UNDER COLLEGE ELMS. 83 



memory. The life once lived here is as truly 

 finished as if eternity had placed the impassable 

 gulf between it and this quiet hour. These are the 

 shores through which the river once passed, these 

 the green fields which encircled it, these the mount 

 ains which flung their shadows over it, but the river 

 itself has swept leagues onward. 



Mr. Higginson has written charmingly about 

 &quot; An Old Latin Text-Book,&quot; and there is surely 

 something magical in the power with which these 

 well-worn volumes lay their spell upon us, and 

 carry us back to other scenes and men. I have a 

 copy of Virgil from which all manner of old-time 

 things slip out as I open its pages. The eager en 

 thusiasm of the first dawning appreciation of the 

 undying beauty of the old poet, faintly discerned 

 in the language which embalms it, comes back like 

 a whiff of fragrance from some by-gone summer. 

 The potency of college memories lies in the fact 

 that in those years we made the most memorable 

 discoveries of our lives ; the unknown river may 

 widen and deepen beyond our thought, but the 

 most noteworthy moment in all our wanderings 

 with it will always be the moment when we first 

 came upon it, and there dawned upon us the sense 

 of something new and great. To most boys this 

 rich and never-to-be-forgotten experience comes in 

 college. Except in cases of rare good fortune, a 

 boy is not ripe for the literary spirit in the classic 

 literature until the college atmosphere surrounds 



