Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/54

 44 AUSTIN MIRES gunning for one of our professors and got him. Some brief reminiscences here may not be out of place. While these rules of inhibition of communication between the young men and women pupils were being enforced with some rigidity, one of our distinguished professors, whose name I forbear to mention, but whose fame as a mathematician will continue long, suddenly and without warning commenced pay- ing court to a comely maiden of the village. She had another suitor who resided some distance away, but who made frequent visits to her home ; but our professor proved too fast for him, and soon, in an old 1 time phrase, "cut him out." His love quests were not long in attracting the notice of the young folks, if entirely unobserved by the other members of the faculty. Upon one of these, his frequent visits, some three young fel- lows whose names I might mention, but I wont, happened (?) to be in the vicinity after the curfew hour. The coy maiden had neglected to lower the shade of her parlor window so as to entirely exclude all vision from without. The said young fellows peeped through the opening beneath the window shade and there saw their respected teacher, shorn of all professional dignity, engaged in assiduous courtship in the human way of wooing. Be the remainder of this recitation only whispered they saw him fold 1 his dulcinea in his strong arms and re- peatedly kiss her cheeks and lips and gently stroke her fair head with his bear-like hand, and heard him call her endearing names all in like manner as all red blooded men have always done, and, let us hope for the felicity of the courted, always will ; and this performance went on all to the sore envy of those on-lookers outside. It is yet believed that had that same pro- fessor discovered one of those young men performing in like manner with himself on that occasion, there would' have been a swift expulsion from the Academy the next morning. It is astonishing how readily the ordinary human being al- ways detects the mote in his brother's eye, while utterly obliv- ious to the beam in his own eye. There used to live an old man by name of French near the ferry landing, on the north bank of the Umpqua river at Win-