with the centuries that had gone before and those that have followed. A study of any period of those two hundred years, in many respects the most fruitful in the history of thought, must necessarily be of the richest character. Our subject is concerned with the close of this period, with the laying down, by one man, of the foundation of true philosophy. For Plato, with his idealism, however imperfect, turned thought in the direction it has since followed, and to him must be ascribed our gratitude for the first overthrowal of sensationalism. True, Socrates was the master, the real pioneer ; but all the best that we have of Socrates is through Plato; and he went far beyond Socrates. He caught up the scattered threads of his master's thought; he carried each precious suggestion to its logical end, and added his own crystalline reasoning; and then he wove it all together into a clear system of philosophy which must yet command our respect. Not to say that Plato embodied his thought formally and logically as a system, for it is widely scattered throughout his dialogues, and nowhere arranged with that intent; but it stands clearly and boldly distinct amid the multitude of chaff, so that a student of his writings gains a definite understanding of his thought-concep-tion of the universe. Most of his teaching is put in the mouth of Socrates, a fact which leaves open much for discussion. Many have conceived this Platonic Socrates as a purely dramatic invention. "Plato himself," says Walter Pater, "but presented, with the reserve appropriate to his fastidious genius, in a kind of stage disguise." Just how far this is true, or, on the other hand, how far Plato recorded dialogues that really took place, and the true utterances of his master, we shall possibly never know. But there is no doubt that Plato was an independent thinker, and not a mere scribe, a Boswell before his time. Socrates prepared and suggested; Plato finished that work, and the" enlarged suggestion from its logical completion made it possible for him to transcend the task his master had set him. And Plato's task was by no means easy. From the time of his entering the field of philosophy he was plunged into a combat with the Sophists, who had firm possession of the public mind. Their brilliant show of rhetoric and self-satisfied claim of wisdom THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 113 and ability to educate appealed to the minds of the Athenians, just awaking to their intellectual capabilities, far more trrau the modest claims of Socrates and his pupils, and their confessed search after truth. What the Athenian wanted was ability to help himself in the life of his day, and to defend himself before his numerous courts; and the quickest way to such an education was what he sought. There was a strong basis of fact in the Sophists' claim of superiority to Socrates and Plato—in point of popularity at least. There was no such glamour in the sincere quest of reality as in the Sophists7 wisdom—pyrites is sometimes more beautiful than gold. And it was not only in the common mind of the people that Plato had to overcome a presumption in favor of the Sophists. Their doctrines were dominant among the thinkers of the day, among those few pioneer minds who busied themselves with matters deeper than those called for by the exigencies of every day life. They taught what has been revived again and again by men after them, the doctrine of sensationalism ; and it is a mode of thought which appeals most strongly to our first reflection, an error into which it is the easiest thing in the world to fall. "Sensationalism," says Prof. Ferrier, "is supported by the natural sentiments of mankind; it is the scheme which suggests itself most readily to the untutored understanding; it is a product of ordinary thinking. When left to ourselves we are naturally of opinion that all our knowledge comes to us through the senses; that the senses are the main, indeed, the sole means and instru-ments ot cognition, and this opinion is nothing but the doctrine of sensationalism." When we remember, then, that this vulgar, natural error of common thought was supported and systematized by the Sophists, and upheld by their brilliant logic and showy pretensions, which appealed so strongly to the Athenian mind, we can understand in some degree what a force Plato was com-bating— the picture of Socrates drinking the hemlock "for cor-rupting the youth" is perhaps not so inexplicable. "Man is the measure of all things," said the Sophists, This reference of the universe to the individual not only relegated all knowledge to the realm of sense-perception, neglecting wholly the higher processes of thought, but wrought far greater mischief in the realm of ethics. Individual responsibility and individual judgment of the good without any abiding principle is nothing ii4 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. but moral chaos. Socrates saw this, and he brought all his magnificent powers of thought and speech to bear against it. He called vice, ignorance, and virtue, knowledge; the true life, to his mind, was the rational life. He taught the independent objective existence of the eternal principles, and that morality lay in the more or less perfect knowledge of these fundamentals. His first endeavor, therefore, was to find a correct theory of knowledge; his most particular aim was a logical definition of the concept. "At the basis of all thought, as Kant has clearly demonstrated, must be a critique of the mind's power to know." Such was the task, then, that Socrates gave over to Plato, and we can only understand Plato's work if we remember this as his aim. "His inquiry was—How to think the universe as given in experience." Plato did not undertake his work blindly, but with a full con-ception of all that it demanded of him. He has been called the creator of philosophy, and, indeed, his thought marks more than a mere step in the line of progress; but he did not make the mistake of attempting total originality. His thought bears the unmistakable marks of careful and thorough study in all that had gone before. Plato was a master of Pre-Platonism. His work was the outcome of a consideration of prior thought; he carefully weighed the previous systems, and took from each its principle of truth. From Heracleitus he derived the doctrine of the perpetual flux—itavra /kc ; from the Eleatics, the permanence of Being; from Pythagoras, the principle of number. For the realm of sense-perception the view of Heracleitus is correct. The senses present a succession of ever-changing phenomena. But Plato saw where Heracleitus failed—in affirming that there is no Being, but Becoming; that "the one thing permanent in a world of change is the law which governs the change." If this were true, knowledge would be impossible-—man would be no better than the brute. Consciousness recognizes-something other than this, for it reacts upon and interprets the phenomena of presenta-tion— there is interaction. And therefore, Plato rejected Becom-ing as the absolute principle of the universe, and adopted the Elea-tic notion of Being. There is Reality, he affirmed; but here again he modified the older doctrine, for the changing phenomena of the universe demand something other than the Eleatic Being, changeless, fixed, " a stony stare." And here came the last of the three prior systems to his help—the Pythagorean number; tafe THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. "5 mathematical relation mediates between pure being and the changing world. "Pythagoras brought back to Plato's recog-nition," says Walter Pater, "all that multiplicity in men's experience to which Heracleitus had borne such emphatic witness; but as rhythm and melody now, in movement truly, but moving as disciplined sound and with the reasonable soul of music in it." Thus was posited the foundation, not only of Platonic philosophy, but of future thought, in a blending of the guesses of those gropers in the shadows who had gone before. There is change, but not change alone; there is Being, but not