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Article COLLEGE MUSINGS. Page 1 of 4 →
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College Musings.
COLLEGE MUSINGS .
{ Continued from page 174 . ) NOTES OF AN IDLER COMING OF AGE AND TAKING A TRIP TO PARIS . CHAPTER VII . ON the first of February , in the year of our Lord one thousand eiglit hundred and , I attained that period of human life at which the law of England pronounces a man free from parental controland
, responsible for his own actions , being no longer , according to legal fiction , an infant . To the castle building imagination of romantic youth , revelling in the contemplation of accomplishing a thousand happy schemes , what a delightful—what an eventful moment . ' Methought , while accompanying my financier to that gold mart vulgarly yclept "the Bank , " wherein I was to be legally invested with the unshackled disposal of my own fortune , what a prudent young fellow I would be ! O what excellent resolutions for future conduct were taken mentally ! What
pretty plans were submitted to the " mind ' s eye" for the perfect regulation of myself in my new character of—the man ! Alas , how vain such visions of juvenile happiness time and experience alone can plainly tell . The heart onl y kuoweth its own bitterness ; even learning is wearisome to the soul , and the tale of the whole is vanity . The wise and great Solomon , wrote so centuries agone , and little Solomons in scores have echoed the same doleful ditty de die in diem sempiternam . " Sure enough , now , " as Pat would say , did I patiently endure for the space of three mortal hours the tedious torture of a vivid fancy pent up in the dusky lobby of that temple of Mammon , whilst waiting the
proper completion , by careful trustees , of all due forms of legal transfer . But , silly young fellow ! how do you suppose I amused myself ? I paced cavalierly up and down the Gabbatha , kicking my heels , and listening with foppish delight to the jingling of my spurs , affecting to twist my adolescent moustache , like you see many other fools do in public places—men of older growth—and sneering at the assumed airs and uneasy self-consequence of those jacks-in-office who stood behind the counters with s stuck in their earslooking like " quills the
pen , upon fretful porcupine . " This was a magnanimous beginning of life . A very prudent course for a young fellow . However , I do not know a situation less enviable , or more calling for the exercise of your philosophy , than being obliged to dangle in the contiguity of purse-proud , narrow-minded persons , who , with " eyes severe , and beard of formal cut , " play their self-important part upon the stage of life . Such clods of animated clay arein my estimationvery despicable . Yet they merit our pitytoo .
, , , Total aliens to the birthri ghts of genius , of what mines of mental wealth are they deprived ! Take from them their riches , and what have they to elevate them in the scale of humanity . Let adversity overtake them , and tlieir real nature is developed ; they either drink , or steal , or drown themselves ; they have neither God nor reason to sustain them ; they are , spiritually speaking , the " refuse and off-scouring of all things . "
In the heyday of generous youth , such follies served to greet the humours of the mind , and make butts to mark with the bolts of wit and satire ; but in riper age , when care and thought have wrinkled the young cheek , and streaked the dark hair with silver threads , these reflections
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
College Musings.
COLLEGE MUSINGS .
{ Continued from page 174 . ) NOTES OF AN IDLER COMING OF AGE AND TAKING A TRIP TO PARIS . CHAPTER VII . ON the first of February , in the year of our Lord one thousand eiglit hundred and , I attained that period of human life at which the law of England pronounces a man free from parental controland
, responsible for his own actions , being no longer , according to legal fiction , an infant . To the castle building imagination of romantic youth , revelling in the contemplation of accomplishing a thousand happy schemes , what a delightful—what an eventful moment . ' Methought , while accompanying my financier to that gold mart vulgarly yclept "the Bank , " wherein I was to be legally invested with the unshackled disposal of my own fortune , what a prudent young fellow I would be ! O what excellent resolutions for future conduct were taken mentally ! What
pretty plans were submitted to the " mind ' s eye" for the perfect regulation of myself in my new character of—the man ! Alas , how vain such visions of juvenile happiness time and experience alone can plainly tell . The heart onl y kuoweth its own bitterness ; even learning is wearisome to the soul , and the tale of the whole is vanity . The wise and great Solomon , wrote so centuries agone , and little Solomons in scores have echoed the same doleful ditty de die in diem sempiternam . " Sure enough , now , " as Pat would say , did I patiently endure for the space of three mortal hours the tedious torture of a vivid fancy pent up in the dusky lobby of that temple of Mammon , whilst waiting the
proper completion , by careful trustees , of all due forms of legal transfer . But , silly young fellow ! how do you suppose I amused myself ? I paced cavalierly up and down the Gabbatha , kicking my heels , and listening with foppish delight to the jingling of my spurs , affecting to twist my adolescent moustache , like you see many other fools do in public places—men of older growth—and sneering at the assumed airs and uneasy self-consequence of those jacks-in-office who stood behind the counters with s stuck in their earslooking like " quills the
pen , upon fretful porcupine . " This was a magnanimous beginning of life . A very prudent course for a young fellow . However , I do not know a situation less enviable , or more calling for the exercise of your philosophy , than being obliged to dangle in the contiguity of purse-proud , narrow-minded persons , who , with " eyes severe , and beard of formal cut , " play their self-important part upon the stage of life . Such clods of animated clay arein my estimationvery despicable . Yet they merit our pitytoo .
, , , Total aliens to the birthri ghts of genius , of what mines of mental wealth are they deprived ! Take from them their riches , and what have they to elevate them in the scale of humanity . Let adversity overtake them , and tlieir real nature is developed ; they either drink , or steal , or drown themselves ; they have neither God nor reason to sustain them ; they are , spiritually speaking , the " refuse and off-scouring of all things . "
In the heyday of generous youth , such follies served to greet the humours of the mind , and make butts to mark with the bolts of wit and satire ; but in riper age , when care and thought have wrinkled the young cheek , and streaked the dark hair with silver threads , these reflections