'The minister of Logie, who made a decided hit with _Rambles in the Far
North_, has attempted a very difficult bit of work in _My College Days_.
This purports to be the MS. legacy of a College friend who died young
after some experience of student life in Edinburgh, St. Andrews, and
Oxford. The fiction will impose upon nobody, although it may shield the
editor from some blame, for while there is mirth and vigour and kindly
reminiscence, there is also some very sharp criticism, and much
reference to Academic dignitaries who are still in the flesh, and may be
sensitive and inclined to sting when they find some of their class jokes
not merely in print but bound in a book.... If certain Edinburgh divines
beguile a leisure hour over these pages, they will for once see
themselves as the keen-witted see them, and be amazed at the impudence
of the rising generation. Everybody who knows Edinburgh will recognise
the portrait of the preacher who is likened to Dr. Andrew Thomson in one
thing--'There's ae thing about yon man, he's a grand roarer.' The St.
Andrews part is full and cleverly done, and will have a charm for most
_alumni_ of the 'College of the scarlet gown,' because it contains a
large number of the songs, original and selected, with which the lobby
of the Natural Philosophy class-room was wont to resound."--_Elgin
Courant._
"The style is lively, and the descriptions of scenes of student life are
graphic. The account of the election of Rector at Edinburgh will
doubtless interest many, and the chapter dealing with landladies, their
varieties and idiosyncracies, is humorous."--_Morning Post._
"To recent students of our two greatest Scottish Universities--Edinburgh
and St. Andrews--_My College Days_ is charged with intense interest,
though its racy humour and chatty discursiveness will render it
attractive reading to those uninitiated in academic mysteries and
innocent of student frivolities. The life of an Edinburgh student, in
college and out of college, in the class-room, the debating society, the
theatre, and the church, is described with untiring vivacity.... Whether
author or merely editor, Mr. Menzies Fergusson is to be sincerely
congratulated upon his success. Reminiscence is a species of literature
not always instructive, not always even entertaining; in Mr. Fergusson's
hands it becomes both."--_Fifeshire Journal._
"We think the verdict of every impartial reader will be that Mr.
Ferguson has done well in publishing this book. It abounds in vigorous,
and, in many instances, impressive descriptions of University life; it
is enlivened at judicious intervals with original verses, which evince
lyrical power; its style is admirably condensed and clear; it is
sympathetic in its spirit and catholic in its tone, especially when
dealing with such subjects as the stage and its modern exponents by
narrow-minded writers so frequently abused."--_Ayr Observer._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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