changeless Being; there is the union of the two in an interaction of harmony and design. Why that, we say, is modern! Plato is not an ancient philosopher! But Plato's philosophy did not stop here; the most distinctive doctrine of his thought was yet to be developed from this. Socrates had recognized the reaction of the soul in interpreting the phe-nomena of sense; he had seen how the mind abstracts the resem-blances and recombines them in a class-notion, a concept, and, as has been said, one of his most particular aims was the logical definition of this universal. This general concept Plato received from Socrates, and from it he reached his doctrine of ideas, which, more than any other, gives distinction to his thought. In some points almost fantastic, as we now see it, it was a tremendous stride toward the apprehension of reality, and was the starting point of idealistic philosophy. Every human being in the simplest act of knowledge makes use of these concepts or ideas, but he is unconscious of their nature, even of their presence as such; he does not apprehend them as the necessary and essential instruments of thought. Plato saw this, and his conception of ideas became far different from that of Socrates. For Socrates they had been serviceable creations of the reason, essentially subjective in their existence. But Plato detached them from concrete things and gave them objective existence by themselves as real things, independent of the individual mind. Knowledge, he said, is in some sense not active, but passive; these ideas are not the instruments by which we think our experience, but the cause of our thought. Walter Pater puts it clearly : '' They are themselves rather the proper objects of all true knowledge, and a passage from all merely relative experience to the 'absolute.' In proportion as they blend n6 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. themselves to the individual, in his effort to think, they create reason in him; they reproduce the eternal reason for him." These ideas are necessary, then; and hence it easily follows that they are universal and co-extensive with reality. Plato also conceived them as innate, not conflicting in this sense with their objectivity and reality; but innate in that they are not the products of experience, but lend themselves to the mind, ready to be called forth by the sense-impressions of experience. In this lay the principle that the seeds of knowledge have a pre-existence in the mind and may be brought forth by growth and development from within, but not imparted to the mind from without. And herein was another point of difference from the Sophists, for they looked on the mind as a waxen tablet on which nothing was originally inscribed, and boasted that'they could impart any knowledge to the pupil; whereas Plato judged with Socrates that true educa-tion lay in drawing from the child's own mind the principles there innate by stimulating the reflective powers. These ideas were conceived also, not as the creative agency, but as prototypes for its use and patterns for reality as we gain it in experience. There is a world of ideas immeasurably higher and purer than this world of sense—our earth compares with it as the shadow with the substance. Plato himself draws this analogy in the "Republic." He supposes a cavern which opens to the day by a long passage before whose mouth is a great fire. Within the cavern are men bound in such manner that they can look only toward the inner wall of the cave, on which are the shadows of the men and animals passing in the outer world between the fire and the mouth of the cave. "These captives exactly represent the condition of us men who see nothing but the shadows of realities. And these captives in talking with one another would give names to the shadows as if they were realities. And if, further, this prison-house had an echo opposite to it, so that when the passers-by spoke the sound was reflected (from the same wall on which the shadows were seen) they would, of course, think that the shadows spoke. And, in short, in every way they would be led to think there were no realities except these shadows." He then imagines that one of these captives is loosed and dragged up into the outer world, and pictures first his pain and blindness in the presence of the true light and his disbelief in the reality of his impressions ; then how he is gradually enabled to see and to THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 117 know the truth, and his unwillingness to take up again his former condition. "We must liken the visible world to the dark cavern and the fire which makes objects visible to the sun. The ascent upwards and the vision of the objects there is the advance of the mind into the intelligible world; at least such is my faith and hope. . . . God knows if my faith is well-founded. And, ac-cording to my view, the idea of the Supreme Good is seen last of all and with the greatest difficulty, and when seen is apprehended as the cause of all that is right and excellent. This idea produces in the visible world light and the sun the cause of light; in the intellectual world it is the cause of truth and the intuition of truth." And so these ideas are not co-ordinate, but at the head of all is the notion of the Good. Plato's philosophy has led us to the conception of the Infinite, as must every rational system. And so dawned idealistic philosophy, with its roots far back in the very first of the thinkers, and its plain development in the thought of one man. There is much that is chaff in the pages of Plato, but there is more that is truth. Scribens est mortuus, says Cicero—"he died pen in hand ;" and his work has lived ever after him. For we cannot get away from Plato; his thought is an anticipation of all that has followed. He is ever new and fresh ; his thought is always modern. THE VOICE OF THE SEA. C. M. A. STINE, '01. I sat by the shore of the heaving- sea As the darkness of night grew deeper, And the limitless ocean seemed to me Ivike the lace of a dreaming sleeper. So I listened to the deep-toned murmur, ' Watching the fog wreaths creep Slowly, treacherously nearer To the pallid sands at my feet. I questioned the gray old ocean Who is ever, yet never, the same, "Whereunto hath God created us ? Is't but to sorrow and pain ?" But the all knowing, fathomless sea, As it rolled vast, foam crested and dim, To the paling light of the horizon, Was gray, relentless and grim. n8 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. The billows sighed for the mystery And the sorrow of this mortal span ; For man's short life and the losses That come in "three score and ten." "Is this all of your fabled knowledge ?" Broke from me then in my pain, For I sought to find comfort and soothing In the voice of the tossing main. In agony of soul I gazed seaward, When softly over the deep Stole an imperceptible radiance, As the dawn lights on the mountains creep. The mystery of the tossing billows Was hushed, and the thunderous murmur One cadence breathed on the night wind,— "Forget not the love of the Father." Ah, the peace that then came stealing As deep called afar unto deep; The assurance "Thy Father loves thee" Soothed my spirit to dreamless sleep. A CRITIQUE OF THE DOCTRINES OF MERACLITUS. WILLIAM W. FREY, '00. T TERACLITUS. the last representative of the Ionian school of * *■ Greek philosophy, lived, according to Laertius, in Ephesus, about 500 B. C. He belonged to one of the first families of Ephesus, and this is very manifest in the tone of his writings, in his contempt for the masses. In character he was of a melancholy temperament, without political ambition, disliking social inter-course, but greatly inclined towards philosophical speculation. His style of writing, as revealed to us in fragments, was concise, abrupt and very obscure; this obscurity has been attributed to dif-ferent causes by the historians. Ritter supposes it to have been due to the early infancy of prose philosophical writing and to the inadequacy of words to express accurately the thoughts of the lofty