Image provided by the Yale Club & Scholarship Foundation of Hartford, Inc.
About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (April 25, 1900)
296 AD ALUMNI WEEKLY This Year It’s Flannels Even more than last year. There are a great many novelties and some very pretty ones. If you can’t come in we can send you samples. F. A. CORBIN, 1000 CHAPEL ST., New Haven, Conn. [S My pay IN NEW York is Thursday Place, Astor House. Time, 12 to 4. [Continued from page 295.] trusting, perhaps, but uncertain, step away from home, out into the fullness of self-dependence among strangers. One begins to catch a glimpse of one’s own limitations. Estimates of human nature change. One comes to learn not only the selfishness and the littleness, but also the breadth and nobility of others and of one’s self. I despise the word “Life work,” because it is so shiny, so thread- bare from trite usage. But yet, in col- lege, more than anywhere else, the vista of the future slowly but surely unfolds. And who will say that there is not a noble seriousness in the intense expec- tancy with which each one peers into the coming unknown? College is not wholly comedy. There is a thread of tragedy in it all. College diversions and jokes constantly change. Yale Sixty-Nine used to cut all the but- tons off the coat of every policeman who came on the Campus. Consequently, now, when two jolly policemen are stationed regularly on the campus, and are the best of friends with all fellows, a modern “policeman” joke would fall pretty flat to an old Sixty-Niner. But college effort, college ambitions, college hopes do not change. They are ever- living in the college, as well as in the outside world. It is to this more serious, more per- manent side of college life, that Miss Daskam’s “Smith College (Charles Scribners’ Sons, New York) unconsciously draw and hold attention. She attempts a complete picture of Smith and the ten stories are redolent through- out with the atmosphere of a delight- fully serious college world of young women. Nevertheless, when one has closed the book and allowed the several pictures to lodge in their chosen places, it - is such stories as “A Case of Interfer- ence’ ‘and .."A’* Family Aflair’ hat eclipse all others in depth and truth of insight into human nature. At last here is a writer who can create a college character that trembles with the anxiety and hope, joy and disappointment, which thrill and oppress earnest college men and women everywhere. With one stroke of the pen she reveals the inten- sity of yearning of a brilliant but lonely and disappointed girl. Her own words best express my meaning: “Under her touch the haughty, solitary figure.of a scarcely known girl melted away before them, and they saw a baffled, eager, hungry soul that had fought desperately and was going silently away—beaten.” The simple diction, the inexpressible longing, the deep but tender pathos, the sadness of it all, place this story far above the ordinary. It is a true picture of life, wherever men and women strive and suffer disappointment. In the book this story ends happily. but that is a play to the galleries; for in real life— college life—there is very little inter- ference in social honors. The popular still are popular and the lonely geniuses GENTLEMEN’S FURNISHINGS We have created, and occupy » alone, a special field in this line. ot ot x 5 On our shelves you will find the best and latest from both sides of the water. a W. H. GOWDY & CO. Vpp. Osborn Hall. Stories” . are neglected. Afterwards, at the Tri- ennials and Decennials things may re- adjust themselves somewhat, but in col- lege the spoils belong to the apparent victors. In the contrast between the poor re- tiring, talented Susan, and the tart, socia- ble, wealthy Sue, in “A Family Af- fair,’ Miss Daskam shows her greatest promise. will add something of permanent note to American literature. One who has the grasp of human nature—its hopes and fancies, its sorrows and _ indefinable yearning, its joys and ecstasies, — to paint this scene; “Belated children were hurrying home; now and then groups of college girls, fresh-cheeked from their quick walk, swing by in haste for supper and their evening engagements. Over her heart, hungry and misunderstood, there passed a sudden flood of passionate longing for one hour of unconscious, happy comradeship with homes and girls like these; one hour of some one else’s -—-anybody else’s—life; one taste of de- pendence on another than herself’’—one who has such power, I say, will give America something broader and more far-reaching than college stories if she remains true to her literary trust. Other phases of college life are treated with less success. “The Evolution of Evangeline” is a would-be satire on the girl who succeeds with surprising ease. . The author, however, disregards the latent, undeveloped ability that there is in hundreds of apparently stupid college girls, when they enter college. This is an unjust caricature on Smith. A real Evangeline of this type would be in a garret on Nowhere Street, until she grad- uated, unless she did really possess na- tive talent. The author would do well to let satire alone. Her pen splutters; and, besides, it’s a stub. ‘“‘Miss Biddle of Bryn Mawr,” is a lost opportunity. The plot is so available for exciting episodes and hair-breadth escapes from detection, that it is disappointing to see the whole affair go off on tiresome schedule time. The story should be re- written before the second editidn ap- pears. As a fascinating story, skillfully told in all its details, “The Emotions of a Sub-guard” would probably be the most popular of any in the book. It has a dash, a swing, an expectancy, and yet a succession of surprises that are pecu- liarly pleasing. It is well for the sale of the book that this is the first story in the volume, for if the last one, “The End of it All,” were first, that would be the end of tt all. ‘The cleverest bit of realistic work I have seen among college stories is “The Education of Elizabeth.’ In other stories of these ten, one feels now and then an artificial coloring, a straining for effect, a hot-house heaviness, that does not go well with outdoor freshness and the robins and the call of Spring morn- ings to the sleeping buds. However, in this story, to the actors themselves, col- lege is a serious piece of business, but to the on-lookers a farce-comedy. The anxious, solicitous parents; the intense, over-wrought, idealistic daughter; the desperate young man, in love, of course; the kindly matron, who knows every- body’s affairs better than her own—they all stand out as distinctly as a gnarly oak among willows. It is satire without the sting. And yet one shifts uneasily in one’s chair for fear of being hit because it is so true to life. As a whole, “Smith College Stories” possess an excellence of literary work altogether unusual and unexpected in a volume of college stories. To be sure, in the handling of mass scenes, as for example, “At Commencement,” the author falls into mediocrity; not from lack of ability, but because she does not select concrete individualities from the confused mass of a thousand chattering girls—plus mothers, fathers, brothers and other people. The story is a worse ejaculatory confusion than commence- ment itself. Besides it is lacking in sympathy with those precious memories of a last goodbye from college and col- lege friendships. _In the-analysis, or rather in the crea- tion of character of a peculiar type— characters that have not had the advan- tages of tone, culture and refinement at home; characters that are lonely, through ignorance of the simple ap- proaches to friendship and yet that are filled with a vague longing for com- panionship and with intense ambition to attain high ideals—such as Winifred Hastings and Susan Jackson, Miss Das- ae shown a depth of sympathy, a aneiuiness of humor, a touch of realism and, withall, an insight into human motives and hopes that promise I predict that, in time, she an uncertain though brilliant future in permanent literary work. Maurice P. Gou Lp. A Standard in Class Books. The Class Book of Yale Sixty-Two, a copy of which has recently come into the WEEKLY’S Office, is one to be con- sulted by all persons intending to get out a class book. It is a remarkably complete and well prepared book of over 250 pages, printed on excellent paper, bound in cloth and full of portraits and illustrations. The printing of two dif- ferent pictures of each man, one his college picture and the other the last one secured when the book went to press, makes a very interesting result. The frontispiece is an excellent likeness of President Woolsey. As to history, the main facts are given about each reunion since graduation, in- cluding two very full reports of infor- [Continued on page 297.| Spring Oxfords Double Sole Wax Calf, Russia Calf and Patent Leather New Lasts. Ke The New Haven Shoe Company 842 and 846 Chapel Street. It is a matter of keeping the thing in mind. You see in this paper ads, first and Yast,’ the year*round, of iots “ot things you want. Please don’t forget where your saw them, but mention it to the advertiser. S. H. MOORE FLORIST 1054 CHAPEL ST. OPP. YALE ART SCHOOL “CLASS REUNIONS.” If you wish your Supper to bea success, address the old Reliable Yale Caterer, J. W. STEWART, Warner Hall Restaurant, New Haven, Conn. F. B. WALKER & Co. TAILORS SUCCEEDING F. R. BLISS & CO. CHURCH AND CHAPEL STREETS FRANK B. WALKER CHAS. P. WALKER FE. L. GLOUSKIN, Elm cor. York... The oldest Established Jeweler in Vicinity of Yale University. Best accommodations and Lowest Prices. Other things being equal, the YALE ALUMNI WEEKLY advertiser is the man to do business with. Please mention the WEEKLY. Pf 40 oe COLLEGE PHOTOGRAPHERS, 1024 Chapel St., New Haven. - Branch of No. 935 Broadway, - New York [Vjory’s - - a ~ « « Louis Linder. UNCHANGED COMFORT. Of course a good many things change at a good hotel. There are new ways to make guests happy. But though adding modern improvements constantly the home flavor and conditions of solid comfort are not dis- turbed at MOSELEY’S NEW HAVEN HOUSE. Please mention the paper in doing business with advertisers. The C. W. Whittlesey Co. 281 State St. Our line of Photographic Materials and Supplies is larger and more complete than ever before. Our facilities for doing amateur work are unexcelled. GRUENER BROTHERS Tailors, 123 Temple St., Graduate correspondence solicited. Hlurle & Co., Tailors, 38 Center Street. VFar.lors Poors LEG GH SOYA New Haven, Conn. CHARLES T. PENNELL, Successor to Wm. Franklin & Co., [IMPORTING | AILOR, 40 Center St., New Haven, Conn. J. Kaiser, Tailor, 1042 Chapel Street, (Opp. Vanderbilt Hall.) The Last. As the horror-stricken crowd gazed helplessly into the dark water the drown- ing man came to the surface for the third time. His damp gaze _ turned wildly toward his audience, and making an effort, he spoke. “This,” he said hurriedly, for it was apparent to all that his time was limited, “this is positively my last appearance before the public.” Then he sank gracefully forever.— Princeton Tiger. COLLEGE MEN will find exceedingly comfortable and well kept quarters at a most reasonable price at MILLER’S HOTEL 39 West 26th St., - New York City. This house is patronized largely by Yale, Princeton, Cornell, Vassar, Wellesley, Smith and other Colleges, to the students of which special rates are made. SEND FOR CIRCULAR. CHARLES H. HAYNES, Propricor.
