Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 October 1900 — IN THE MIDDLE AGES. [ARTICLE]

IN THE MIDDLE AGES.

Student Life of the Olden Time Preacnted a Unique Spectacle. The student world of olden time presents a unique spectacle to the observer of the nineteenth century. When instruction was about to begin a curious sight was exhibited. Groups of students are pressing toward the university from every quarter. Their bright dresses flash along lonely forest ways. Now they form a part of a caravan of merchants making its slow way along the valleys, or they join themselves timidly to the retinue of some knight for protection; or they float down the dull, sluggish German streams in the trafficking boats, fhey stop for a day in the great cities through which they pass in order to feast their eyes upon the sights of a new world; they appear for a time amid the crowds at the yearly fairs, where they tell fortunes, or predict eclipses, or sell charms and false relics, or unfold the mysteries of the black art, to earn an honest penny to help them on their way. To-night they sleep in a castle court, and enjoy the hospitality given to strangers; tomorrow a friendly monastery gives them shelter and the wayfarer’s food. They chaff the honest country people, and make love to the maidens with their gay manner and songs. They peem like the reckless, careless, troubadours with their jests and merrymaking. The wealthier students ride on horseback; the nobles are accompanied by a retinue of attendants, the names of all of whom will be entered on the university books. The poor students, who hope by a drink from the mysterious fountain of knowledge to improve their prospects in life, have no baggage. The others carry a pack containing a velvet or satin doublet, linen shirts, a dairy, an album, a letter of introduction and some book, usually a Greek Testament, Terence, Ovid, Plautus or Petronlus. Most wear a sword as a part of their dress, and for defense as well, for the hot blood of these students constantly leads to broils.—Harper’s Magazine.