range of speculation in which he indulged. Mallet, Descartes and others ascribe it to an intention of the author not to make his meaning accessible to the common people. As to the contents of his work, there is also much controversy. Some regard it as ethical, others political, others solely metaphysical. It seems THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 119 likely, as Mallet says, that Heraclitus gave a wider range to phi-losophy in that he included physical, political, moral and mythical questions within his discussion. The problem he sought to solve—common to the Ionian school—was to discover the physical ground of all phenomena ; the principle which pervades and lies back of all natural phenom-ena. It was the "end of wisdom," Heraclitus held, to find this principle. He differed from the others, however, in assuming the position that Reality has necessarily its ground and principle in an "absolute, universal, illimitable, living, perfect essence," en-dued with vital energy or force, and, disregarding the hypothesis of the independent existence of individuals, he endeavored to grasp this notion. Furthermore, he attempted, too, to find out the law of development,—how all things came from this first principle. Let us now view more closely his philosophy, noting the falsity of some of his doctrines as we do so. The principle which seemed to him the most powerful, subtle and pervading of all elements was ''fire;" so he founded his system, according to Draper, upon the simple axiom "that all is convertible into fire and fire into all." By this fire, however, he means not a flame but a sort of dry vapor, using it symbolically to represent the principle of universal vital-ity,— something more than the "arche" of previous philosophy— a life pervading all. He held that from this one principle, all things proceed, and are again resolved into it by a perpetual flux. Nature resembles a river flowing incessantly. There is no Being but Becoming; the common character of all phenomena is a perpetual strife, but still a strife according to necessary, irresistible laws. By opposi-tion wehave harmony ; by rarefaction and condensation, all things, by contraries, all movement. So fire in producing all things; passes through a series of transformations—this is strife; and again, by assimilation all things die out—this is peace. Testing this thought by actual life experiences, one cannot help but notice how true it is. Life is a struggle; death is rest. In his adaptation of fire as a symbol, again we seethe appropriateness, for fire is rest-less, striving, longing to pass into other forms, continually active until extinguished. But when we consider further that he denies existence to everything except the Law of Change, fallacies are very apparent. I 120 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. For motion always implies something that moves; change sug-gests materials which are transformed. There can be no "real" phenomena thought of, except in connection with something ex-isting. One attribute is necessary to every substance, viz. Being; and, of course, we must have substance in order to conceive of any attribute at all, such as capability of motion, which is essen-tial to the phenomena of motion or change. Though there is con-tinual change, nevertheless we see more than the process, we see also the things themselves changing. At this place, we must con-sider another false doctrine of Heraclitus—shared later by other philosophers. His teaching that our senses are unreliable and practice deception when they give us certain impressions, is found in different forms and under various guises in the writings of Hamilton, J. S. Mill, Bain, Spencer and others. To discuss this subject,—"the relativity of knowledge," would require a greater expansion of our topic than would be proper. Suffice it to say, in Dr. Valentine's words, that "this theory in whatever form, would do away with the possibility of attaining truth of any kind." The best philosophy of centuries affirms the truth that the ''ratio cognoscendi is grounded in the ratio essendi.'' Of course, Heraclitus, not accepting the senses as giving us truth, and start-ing with the assumed basis of eternal motion, could easily deny Being. Another doctrine, palpably false, which reappeared again many years later, was the "universality of belief as the criterion of truth." He maintained that the universal or divine reason, that medium which surrounds us, which is common to all, only could be relied upon ; but the conceptions of the individual reason were not to be trusted. He says, "to think is common to all; and he that would speak rationally must abide by that which is main-tained by all in common." It must be borne in mind that all his doctrines concerning things both subjective and objective are wholly speculative, not empirical. In pursuing his "vital principle" he lost sight so entirely of the individual that he considered it only as purely phenomenal and delusive. "The only proper starting point is the individual.'' Having begun, as he did with the assumption of the reality only of the universal energy, and then, too, considering this as pure transition alone, it is no wonder that the individual drops out en-tirely as such, and is merged into the universal. THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 121 As to his theory regarding the physical universe little need be said. If one bears in mind that it was all theory and not observa-tion, all a priori speculation and not science, his hypotheses will not appear so very unreasonable after all. He supposed the heavens to be basins or bowls, the concave part turned towards us; the stars and sun, flames from earthly evaporations; the size of the sun is just twelve inches ; it is kindled every morning and goes out every night; eclipses are caused by the turning around of the basins. His moral system is based upon the physical, the fundamental doctrine being the excellence of fire. Thus he accounted for a drunkard's acts, by his having a moist soul, and drew the infer-ence that a warm or dry soul is best. His doctrine of the soul of man was that it is a ray from the great fire that is in every phe-nomenon and throughout all nature. He did not approach the idea of a soul as we conceive it to-day,—it was not spiritual at all; in fact some of his writings seem so near later materialistic theories, that Cousin calls them, "Materialism in its infancy." Fatalism is very evident in Heraclitus ; movement is the essential. In Heraclitus as in almost all the better Greek writers, we can easily trace the strong national feeling. Political considerations enter frequently. Note the maxim : "A people ought to fight for their laws as for their walls." With such a system and viewing the conditions of his native country at that time, one is not surprised at his deprecatory esti-mation of humanity which finds expression in this : "The very birth of a man is a calamity—a birth unto death." THE NOBLE HERO. S. W. AHALT, '02. ABOUT two miles south-west of Keedysville, and a mile and a half from Sharpsburg there is a beautiful little cottage sur-rounded by a magnificent grove. In front of the house there is a small porch which is covered with ivy. Directly in front of the porch is a fountain, around which there is a gravel drive. For many years this place was owned by an old man named Hastings. He was a very rich old fellow, yet he spent his yearly income on his only daughter, Naomi. Naomi was a beautiful, fair-cheeked girl with golden hair and dark blue eyes. She was very fond of 122 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. fine clothes (as most girls are), and her father tried his utmost to please her in every way possible. Mr. Hastings gave many re-ceptions and dances for his daughter and her numerous friends. At these balls Naomi was looked upon more as a queen than an ordinary girl. Unlike most girls of her age, she did not have any particular gentleman friend, but she was of the opinion that all men are born equal and she treated them as such. One day a