In due time the world seizes upon these
wondrous youth, opens the shell of their possibilities like the valves of
an oyster, swallows them at a gulp, and they are for the most part heard
of no more. We had two great men, grown up both of them. Which was the
more awful intellectual power to be launched upon society, we debated.
Time cut the knot in his rude fashion by taking one away early, and
padding the other with prosperity so that his course was comparatively
noiseless and ineffective. We had our societies, too; one in particular,
"The Social Fraternity," the dread secrets of which I am under a lifelong
obligation never to reveal. The fate of William Morgan, which the
community learned not long after this time, reminds me of the danger of
the ground upon which I am treading.
There were various distractions to make the time not passed in study a
season of relief. One good lady, I was told, was in the habit of asking
students to her house on Saturday afternoons and praying with and for
them. Bodily exercise was not, however, entirely superseded by spiritual
exercises, and a rudimentary form of base-ball and the heroic sport of
football were followed with some spirit.
Pages:
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193