THE FREE LANCE. Published Monthly .during the College Year by the Students of The Pennsylvania Slate College. Vol. X The clanging bell Is tolling the knell Of the dear, dead, misspent year; And calling to life, • Not trouble and strife, But the future in fancy so dear, Does its melody tell Of duties done well, Of kindness sown far and near? Of triumph o'er ill By which we fulfill God's purpose in placing us here? A MIDWINTER NIGHT'S FORTUNE. " Oh, I say, Theo, old man, wake up. What's the matter with you ? You haven't spoken a word since you sat down." Theodore Hammond, or, as more ,commonly called, Theo., first tenor of the Stanton College Glee Club, now making its fourth annual tour, turned lazily toward his questioner, rred. Monkton, and replied,— " Nothing's the matter with me, I never felt better in my life than Ido just now. I was only thinking." " Well," interrupted the irrepressible Pred., "if I were you I wouldn't do it. It's hard on the brain tissues, don't you know." And he walked away smiling to himself, while Theo. turned again to the car window and continued to gaze dreamily at the swiftly flying landscape. Yes, he was thinking, and deeply, too. Twenty miles yet to Brighton, where the club should make its next,—and, it may be DECEMBER, 1896. TH YEAR-TIDE. No. 6. H. H.' M.