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turity of youth." Trash! And yet this plea is by no means imagi· nary or even unusual. Let us beware; for if sentiments like these obtain but a little wider acceptation, our Literature will soon be unworthy of the name, and our Magazine will not merit circulation beyond the pale of our College walls. Let us, as an antidote to this fallacy, ring in each other's ears the truth, that vivacity and solidity are not only always compatible but always desirable. Granted, as I do willingly, that sound thought and sound argument are ever fraught with life and earnestness, nay more, that these two requisites to success take precedence in practical importance of every other, there is still one essential requisite, vivacity, inseparable from these in all those productions that, in common parlance, " take," which, I claim no originality in asserting, is at present sadly neglected in our midst.

The causes of this neglect it is foreign from my purpose to investigate at length, my only object and wish being, that we may be duly impressed with the fact and with the necesssity of a remedy. But it may not be out of place in this connection merely to advert to one or two of these causes, since by so doing we shall be the better enabled to discover the directions from which the remedy must proceed to be at all efficacious. That our short-comings are the prime cause, I have already intimated, and to ourselves of course we must accordingly look for their correction. But if those above us incur aught of the responsibility, then they surely should do their part toward the desired reformation. Now to prove that our Faculty are in an eminent degree responsible for this literary apathy, so to speak, which is too prevalent among us, I cannot; and if I could, the task would be a thankless one. But certain it is, that our instructors do, or should exert an influence upon the literary, as well as upon the moral and religious tone of the institution whose interests they are bound to conserve, and just what that influence shall be it is for themselves to decide. With all due respect and reverence to superiors, then, I would ask the sentiment of College, or if this unpretentious article should chance to fall under the observation of one of these respected gentlemen, I would ask him whether or not our instructors are direlict of duty in the amount of encouragement given by them to true literary ardor and enthusiasm.

If the workings of our Prize System, of which I am far from being an unqualified denunciator, or if the quota of individual advice and criticism which we receive is all we require from higher sources to obtain superior excellence in this particular, why well and good. But if more care and attention is requisite, are we presumptuous to demand

it? An answer from "behind the curtain" would be most acceptable to many of us.

But let us return to more profitable reflections. What is the remedy for the defect we have been describing? What is our duty aside from that of our superiors? On this point the late Professor Goodrich has left us some advice which contains a reply to both these enquiries. He says: "In the selection of a subject, choose one as far as possible of present interest. In treating it, avoid trite common-place thoughts however weighty. Let thoughts be new coin, not old Spanish quarters. To be valuable they must involve truths. Don't take these second-hand; get them out of your own head, out of your own experience. Challenge everything that offers, and put nothing down till your heart approves it." Here, it seems to me, is the gist of the whole matter in a nut shell; and, to paraphrase, not to add to it, it means that soul, next to truth, should be the first element in our compositions. We must write just what we feel, and go back to our own hearts for our inspiration, if we would amuse, instruct or benefit our fellows. There is, indeed, much to be urged in apology for any defect in College Literature. Few of us have had any extended experience in letters or in the world, and fewer still have given ourselves to close and careful thought, and our youth is a sufficient reason for this. But nothing will wholly excuse us in College or out of College, when we know the character of our hearers and have the choice of subject, for boring them with triteness, with dullness, with shallowness, or with want of spirit. There is some subject, there are a thousand subjects, which will interest any man or any body of men, and we ought to learn before we are much older, that there are a thousand others which, do what we can upon them, our efforts will seem comparatively tame and worthless. The reason is obvious. We are grasping for things beyond our reach. We are contending with the greatest philosophers and historians of modern times, and, as a matter of course, we contend in vain But we labor under a disadvantage greater, if that were possible, than the strength of competition. We take no interest in these subjects, and we can bring to the work only half our power. It is purely a dry labor of the head with no help from the heart. If striplings like us were compelled to wrestle with literary giants, we should escape the charge of temerity and might be pitied for our failure; but our attempts are unnecessary as they are unfortunate. Here in our midst we have subjects whose titles alone will secure a reading. Faults are nursed among the students; there are faults, perhaps, in our government. Blows struck at these

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will meet a response in hearts to the number of half a thousand. attention would be a good deal aroused at seeing an article headed "Hazing and its Effects," or "Espionage and its Minions." Your neighbor has skinned his way through College; give us your opinion of skinning, physically, intellectually and morally considered. Perhaps you yourself are amenable to the impeachment. If so, you might write with great vividness.

