Kansas University Weekly.
175
the new Commencement hall, a dream of architectural beauty, and a marvel of discomfort as to its gallery seats. Perhaps they are Presbyterian seats; at least they are exceeding upright, built of oak, and hard to manage unless you know them pretty well. Here I listened, as long as I could in comfort, to a poem, and a historical oration, each delivered by a distinguished alumnus, one the Rev. Dr. Henry Van Dyke, the other Dr. Woodrow Wilson, and each fully equal to the occasion; then I began to twist about and to study the audience, in the vain effort to divert my mind from my sufferings. Before me upon the platform were the trustees and the faculty of the college, gowned in sable with hoods of white or purple or orange, looking very solemn and very splendid, and among them five or six of my own classmates who were assuredly feeling far less unhappy at that particular time than was I. Facing them in the parquet sat the delegates from other American colleges and the eminent men from abroad; the latter in gowns and hoods of the most varied colors, some of them fairly startling in contrast with the subdued hues about them. Gorgeous coloring was not confined to the foreigners however; if I remember correctly, one of the most brilliant gowns of all was worn by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell of the University of Pennsylvania, and its hue would have delighted the heart of a Kansas football enthusiast.
At this juncture it occurred to me that as an unofficial representative of the University of Kansas it devolved upon me to look about among the delegates for our official representative, to make sure that he was on hand and attending to his duties. Not having as yet fully imbibed the spirit of the ceremonial, I was in doubt whether I should or should not find him in a gown, and wasted some time in searching among the ungowned contingent, and in discussing with a classmate who sat next me the probabilities of finding him at all. At last, when I had temporarily given up the search, I caught sight of the top of a familiar head in the very forefront of the body of delegates, and I perceived immediately that a black gown and an orange hood was as becoming to a Kansas University representative as to anyone else there present. The conclusion is that while the West does not care for academic state, if it has occasion to assume it, its native dignity and independence make the state more stately and impressive. This however is by the way.
The exercises of the morning concluded, dinner was the next thing in order; but the problem was to find any. Here the official representatives had a great advantage, they did not have to provide their own entertainment. The Princeton caterers were over-whelmed, notwithstanding their experience in providing for ordinary crowds at Commencement time. I might have sought a hotel; but it was past the regular dinner hour, and I learned in my undergraduate days that in a Princeton hotel the provisions may give out, but the charge for sitting at table is never affected thereby. While I hesitated as to what to do,a group of classmates happened along on their way to "a good place next door to Hankins's." I joined them of course,but at the good place they were out of everything but sandwiches and so called coffee,and it was precisely thirty-seven minutes before those made their appearance from the lower regions.
Next in the order of exercises for the day was an exhibition football game between Princeton and the University of Virginia. This was as spirited and enjoyable as need be, and here I met for the second time our official representative, looking even happier than he did in the morning, deeply interested in the Princeton team and the method of recording the progress of the game upon a huge blackboard at the end of the field, and filled with astonishment that some of the official representatives whom he had met positively refused to attend the game, being deeply opposed to football and having therefore never seen it played.
But the football game was not a part of the official program, and was put in merely to occupy the time between morning and evening. A large part of the rest of that time was very successfully occupied in waiting at another good place for another sandwich and another cup of