Part 7 (2/2)

”Skin me, Brer Fox,” sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, ”snatch out my eyeballs, t'ar out s,” sezee, ”but do please, Brer Fox, don't fling me in dat brier-patch,” sezee

Co'se Brer Fox wanter hurt Brer Rabbit bad ez he kin, so he cotch 'iht in de middle er de brier-patch

Dar wuz a considerbul flutter whar Brer Rabbit struck de bushes, en Brer Fox sorter hang 'roun' fer ter see ineter happen

Bimeby he hear somebody call 'ied on a chinkapin log koamin' de pitch outen his har wid a chip Den Brer Fox know dat he bin swop offback some er his sass, en he holler out:

”Bred en bawn in a brier-patch, Brer Fox--bred en bawn in a brier-patch!” en wid dat he skip out des ez lively ez a cricket in de embers

CHAPTER XXVII

PERSPECTIVE

I wish I could ever get the question of ht e course would settle the matter for all time, but it didn't I suspect that those erudite professors thought they were gettinghabits of majors and es of styles nor for growth When I received my diploma they seemed to think I was finished, and would stay just as they had fixed me They used to talk no little about finished products, and, on commencement day, appeared to look upon lad that I didn't fulfil their apparent expectations I have never been able to make out whether their attentions, on commencement day, were manifestations of pride or relief I can see now that I must have been a sore trial to them In my callow days, when they occupied pedestals, I bent the knee to theot bravely over that At first, what they taught and what they represented were my majors, but when I came to shi+ft and reconstruct values, some of them climbed down off their pedestals, and my knee lost some of its flexibility

We had one little professor who afforded us no end of a himself so seriously The boys used to say that he wrote letters and sent flowers to himself He would strut about the ca, apparently, that ere laughing at hirand air and his clothes, but after we discovered that, in his case at least, clothes do not make the man, we refused to be impressed

He could split hairs with infinite precision, and sarette in the most approved style, but I never heard any of the boys express a wish to beco, on the campus, between him and Zeus he would have been offended, I am sure, if Zeus had failed to set off a few thunderbolts in his honor

We used to have at home a bantam rooster that could create no end of flutter in the chicken yard, and could crow s nor occupy , from major rank to a low minor, and awarded the palm to one of the less burees, of course, and has them yet, I suspect; but no one ever discovered that he put theood use For that reason we boys lost interest in the arnishments

Our professor of chemistry was different He was never on dress-parade; he did not pose; he was no snob We loved hirees, too, but they were so obscured by the ot them in our conte enough for hies would want to confer upon William Shakespeare if he could come back Then, too, I often think what a wonderful letter Abrahaht have written to Mrs

Bixby, if he had only had a degree Agassiz rees, but he didn't really need therees, to be knoithout the identification of his other naht to have them, especially if they can live up to theiven for things done, rather than for things hoped for; given for at least one stage of the journey acco If this time ever comes Thomas A Edison will bankrupt the alphabet

In this coil of degrees and the absence of them, I become more and e were those two professors both wearing degrees of the saed by that criterion they should have been of equal size and influence But they weren't In the one case you couldn't see the ree for the man Small wonder that I find ht, in rees--that an AM was ten times the size of an AB; that a PhD

was equal to ten AM's; and that the LLD degree could be had only on the top of Mt Oly folks, and can't tell a PhD fros so that ayfaring folks could tell them apart It would sie corees The PhD croould certainly feel ether, so that they need not de with ht hope, too, that by way of diversion they would put their heads together and coht avert war, reduce the high cost of living, banish a woman's tears, or save a soul from perdition

Be it said to my shame, that I do not knohat even an AB lyphics So the writer's name printed at the top with an AB

annex; but I do not knohat the writer is trying to say toHe probably wants raduate of soree was conferred by a high school, a norh school that confers this degree, as well as es There are still other institutions where this saes, whether they can prove it or not I'll be glad to send a stah to tell me what AB does really ed with celibacy, but the ever-increasing variety of bachelors,of apprehension Nor can I er and better than bachelors of science and pedagogy

The arts folks claim that they are, and proceed to prove it by one another I often wonder what a bachelor of arts can do that the other bachelors cannot do, or _vice versa_ They should all be required to submit a list of their accomplishments, so that, when any of the rest of us want a bit of work done, wethese differentiated bachelors If ant a bridge built, a beefsteak broiled, a mountain tunnelled, a loaf of bread baked, a railroad constructed, a hat triht to knohich class of bachelors will serve our purpose best Soo to cite hi short story, but I couldn't decide whether to refer hiht have turned to the LittD's, but I didn't suppose they would care to bother with a little thing like that

In college I studied Greek and, in fact, won a gold h Mr Xenophon's parasangs That medal is lost, so far as I know, and no one now has the reh those parasangs, not to , or that I ever made the acquaintance of ox-eyed Juno But I need no medal to remind roe of those experiences in the Greek class

Every bluebird I see does that for , rhapsodized for fiveof a bluebird he had heard on his way to class, telling how the little felloas pouring forth a melody that made the world and all life seem more beautiful and blessed We loved hi-souled hu; and pupils like to discover human qualities in their teachers The little professor , too; but if he did, he probably thought it was serenading hies of education and nor of a bluebird their acadelorified, and their studentsthe soul can socialize and vitalize the work of the schools The mere academician can never do it

The ree decorations in my efforts to determine what is e He was an earnest schoolirls were around him, busy at their tasks One year there were fourteen boys in his school, fifteen including hi enough, so they , at the various homes, and continued the work of the day These boys absorbed his tith, and his heart Their success in their as his greatest joy Of those fourteen boys one is no h rank, five are attorneys, two are ministers of the Gospel, two are bankers, one is a successful business e is the ideal of those ht direction, and always speak his nae has these thirteen stars in his crown that I know of He had no degrees, but I a that soood and faithful servant”