12
THE BATTALION
sons which make you better prepared for living. Drink in
from the lives of great men the sweets which they have left us
in their writings. But as the bee is never poisoned from the
fact that she shuns the bitter blossoms, so should you shun
the books which poisons your lives and fill them with bitter
ness, and make you worse for having read them.
The literary societies are under good headway, and will
in all probability have a most successful year. Arrangements
have been made to have prominent men of the state .address
them in joint meeting. The young ladies of the campus have
encouraged the boys by their presence several times. The
members of the faculty should visit them, as it will not only
encourage the boys, but it is their duty.
Patronize those who patronize you, is a very good rule
for all men to follow. The advertisers in the Battalion are
thoroughly reliable, and we ask the boys when making pur
chases to give them the preference.
Beginning with the next issue the Battalion hopes to be
gin a series of short crisp stories. This we think will be a
decided change for the better ; instead of going to sleep over
long dry orations and essays, the reader wdll enjoy following
the thoughts of some young genius through the hazy mist of
fiction. This change will be purely experimental and if it
proves a success, as we think it will, the students will be ex
pected to lend a hand and help it through.
As a mah is judged by his actions, so is a college judged
by its journal. If it is dry and. uninteresting, the college is
judged to be no good. If it is bright and spicy, the college is
judged to be so. Now we do not want to be classed as no
good, for such is not the case. In order that the Battalioir
may be a truthful exponent of the college, every student
should come to its aid both b} r contributions and financially.
A great number of students seem to think that only long-
articles, full of flights of oratory are necessary. In this they
are very much mistaken. Short, spicy sketches on live sub
jects are what the reader of to-day wants. Send in your arti-