Poet’s Night,'—’Henry W. Longfellow being
the author under discussion. The oration,
declamations, select readings and essays, all
bore upon the life, the writings, the character
and home life of the great poet. . The last
part of the evening was taken up by a “ Spel
ling Bee,.’ in which everybody was invited to
take part,. It was.quite amusing as well as
instructive and showed some startling defects
in the orthography of some of our higher
classmen. There were two prizes awarded ;
one for the best speller and one for the poorest.
Miss Julia Gray received the first prize, and
Mr. J. Baldy Waldron received the other,
which was a leather medal, decorated with the
head of a donkey. “ Quite appropriate, did
I hear some one remark? Hush! he is a
Senior.” However, we hope this will not be
the last entertainment of this kind given, for
it makes quite a break in the never varying
routine of society work.
After a trip of two weeks, the Glee and
Banjo Club have returned to us well satisfied
with their experience as concert singers,
Their trip was successful in every particular,
and is one more step in the advancement of
the College. The following clipped from the
Altoona Tribune will explain itself:
Huntingdon, Pa., April i, —The Penn
sylvania State College Glee and Banjo Club,
which rendered a delightful programme in
the Opera House here on Saturday evening,
is one of the few traveling musical organiza
tions that is deserving of unstinted praise.
Possibly the most refined and appreciative
audience that has ever appeared in our Opera
House greeted these harmonious College boys
on Saturday night, notwithstanding the in
clement weather. The entire entertainment
sparkles over with rarest gems of vocal and
instrumental harmonies, and conspicuous
throughout, is the absence of any unrefined or
indelicate features. The Club consists of
twelve strong, harmonious voices and fifteen
first-class instrumental performers. Their
THE FREE LANCE.
selections have the flavor of the sparkling
racy atmosphere which surrounds their Col
lege life, and among which are interspersed
various classical numbers. The Club is un
der the musical guidance of Prof. F. Peabody
Atherton, the celebrated young violinist who
has already created a furore in musical circles.
They will make melody for the Altoona peo
ple on Thursday evening.
Our special correspondent’s interview
with A P’resiiman. —“Yes, the silly things,
they stayed up all night guarding the old
coach because they feared the Freshmen
would steal it, and then they would not get
their trip to Bellefonte the next day.” The
Freshmen had no idea of doing anything of
the kind. A few of them, hearing a racket,
went out to see what was the matter, but
when they discovered it was only the Sophs,
they came back and turned in fora good night’s
sleep,
“Oh yes, the next day we had some fun.
You see, the fact of our not interfering with
them the night before, gave them courage and
added greatly to their confidence in the
future, so they believed they had nothing
further to fear.
But when the coach was driven down to
meet them at the Lemont Station, we con
cluded then it was time to act. Accordingly
we were at hand. As soon as the driver drove
up in front of the store, just below the station,
and after he had tied his mules and entered
one of the places near by, we knew it was
“now or never.”
We made a dash for the wagon, cut the
hitching strap, one grabbed the lines and an
other the whip, and away we went as fast as
the old mules could go.
Ha! Ha! Ha! There the joke was turned.
The reason for that was, the boys were told
that the driver had gone into the barber shop,
but instead, they had entered the shoemaker’s
shop ; and while ,the.b,oys. were, holding hard
onto the door of theonq .place, thinking they