CHAPTER XVI 



UNIVERSITY LIFE IN THE WEST 1857-1864 



IT must be confessed that all was not plain sailing 

 in my new position. One difficulty arose from my 

 very youthful, not to say boyish, appearance. I was, 

 indeed, the youngest member of the faculty; but at 

 twenty-four years one has the right to be taken for a 

 man, and it was vexatious to be taken for a youth of 

 seventeen. At my first arrival in the university town 

 I noticed, as the train drew up to the station, a num- 

 ber of students, evidently awaiting the coming of such 

 freshmen as might be eligible to the various fraternities; 

 and, on landing, I was at once approached by a sophomore, 

 who asked if I was about to enter the university. For an 

 instant I was grievously abashed, but pulling myself to- 

 gether, answered in a sort of affirmative way; and at this 

 he became exceedingly courteous, taking pains to pilot me 

 to a hotel, giving me much excellent advice, and even in- 

 sisting on carrying a considerable amount of my baggage. 

 Other members of fraternities joined us, all most cour- 

 teous and kind, and the denouement came only at the 

 registration of my name in the hotel book, when they 

 recognized in me "the new professor." I must say to 

 their credit that, although they were for a time laughed 

 at throughout the university, they remained my warm 

 personal friends. 



But after I had discharged the duties of my professor- 

 ship for a considerable period, this same difficulty existed. 

 On a shooting excursion, an old friend and myself came, 



266 



