The Plastic Age by Percy Marks (best fiction books to read TXT) π
John Harvard Was An Englishman And Indifferent To High Places. The
Result Is That Harvard Has Become A University Of Vast Proportions And
No Color. Yale Flounders About Among The New Haven Shops, Trying To Rise
Above Them. The Harkness Memorial Tower Is Successful; Otherwise The
University Smells Of Trade. If Yale Had Been Built On A Hill, It Would
Probably Be Far Less Important And Much More Interesting.
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- Author: Percy Marks
Read book online Β«The Plastic Age by Percy Marks (best fiction books to read TXT) πΒ». Author - Percy Marks
Friend Of Charles Fox. The Main Event Of His Political Life Was His
Tenure Of The Office Of Lord-Lieutenant Of Ireland In The Coalition
Ministry In 1783.
(132) John St. John (1746-1793), Third Son Of John, Second Viscount
St. John, A Typical Specimen Of The Macaroni. He Was An M.P. From
1773 To 178perience. He Discovers That He And His Fellows Are Made Of
Very Brittle Clay: Usually He Loathes Himself; Often He Loathes His
Fellows.
"College Isn'T The Elysium That It Is Painted In Stories And Novels, But
I Feel Sorry For Any Intelligent Man Who Didn'T Have The Opportunity To
Go To College. There Is Something Beautiful About One'S College Days,
Something That One Treasures All His Life. As We Grow Older, We Forget
The Hours Of Storm And Stress, The Class-Room Humiliations, The Terror
Of Examinations, The Awful Periods Of Doubt Of God And Man--We Forget
Everything But Athletic Victories, Long Discussions With Friends, Campus
Sings, Fraternity Life, Moonlight On The Campus, And Everything That Is
Romantic. The Sting Dies, And The Beauty Remains.
"Why Do Men Give Large Sums Of Money To Their Colleges When Asked?
Because They Want To Help Society? Not At All. The Average Man Doesn'T
Even Take That Into Consideration. He Gives The Money Because He Loves
His Alma Mater, Because He Has Beautiful And Tender Memories Of Her. No,
Colleges Are Far From Perfect, Tragically Far From It, But Any
Institution That Commands Loyalty And Love As Colleges Do Cannot Be
Wholly Imperfect. There Is A Virtue In a College That Uninspired
Administrative Officers, Stupid Professors, And Alumni With False Ideals
Cannot Kill. At Times I Tremble For Sanford College; There Are Times
When I Swear At It, But I Never Cease To Love It."
"If You Feel That Way About College, Why Did You Say Those Things To Us
Two Years Ago?" Hugh Asked. "Because They Were True, All True. I Was
Talking About The Undergraduates Then, And I Could Have Said Much More
Cutting Things And Still Been On The Safe Side Of The Truth. There Is,
However, Another Side, And That Is What I Am Trying To Give You
Now--Rather Incoherently, I Know."
Hugh Thought Of Cynthia. "I Suppose All That You Say Is True," He
Admitted Dubiously, "But I Can'T Feel That College Does What It Should
For Us. We Are Told That We Are Taught To Think, But The Minute We Bump
Up Against A Problem In Living We Are Stumped Just As Badly As We Were
When We Are Freshmen."
"Oh, No, Not At All. You Solve Problems Every Day That Would Have
Stumped You Hopelessly As A Freshman. You Think Better Than You Did Four
Years Ago, But No College, However Perfect, Can Teach You All The
Solutions Of Life. There Are No Nostrums Or Cure-Alls That The Colleges
Can Give For All The Ills And Sicknesses Of Life. You, I Am Afraid, Will
Chapter 20 Pg 157Have To Doctor Those Yourself."
"I See." Hugh Didn'T Altogether See. Both College And Life Seemed More
Complicated Than He Had Thought Them. "I Am Curious To Know," He Added,
"Just Whom You Consider The Cream Of The Earth. That Expression Has
Stuck In My Mind. I Don'T Know Why--But It Has."
Henley Smiled. "Probably Because It Is Such A Very Badly Mixed Metaphor.
Well, I Consider The College Man The Cream Of The Earth."
"What?" Four Of The Men Exclaimed, And All Of Them Sat Suddenly Upright.
"Yes--But Let Me Explain. If I Remember Rightly, I Said That If You Were
The Cream Of The Earth, I Hoped That God Would Pity The Skimmed Milk.
Well, Everything Taken Into Consideration, I Do Think That You Are The
Cream Of The Earth; And I Have No Hope For The Skimmed Milk. Perhaps It
Isn'T Wise For Me To Give Public Expression To My Pessimism, But You
Ought To Be Old Enough To Stand It."
"The Average College Graduate Is A Pretty Poor Specimen, But All In all
He Is Just About The Best We Have. Please Remember That I Am Talking In
Averages. I Know Perfectly Well That A Great Many Brilliant Men Do Not
Come To College And That A Great Many Stupid Men Do Come, But The
Colleges Get A Very Fair Percentage Of The Intelligent Ones And A
Comparatively Small Percentage Of The Stupid Ones. In Other Words, To
Play With My Mixed Metaphor A Bit, The Cream Is Very Thin In Places And
The Skimmed Milk Has Some Very Thick Clots Of Cream, But In The End The
Cream Remains The Cream And The Milk The Milk. Everything Taken Into
Consideration, We Get In The Colleges The Young Men With The Highest
Ideals, The Loftiest Purpose."
