A COLLEGE EDUCATION

Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass.

Cortland Evening Standard, Monday, January 28, 1895.

PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.

A College Education.

   Professor Charles F. Thwing contributes to The Forum a suggestive paper on the rapidly increasing cost of a college education in America. In 1750 the Harvard student was allowed "two sizzes of bread" for his breakfast. At dinner he had a pound of meat and half a pint of beer. For supper there was an additional half pint of beer and a "part pye." The favorite New England dish reigned even in those days. Let not Anglomania dislodge it!

   At Harvard the annual expenses of a student in 1830 were $176. In 1893 they ranged, for an economical student, from $484 to $807. It appears that it is becoming harder and harder for a poor young man or woman to get a college education. The cost of it for one year is greater than the average income of an American family for a year.

   Mr. Thwing makes one statement which we are inclined to doubt. He says most people would be glad of an education if they could get it. Perhaps so, but not a college education. Observation shows that the average person cares nothing at all about a college training. Even in the public schools most pupils are wild with joy at the prospect of the ending of their school days, and a large proportion drop out of instruction altogether just as soon as the law allows, often before, under one pretext or another. At the same time, we beg leave to observe that the American college course has not yet become so expensive that the able-bodied young American man or woman who is bent on securing it is unable to do so. Those to whom a course of classics and sciences is the one glittering goal worth attaining are still able to accomplish their aim by working in one way or another to get the money to support them while they are at college. If that were not so, we should indeed despair of the future of this republic.

   The added cost of the college training is largely due to the added articles now necessary for the student's comfort, to greater expense for food and clothing. The pay of college professors has also mounted up from $1,000 a year at the time of the American Revolution to from $4,000 to $5,000 in 1893. Libraries and laboratories are a hundred times as expensive, a hundred times as efficient as they were a century ago. Still Thomas Edison is not a college graduate. Neither was Lincoln nor Ben Franklin nor Florence Nightingale nor Joan of Arc.

Chauncy M. Depew.

Depew's Head.

   The editor of The Phrenological Journal, Dr. Edgar C. Beall, devotes considerable space to the cranial developments of one who is certainly among the most fortunate men of his time, our own Chauncey M. Depew. The Journal says, in fact, that Mr. Depew's temperament, the sanguine, "does not produce the highest genius, but it is conducive to splendid luck."

   Certainly Mr. Depew always has had splendid luck in whatever he has undertaken. He is one of the most harmoniously developed men of his time. His physique is perfect and very handsome. His health is admirable, and he has had everything to make a man happy and to give enjoyment of life. "He is not a great hero or martyr. He is not a rebel. He finds the world, in spite of all its sorrows, a very jolly place." So he does not attempt to reform it. He just takes it as it is and has a good time. He has large reverence. This gives him infinite trust in a "some one or some what, a power that surely makes for righteousness in the end." This perhaps, too, gives him the serene confidence that all will always be well with his own affairs.

   His eloquence and popularity come from the quick sympathies that belong with his temperament, his large development of the organ of wit and suavity and his great development of language. Dr. Beall tells us that even Mr. Depew's longest addresses are prepared in an hour or two and delivered without notes.

Reinhold Von Werner.

◘ Admiral von Werner, a German, says that the worst place to live for a steady thing is on board an ironclad man-of-war. In a storm the great quantity of guns and gun mountings and the weight of the ram in front bring on a series of extraordinary "rollings and pitchings" that scare the crew out of their wits. Only the strongest nerved man can bear the disturbance coolly, and even he is glad when it is over. When the guns are fired, bottles jump six inches into the air, and the effect of such concussion on a human being can be judged. The heat in tropical climates is something awful, and altogether the lot of the ironclad man-of-war's man in not a happy one.

Alexander R. Webb.

◘ Moslem Webb has evidently given up as a bad job the attempt to convert Americans to Mohammedanism. We hear no more of him. If Webb could have adopted the methods of conversion that prevail in Armenia, he might have made some headway.

ALPHA DELTA SORORITY.

