Augustana College - Rockety I Yearbook (Rock Island, IL)

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The Best Things in the Worst Times Otttimes told during these days of crisis-told in chapel this school year-is the gallant, epic about Sir Robert, In Leicestershire, England, there is a little, old chapel wherein pious people have assembled tor worship for almOst three hundred years. Enshrined within its walls, in- scribed in curious Elizabethan, are these words: In the year 1653, when all things sec- red were throughout the nation either demolished or protanedl Sir Robert Shirley Burr renet founded this church: whose singular praise it is to hcrve done the best things in the worst times and hoped them in the most culamitous. 1553 in English history marks :1 bloody revolt against all existing order and tradition It was then that Cromwell dissolved the Parliament, threw out the Prayer Book and pro- claimed himself the imperial dictator. But Sir Robert built while others destroyed, con- served while others wrecked. Little wonder that his vision and fortitude should be en- graved; he had done the best in the worst. 1945 marks another era of min and revolt. Into the blackness ot the world's hideous night has gone your brother, Classmate, sweetheart. Victims of this beastly madness, they are conscripted to live in contradiction to the best a denial of life's larger purposes. Yeti while wandering in this temporary exile, they, like the Israelites, have inquired how they might sing the Lord's song in a foreign tcmd. Their letters are a diary of the best in the worst. And always there is the yearning to return to their Promised Land. Many l have found ngrace in the dungeon end will emerge trom exile strengthened in char- acter. Determined to conserve the best of Christmas in the worst place to commemorate the birth at the Prince of Peace, cm account trom one very close to us tells how it was done. On Christmas Eve theyr went ashore, cut down ct palm tree. returned to decorate it with strips of tin from their ration cansh tinsel-then sprinkled flour cm the rubbery leaves for snow. An improvised altar made out of crating was dressed with a sheet on which was reverently placed the emptied shell e ccmdlesticks. Out on the deck with ene- my planes overhead the familiar carols were sung and our friend preached his first Christmas sermon on, Looking Up Into the Human Face of Christ. Like Sir Robert, these boys founded at sanctuary and they did their best in the worst. This volume is a memorial of similar achievement on the campus home-tront of Augustcma. Within these pages there is inscribed the undiscouraged dynamic of col- lege youth determined to do the best things in the worst times. Herein is no vindic- tiveness, no cynicism, no despair Rather youtll note spread out on every page the re- cording of creative geod-will, constructive idealism, buoyant hope. Herein is the con- tagion oi youthl its genious for action, its love for adventure. Recorded also are ennob- ling sentiments, wholesome fellowships. loyal devotions. Within its covers you'll be re- l minded oi CI cultural allotment, how you sung the Lord's song. how you thrilled at a mental discovery, made a new commitment. We commend you tor your tervent dedication to the best things in the worst timesi Go on praying that we may be sowed from the awful fear that what we value most shall be at the mercy of what we value least. he timing ZL VMJM Page 3

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