Southwestern Louisiana Institute - Lacadien Yearbook (Lafayette, LA)

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besides llicsc, Krciicli and Latin, and l iii,i;-!isli Lilcrat ui-c occnp ' KMl a considerable pari ol ' (»nr precions time. AVe are now in our hist year of schoolinj;- here, with on ly a lew more months left. Are we glad tliat we are about to wind up our successful career at this institution! No. We love this school, our teachers and the many friends we have nuide while in Tjafayette, and we are loath to h ' ave them; l)nt we are conscious of a duty that calls us out into the world to benin our mission in life and we must answer this call. For some it may be one tliin.u ' , for others another; but for all, our mission is to liolp in the uplift of mankind both morally and educationally, and in this way show our appreciation for the many favors bestowed upon us by our God, our government, and our Alma Mater. In conclusion we wish to thank these good men and woinen, these apostles of education and morality, for the time, the trouble, and the patience they have expended in giving us this foundation of education, also for the kindness they have shown us while here, for the unceasing efforts to make of us good enlightened citizens. We also msh to thank the people of Lafayette Parish for the part they played in establishing this school, and therel)y the means of our education. Last but not least, we wish to extend our thanks to the good legislators and far sighted men who conceived the idea of such an institution and to the tax-payer who made this idea practicable. Comrades, we have come to the parting of tlie ways, but as you step forth from this institution, remember that your Alma Mater ex- pects great things of you, and that this is not the end, but the beginning.

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striking- the contrast between tlie faces of tliat day and the sad, scared ones that might have been seen coming into the examination room, the morning of the first exam. After four months of vacation, we returned to Southwestern, glad that we were together once more and resolved to study harder than we had studied the previous year. How exultant we were over the fact that we were no longer despised Fresliies but distinguished Sophs., with the privileges of associating with the higher classmen, or torment- ing the new-comers — provided there was no teacher around to protect the poor innocent things — as we had been tormented the year before. Then came the grind of every day work, and with the raising of the standard of the institution one-half term, setting the date of grad- uation and the goal to which we aspired, farther away. This however did not discourage us, but instead, it acted as a spur to urge us on to greater efforts; for we reasoned, Do we not profit by it? A wise greater efforts; for we reasoned, J3o we not profit by it? A wise shall attain unto wise counsels. This we did, and have not oiny profited by it from the fact that we have had to study more subjects, bat this one disappointment has helped ns to bear those that followed, and will no doubt, help us to ))ear those to come. During our third year here we began the study of sciences, and for many nights the black darkness of the massive walls of the dormitories were broken here and there by a narrow beam of light, telling the story of some poor boy burning midnight oil, pondering over some long equation in chemistry or trying to drum into his head Charles ' and Boyle ' s Law. Thus we went thru chemistry; some days struggling with a problem, some days choking almost to death while performing an experiment with chlorine or some other poisonous gas ; and now and then punctuating the drudgery by an explosion or an accident, and oft times both. In our fourth year we suffered another raise of standard, causing the date of our graduation to be moved still farther from us and more and harder subjects thrust upon us. During this session we did all kinds of work, from testing milk and cream and inspecting dairies, to making tools in the forge shop ; and the girls, not having the privilege of working in this inferno, got their share of burns and disappointments in the cooking or domestic science department. It was in the latter part of this year that we had to wrestle will Physics and Trig.; and

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As ull)rmttjl) A OSlass BaiUly Say Tom, tomorrow is the J4tli day of May. Yes, just tliink of it, till ' L ' 4tli of May, H) . ), and it is tlie niiitli anniversary of our i;-rad- uatiou, from S. Ij. 1. I. down in Louisiana! I tliink we shall have to celebrate. Sui)i)ose we tour the states for a few months. Is it a g ' o! ' ' Sure Scott, we need a vacation, anyway. ' ' AVe left New York the next morning, and our first stop was CUii- cago. As Tom had a frightful toothache, we started in search of a dentist as soon as w e arrived. We were soon rewarded for all our walking by seeing a large sign that rea l thus: False sets made to order in two lior s. We entered and after waiting for an hour or so, we were admitted into the doctor ' s presence and to our amazement, we were facing none other but old Capt. Hopkins. We all had had an idea that he would become a farmer. The surprise cured Dutch ' s tooth without any other remedy, so we started back to the hotel. Well, we had hardly left TTo|)kins ' office before w e saw two officers l)ulling ' along a well dressed lady who was screaming at the top of her voice. We couldn ' t see her face, but we learned that she was the lead- ing suffragette of Cliicago, Miss Justine Fiegel; and she had just suc- ceeded in smashing in forty-three show windows valued at $5,000. Our next stop was St. Louis, and that night we went around to a big socialist meeting. The first speaker was a stranger but the next one wdio stepped out on the platform was Mr. Eugene Triay. His speech was a howding success. We left for Denver, Colorado, the next day at noon. AVhile on the train we met Annie Alleman with her four children. She was on her way to Salt Lake C-ity at which place she was to meet her husband wdio was traveling with Eingling Brothers ' Circus. After reaching Denver we were told that court was in session, so we stepped around to hear the outcome of some of the cases. Now being surprised so much on our tour, we merely gave a slight start when Ave saw Alex Swoi ' ds on the stand. He was a1)out to l)e pinched for exceeding the speed limit and running over Policeman Kicaud, who thinking he was a jitney, tried to flag him down. We ]jaid his fine, and lie took us for a spin over the city, and as it w as nearly twelve w e went around to the famous French Cafe, which was owned and operated ])y Miss Jeanne Comeaux, of Youngsville, Louisiaiui. The gumbo was first rate, and Jeanne told us slie had just received six carloads of garlic from Cyril Grouchy ' s garlic fai-ni near Franklin, Louisiana.