Bridgewater State University - Alpha Yearbook (Bridgewater, MA)

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SENIQR CLASS. 99. Find your niche and fill it. WILLIAM T. MCDONALD, . . Preszdefzf BERTHA W. KIMBALL, Vz'ce-P1'esz'a'enZ MARY E. LOUD, . . Searefczry LOUIS T. MORSE, Treaszzrer JENNIE A. TARBOX, Hz'sf0rz'a1z W! H l S l Q RY. -MEA' 'S'5'SLSS'X'SQi'-4i44p'!QQ3 - 9922 VWYZY2 x-s-i3w-R.fRfi?w- QQASSCD S WE COME to the close of our present course at Bridgewater Normal School, we look back at the many pleasant experiences of the past two years with a feeling of pleasure that we have finished our school days so creditably, and yet with a feeling of pain, that those happy days can never come again. Can never come again? Hardly that, for have we not many dear memories to take with us through life? Let us gather up some of these memories and form our class history. VVe doubtless all remember our first coming here to school. Some of us had been here the june previous to take the examinations and so felt very much at home, but for the rest of us, how odd it seemed! In some cases the Seniors had come back early and very kindly took us in charge, telling us, among other things, that we would have apple sauce and plain cake for supper, and a teacher at every table 5 also that we must not fail to read the rules at once, and not stroll about the campus after seven o'clOck, or sit up after ten o'clock. In the dining- room came another trial. The gentleman at the head of the table Qfor each table had at least one, I believej tried to pass his plate to the ladies at the side, 4317

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lest he should be thought selfish in serving himself first. These new confused feelings soon passed away, and we learned to do our part of the work in an or- derly manner, and to enjoy the companionship of teachers and schoolmates. The first morning of examinations found us in Assembly Hall, warm and nervous. We took seats, and after a time a number of the lady teachers came and sat in a row on the platform. I remember especially Miss Prince, Miss Fisher, and Miss Merritt, and wondered which subjects they taught. I asso- ciated Music and Drawing with Miss Fisher, and Botany with Miss Merritt. Ihad already learned that Miss Prince taught Mathematics, and it seemed to me History was a good companion study. In this, as in many conclusions I have since made, I found I was wrong. The next afternoon we all went to Assembly Hall to hear the result of our two days' work. Mr. Boyden could not accept us all and was sorry to reject a few who did not, for various reasons, meet the requirements of the school. These persons QI never knew who they werej made a quiet journey homeward, with the determination, we hope, to come and try again. In a day or two those who were considered competent to take up the work were assigned rooms in the boarding halls, with which they were variously suited. We soon learned to live with our room-mates, agreeably or otherwise, and to enjoy associating with so many persons of our own age and ambitions. We formed the habit, too, of putting the light out before the light step of the watchman was heard, and of keeping very quiet if, for any reason, a teacher's step was heard on the stairs. At school we soon got used to the routine of work. Our class was divided into three divisions according to alphabetical order,-a cruel act many thought it, when their names began with T, and their best friend's began with C, or sim- ilar letters, that caused them to be separated. The morning talks by Mr. Boy- den were very helpful. He showed us that we each have a special and particular work to do, and made us feel with Emerson that H Nature arms each man with some faculty which enables him to do easily some feat impossible to any other. So the first year passed away quickly till june when the Class of '98 was graduated. We watched all the proceedings carefully, that we might know how to do as well or better in ,QQ, and we felt proud to step into their places and be- come Seniors. After we came back in the Fall, fewer in numbers but with no less spirit, we were organized as a class. September 21, 1898, we all assembled in the Principal's classroom, and having some knowledge of law and order acquired at the old Normal Congress, we proceeded to nominate and elect our officers in a business-like manner. Mr. W. T. McDonald, who had shown his ability to be- come President by serving as a prompt and faithful Chairman, was elected to this highest position in the class. Miss Bertha W. Kimball was elected Vice- President. Her duties, however, have not proved arduous, if we judge from her remark to some friends that the hardest duty she had performed as Vice-Pres ident was having her picture taken in a group with the other ofhcersf' I think you will all agree that our class as a whole was not in the habit of staring at C325