CHAPTER III
A COLLEGE BANQUET
There was a rattling of knives and forks, a clink of glasses, and a buzz of conversation. Doctor Mack was able to hear considerable of it. There were anecdotes of the professors, accounts of narrow escapes from “flunking” in the recitation-room, and remarks by no means complimentary to some of the text-books in use in college. It was evident that the collegians assembled cared more for a good time than for study. Yet these seemed to be the chosen associates of his ward, the doctor reflected.
As the feast proceeded, he grew more sober. He felt that college life, however much it was doing for the faithful students, was only fostering self-indulgence in his ward.
“Something must be done!” reflected Doctor Mack. “Desperate diseases require desperate remedies.”
Again the chairman rapped for order, and again Walter's voice was heard.
“Brothers,” he said, “the material part of our banquet is ended. We have gratified our appetites with the savory dishes provided by our friend Daniels. We have quaffed the rare Falernian wine, of a vintage unknown to Horace; we have quickened our wits, as I trust, under those favorable conditions, and the time has now come for the feast of reason and the flow of soul. Exhausted as we are by our labors in the classroom”—great laughter—“we have sought refreshment in the way that is most agreeable. It's a way we have at old Euclid! Sing!”
Immediately the assembled company started up the well-known college song:
“It's a way we have at old Euclid,
It's a way we have at old Euclid,
It's a way we have at old Euclid,
To drive dull care away.
It's a way we have at old Euclid,
It's a way we have at old Euclid,
To drive dull care away.
“And we think it is no sin, sir,
To take the Freshmen in, sir,
And ease them of their tin, sir,
To drive dull care away.
It's a way we have at old Euclid,
It's a way we have at old Euclid,
To drive dull care away.”