University of Florida - Tower / Seminole Yearbook (Gainesville, FL)

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SENIOR LAW CLASS HISTORY You, O Reader, who have gazed with awe upon our faces as portrayed in these pages, arrayed in the academic cap and gown, unwillingly thrust upon us, have perhaps conceived an erroneous opinion that we were always thus. Perhaps you recall times, entwined in memories of trips to the dentist, or of drowsing through preaching on a long hot Sunday, while the minister's voice seemed to grow fainter and fainter as the bench grew harder and harder, and while all out of doors was calling you, times, I say, when you were made to don your best clothes and the big uncomfortable, sailor collar, when with your hair carefully soaped and brushed, you fidgetted for what seemed ages before the camera, staring in wide-eyed wonder at the strange man whose head bobbed from beneath a green cloth only to make asinine grimaces at you. Did the resulting picture, showing a very self-conscious and uncomfortable boy, truly represent you ? Did it. I ask ? As with you, so with us. We are a band of very plain and ordinary mortals, as a more careful scrutiny of our likenesses will readily convince you. We doubtless conceal in our midst no future Marshall or Webster, no Calhoun or Clay, whose legal theories are now legal facts, or whose voice could move men to madness or soothe them to sleep—tho’ perhaps we may be able to unintentionally produce the latter efTect. We are a little band of plodders along the road of learning, and many of us have reached this milestone on the way of our journey by dint of no little hard work and sacrifices. We are much the same as the young men you know. We have chosen the calling which takes the troubles of others for its own. and by hard work and perseverance endeavor to smoothe the wrinkles of discord from the mantle of humanity. It is to this end we have labored, and now, as our last college days are slipping behind us. one by one, we present to you the story of our preparation.

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CLASS OF 1913 LAW PROSE. The class of nineteen thirteen needs no eulogy. Moreover, self-praise is more than half scandal. Wherefore, .standing on the broad basis of the law. We place ourselves on a lofty pedestal Where all the common herd may gaze in awe Upon the majestic mien of those Learned in the noble science That forms the safeguard of human rights. The guardian of our sacred institutions The Bulwark of Society. To ourselves we burn the Incense Of Adoration. Bow the knee of abject homage. Kiss the Earth. Prostrate our sacred selves In recognition of Learning Wisdom and Skill. Adaptnesa in technicalities and Intricacies With which the Courts hedge themselves about. Of the skill with which we wield Weapons of legal combat. Match wit with wit And strive By every human ingenuinty To right wrongs. We look ahead and see in hope Careers of note— Supreme Court Bench or Senate seat. or. perchance A J. P. Court. Of the Past, it is enough— We have weathered the storms Of undergraduate days. Through daily quiz and examination We have pursued A steadfast course Until at last WE are rewarded— This day we take our place Among the lawyers of our Land To administer Justice.

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Perhaps if another were writing on this theme, he would paint a more fanciful picture, and perhaps you wonder why I am writing thus. My motive is to make you one of us for the time, and. laying aside all guile and pretext, to show the class as it is. A history, if worthy of the name, is not a mere chronicle of names and dates, but should give the reader an intimate knowledge of the people and times of which it treats, so that there is conveyed to his mind an impression of having made new acquaintances and of visiting strange lands. If in a small way I may do this, I have sue cccdcd. Wo were the second Junior class to matriculate in the college of law, and its third class of graduates. We entered during the reign of Dean Farrah, and we pass out from under the guidance of Dean Hughes. In our infancy in the law we fed upon the divers intricate problems of the law in which the watch of the former enmeshed itself, and now in our maturer year, the sayings and decisions of old Judge Philbrick have been our sustenance. Howbeit, we have worked mightily and now are yearning to try our powers, and soon some of us. perhaps, will be able to break our first lance within the halls of Justice. We have had our part in college life, from championing the cause of Prohibition, to humbling Stetson in athletics. Where there was work to be done, we furnished our quota of men to do it; if it were money to be given, we gave our portion. Among our members are found many of the heads of the different undergraduate activities and organizations. It has been our endeavor to leave behind us a better college than we found, a college richer in high traditions and college spirit than the one we entered. To this end we have labored. and if. perchance, those who come after us are the better men by the reason of the two years we have spent here—we have succeeded.