young man named Roberts, from N. Y., who was stopping at the Ross hotel in Sharpsburg, called to see Mr. Hastings. It being near the middle of the day, he was asked to stay and take dinner with them, which he did willingly. Mr. Hastings was very much pleased with the appearance and the manners of the gentleman, so he invited him to attend a dance to be given the following evening. Mr. Roberts thanked him very kindly for the invitation and promised him to be present. In the evening, Mr. Roberts was among the first to drive up to the house. He, being a stranger to all the guests, asked for Mr. Hastings, who introduced him to all present. It was a very short time until Roberts became acquainted with all. He was quite a graceful dancer, and of course all the girls were very anxious to dance with the fine-looking stranger. All the time he was dancing you could see that he kept his eye on Naomi and would give her a pleasant smile whenever a chance was given. He had asked her several times to be his partner, but it seemed that she always had an engagement. The dance continued far into the night and it was now time for the friends to say, "Au Re-voir." Roberts was slow in taking his departure, as he desired to speak a few words with Naomi before leaving. One by one the carriages passed through the gate of the yard, until but one re-mained. Naomi and Roberts stepped out on the porch and as soon as Naomi heard the trickling of the water from the fountain the thought struck her that she must have a drink, and in a few moments the two stood beside the beautiful fountain drinking the water from a silver cup. The moon shone brightly and the stars twinkled like diamonds in the azure sky. A few snow-white clouds were floating in the heavens, and a slight breeze, made fra-grant by the rose-buds and peach-blossoms, was moving the leaves of the trees. They watched the little fish swim in the moonlight, and talked about the enjoyable evening they had spent, and Roberts told her THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 123 how anxious he had been to dance with her. Roberts now took his departure, but not until Naomi had invited him to call again to see her. After this his visits were very numerous, and at last they became engaged to be married. About this time the famous battle of Antietam was fought and on the 16th of July, '62, Roberts decided to go into the battle and fight for his country. He spent that evening at Hastings', and Naomi tried every way possible to induce him to stay out of the battle, but he was determined to help his struggling country and he did so. When he departed that night Naomi left these words with him: "Farewell! The sun no longer shines, The skies no more are blue Above this lonely life of mine ; The sunlight goes with you. But oh, whatever lot I see Thro' sunshine or thro' rain, My L,ove, I will be true to thee Until we meet again." Yes, the battle was fought and the victory won. The noble hero had done his part, although it cost his life. Naomi watched both day and night for her lover's return, but alas ! she watched in vain. He was among the many hundreds of soldiers who were lying dead upon the battlefield, covered with blood and dust. There was a letter in his pocket from Naomi, which was the only thing that kept him from being buried among the unknown. A few days afterwards, Naomi was walking past the graves of the soldiers and she saw her lover's name (A.M. Roberts) in her own hand-writing tacked upon a slab at the head of a grave. She burst into tears, but consoled herself by thanking God that she knew where he was buried. For many years Naomi kept flowers upon the hero's grave, and you can now see his name upon the headstone on the western slope of the National Cemetery at Sharpsburg. I24 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. WOMEN AS TEACHERS. GERTRUDE FREY, '00. HPHE higher education of women is a problem which has been * agitated for many years. Formerly woman's subjection to man was very nearly complete in all respects, whether considered from a social, a political or an intellectual point of view. But from being the property of man, she emerged, under civilization, from the sphere of drudgery to that of social power, and conse-quently to the liberty of cultivating her mental faculties. Some people profess to believe that the development of woman's mind is undesirable, because there is a tendency toward what is called "strong-minded" women. But the higher education, rightly pursued, does not make women cold, hard and semi-mas-culine, as many claim it does. Indeed, the more a woman knows of life, the better she understands the past and present of the world, and the experiences and conclusions of its greatest thinkers, the less likely she will be to confuse the masculine and feminine ideals, or to underrate the latter in comparison with the former. Experience has proved to us that women are capable of just as high intellectual development as men ; and many have taken ad-vantage of the opportunity given for the higher education, whether they expect to enter a profession or not. A study of the census statistics leads to the broad statement that there are but few lines of remunerative employment not now open to woman. She is found in nearly all departments of pro-fessional life—ministry, medicine, literature, art, music, the drama, education and science. Of the 128 occupations classified in the census of 1890, only one—military pursuits—had no femi-nine representative. There are some professions which I think are not desirable for women to enter. Generally when the college woman thinks of doing something as a means of livelihood, she thinks of teaching. There have been many objections made to this, because it cannot be assumed that 50 per cent, of all college women have special gifts in the same direction. Experience shows that the special gift for teaching is as rare as other talents, and as valuable when it finds its true expression. Kate Claghorn writes that the evil results to the teacher her-self of this overcrowding of her profession are many. First, ' 'she THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 125 must accept a low rate of pay for her work ; next, she must be content with an inferior position; furthermore, she must lengthen her period of preparation, not always with advantage to the work that she wants to do." She also says, that the remedy for this is plain : That women who graduate from college with the inten-tion of earning a living, should look about for other occupations than that of teaching. " With lowered competition, not only would salaries be raised, but quality of service also." While it is admitted that there are many teachers who perhaps would do better work in other professions, yet it cannot be denied that teaching is one of the best and most suited professions for women. There are many more female teachers than male, yet there are many discriminations made against them. There is no longer a discrimination of position, because women hold just as high posi-tions as men. Women are holding the positions of State, City and County Superintendents. These are principally in the West. But there is a discrimination in salaries, except in the higher positions, where they are the same for all. Let me give a few of Mr. Wright's reasons why women receive less than men. First, "stepping out of industrial subjection, woman comes into the in-dustrial system as an entirely new economic factor. Secondly, woman occupies a lower standard, both in physical features and in mental demands. Thirdly, she receives low wages through an insufficient equipment for life's work, which is not the result of incapacity or lack of skill, but is due largely to the hope that the permanence of work will be interrupted by matrimony." This is in some cases true, and it has a tendency to lower the wages, so that those who do intend to make it a life-work, and do it because they feel that they can do better along this line, cannot receive the salary that they should have. There are many other reasons given why women are paid less than men; but it seems to me that there should be no discrimina-tion made in the payment of salaries if the work is equally well done. Agues Wright says : " The growing importance of woman's labor, her general equipment through technical education, her more positive dedication to the life-work she chooses—all these combined will place her on an equality with man. As she ap-proaches this equality her remuneration will be increased and her economic importance acknowledged." 