will have turkey and egg-nog to-night."




V

A COLLEGE VAGABOND


The ease and apparent willingness with which some men revert to an
aimless life can best be accounted for by the savage or barbarian
instincts of our natures. The West has produced many types of the
vagabond,--it might be excusable to say, won them from every condition
of society. From the cultured East, with all the advantages which
wealth and educational facilities can give to her sons, they flocked;
from the South, with her pride of ancestry, they came; even the
British Isles contributed their quota. There was something in the
primitive West of a generation or more ago which satisfied them.
Nowhere else could it be found, and once they adapted themselves to
existing conditions, they were loath to return to former associations.

About the middle of the fifties, there graduated from one of our
Eastern colleges a young man of wealthy and distinguished family. His
college record was good, but close application to study during the
last year had told on his general health. His ambition, coupled with a
laudable desire to succeed, had buoyed up his strength until the final
graduation day had passed.

Alexander Wells had the advantage of a good physical constitution.