College of William and Mary - Colonial Echo Yearbook (Williamsburg, VA)

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things worth doing, and we now add to that statement the phrase with ease. We make only one exception to the above statement — we will not say that even a Senior can get his degree with ease. You can ask any one of the lordly A. M. ' s if theirs came easy, and all will tell you that it is a great undertaking. We refrain from naming our politicians, gas-bags and possessors of other vicious traits, for we have been too strongly urged upon at an executive session to withhold all such names. All would have gotten some place on the list, but it was voted down, because the class wanted no unfavorable influences brought to bear upon the high( r powers, the dispensers of degrees, etc. But we cannot refrain from referring to the Echo Election as witness to the truth of our statements. Some got the places they deserved, none got undeserved places, but some failed to get the places they deserved, possibly because others do not know them as well as we do. We cannot omit mentioning one of our festive occasions, — that which took place during the holidays, when some of our class had an eggnog supper and smoker. On this occasion the majority, memory carrying them back to Sophomore experiences, hazed the minority, and then they turned their atten- tion to the poor, innocent Sophomores. We hope that our festive boards in the future may be more orderly, as doubtless will be the case, for all A. M. ' s, Juniors, Sophomores, Freshmen and Preps, will be religiously excluded. The rest of our history is veiled in uncertainty. We can only say that we are laboring on, putting up all the bluil we can, and hoping to be lucky enough to land a sheepskin. But whether we succeed or not, most of our niimber will doubtless not return. Four years of college life spent at old William and Mary will, however, make us cherish her historic lore, and ever bear in mind the inspiration given us at the shrine of our nation ' s history; and there will be a double bond of union between us, — first, that we were all students at old William and Mary, and, secondly, that we cherish the memory of the years spent together in the classroom and outside, — the years of youth, the happiest of life. May the Class of ' 08 ever succeed, and may fortune at times bring us together while laboring on through the path of life, and may the hopes and longings aroiised in youthful hearts blossom forth in reality, despite the blows of a relentless world ! Though we may part and our paths of life may never bring us together again, let us still remember the faces and cherish the friend- ships of our classmates. And with this invocation, the historian ' s task is done. HiSTOKIAN. 24

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Senior Class History THE Senior Class of this session really has no history. We cannot begin by saying that the present class is the remnant, tried and true, of a mass of Freshmen who entered here four years ago. This cannot be said, because the members of this class have come and gone, and come again. In fact, some of us have been at William and Mary for a decade, more or less. But being absent has had one good effect, and that is, that on the return, one has a deeper love for his Alma Mater than before. As has been said, Absence makes the heart grow fonder; and those who have been absent wish again for college days. There is a feeling worse than mere homesickness in the longing for another year at college. And may this be our feeling after we have left these old halls, perhaps never to return again ! As there has been only individual history until the present session, we cannot go back to our entrance in college, for each man absolutely refuses to divulge his past. Some of our members would like to bury the immediate past, but the deeds of this session are the deeds of a class, and therefore public property. That alone we shall make known in these pages. Although our members wish to forget the past, they hope to redeem themselves in the future, that the past may be consigned to absolute oblivion. But we shall not meddle with the future ; we have one to picture that, and we should be infringing upon his rights if we attempted it. We regret to have to record that two of our members were forced, by sickness, to withdraw from College. Our number was small before, but with C. L. Ebell and E. M. Terrell gone, we have a still smaller number. We can only express the hope that they can return another session to enlarge and strengthen another class. We shall not linger to tell of the achievements of our members, for every- one knows that what a Senior cannot do is not worth doing. But we might mention, in hurrying on, that our class is represented in all branches of athletics, literary and society work, and college politics. Of course, it goes without saying that we excel in our classes, for otherwise we would not be Seniors. We can name only one grind, and that, S. J. Williams. We let him serve as our example to lower classmen in that respect, and that is the only reason we allow him to overstudy. The rest of us take things as they come, and naturally they come easy, for we have said before, a Senior can accomplish all 23

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Prophecy I AWOKE. It was morning, and cold as blazes. I rubbed my eyes to make sure they were open, flopped my arms to start the blood in circulation, and, with a yawn, climbed over the fence at the corner, where I had spent the night, and started off down the track. I was within a mile or so of a small railway station, and as I approached it, I heard the shrill whistle of a westbound freight. They were whistling down brakes, and I knew they were going to stop ; so hurrying along, I hid myself in the thick underbrush which lined each side of the track, and as the freight rolled in sight from around the bend and roared along in front of my hiding place, finally stopping before the station, I sprang up and prepared to nail her. I made a dash for a box car, whose side door was open. Placing my hands upon an iron bar, I vaulted in. The train, starting as I sprang, threw me backward with a thump, which nearly knocked me unconscious. Half dazed, I struggled to my feet, and as I did so a man rolled up from the corner, and with a terrified yell, started for the open door. He evidently thought I was the brakeman. He had reached the door and was about to leap from the freight, when I caught a front view of his face, and as I did so, I made a flying tackle for his knees and brought him down. Hello, Jess Ewell, old boy ! Are you an ordained gentleman of leisure like myself ? Well, I ' ll be hanged ! ' John Sharp ' Williams ! Give me your hand, old boy. Give me something to smoke. You have a mighty good-looking coat. I glanced down at my new broadcloth coat and grinned as I thought of that minister back down the road who was quietly working in his garden as I passed along, and whose coat, which hung over the fence, I had carefully appropriated, leaving mine instead. I reached into an inside pocket and to my delight pulled out half a dozen cigars. Cigars! shrieked Jess. The first I have seen for six months. I scarcely get a chance at anything but a cigarette. Exports too. Here ; give me a match. T did so, and a broad grin spread over the face of my old college chum as he drew in a mouthful of the smoke and then blew rings upward to the ceiling. 26