Spend a Pleasant Evening Saturday With Lowell.

   The second annual public exercises of the Alpha Delta sorority at the Normal [School] last Saturday night, which were the first of the series attending the closing of the present term, were greeted by a large and appreciative audience. Their subject was "An Evening with Lowell," and a large picture of that celebrated writer placed on an easel occupied a position in the rear of the platform. The program was as follows:

   Piano Solo, Gertrude Hewitt.

   President's Address, Edna E. Snyder.

   Flute Solo, Mr. Fred I. Graham.

   Pen Picture of Lowell, Adell Angell.

   Recitation—Vision of Sir Launfaul, Angeline H. Gleason.

   Vocal Solo, Gertrude Hewitt.

   Essay—Comparison of the Works of Lowell and Longfellow, Mary E. Mack.

   Piano Solo, Mr. A. B. Kingsley.

   Oration—Effects of Lowell's Works on Literature, Anna Grace Butler.

   Flute Solo, Mr. Fred I. Graham.

   The president's address gave an account of the work done by the society during the present term. It included the study of the lives and works of the Cary sisters, Longfellow, Lowell and Jean Ingelow. It was gracefully written and well delivered.

   Miss Angell described the leading characteristics of Lowell as a man and a writer,

   Miss Gleason's recitation was rendered in an impressive manner showing that she caught the spirit of the piece.

   Miss Mack mentioned the most prominent works of both Lowell and Longfellow, showing points of similarity and of difference between the two writers. It would be difficult to tell which was the favorite author of the speaker.

   Miss Butler showed the elevated character of the works and the influence of the author left upon the country and upon literature.

   The music which was of a varied character added not a little to the enjoyment of the program.

"IT IS FINISHED."

Baccalaureate Sermon to the Normal Graduates.

   The First M. E. church was last night filled almost to overflowing to listen to the baccalaureate sermon by Dr. L. H. Pearce addressed to the members of the graduating class at the Normal school. The pulpit was adorned with potted plants and the archway above was draped with the colors of the class, red and yellow. After the prayer an octet of Normal students sang an anthem with fine effect. The rest of the singing was led by the chorus choir under the direction of Mr. C. R. Doolittle.

   The sermon was from the text, John xix:30—"It is finished." The aim was to show the necessity of finishing one thing before beginning another. Instances were pointed out from the different periods in Christ's life how he finished one thing before beginning another. The application of this then took the form of an address particularly to the class, They are now finishing school life in preparation for the work to come. The school life can only be the foundation of the future. They should build into that foundation (1) faith, (2) self-denial, (3) Christian character.

   The sermon was plain, direct and impressive. Illustrations were freely used and in places the speaker became truly eloquent in his earnestness.

WALKED FROM MCGRAWVILLE.

Disagreeable Experience of Two Cortland Young Men.

   Last Saturday The STANDARD referred to the party the previous night at Miss Nellie Freeman's, north of McGrawville, where the whole company got snowed in and had to spend the night. As it appears later, that was only a part of the story.

   In the party was Mr. Floyd Smith of Cortland. When he went to McGrawville that night he was accompanied by Messrs. Clinton Maybury and Waldemar Kelley, who had another engagement that night in the Corset city. They agreed to meet at an appointed hour to come back together and they had promised the liveryman of whom they got their team that they would return the horse to the stable at 12 o'clock midnight. When Mr. Smith did not get back to McGrawville from Miss Freeman's the two other young men got nervous and thought of Cortland. As midnight came and passed they thought of how they must open next morning the respective stores in which they are clerks and finally they started to walk to Cortland. They got here before morning, but they nearly perished in the blizzard which was the most severe they were ever out in. It was bitterly cold and the sleet and the snow beat into their faces and stung and cut terribly. They have no desire to try such a walk again.

   Mr. Smith was anxious about his failure to keep his appointment with the other two, though he was safely housed and was out of the storm. He didn't want to be late at his store and he didn't want to break his word with the liveryman.

