Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/52

42 AUSTIN MIRES ever and wherever permitted to thrive, never polluted the student body of Umpqua Academy. There was a genuine democracy, recognizing- no aristocracy except the aristocracy of honest endeavor. Motherhood and maidenhood were held in greater venera- tion by the young men of the Academy than by those of these faster times. I can recall no instance in all the history of the Academy of any young man contributing to the delinquency of any young woman student. Should a young man so far transgress as to use language calculated to disparage the good reputation of a young woman student in those elder days, he would likely receive a smash in the mouth from the fist of some companion for his pains. The spirit of moral rectitude in this particular direction, I can agree, was largely due to the impression received from the stern example and wholesome precepts of the teachers, but in no small measure was it due as well to the very environment surrounding the Academy. And the individual students were probably all unconscious of the righteous influence thus being exerted upon them. At the time of my first attendance at the Academy the rigid Puritanism of the early directors of its destiny had begun to relax, but the old rules still stood, rigid as ever. Prayer meetings were as regular as school days all through the life of the Academy, and about as well attended, and revival meetings were not infrequent. At these prayer meet- ings it was customary, in the earlier days, for all to kneel during prayer. Some of the good old matrons, it would seem irrev- erent to mention any names in this connection, were prone to make exceeding long prayers, thus lengthening the meetings unreasonably, as was thought by some of us young fellows, who perhaps still possessed some ungodly tendencies. So we organized to stop it. We took seats in different parts of the audience on these occasions, and when we thought such prayers had gone on long enough would commence dragging our feet over the floor with so much noise that the one doing the praying would think everybody was rising from their knees and would reach the amen point without delay. We usually