126 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. While I am in favor of the higher education of woman which places her on an equal basis with man, I think she should net be given the right of suffrage. This would not elevate her. It would take her out of her proper sphere, and tend to destroy all the characteristic traits which are especially desirable in a true womanly character. SPRING. C. R. SHDLTZ, '03. As I hear the bluebird's song And the robin's sweet refrain, I know that Spring- has come again, With pleasures for weak and strong. O, the beautiful days of Spring, Of all the days the best! When Nature, renewed by rest, Again the flowers doth bring. The Earth has been quickened by rain, And hath donned her cloak of green; And leafless trees, by a hand unseen, Have been brought to life again. Hail, then, thou glorious Spring ! For we greet thee with good cheer; Hail, blessed season of the year! Thy praise we do gladly sing. _-L .'THE. GETTYSBURG MERCURY Entered at the Postoffice at Gettysburg as second-class matter. Voi,. IX. GETTYSBURG, PA., JUNE, 1900. No. 4 Editor-in- Chief, S. A. VAN ORMEH, '01. Assistant Editors, W. H. HETRICK, W. A. KOHLSE. Business Manager, H. C. HOFFMAN. Alumni Editor, REV. P. D. GARLAND. Assistant Business Manager, "WILLIAM C. NEY. Advisory Boards PROF. J. A. HIMES, LIT. D. PROF. G. D. STAHLEY, M.D. PROF. J. W. RICHARD, D. D. Published monthly by the students of Pennsylvania (Gettysburg-) College. Subscription price, One Dollar a year in advance; single copies Ten Cents. Notice to discontinue sending1 the MERCURY to any address must be accompanied by all arrearages. Students, Professors, and Alumni are cordially invited to contribute. All subscriptions and business matter should be addressed to the Business Manager. Articles for publication should be addressed to the Editor. Address THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY, GETTYSBURG, PA. EDITORS' DESK. ^~\N Saturday evening, May 12th, the Y. M. C. A. entertain- ^-"^ ment course was completed with a lecture on Literature as a Personal Resource, by Hamilton Wright Mabil, editor of The Outlook. None but words of appreciation were heard from those who are interested along the line of Mr. Mabil's lecture. The lecture was delivered in a conversational rather than in an oratorical manner. His smooth flow of plain language, to-gether with his great breadth and unusual discrimination, are the characteristics that captivate his audiences. He gave us the best thoughts that have accumulated from his broad experience in the field of literature. Mr. Mabil seems to have felt the pulsations of the hearts of the masters, and received their vitalizing in-fluences. ! 128 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURlt \V7E gratefully acknowledge the receipt of Commencement pro- ** grams and invitations from State College and Dickinson. J> 'THE cause advocated by the following letter merits recognition *■ in THE MERCURY, hence we publish it in full, hoping that by so doing we may lend some assistance to a worthy cause. The tireless efforts of President Passmore will, we hope, be rewarded in this meeting. ■To TEACHERS, DIRECTORS AND FRIENDS OF EDUCATION IN PENNSYL-VANIA : I desire to call your special attention to the next meeting of the Pennsylvania State Teachers' Association, which will be held this year in the city of Williamsport, Pa., July 3rd to 6th, inclusive. Every enrolled member of this Association will receive a copy of the addresses and other proceeding's, not only of the State Teachers' Association, but of the City, Borough and Township Superintendents' Association, and also of the State School Directors' Convention, thus getting1 the very best thought along these different lines in the State. I appeal to the friends of education in Pennsylvania to enroll in large numbers. There are over 26,000 teachers in the State in the pub-lic schools alone, and the number of superintendents, teachers, direc-tors and other friends of education enrolled should not be less than 10,000. The trip to Williamsport is a pleasant one. It is an ideal place to meet—fine hotels, its citizens noted for their hospitality, elegant drives; and the excursion to Eaglesmere will be a great attraction. The pro-gram is excellent. Turn out in large numbers, and show your interest in the great educational Association of your State. If you find it utterly impossible to attend the meeting, send your enrollment fee of $1.00 to Prof. David S. Keck, Treasurer, Kutztown, Pa., who will promptly send you a certificate of membership. Let me not plead in vain for our dear old Commonwealth to make this meeting a record-breaker. JOHN A. M. PASSMORE, President. A S this is the last issue of THE MERCURY this college year, it ■**■ seems in place to express our appreciation of the courtesies of the Student body and Alumni who have so generously fur-nished us the material with which to fill our pages. The primary object of the journal is to encourage writing on the part of the students, both in prose and verse; and it seems to be accomplish-ing this end. Not all the articles that appear are of the first or-der, nor can this be expected; for, if only the best were accepted, THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 129 we should want for material, and again that needed stimulus would not be furnished to the students in general—which is THE MERCURY'S mission. The present number—and such is the case with most issues—contains articles above the average, articles worthy of study. \V7E are glad to acknowledge the receipt of the May numbers " of The Washington Jefferso7iian and The Western JJyiiver-sity Courant, two journals that have not been reaching us. OTSEGO LAKE. WM. M. ROBENOLT, '02. f~\F the many little sheets of water found in the mountainous ^-' districts of central and eastern New York there is none which surpasses Lake Otsego either in the beauty and variety of its surrounding scenery or in the number and interest of the historical events connected therewith. "Peerless among- these mountain gems, Unmatched 'mong nature's diadems, Is Lake Otsego, 'Glimmerglass,' Whose grandeur rare naught can surpass." This body of water, forming a basin ten miles in length and one in width, is located on the hills forming the watershed between the Mohawk and Susquehanna rivers, its elevation above the sea level being about 1,300 feet. At its outlet is where the Susque-hanna enters upon its long and winding and troubled course toward the ocean. It lies within the territory formerly occupied by the Mohawks, and this region was their favorite fishing and hunting ground. Along its western bank was the trail of these Indians in their journeys toward the south. From this region, undoubtedly, furs and skins were sent to Ft. Orange to be bartered with the early Dutch traders, for the hills abounded in fur-bearing animals of different species. This lake furnished a means for Gen. James Clinton, after making his expedition up the Hudson and the Mohawk, to convey his army southward to meet Gen. Sullivan who was to yAn him from the south and then march into the country of the Cayugas and Senecas. On the first of July, after carrying his boats over-land from the Mohawk, he embarked at the head of the lake with 130 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. over two hundred boats and began his journey over its placid waters toward the Susquebanna—a larger fleet, doubtless, than shall ever again float on these waters. After landingat the outlet they encamped on ground now occupied by the village and waited for orders to move