   Among the company shut up at Miss Freeman's that night was Mr. Fred Purchase, superintendent of the box factory at McGrawville. All the work at this factory is done by the piece.  Next morning the whistle blew, the hands all assembled for work, but there was no one there to give out the work and it was 9 o'clock before Mr. Purchase got along or before anything could he done there.

BREVITIES.

   —The Y. M. C. A. penmanship class will meet this evening at 8 o'clock.

   —James Simmon, a Sunday drunk, is serving a ten days' sentence in the county jail.

   —"Zarah's Sacrifice" for the benefit of the Cortland hospital to-morrow and Wednesday nights.

   —The meeting of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, which was to have been held yesterday, has been adjourned till 8 P. M. Thursday at Empire hall.

   —The "In Old Kentucky" pickaninny band gave a fine concert last evening at the Farmers' Hotel on Port Watson-st., which has recently been purchased by Mr. M. Mathewson.

   —Messrs. Randolph H. Hibbard and F. M. Johnston have purchased the E. W. Sluyter drug, hardware and grocery store at Herkimer and are now at work putting the business in shape.

   —The public exercises of the Clionian fraternity occur at 8 o'clock to-night at Normal hall, and the public exercises of the Corlonor fraternity to-morrow night at the same place and time.

   —Three tramps, who secured lodging at the cooler last night, were this morning given ten minutes to get out of town. The gait which they struck rivaled that of the cars on the new electric road,

   —Ernest Rittenhouse, who was indicted by the last grand jury for grand larceny was this morning admitted to bail in the sum of $500. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Levi Rittenhouse, became his sureties.

   —The Players' club of Cortland tomorrow and Wednesday nights present "Zarah's Sacrifice" at the Cortland Opera House for the benefit of the hospital. Here is an opportunity to give a gift to a worthy object.

   —Mr. John Shearer died at his home in the east part of the town of Cortlandville on Monday, Jan. 21, at the age of 86 years. Deceased leaves a daughter, Mrs. W. J. Kenfield, the wife of Deacon John Kenfield, deceased.

   —Two of the young lady members of the "In Old Kentucky" company, while out driving yesterday, endeavored to turn around on Tompkins-st. Their cutter was overturned and they fell in the road. Neither were injured, but the horse did not wait for them, but returned to its warm quarters in the Cortland House livery barn. The young ladies did not ride back to their hotel.

   —Ithaca people who ride upon the electric cars are expressing deep sympathy for the motormen in these cold and stormy days because their cars are not vestibuled [enclosed], thus affording shelter and protection for the motormen. Cortland is ahead of Ithaca in this respect. The new cars are all vestibuled, and the motorman can look out through his glass window and not have to face storm and wind.

   —Since the recent run begun upon the Binghamton banks, the banks have all been fortifying themselves with plenty of silver and gold to meet anything that may come to them. The Binghamton Republican says the coin box in the vault of the Binghamton Trust company is incapable of containing all of the silver and gold now on hand. Two policemen have been engaged to watch the office nights.

   —If there are any old girls in Cortland who want to ride a bicycle but are a little shy of it on account of their years, they should be encouraged by the example of Mrs. Margaret Plaster of Schenectady, who is 93 years of age and yet rides her wheel like the veteran that she is. All old girls this year, as well as all young ones, should get a wheel and then get a gait on the wheel. Remember 93-year-old Maggie Plaster, and "take a brace."

ALMOST SUFFOCATED.

The Family of Coley Chadwick Have a Narrow Escape.

   Mr. and Mrs. Coley C. Chadwick and two children had a very narrow escape from suffocation last Friday. They went to bed as usual Thursday night and did not wake up till about 5:30 o'clock Friday evening. They were all overcome by coal gas, but managed to reach the fresh air. A physician was summoned and the family were made as comfortable as possible.

   Mr. Chadwick resides at 20 1/2 Madison-ave. The bedroom in which all slept is on the first floor off the sitting room, where the coal fire was located. It was thought that the damper of the stove was not left as it should have been and as it was a very windy night the, coal gas escaped.

   Luckily the fire was all burned out and there was no more gas when the family revived.