If you take your meals at a club, (which heaven forbid,) give us "A Day at an Eating Club." It will not be necessary to repeat all that was said at the table, or even all that you have uttered yourself. On such a theme, also, time and place may be measurably disregarded in relation to the events narrated. A skillful connoisseur will scatter his bons mots as Herrmann does his cards-where they are least expected.

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The words of our whole language may be found in the Dictionary, but they lie there disjointed and dead. They may be united according to the strictest rules of grammar, and yet be entirely wanting in beauty and force. It is the amount of soul we manage to throw into our combinations that determines our power as a speaker or writer. "Why be content with words arranged with the regularity and lifelessness of a militia muster, when we might have the strong squads, the hard work, the earnestness and the clang of real battle." Our metaphysics and our philosophy, however deep and satisfactory they may appear to-day, will give us little pleasure ten years hence. But embalm the life of College and its spirit in any form, and the depository will increase in value as the memories it recalls grow dim, and the scenes it renews grow distant. Take those authors who have caught and fixed the nation's interest, whose names are "household words," and you will find them men whose hearts beam out through their books, and whose preeminent characteristics are truth and sincerity. Analyze the secret of their power, and you will doubtless find it in no small degree the results of years of earnest toil and practice, of many and labored essays which the world will never see. But once emerged from this chrysalis state of preparation, and we discover in their productions, as the result of this industry, a grace that pleases and a strength that tells. Such writers can we at least begin here to be.

Yale has in years gone-by given to the world brilliant essayists, admired poets, and popular authors, as well as sound lawyers, able statesmen and profound metaphysicians; and doubtless the race is not yet extinct. But this literary apathy, of which we speak, is surely not a pledge that our age will be overstocked with them.

A. D. M.

The Ancient Fisherman.

Close beside Life's foaming river,

On its grey and mossy shore, Sits a grim and ghastly Angler, Catching fish for evermore.

What the Demon's form and feature,
Mortal eye may never know;
But his feet hot coals are dropping
In the turbid stream below.

And whene'er a dainty troutlet,
His capacious pouch adorns,
Gleaming 'mid his shroud of vapors,
Seem to dance his crooked horns.

Many baits hath this old Angler,

Cunning as his heart could wish,

Fitted for all sorts of weather,
Suited for all kinds of fish.

Glasses brimmed with liquid rubies, Jeweled robes and glittering pearls; Heart-entangling shapes of beauty; Coral lips, and silken curls;

Lordly parks, and princely mansions;

Banker's vaults, and Bishop's gowns;

Sounding titles; empty honors;

Lying laurels; bloody crowns.

Cunningly, his cunning angle

Throws he in the eddying stream, And the baits, like flies of summer, In the waters dance and gleam.

Ah! the fish, how close they cluster
Round, the gilded, glittering toys,
Sporting, longing, darting, nibbling,
Heeding not the sly decoys.

But he quiet smiles sardonic,

Till the barbed hook they seize ;

Then a ripple,-all is over,

And the fish repent at ease.

Luckiest he of all the Fishers
That do angle on the coast;
Ever stand his ample lockers
Full of fish to fry or roast.

Hail, thou mighty Prince of Anglers!
Shall I name thee in my rhyme?
Pluto, Loke, Apollyon, Satan!

Fisher in the stream of Time!

W. W. B.

A Prevailing Malady.

THERE are certain diseases of very common occurence which seem to have escaped the notice of medical men, and which, though striking and sometimes dangerous, have not been mentioned in connection with any materia medica. The doctors are doubtless at fault here; it becomes non-professional men to endeavor to make up for their deficiences. We will therefore attempt a diagnosis of a very common College malady, styled the Jubilee Fever.

This is a compound malady. It is called a fever, but it also partakes of the nature of the measles, inasmuch as it is contagious, produces eruptions, and when it stikes in, is sometimes fatal. As it appears in the Class it is intermittent, in the Society it is periodic, in the individual, chronic. Its causes cannot very well be recounted. Its symptoms in the individual are omitted recitations, a display of borrowed green-backs, general good humor, and excessive familiarity with every one; in the Society and Class its symptoms are committees, badges, boasts and promises. Its results are treats, sprees, celebrations, jubilations, cheers and flunks. It works on and through the physical powers, but very strongly also on the mind. In the individual it produces eruptions on all noteworthy occasions. Thus, whoever takes a prize, even if it is a third prize on a skinned composition, feels himself bound to get up a peanut celebration of the first magnitude, in which all the personal and political friends of the unfortunate recipient are happy to join. A new suit of clothes furnishes occasion for a treat of lesser magnitude. An election to office is celebrated by a series of small suppers, lasting through the whole of the

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