southward. During the stay here of nearly six weeks he and his men amused themselves by hunting the deer on the hills and fishing in the lake. This beautiful sheet of water is the first on which James Fenimore Cooper's eyes fell with a conscious look, and be-ing reared along its shores, it was always a charming spot to him. It has been made famous by his classic pen, for in and about this lake are laid some of the most interesting scenes found in his "Leather Stocking Tales.'' In this vicinity is where Natty spent his time in hunting with the Indians, and now may be seen on the eastern shore near the foot of the lake a fine marble statue of him, standing erect on a small monumental column ; the tall white figure of the old hunter stands gleaming among the higher branches of a grove of young pines, looking over lake and valley. The one who visits this lake to-day does not see the unbroken sylvan surroundings that were here in the days of Clinton and Cooper. When Clinton encamped here there were no permanent dwellings and very few in Cooper's younger days. Now may be seen a village at either end and cottages and beautiful farm houses around its shores. To one who has an eye for the beauties of Nature, the views about this lake are an unceasing source of delight. Hills, inter-spersed with woods and meadows, abounding in springs whose water trickles down their banks finding its way to the basin of the lake, rise from either side, those to the east being for the most part steep and rugged, while those to the west have a more gentle slope. Thousands of visitors seek this spot every summer, and the entire length of its beach is dotted with tents and camping houses. A roadway parallels the whole lake and pleasure seekers often take a drive, making the complete circuit, a distance of twenty-five miles. The village lying at its southern shore is called Cooperstown, from the name of its founder. Here are the summer residences of some of the most prominent people of this country. From the pier at this place one can get a view of nearly the whole lake. To the right of the pier and not far from the outlet THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 131 may be seen the rock which formed the place of meeting for Deer-slayer and Chingachgook, with the limpid waves rippling about as they did at the time of this meeting. It is now known as Otsego or Council Rock. The river for the first few rods, after receiving the water from the lake, flows so smoothly that scarcely a ripple may be seen. Its terraced banks are covered with scenery which may well challenge a rival. It has been termed the "Lover's Lane." To the eastward of the outlet and beyond the village, rising in terraces, is the "Lakewood" cemetery, one of the most beautiful in the country, among whose marble columns, one erected to the memory of Cooper towers above the rest. On its base are sculptured emblems of the author's thought, and on the top, with dog and gun, is Leather Stocking—Fiction's son. The body of Cooper, however, was laid to rest in the village churchyard nearby. At the east from the cemetery one of the slopes rising above the others is known as Mt. Vision. From this height where the whole lake is visible it appears like an opal enclosed in an emerald. To the north of the cemetery, a little distance up the hillside from the beach, is found the Fairy Spring. Chaliced in a solid rock, its waters form a mirror here in the hillside. Every summer many little parties picnic here for a day and many interesting little stories are connected with the consecrated spot. Farther up along the eastern coast and not far from the shore has been erected a tower which commands the view of the lake. The name "Kingfisher Tower" has been given this. A short distance to the north and up on the hillsides, which here are so steep they can scarcely be climbed, may be found a rocky glen, the famous "Leather Stocking Cave." "Sulphur Spring" is the next point of interest, whose waters are valuable for medicinal purposes. A short distance from here two streams side by side glide down the mountain with a narrow ridge between them in the form of a roof, called the "Hog-back." When viewed from the lake the deep ravines which form the bed of these streams appear like a large "W." Farther on the hills take a gentle slope and through them flows a stream which is one of the most beautiful places about the whole lake. Its banks are lined with trees whose images are reflected in the water. It is termed the "Shadow Brook," the northern "Lover's Lane." Nearby lies a promontory whose f 132 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. gentle slopes have been cleared of their forest growth. This viewed at a distance assumes the form of some monster crouching for his prey, and from this resemblance has been called the "Sleeping Ivion." Tradition tells us that in Cooper's day an island lay off the coast of this promontory. (On this island was Hutter's cottage.) It, however, has since been submerged and lies but a few feet below the surface. An interesting story is connected with this and the "Sleeping L,ion." It is said that the lion outstretched his paws, struck the island and caused it to sink beneath the water, and to-day we have the "Sunken Island." This brings us near the head of the lake where the village of Springfield is situated. The points of interest along the western shore are not so numerous, though the views gained from this side are much more beautiful than those gained from the east side. Two points of interest, however, command our attention, Three Mile and Five Mile Points, situated, respectively, three and five miles from the village of Cooperstown. It is scarcely possible to imagine a spot more charming than the one first mentioned. Jutting out into the limpid waters of the lake at the foot of a height, lined with a pebbly beach, covered with trees and a grassy carpet, it seems to possess every charm to render it a favored spot. A limpid spring, remarkable for the coolness and sweetness of its waters, rises from the gravel of the beach at the very root of ancient trees. A wild brawling brook coming down from the hills has torn for itself a rude channel, adding variety to the ground, and often blending the troubled murmur of its waters with the gentle play of the ripple on the beach. The views in every direction are unsurpassed. In the rear, rise hills which seem to touch the sky in the distance. The eye, having wandered over a beautiful expanse of water, sees hills on the opposite side covered with woods and meadows from the strand to their crest. To the northward is the isolated height before mentioned as the "Sleeping Lion." To the southward lies the village of Cooperstown and the valley of the Susquehanna with a background of low mountains in the distance. This was one of the places selected by Cooper for several of his most impressive scenes. On this point the "Mingoes" are encamped when Natty's daring rescues Hist; and here he sends the canoe with the Indian lovers adrift and remains himself a THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. 133 prisoner. And here is where Deerslayer was captured by the Indians. Ever since the days of Cooper this spot has been sacred. During the summer several boats make daily trips from one village to the other, stopping at the intermediate points of interest. Who, after enjoying a ride on the Natty Bumpo, can forget the beautiful scenery gained from her deck ? Smaller crafts may be seen floating on the glassy surface for its entire length. This lake will always be held dear in the memory of one who has visited it. All whose paternal homes lie on or near a fine lake shore can readily say with Natty, "My eyes never a-weary looking at it." Irving waters are the very soul of a landscape. There is certainly no other natural object, however fine, whether imposing like a grand mountain or winning like a smiling valley, which carries with it so much of the spirit of companionship through all the successive years of a human life, as a lake, and one of a limited size awakens more of this feeling than a larger body of water. THE TURK IN RELIGION. A. H. MERDINYAN, '01 (KONIA, ASIA MINOR). 