Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

leges worthy of loyalty. It is sometimes charged that Catholic graduates are frequently indifferent and even hostile to their colleges. are hostile I sincerely doubt. That they are

That they

indifferent is often due to the fact that the college authorities fail to make any effort to keep their graduates interested in, and in touch with, their institutions. They give a young man his degree, send him forth into the world and then seem to forget that he ever existed. With such neglect it is not surprising that there is some indifference on the part of our graduates. Let an effort be made to keep them in touch with the work of our colleges, and we will find that there is not a disloyal man among them. The average Catholic college graduate is willing and eager to give of the best that is in him for the support and defence of his alma mater. But he cannot reasonably be expected to offer his assistance until he has some assurance that his offer will be accepted. To-day, when our colleges are being attacked and our passports as educated men called in question, it is imperative that we should work in harmony for the common good. The battle has begun. The issue of the battle depends upon ourselves. Victory will be ours, if we do our duty. Let us not court defeat by inactivity and indifference."

Fr. Lehy.

At the conclusion of Dr. Barnes's discourse, Mr. Ratigan rose and said that a banquet of Holy Cross alumni would not be complete without a few words from the President of their Alma Mater, and he thereupon introduced Rev. John F. Lehy, S. J., who was

given a cordial greeting. Fr. Lehy spoke briefly, and after expressing pleasure at the words he had heard, and which had given him something to consider, he urged the association to keep on with its work, and urged on all to do their part in looking after the young men when they graduate and enter the battle of life. He took exception to the statement that Holy Cross does not look after her graduates, and said she looked after and watched them more closely than the graduates watched her. She looked with fond and loving solicitude on the success of her sons, and mourned at their failure, because she is in a sense their mother and takes an interest in all that concerns them.

Fr. Redican.

Fr. Redican spoke briefly to all the alumni, asking them to watch over the young men as they leave college, and put them in the right paths of life, and after "Auld Lang Syne," by the class of 1900, the gathering broke up into knots of classmen, who passed an hour in renewing their old associations.

New Officers.

Previous to the banquet the association held its annnal meeting for the election of officers, and the following were chosen to serve during 1900: President, Rev. James J. Howard, '87, Worcester; vice-president, Dr. Michael J. O'Meara, '82, Worcester; secretary, William I. McLoughlin, '93, Worcester; treasurer, Francis M. Phelan, '94, Worcester; executive committee, Rev. Edward J. Fitzgerald, '88, Clinton, Charles J. O'Hara, '84, Worcester, and C. Eugene McGillicuddy, '91, Worcester.

SPRING RONDEAUX.

I.

When Spring time comes and Easter bloom
Of flowers rises from earth's tomb,

When dewy petals sparkle bright
In April sunshine's new-born light,
Then melts away the Winter's gloom.

The zephyrs of the Spring perfume
The trees where many an emerald plume
Of budding leaves unfolds to sight,
When Spring time comes.

Behold another Spring, where broom
And brush advance from room to room,
Till, yielding to the housewife's might,
The floors and walls are spotless white.
Alas for men! they know their doom,
When Spring time comes.

II.

When Spring time comes how hard to pore

And ponder o'er our books of lore!

Our languid minds they irritate;

Our erstwhile love they turn to hate.

We vote the ancient tongues a bore,

We cherish Coppens nevermore,

And Brooke! he stings us to the core.

Oh, pity us, for sad our fate

When Spring time comes.

But while these days of Spring we score (As did our teachers oft before)

There comes a pause we tolerate. Our gladdened souls anticipate Those Easter joys, for us in store, When Spring time comes.

AUGUSTINE P. Conniff, '02.

III.

On frosted pane in dead of night

A hundred scenes were limned in white,
Weird castles, magic streams, great trees,
With gray leaves slanted to the breeze,
And silver warriors armed for fight,

Hoar mountain peaks climbed height on height,
Whose base along sails glistened bright
Upon the calm of argent seas
On frosted pane.

Alas for Art! Yon rosy light

Heralds the morning's hateful might;
And all these shining mysteries

Pass like the night's dream phantasies,
Melting to vapor from the sight,

On frosted pane.

Walter D. McCarthy, '02.

LETTERS TO LIVING WRITERS.

TO THE AUTHOR OF NOVEL-RECEIPTS.

My Dear Mr. Q.:

I am so glad you wrote that letter in the last PURPLE. I am a young writer of fiction and I am now engaged in composing my first novel. Before your letter came I had bought a typewriter and learned typewriting. I have also sets of Scott's, Thackeray's and Cooper's novels, with some few others, and a dictionary. I am going to enter the field of Romance. Do you approve of my choice? choice? I hope so. Your recipe is, I think, a nice one, but a dear old friend of mine has already given me some instructions on how to write Romance. He calls his method the analytic method. I know you will be delighted to hear it. I know I was. I here quote a part of his letter: "Dear Janice,—It gives me the greatest pleasure to be endowed with the necessary qualifications and to be possessed of the requisite leisure to comply promptly with your interesting request. (I wanted to know how to write a novel.-J.) During the course of a long life, not a little of which has been devoted to the cultivation of polite letters, I have been very much engrossed in the study of what I might call, in the scientific terminology of the day, novel-evolution. While perusing the numerous romances which our well-equipped printing

« AnteriorContinuar »