66 HUMPTY DUMPTY He sat on a wall and he had a great fall. "All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again." Humpty wasn't an egg. He was a college student. The wall was not a regular wall, but a road that was steep in places and gently sloping at times. The college student wasn't sitting on the wall. He was walking along the road. He had been traveling the road for some twenty-odd years, and he couldn't see his destination. He wasn't alone. The roadway was filled with other young men and young women, and older persons in great numbers. Most of the travelers along this road were walking, but some were only able to crawl. Others trotted and galloped. Humpty Dumpty was right in the midst of the crowd. He had been making fair speed. He had reached a village along the way which was named University. "Twas just in the public square of this village that he had his fall. Oh, yes, we forgot to say that our Humpty didn't have one of the great falls. It was just a little fall, and one or two 54 HUMPTY DUMPTY of the king's horses and men could have grabbed hold of Humpty and put him back on his feet, but none were around and Humpty kept on rolling down the road, away from the direction in which he was headed. We don't know what will happen to Humpty. He is still rolling, and a rolling Humpty gathers a lot of dust and dirt. Somewhere along the way a few of the king's men may notice the poor chap and put him together again, so that he can make a fresh start, or he may continue rolling until he rolls off into some slimy gutter. Humpty Dumpty is just a college student, as we are. He didn't expect to take a tumble, but he hadn't been used to traveling in strange districts. Perhaps it was a banana peel, thrown by some careless traveler, which caused him to slide and go down. There are lots of careless travelers. There are many bad places in the roadbed. There is a need for more men to enlist as king's men and women to help the Humpty Dumpties to get back on their feet again. LIGHTS OF THE CITY What do the lights of a city mean? We tried to answer this question once before in this column. We are going to try again. Every life is a light and every light is a life. Every light is a token of a certain kind of living, a separate phase of an individual personality. There are lights that betoken pleasure and recreation. They blaze; they glitter with sparkle and laughing recklessness; they show a world unreal, for they show a one-sided kind of living and acting. In another section are found persuasive lights that steal into the mind with alluring signs, pointing out possibilities of bargains. They are the lights of the business section of the city. Steady-burning lights, calm and staring, are seen in another direction. Dance halls and saloons are there. The lights are dully, soberly burning where life is being thrown away by handfuls. Here are tenements. Pale are the lights, gloomed with dirty shades that cast a pallor over all. Hopelessness is told. Discouraged existence is the rule here. been lost. Ideals have 56 LIGHTS OF THE CITY The student lamp burns with promise. Ambitions burn and glow; youth is about. Genii are the slaves of these lamps; Aladdin's lamp is duplicated here. Rainbows come down here, each with a pot of gold in reach. The lights of the homes where happiness and joys are, are blessed lights. They reveal family circles, blessed with the ties that bind. Their beams fall upon children and mothers and fathers. Each light is a tempter. It cries: "Choose." Each person in the city sees every light, and does choose. Tiring of one, each person may change, but no person can serve all masters. Choice must be. What do the lights of the city mean? That man is master of his fate; that there are true gods and false gods; and that life is what we make it, are partial answers to the question. SUBSTITUTE FOR STUDYING So you are worrying concerning that subject -do not think you will pass? Why not try studying? Well, there's something in that. One should never do what is inconvenient. We would suggest the observance of a few simple rules for the remainder of the semester. Cultivate a hungry appearance while the professor lectures. Sit in the first row and noticeably demonstrate your frowning features during the hour. Disagree with discretion only. Tell the professor how interested you are in his branch and ask him at once if it would be possible to get into several of his classes next year. Confer with him as to your future courses early and avoid the rush. Even though he be a laboratory assistant, address him as professor or doctor. Judiciously request further light upon some part of the term's work, and thank him profusely for clearing up the one point that you have been unable to understand. Explain that it is your intention to make his work your major through life. Make your fountain pen operate continuously, even though you fill the pages with verses and |