'THE Mohammedan world is proud of her children, who have intense loyalty to their religion, and are active for its wel-fare. Although the nation is a prey to the misteaching of the Koran, still feeling it j»o be the best pioneer of truth, they live under its obscure banner and the misery of misleading religion. The Turk is intensely religious in his belief, and endeavors to accomplish all the rites and duties of his religion. He is held within the limits of his false religion, and his freedom of thought and private judgment is crushed, and he cannot find an occasion to develop for better. He has no freedom to accept the other re-ligion, which is far better than his. The Turk in religion is what he is, and remains what he is, because his religion is Moham-medan. There is no leaven in it. Elements of kindness, politeness, hospitality and religious fer-vor are their good qualities ; but they show anger, hatred and bitter cruelty when occasion offers. In the highest attitude of his religious inspiration he often gets too wild, and is not less than a beast. He is a cold-blooded murderer and butcher to carry on the false mission of the Koran, as he believes it to be his reli-gious duty. In his religious inspiration he cries out, "O Eord of 134 THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY. all creatures ! O Allah ! Destroy the infidels and polytheists, thine enemies, the enemies of the religion ! 0 Allah ! make their children orphans, and defile their abodes, and cause their feet to slip; give them and their families, their households, their women, children, possessions and race and their wealth and lands as booty to the Moslems, O God of all creatures !" The Turks are missionaries as well as Christians. They press steadily forward to convert the world. They labor under a mis-erable delusion and misconception that Mohammedanism is an elect, and paves the way for a purer faith, which leads to the life eternal. The sword of Mohammed and the Koran are the most stubborn enemies of civilization and truth the world has yet known; and every believer in the Koran is in the same propor-tion anxious to bring many under the bloody and shameful banner of his religion. They have the great honor (?) of being the most destructive and cruel nation of the world. To-day the largest religious university in the world belongs to the Mohammedans— " Ayhar," the university in Cairo, where nearly ten thousand young men are preparing themselves for the priesthood, to spread and proclaim the doctrines of Mohammed to the wide world. Al-most every town and city of the country is provided with theo-logical schools, graduating every year scores of young priests for the mission of Mohammed. Iconium, with its sixty thousand population, has thirty-five Mohammedan theological schools. Mohammedanism is an aggressive religion, and is anxious to bring "kafirs" Infidels (as they call the Christians or non-Mo-hammedans) within its pale. We cannot overlook the fact that in late years they have written pages of history with their sword dipped in Armenian blood. Their extreme civil and religious measures were more than an Armenian nation could bear, and the result has been cold-blooded murder throughout the land. The blame is on Christian nations, who, being unconcerned, tol-erated their brothers and sisters to suffer unto the death under the paw of a wild and cruel nation, which every day strives to exter-minate all those who are outside of their religious sphere, as well as on the Moslems. So long as the political power and supremacy rests in the Turk, there can be no real civil and religious liberty in that country. There are 200,000,000 Mohammedans in the world—nearly one-eighth of the human race—who live and die under the stub- THE GETTYSBURG MERCURY 135 born doctrines and statutes of the Koran; under its sway the radi-cal evils of polygamy and divorce are fully practiced among them. Islams can legally and religiously take as many as four wives, but the number of concubines is not limited. The Turk not only looks upon polygamy as right and proper, but he considers it a religious duty. The practical duties of a Mohammedan are pro-fession of faith, " L,a ilahe illallah Mohammed er-resoul-oallah" (There is no God but one God, and Mohammed is the Apostle of God); ablution with prayer; giving alms to the poor; and going to Mecca. Kach faithful believer ought to pray five times a day —at dawn, at noon, in the afternoon at three o'clock, at six o'clock, and in the evening at eight o'clock. Before each prayer ablution, washing of hands, feet, mouth, ears and face is impera-tive. "While doing this certain prayers are offered for the for-giveness of the sins which are committed with these several mem-bers. The form of worship consists of kneeling down, rising, bowing down, kneeling again, and putting face against the floor, and each time whispering certain prayers; then clasping the hands over the face, passing them down and off as if driving the devil away. The mosques are open at all hours during the day. The external part of the mosque is most gorgeous and mag-nificent, but internally it is very plain. The floor is covered with beautiful rugs or carpets. No chairs are in the mosque. Here and there some texts from the Koran are written in large letters. Mosques have no bells. "Magin," with loud voice, yell from the top of minarets, " There is no God but one God, Mohammed is the Apostle of God;" "Come to prayer, come to the temple of life." That is the echo which comes from the hundreds of mina-rets each day five times. Friday is their Sabbath. After ablution each believer enters into the mosque, after taking off his shoes at the vestibule or door, and takes his place beside his fellow-be-lievers. An ultimate reverence and respect prevails during the prayer—no talking, no laughing, no sleeping ; even coughing is checked by each believer, in intense reverence to prayer. In perfect harmony the immense body of believers worship in such a solemn manner as can hardly be seen in any other place of wor-ship. The preacher is at the altar. He is without any special garment. He leads the prayer, and each of his movements or prostrations are observed and imitated by hundreds and thousands of worshipers. After prayer they may hear some exhortations from the Koran on their practical duties of religion, and then they are dismissed. 1 PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS. C F. SOLT MERCHANT TAILOR Masonic Bldg., GETTYSBURG Our collection of Woolens for the coming Fall and Winter season cannot be surpassed for variety, attractive designs and general completeness. The latest styles of fashionable novelties in the most approved shades. Staples of exceptional merit, value and wearing durability. Also altering, repairing, dyeing and scouring at moderate prices. .FOR UP-TO-DATE. Clothing, Hats, Shoes, And Men's Furnishing Goods, go to I. HALLEM'S MAMMOTH CLOTHING HOUSE, Chambersburg St., GETTYSBURG, PA. ESTABLISHED 1867 BY ALLEN WALTON. ALLEN K. WALTON, President and Treasurer. ROBT. J. WALTON Superintendent. Hummelstooin Broom Stone Company Quarrymen and Manufacturers of Building Stone, Sawed Flagging and Tile Waltonville, Dauphin Co., Pa. Contractors for all kinds of Telegraph and Express Address. Cut Stone Work. BROWNSTONE, PA. Parties visiting the Quarries will leave cars at Brownstone Station on the P. & R. R. R. For a nice sweet loaf of Bread call on J. RAMER Baker of Bread and Fancy Cakes, GETTYSBURG. PA. EIMER & AMEND, Manufacturers and Importers of Chemicals and Chemical Apparatus 205, 207, 209 and 211 Third Avenue, Corner 18th Street NEW YORK. Finest Bohemian and German Glassware, Royal Berlin and Meissen Porcelain, Pure Hammered Platinum, Balances and Weights. Zeiss Mi-croscopes and Bacteriological Apparatus; Chemical Pure Acids and Assay Goods. SCOTT PAPER COMPANY MAKERS OF FINE TOILET PAPER 7th and Greenwood Ave. PHILADELPHIA PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS. The Century Double-Feed Fountain Pen. Fully Warranted 16 Kt. Gold Pen, Indium Pointed. GEO. EVELER, Agent for Gettysburg College PRICE LIST. No. 1. Chased, long- or short $2 00 No. 1. Gold Mounted 3 00 No. 3. Chased 3 00 Spiral, Black or Mottled $2 50 Twist, " " 2 SO Hexagon, Black or Mottled 2 50 No. 3. Gold Mounted 4 00 Pearl Holder, Gold Mounted 5 00 THE CENTURY PEN CO., WHITEWATER, WIS Askyour Stationer or our Agent to show them to you. Agood local agent wanted in every school mmmv,-,_.,u. sammmmmmwmwmmmmmmmmmmwwwgg Printingand Binding We Print This Book THE MT. HOLLY STATIONERY AND PRINTING CO. does all classes of Printing- and Binding-, and can furnish you any Book, Bill Head, Letter Head, Envelope, Card, Blank, or anything- pertain-ing- to their business in just as good style and at less cost than you can obtain same elsewhere. They are located among the mountains but their work is metropolitan. You can be convinced of this if you give them the opportunity. Mt. Holly Stationery and Printing Co. K SPRINGS, PA. =3 H. S. BENNER, .DEALER IN. Groceries, Notions, Queenswcire, Glassware, Etc., Tobacco and Cigars. 