20 THE MODERN UNIVERSITY MOVEMENT 
and I formed friendships that have been lasting and, 
beyond words, precious to me. But I was conscious of 
the great lack of the place, and I used to build castles in the 
air as I thought of what might some day be. Well, thirty 
years have elapsed, and I have often revisited my old haunts 
with pleasure ; but the greatest pleasure I have experienced 
has arisen from observation of the steady growth of those 
elements of student life which were most lacking in my own 
day. The change has been most marked and most salutary, 
and I am happy to say that I have seen a not less satisfactory 
change in the condition of things in Leeds. We have not 
moved far, but we are moving, and I feel sure we shall move 
with increasing speed. 
We are at least industrious, and we are in earnest in our 
studies ; we present few attractions and few opportunities for 
loafers. We who teach, live under the public eye; we are 
kept informed of our not too great importance in the world; 
our absurdities are kept within bounds; our extravagances are 
sharply criticized ; our wise sayings, our sallies of wit, do not 
convulse a whole community; oddity does not give an 
enviable distinction ; we are expected, we are, in fact, compelled 
to take some interest in our fellow citizens; weare called upon 
to take our part, often a healthy subordinate part, in all kinds 
of public movements ; we are constantly meeting people who 
are our betters in everything except our own craft. We have, 
of course, some considerable disadvantages, for the time being 
at least. We are deficient in the appurtenances for study and 
research ; we are greatly distracted by the administrative calls 
that attend the moulding of a new university ; we are not very 
numerous, and we lack—though personally I cannot make this 
complaint—the vitalizing intercourse with men of our own 
crafts. Nevertheless, I will say for myself, and I am sure 
‘I might say it for many of my colleagues, I would not 
exchange my place for one in the university of Arcadia. 
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