"Oh," laughed Jefferson, "only the old-fashioned students take their
studies seriously. Most of the men you see there are from the
provinces, seeing Paris for the first time, and having their fling.
Incidentally they are studying life. When they have sown their wild
oats and learned all about life--provided they are still alive and have
any money left--they will begin to study books. You would be surprised
to know how many of these young men, who have been sent to the
University at a cost of goodness knows what sacrifices, return to their
native towns in a few months wrecked in body and mind, without having
once set foot in a lecture room, and, in fact, having done nothing
except inscribe their names on the rolls."