Page:Lynch Williams--The girl and the game.djvu/312

 till the time of her son's graduation—with which was to begin the gradual reformation of the prodigal.

It would be diverting to observe how this reformation business proceeds. Sooner or later, I suppose, he will be reimprisoned in Philadelphia society. But whether his mother makes him live down his past or not, he has learned a few things at college he would have acquired at no other place and in no other way, and they can't hurt him, whatever he decides to do with his God-given life. You can see all sorts of people in travel, you can find out about their history and habits in books, but what you cannot get by travel or reading is the close, personal touch, the intimate first-hand impression. You can only get at the personal equation by personal contact. All of which might have been summed up by repeating that the best study of man is man, except that I wanted to bring out the idea that, owing to the conditions of your life and the age of those living it, you have a great opportunity, here on this