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Julian Home: A tale of college life, Book

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Julian Home: A tale of college life

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I am very doubtful, after all, Julian, whether I shall be one of the Switzerland party,” said Kennedy, with a sigh, as he and Julian were walking round the St. Werner’s gardens one bright evening of the May term. The limes and chestnuts were unfolding their tender sprays of springtide emerald, the willows shivered as their green buds made ripples in the water, and the soft light of sunset streamed over towers and colleges, giving a rich glow to the broad windows of the library, and bathing in its rosy tinge the white plumage of the swans upon the river. The friends were returning from a walk during which they had thoroughly enjoyed the blue and golden weather. Up to this time Kennedy had seemed to be in the highest spirits, and Julian was astonished at the melancholy tone in which the words were spoken.

Chapter the Fifteenth

Kennedy’s Dishonor

“I fancied Cuthbert’s reddening face
Beneath its garniture of curly gold,
Dear fellow, till I almost felt him fold
An arm in mine, to fix me to the place,
That way he used. . . Alas ! one hour’s disgrace!”

Robert Browning. Childe Roland.

I am very doubtful, after all, Julian, whether I shall be one of the Switzerland party,” said Kennedy, with a sigh, as he and Julian were walking round the St. Werner’s gardens one bright evening of the May term. The limes and chestnuts were unfolding their tender sprays of springtide emerald, the willows shivered as their green buds made ripples in the water, and the soft light of sunset streamed over towers and colleges, giving a rich glow to the broad windows of the library, and bathing in its rosy tinge the white plumage of the swans upon the river. The friends were returning from a walk during which they had thoroughly enjoyed the blue and golden weather. Up to this time Kennedy had seemed to be in the highest spirits, and Julian was astonished at the melancholy tone in which the words were spoken.

“Doubtful ? Why ? ” said Julian, quickly.

“Because my father has made it conditional on my getting a first class in the May examination.”

“But, my dear fellow, there is not the ghost of a doubt of your doing that.”

“I don’t feel so sure.”

“Why, there are often thirty in the first class, in the freshman’s year ; and just as if you wouldn’t be among them!”

“All very well ; I know that anybody can do it who works, but 1 am ashamed to say that I haven’t read one of the books yet.”

“Haven’t you, really? Well then, for goodness’ sake, lose no more time.”

“But there’s only a fortnight to the examination.”

“My dear Kennedy, what have you been doing to be so idle.”

“ Somehow or other the time manages to slip away. Heigh ho ! ” said Kennedy, “ my first year at college nearly over, and nothing done — nothing done! How quickly the time has gone.”

“Yes,” said Julian ; “ for it has wings on its shoulders, and we are too slow to catch winged things, as old Theocritus says.”

Seized with the strong determination not only to pass the examination, but even to excel in it, Kennedy devoted the next fortnight to unremitted study for the first time since he had been an undergraduate. But the more he read the more painfully he became aware of his own deficiencies, and the more bitterly he deplored the waste of time. He seemed to be toiling in vain after the opportunities he had lost. He knew that the examination, though limited in subjects, was searching in character, and he found it impossible to acquire, by a sudden impulse what he should have learned by continuous diligence. As the time drew nearer, he grew more and more nervous. He had set his heart on the Swiss tour, and it now seemed to him painfully probable that he would fail in fulfilling the condition which his father had exacted, and without which he well knew that Mr. Kennedy would insist on his spending the vacation either at Camford or at home.

Of the three main subjects for examination he had succeeded by desperate effort, aided by natural ability,
in very quickly mastering two sufficiently well to secure a creditable result; but the third subject, the Agamemnon of AEschylus, remained nearly untouched, and Kennedy was too good and accurate a scholar not to be aware that the most careful and elaborate study was indispensable to an even tolerable understanding of that masterpiece of Grecian tragedy. Besides this, he had a hatred of slovenly and superficial work, and he therefore determined to leave AEschylus untouched, while, at the same time, he was quite conscious that if he did so, all chance of distinction, and even all chance of a first class were out of the question. With some shame he reflected over this proof, that, for all purposes of study, a third of his academical life had been utterly and wholly lost.

Source Citation:

Farrar, F.W.. 1897. Julian Home: A tale of college life. Book. New York, W.L. Allison co., https://www.loc.gov/item/06038659/.

Cite this page:

Farrar, F. W.. 1897. "Julian Home: A tale of college life, Book." History of Higher Education. https://higheredhistory.gmu.edu/primary-sources/julian-home-a-tale-of-college-life-book/