An Edinburgh Eleven: Pencil Portraits from College LifeBarrie, J. M. (James Matthew)
General
An Edinburgh Eleven: Pencil Portraits from College Life
Barrie, J. M. (James Matthew)
University of Edinburgh -- Biography
I had Chrystal's first year, and recall the gloomy student sitting
before me who hacked "All hope abandon, ye who enter here" into a desk
that may have confined Carlyle. It took him a session, and he was
digging his own grave, for he never got through; but it was something
to hold by, something he felt sure of. All else was spiders' webs in
chalk.
Chrystal was a fine hare for the hounds who could keep up with him. He
started off the first day with such a spurt that most of us were left
behind mopping our faces, and saying, "Here's a fellow," which is what
Mr. Stevenson says Shakespeare would have remarked about Mr. George
Meredith. We never saw him again. The men who were on speaking
acquaintance with his symbols revelled in him as students love an
enthusiast who is eager to lead them into a world toward which they
would journey. He was a rare guide for them. The bulk, however, lost
him in labyrinths. They could not but admire their brilliant professor;
but while their friend the medallist and he kept the conversation to
themselves, they felt like eavesdroppers hearkening to a pair of
lovers. It is "beautiful," they cried, "but this is no place for us;
let us away."
A good many went, but their truancy stuck in their throats like Otway's
last roll. The M.A. was before them. They had fancied it in their
hands, but it became shy as a maiden from the day they learned
Chrystal's heresy that Euclid is not mathematics, but only some riders
in it. This snapped the cord that had tied the blind man to his dog,
and the M.A. shot down the horizon. When Rutherford delivered his first
lecture in the chair of institutes of medicine, boisterous students
drowned his voice, and he flung out of the room. At the door he paused
to say, "Gentleman, we shall meet again at Philippi." A dire bomb was
this in the midst of them, warranted to go off, none able to cast it
overboard. We too had our Philippi before us. Chrystal could not be
left to his own devices.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account