MacMurray College - Tartan / Illiwoco Yearbook (Jacksonville, IL)

Page 29 text:

1915 ILLIWOCO rara I.W.C. manner of the found in of the house of the W o m an ' s C o 1 1 e f e ; n o r from that time to the present have its doors ever opened at the ap- pointed time without disclosing those who, with eager hearts, awaited a welcome to the instruction there given. Decades passed but they brought not al- ways times of joy, for the maintenance of the house was a matter of grave concern, so that oft times the counsel- lors and the precep- tors were sorely per- plexed to know how to provide that which was required. There came upon the land the vicissitudes of a devastating civil war, when men and youths buckled on the warriors ' ilL CONFERENCE FEMALE COLLEGE ,ta.fe ' Builders were summoned to add yet other chamhers. Shrouded with ashes — and yet no disaster drought defeat.

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1915 mm ILLIWOCO I.W.C I. W. C. ANNALS. Tlic stoi ' v lini ' ks l)ack lo tlie l)cj imiiiiji ' of the oi-a wlicn AVildoi-noss no longer was kiii ' ; lo lliat ha])py once-upoii-a-tinie, which dawned so hri lilly, after llie axe-iiuMi liad driven Ihat rude inoiiai ' ch l)efore them uiilil he found a liidin - phice only in the distant desolation of the sunset land. Then it was that there came from the east wise men, bringing to the scattei ' ed peoi)le of the prairies jiifts of undci ' standing, and vision to behold what niannei of kingdom might l)e estal)lished among them for the betterment of tlieii- liomes and the etnio])ling of their race; foi ' the founding of a I ' ealm wherein theii young men would gi ' ow siiiews of power, and theii young women would l)e clothed in the dignity and grace of abundant strength. And so it was that with minds thus quickened the people gladly set foi ' th to accomplish and to do all that the vision inspired. From their frugal lives, with toil and with sacrifice, they gathered material for the building of the houses wherein might be taught all that was most needful. Houses with broad foundatioiis wherein might be enacted laws for the safe-guarding of life and propei ' ty; houses with upw ard pointing spires where men gathered their fami- lies about them and kneeled in worship and in fervent appeal ; houses wherein young men assembled and under the direction of learned proctors received the ti ' aining that gave them valor to meet and to overcome difficulties without, and foes within ; and last of all, a house with columns w hite and stately, with quiet corridors and secluded gardens, where maidens might receive the knowledge that would fill their hearts with wisdom and make them to know the sweet, stern dignity of their place in the order of life. And this was the house of llliw ' oco, the Woman ' s College. Through the portals of llliwoco, in those long ago years, of near three- score and ten, there passed with faces all aglow those maidens who w ere first to enter. After them thronged others until there was not room to contain them, and builders were summoned to add yet other chambers. Such w as the The house with eolumns white and stately. ' 22

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1915 ILLIWOCO KBJ i.w.c A New Era. arinoi ' , and maidens left their looms and the house of learning to sow the fields and tend the hearth fires. Neither was the house of the College spared, for there came devastating flames and a part of its glory was shrouded in ashes. These trials wei ' e grievous to be borne, yet never did the light of the house go out, nor fail to show a shining path to those who sought its guidance, for faith- ful ones there were of God ' s own elect who faltered not in their duty, but with earnest striving strengthened and sustained that which had been builded for such noble purpose. With uplifted eyes they beheld the young womanhood of future years coming to seek the wisdom more to be desired than rubies or gold, and with determined souls they let no disaster bring defeat. A new era; as out of night ' s shadows a new day dawns, so from the hard- ships of a cramped and hindered service did the college struggle into a fuller life. Into its councils came one whose wisdom was ripe with the full strength of manhood ' s best years. His right hand I ' evealed a cabalistic symbol, the mai ' k of the mystical number seven; it was his by the divine right of succes- sion as the seventh in the line of preceptors of the house of the College. Upon his bi ' ow he bore the name Joseph, given to him in the sacred rite of Christian baptism, and with it was the gift of vision, so that he was a dreamer of dreams; and it was according to the interpretation of his dream that this man of wisdom set himself to accomplish all that was thus shown to him. He had a gift of vision — and was a dreamer of dreams. 24