17 CHAMBERSBURG ST. WE RECOMMEND THESE BUSINESS MEN. Pitzer House, (Temperance) JNO. E. PITZER, Prop. Rates $1.00 to $1.25 per day. Battlefield a specialty. Dinner and ride to all points of interest,including the tb ree days' fight, $1.25. No. 127 Main Street. MUMPER & BENDER Furniture Cabinet Making, Picture Frames Beds, Springs, Mattresses, Etc. Baltimore St., GETTYSBURG, PA. You will find a full line of Pure Drugs and Fine Sta- People's Drug Store Prescriptions a Specialty. .GO TO. {}otel (Gettysburg Barber Sfyop. Centre Square. B. M. SEFTON J. A. TAWNEY ». Is ready to furnish Clubs and Bread, Rolls, Etc. At short notice and reasonable rates. Washington & Middle Sts., Gettysburg. W.F.CODORI, M*£T£&! Dealer in Beef, Pork, Lamb, Veal, Sausage. Special rates to Clubs. York St., GETTYSBURG. Davxb Croxel, Dealer in ^tne (groceries cmb notions «-«-4}ork Street. .GO TO. CHAS. E. BARBEHENN, Barber In the Eagle Hotel, Cor. Main and Washing-ton Sts. YOHN BROS. Agents for the Keystone State, Waldo, Washburn, Groupner & Meyer. Highest Grade Mandolins, Guitars, Banjos, Mandollas and Mandocellos. Headquarters for Phonographs, Graphophones and supplies. Trimmings of every description. All sheet music one-half off. Large discounts on Books and studies. 326 Market St., Harrisburg, Pa. FAVOR THOSE WHO FAVOR US. Spalding's OFFICIAL Athletic Goods Officially adopted by the leading Colleges, Schools and Athletic Clubs of the Country. Every requisite tor Baseball, Football, Golf, Tennis, Athlet-ics, Gymnasium. Spalding's Offi- 'cial League Ball is the Official Ball of the Na-tional League and all the lead-ing college asso-ciations Handsome cata-logue of Athletic Sports free to any address. Spalding's Baseball Guide for 1900,10 cts. A. Q. SPALDINQ & BROS. New York Chicago ROWE. YOUR GROCER Carries Full Line of Groceries, Canned Goods, Etc, Best Coal Oil and Brooms,at most Reasonable Prices. OPPOSITE COLLEOE CAMPUS. S. J. CODORI, Stationery, Blank Books, Amateur Pho-tographic Supplies, Etc., Etc. BALTIMORE ST. R. H. CULP PAPER HANGER, Second Square, York Street. COLLEGE EMBLEMS. EMIL ZOTHE, ENGRAVER, DESIGNER AND MANUFACTURING JEWELER. 19 S. NINTH St. PHILADELPHIA. PA. SPECIALTIES:- Masonic Marks, Society Badges, College Buttons, Pins, Scarf Pins, Stick Pins and Athletic Prizes. All Goods ordered through A. N. Bean. To Repair Broken Arti-cles use Major's Cement Remember MAJOR'S RUBBER CEMENT, MAJOR'S « LEATHER CEMENT. Meneely Bell Co. TROY, N. Y. MANUFACTURERS OF SUPERIOR BELLS The 2000 pound bell now ringing in the tower of Pennsylvania Col-lege was manufactured at this foundry. PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS. The Pleased Customer Is not a stranger in our establish-ment— he's right at home, you'll see him when you call. We have the materials to please fastidious men. J. D. LIPPY, Merchant Tailor 39 Chambersburg- St., Gettysburg, Pa. G. E. SPANGLER, Dealer in Pianos, Organs, Music, Musical Instruments, Strings, Etc. YORK STREET, 1ST SQUARE. GETTYSBURG. L. D. Miller, GROCER Confectioner and Fruiterer. Ice Cream and Oysters in Season. 19 Main St. GETTYSBURG City Hotel, Main St. Gettysburg. ^ Free 'Bus to and from all Trains Thirty seconds' walk from either depot Dinner with drive over field with four or more, $1.35 Rates $1.50 to $2.00 per day John E. Hughes, Prop. Capitol Cit? Cafe Cor. Fourth and Market Sts. HARRISBURQ, PA. First-Class Rooms Furnished. Special Rates to Private Parties. Open Day and Night. European Plan. Eunch of All Kinds to Order at the Restaurant. ALDINGER'S CAPITOL CITY CAFE. POPULAR PRICES. F. Mark Bream, Dealer in Fancy and Staple Groceries Telephone 29 Carlisle St., GETTYSBURG, PA. .Photographer. No. 3 Main St., GETTYSBURG, PENNA. Our new effects in Portraiture are equal to photos made anywhere, and at any price PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS alright, 140-142 Woodward Avenue DETROIT, MICH. Manufacturers of High Grade Fraternity Emblems Fraternity Jewelry Fraternity Novelties Fraternity Stationary Fraternity Invitations Fraternity Announcements Fraternity Programs Send for Catalogue and Price List. Special Designs on Application. MOTEL GETTYSBURG LIVERY GETTYSBURG, PA. LOING & HOLTZWORTM, Proprietors Apply at Office in the Hotel for First-Class Guides and Teams THE BATTEFIELD A SPECIALTY TTbe JSoIton Market Square "Ibartfeburg, lpa. Large and Convenient Sample Rooms. Passenger and Baggage Elevator. Electric Cars to and from Depot. Electric Light and Steam Heat. J. M. & M. S. BUTTERWORTH, Proprietors Special Rates for Commer-cial Men "EZ 1ST IMMER CUT ET WAS ZU WISSEIN." These are the words of Goethe, the great German poet, and are as true in our day as when uttered. In these times of defective vision it is good to know something about eyes. A great deal has been learned about the value of glasses and their application since Goethe lived. Spectacle wearers have increased by thousands, while at the same time, persons losing their eyesight, have been greatly diminished. If your eyes trouble you in any way let me tell you the cause. Examination free and prices reasonable. We grind all our own lenses and fit the best lenses (no matter what anyone else has charged you) for $2.50 per pair and as cheap as SO cents per pair, or duplicate a broken lens if we have one-half or more of the old one, at a reasonable charge, returning same day received. .E. L. EGOLP. 807 and 809 North Third Street, MARRISBURG, PA. r PATRONIZE OUR ADVERTISERS. (^entFal [lotel, ELIAS FISSEL, Prop. (Formerly of Globe Hotel) Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, Pa. Two doors from Court House. MODERN IMPROVEMENTS. Steam Heat, Electric Light and Call Bells all through the House. Closets and Bath Rooms on Every Floor. Sefton & Fleui-mrng's Ijivery is connected with this Hotel. Good Teams and Competent Guides for the Battlefield. Charges Moderate, Satisfaction Guaranteed. Rates $1.50 Per Day. GET A SKATE ON And send all your Soiled L,inen to the Gettysburg Steam Laundry R. R. LONQ, Prop. R. A. WONDERS, Corner Cigar Parlors. A full line of Cigars, Tobacco, Pipes, Etc. Scott's Corner, Opp. Eagle Hotel. GETTYSBURG, PA. J^ Try My Choice Eine of A t. High-Grade Chocolates 3 L p y. J. V. at 40c per lb. Always fresh at ,\ £ CHAS. H. McCLEARY j £ Carlisle St., Opposite W. M. R. R. j) l. Also Foreign and Domestic Fruits A j" Always on Hand. ** JOHN M. MINNIQH, Confectionery, lee, • andIee Creams. Oysters Stewed and Fried. No. 17 BALTIMORE ST. HARRq f}. 3EFTON The Leading Berber v>f)op (Successor to C. O. Sefton) Having- thoroughly remodeled the place is now ready to accommodate the public Barber Supplies a Specialty. .Baltimore Street. GETT*l5§UR(i, PA. ESTABLISHED 1876 PENROSE MYERS, Watchmaker and Jeweler Gettysburg Souvenir Spoons, Col-lege Souvenir Spoons. NO. 10 BALTIMORE ST., GETTYSBURG, PENNA. L. (\. klltW Manufacturers' Agent and Jobber of Hardware, Oils, Paints and Queensware. GETTYSBURG, PA. The Only Jobbing House in Adams County.