or over Hoosac mountain to the central shaft of the great tunnel, though Hoosac is a poor specimen of a mountain, compared with some of its neighbors, being rather a huge mound, up one steep end of which you struggle, and, traversing a level space of several miles in length, where you find the little village of Florida, clamber down the other side. Then, catching the next train back through the tunnel, you pass directly under the scene of your late exertions. Of course the enjoyment of these mountain-trips depends to a large extent upon the companionship of congenial spirits.
At the approach of winter these outside sports are necessarily interrupted. Then every one turns instinctively to the gymnasium; and it is there that the busiest current of life is to be found during cold weather. On the main floor there is constant employment of the bars, clubs, rings, chest-weights, and dumb-bells, while above, the runners speed around the track in single file, taking the pace from their leader. Down-stairs you will find the bowling-alleys in full swing, while the long base-ball cage is seldom empty. The rumbling of the balls and crashing of the pins combine with the constant swash of the shower-baths, and the flow of talk in the dressing-rooms, to produce an effect lively in the extreme.
Out of doors, workmen have been busy constructing the toboggan slide, which is soon occupied by a gay crowd in the regulation blanket suits and toques. Every evening, and every pleasant Wednesday and Saturday afternoon, the slide is open for use; but the evening session is superior as a spectacle, owing to the brilliant and far-reaching array of torches at each side of the double track. Snow-shoes, too, have now no lack of devotees, whose success is often disproportionate to their zeal. Still, the winter term is confessed to be the dullest of the year, though its monotony is somewhat broken by courses of lectures under the auspices of the faculty. Diversion is also sought by some in attending occasional germans at North Adams, but these are comparatively few. Then, too, the Gul, or illustrated college annual, is issued at some period of this term by a board elected from the Junior class, and, ordinarily, Junior Dramatics are then represented for the first time. Election to membership of these boards is considered a special honor, and is the source of much secret disappointment among defeated candidates. Election is also sought by many to the Glee Club, and to the boards of the college periodicals, the Williams Weekly and the Literary Monthly, the latter of which is known as the Lit. and is conducted by the Seniors. Such elections, however, unlike the former cases, are the result of competition. Another source of prominence is the college orchestra; but its ranks are not so easily recruited.
But the return of spring brings the halcyon period of college life; for this is the season of out-door sports, of class-sings, class-suppers, and the longed-for Commencement, with its festivities of every sort. Then, too, the friends and admiring relatives of each proud Senior gather from all directions to witness his final triumph before stepping down and out into the "wide, wide world." The class-sing is a venerable institution at Williams, and on pleasant evenings, in accordance with a previous notice, the members of some one class gather around