"You Want To Tell Me That Those Ideals Are Low And The Purpose
Materialistic And Selfish. I Know It, But The Average College Graduate,
I Repeat, Has Loftier Ideals And Is Less Materialistic Than The Average
Man Who Has Not Gone To College. I Wish That I Could Believe That The
College Gives Him Those Ideals. I Can'T, However. The Colleges Draw The
Best That Society Has To Offer; Therefore, They Graduate The Best."
"Oh, I Don'T Know," A Student Interrupted. "How About Edison And Ford
And--"
"And Shakspere And Sophocles," Henley Concluded For Him. "Edison Is An
Inventive Genius, And Ford Is A Business Genius. Genius Hasn'T Anything
To Do With Schools. The Colleges, However, Could Have Made Both Ford And
Edison Bigger Men, Though They Couldn'T Have Made Them Lesser Geniuses."
"No, We Must Not Take The Exceptional Man As A Standard; We'Ve Got To
Talk About The Average. The Hand Of The Potter Shook Badly When He Made
Man. It Was At Best A Careless Job. But He Made Some Better Than Others,
Some A Little Less Weak, A Little More Intelligent. All In all, Those
Are The Men That Come To College. The Colleges Ought To Do A Thousand
Times More For Those Men Than They Do Do; But, After All, They Do
Something For Them, And I Am Optimistic Enough To Believe That The Time
Will Come When They Will Do More."
"Some Day, Perhaps," He Concluded Very Seriously, "Our Administrative
Officers Will Be True Educators; Some Day Perhaps Our Faculties Will Be
Chapter 20 Pg 158Wise Men Really Fitted To Teach; Some Day Perhaps Our Students Will Be
Really Students, Eager To Learn, Honest Searchers After Beauty And
Truth. That Day Will Be The Millennium. I Look For The Undergraduates To
Lead Us To It."
Chapter 21 Pg 159
The College Year Swept Rapidly To Its Close, So Rapidly To The Seniors
That The Days Seemed To Melt In Their Grasp. The Twentieth Of June Would
Bring Them Their Diplomas And The End Of Their College Life. They Felt A
Bit Chesty At The Thought Of That B.S. Or A.B., But A Little Sentimental
At The Thought Of Leaving "Old Sanford."
Suddenly Everything About The College Became Infinitely Precious--Every
Tradition; Every Building, No Matter How Ugly; Even The Professors, Not
Just The Deserving Few--All Of Them.
Hugh Took To Wandering About The Campus, Sometimes Alone, Thinking Of
Cynthia, Sometimes With A Favored Crony Such As George Winsor Or Pudge
Jamieson. He Didn'T See Very Much Of Norry The Last Month Or Two Of
College. He Was Just As Fond Of Him As Ever, But Norry Was Only A
Junior; He Would Not Understand How A Fellow Felt About Sanford When He
Was On The Verge Of Leaving Her. But George And Pudge Did Understand.
The Boys Didn'T Say Much As They Wandered Around The Buildings, Merely
Strolled Along, Occasionally Pausing To Laugh Over Some Experience That
Had Happened To One Of Them In The Building They Were Passing.
Hugh Could Never Pass Surrey Hall Without Feeling Something Deeper Than
Sentimentality. He Always Thought Of Carl Peters, From Whom He Had Not
Heard For More Than A Year. He Understood Carl Better Now, His Desire
To Be A Gentleman And His Despair At Ever Succeeding. Surrey Hall Held
Drama For Hugh, Not All Of It Pleasant, But He Had A Deeper Affection
For The Ivy-Covered Dormitory Then He Would Ever Have For The Nu Delta
House. He Wondered What Had Become Of Morse, The Homesick Freshman.
Poor Morse.... And The Bull Sessions He Had Sat In In Old Surrey. He
Had Learned A Lot From Them, A Whole Lot....
The Chapel Where He Had Slept And Surreptitiously Eaten Doughnuts And
Read "The Sanford News" Suddenly Became A Holy Building, The Building
That Housed The Soul Of Sanford.... He Knew That He Was Sentimental, That
He Was Investing Buildings With A Greater Significance Than They Had In
Their Own Right, But He Continued To Dream Over The Last Four Years And
To Find A Melancholy Beauty In His Own Sentimentality. If It Hadn'T
Been For Cynthia, He Would Have Been Perfectly Happy.
Soon The Examinationnished
At This Boar (Sic), But Must Excuse It From Me, Who Hear Nothing
Else.
Chapter 21 Pg 160
Indeed, There Is Another Operation Which Breaks In Upon This
Subject, I E., The Game Of Commerce. Lady Betty Has Taken To This
Game, And She Makes All The World, Bon Gre, Malgre, Play At It Till
Five O'Clock In The Morning. I Live There Almost; What With Balls,
Bt (?), Tessier, Commerce, Supper, And Quinze, I Am Never Out Of The
House. They Have Invited Me To Go To The Oaks, This Christmas, But
If Castle Howard Is Too Far, The Oaks, I Assure You, Will Be Much
Farther. I Rather Think I Shall Go For A Fortnight To Bath. You Have
Heard Of Gen. Scott'S Death. George'S Motto For His Achievement Is
--Sic Dice Placuit; And For His Sarcophagus--Dice Manibus, &C. .
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