to her own and kissed it, she exclaimed in that
gentle retiring manner which was so natural to
her, "I did it all for your sake Cleve; and now
dearest after Christmas is over you will allow me
to announce our engagement wont you ?"
And he did
HALL AND CAMPUS.
Urcurbed inclinations are like treacherous
quicksands to humanity. The unseen depth
that draws its victim in, is covered over by smooth
and glistening sands. Our inclination are always
towards what appears brightest and most pleasant
for us. They would lead us from all unpleasant
obstacles. Rather than surmount the rugged
steeps they would beckon us to the pleasant bower
in the valley. They would have us live but for
the present. Immediate gratification is the law
of inclination.
In human nature Duty stands in antithesis to
Inclination. We see this fact demonstrated right
among ohrselves every day. We avoid drill, ab
sent ourselves from chapel, cut lessons and invent
the lamest kind of excuses for bad recitations. And
why ? Simply because we follow our inclinations ;
feelings born of instinct ; bents that know no high
er law than nature. Let us inquire into our pres
ent position, our ambitions and expectations. We
are preparing ourselves for the highest duties of
life ; for places of responsibility and trust. Like
the raw recruits of an army, we are now but ac
quiring the details of drill and discipline that we
may make the better soldier afterwards. Whether
we, in the future, shall rise above the ranks, lies
with us now.
The intellectual man owes to humanity a duty
that only a lifetime of effort and application can
discharge. When we read of the old monastic in
stitutions of learning of the ancient schools of
Egypt, Greece and Rome ; of the days when men
of iron were needed to grapple with the fanatical
ideas that were struggling in the minds of a half
THE FREE LANCE.
savage people, there seems to spring up a venera•
tion for those rugged old philosophers, disciples
and scholars, who sought the truth for truth's sake.
There is something grand, sublime in the nature
that can sink itself, forgetting all, only that 'pos.
terity may benefit by its abnegation. The will
that can say "I will and I wont" at the right time
is the possession of a king among men. The vacil
lating will that is swayed by every inclination is
the possession of a weakling. Each is a matter
of cultivation habit and self denial. If we shirk
duty in our preparation for the future we can only
hope to fill the shirker's place and likewise reap
his reward.
H. H. H
Turning from what should be to what is we will
observe a marked contrast when we contemplate
our college life. From the highest to the lowest
classmen we will observe a tendancy to evade re
sponsibility, or if not to evade it, there seems to
be a lack of power to comprehend what it is.
Every organization in the college suffers more
or less on the account of this defect in the charact
er of its members. Take our literary societies.
A student on becoming a member of one of them
assumes certain obligations, and pledges his word
as a man of honor to meet them. By giving this
pledge he presents himself as a responsible person
able to meet the obligation be has taken upon him
self. And in too Many cases there it ail ends. In'
quire into the records of the societies and see' how
many have fallen short; how many have utterly
failed to realize that by willfully failing to meet
the obligation which they had assumed, they thus
have violated the highest sense of honor? How
long would a business man survive who would
thus so thoughtlessly fail to meet his obligations ?
I use the word thoughtlessly here because I
believe it is almost entirely to carelessness
and thoughtlessness that we may attribute the
cause of a large number of students failing to re
alize what respnsibilily is. But thoughtlessness
and carelessness does not excuse the fact, how
ever, and the earlier one realizes be is a responsi-