- tion in it, knowledge and strength. He assured
them that the service would always be non¬ sectarian, that there would never be anything in it to offend any one of any race, creed, or religion. With a last exhortation to the freshmen to make the most of their great opportunities, he ended with the announcement that they would rise and sing the sixty-seventh hymn.
Hugh was deeply impressed by the speech but disturbed by the students. From where he sat he got an excellent view of the juniors and seniors. The seniors, who sat in the front of the nave, seemed to be paying fairly good attention; but the juniors—many of them, at least—paid no attention at all. Some of them were munching apples, some doughnuts, and many of them were reading “The Sanford News,” the college’s daily paper.
Some
of the juniors talked during the president’s address, and once he noticed four of them doubled up as if overcome by laughter.
To him the service was a
beautiful and impressive occasion.
He could not
understand the conduct of the upper-classmen. seemed, to put it mildly, irreverent.
It
Every one, however, sang the doxology with great vigor, some of the boys lifting up a “whisky” tenor that made the chapel ring, and to which Hugh happily added his own clear tenor. The benediction was pronounced by the chaplain, the seniors marched out slowly in twos, while the other
