Page:Lippincotts Monthly Magazine-39.djvu/1028

1004 the larger part comes from the towns-people. There are three ways by which the student may get an entrance into Ithaca society; 1, through the people with whom he rooms; 2, through student friends acquainted in the town; 3 (and chiefly), through social church gatherings.

Besides the female society of the town, there are, of course, the one hundred young ladies at Sage, with whom the student becomes acquainted at the various receptions and social entertainments that occur on the hill. These ladies, the "co-eds.," are allowed to entertain friends in the Sage parlors until ten, and may obtain the special permission of the matron to attend any entertainment in the town. They thus take a prominent place in college society, though undoubtedly somewhat neglected for their town sisters, who are able to entertain better (and longer) the young gentlemen calling upon them.

Receptions are occasionally given by the faculty, military balls take place under the management of the officers of the Cornell Battalion, select parties are formed for a ride or a dance, excursions are made down the lake, etc., so that hardly a week passes without bringing an opportunity to squander an afternoon or an evening in the pleasure of general society.

Nor is society all the attraction that tempts the student to leave his books. During the spring and fall term there are games of lacrosse, tennis, foot-ball, and base-ball, which, either as participants or as spectators, all lovers of out-of-door sport may enjoy. There are athletic contests between men of our own college, and intercollegiate games, which may for a little time occupy the chief place in college thought and conversation. In general, however, athletics receive very little attention except from those directly engaged in them.

Then, too, there are the various public entertainments of the town. They are always sure to be well patronized by the students; and, though some unpopular lecturer may be greeted with a shower of beans or some unlucky star see roll away from her the bouquet for which she stoops, yet any really artistic performance is sure of an appreciative audience. One billiard-hall, one beer- and one liquor-saloon (both furnishing such substantial refreshments as Limburger cheese, pretzels, etc., in addition to their liquid exhilarants), and two or three well-kept restaurants, receive a certain amount of student patronage.

It will be seen, therefore, that no Cornell student is likely to want for amusement. I fancy, indeed, that the reader thinks that he is in danger of having too much rather than too little. There are, however, certain bounds which determine how much and partly what kind of pleasure he shall enjoy.

Of course lack of wealth, personal unpopularity, peculiarity of