Technical High School - Tech Tiger Yearbook (Springfield, MA)

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26 CD6 0t'i01'6 : 1907 VUL iv took the Watch and held it until the thousands of diamond lights were shining on the earth, and then he too sank behind the hill. A man walked up the village road. His eyes were cast down, for his mind was laboring with strange thoughts. Soon he came to the old White farm house. There was no light inside but the door was unlocked and he strode into the large room. The old- fashioned clock stood in the corner monotonously ticking away the minutes. The dying embers in the fireplace gently crackled and Hickered. A shaft of Warm light came in the Window, re- flected from the glass front of a cabinet and found the man's face still troubled by the untold story of his long absence and adventures. But the face was handsome in its strength, por- traying a man like the flag-pole on the hill, high in honor, true to the core, and unchangeable in the roughest blasts of fortune. Suddenly all was deathly silent. The clock had stopped ticking, the last spark in the ashes had faded into darkness. With a dread foreboding the man rushed from the house and turned into the Wellworn path leading to the top of the mountain. Soon he stopped, for there by the path, with his head resting in a cluster of ferns, his eyes closed and his hands folded as if in prayer, lay the old man, his face upturned to the stars. It was very beautiful, peaceful, still. The long White beard was partly buried beneath an American Hag which lay across his breast, and a slender frost- bitten golden-rod had bent its head to mingle with the silver hair. The man fell on his knees and laid one hand upon the cold clasped hands before him. f'Dad, he cried, and dropped his head on the dead man's arm and wept. uh Q ,D 45 3

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YIH.S. TDC 93016 : 1907 25 ought but they're a mite too crooked, a leetle dishonest, but when the world finds a man as is upright and strong and can't be thrown by the strongest blasts, he's the man the worldwants but he's a scarce article. Such a man might not be known out- side a small circle and yet those as knew him would be better for it. This Hag pole would have lived and died without the high honor we are goin' to give it had I not found it and carried it from the forest, but the young trees as would sprout to take its place would be straighter and better timber for its havin' been there. f'Every morning I shall raise Old Glory on the mountain, that it may honor nature's highest work. Those of you as see it wavin' in the distance may know it's a signal of good cheer, and that the old man who guards it by night, so far separated from any neighbors, be still in the same world with you. An old man far away from you all but not lonely, for, though his wife left him two years ago, and his boy doesn't come back, he has given his life to his Maker, and while he lives he will keep the farm as well as he can for the boy, believin' that all is well for God knows best. When the old man finished speaking, the pole was pushed into place, the hole was filled with stones and cement, and the flag was hoisted amid loud cheers. Then the minister gave a short prayer, after which the people walked back to their carriages and started for their homes. One October afternoon the old man climbed the mountain to haul down the Hag for the night. The sun was sinking in the west, and he stopped, more from habit than with hope, to look toward the line of railroad track. In front stretched the tree tops, decked in all the colors of autumn grandeur and through a long leafy lane the piece of track was visible. Suddenly a train rushed by and a column of steam shot into the air from a place near the cabin of the engine. Was it the whistle that had blown, or was it again the safety valve which had deceived him once before? He was wild with excitement, and throwing the flag over his shoulder he dashed down toward the house. Half way down the hill he stopped, breathless from his exertions, and lay down to rest. The sun sank behind the hill. The evening star

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T.H.S- UDB 6911016 : 1907 27 About the University of Maine BY EARLE L. MILLIKEN, '08, T. '05 N MAKING another attempt to tell the fellows i, at Tech something of Maine, I Hnd myself fac- , ing in some ways a difficult task, and in others, a decidedly easy one. There are so many sub- C r Q jects on which I would speak at length, that to discriminate from among them and pick out - the most important is quite an undertaking. At the present time, however, I think that the most 1 important question in connection with the Uni- ' versity is the one relating to her finances. , In eighteen sixty-five the legislature of the LD- State of Maine provided for an institution to be known as the Maine State College of Agri- , culture and Mechanic Arts. This was a direct outcome of the Morrill Act passed in Congress in eighteen sixty- two, providing each state with the means and authority to es- tablish a college or university. I can best compare the growth of the University of Maine to that of the Technical High School. Old Mechanic Arts con- tinued to rise in prominence from eighteen ninety-eight to nine- teen hundred four, when the name of the school was set aside for the more appropriate one which it now bears. In like manner the Maine State College existed and grew until eighteen ninety- seven, when the legislature rightly changed the name to Univer- sity of Maine. During these thirty-two years new courses were constantly being added, in consequence, the institution was in eighteen ninety-seven thoroughly fitted to confer the B. A. degree. In nineteen hundred two, George Emory Fellows, Ph. D., succeeded Dr. Harris as President of the University. During these years of growth, the annual increase in the enrollment raised the cost of running the institution correspond- ingly, however, the trustees were allowed for the expenses only an amount appropriated every ten years by the legislature. It is evident that an amount appropriated for a growing institution one year is apt to be entirely inadequate for the next, to say nothing of the eight or ten years after. The appropriation by the state was, in eighteen ninety-seven two thousand dollars annually for ten yearsg in nineteen hundred five the additional sum of twelve thousand dollars was set apart for that year, and an equivalent amount for nineteen hundred