East Tennessee State University - Buccaneer Yearbook (Johnson City, TN)

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OLD HICKORY A IRrmmiartfttre of 1019-1920—©nntfmi£ kindly told her to continue her journey into the realm of the unknown, that things weren’t as bad as they seemed. After we had our work permanently arranged, and had gone to classes a few days, we began to feel rather at home. The one class that did the most toward this was our College Rhetoric, which we always thought of as our common meeting ground. It was here we learned through stump speeches who the juniors were, where they came from, and why they came to the Nor¬ mal. At first our timidity violently fought the idea of these personal talks. But with Dean Mathes’s encouragement and his wonderful ability to sym¬ pathize, our horrors of speech-making were soon destroyed. We soon be¬ came real friends and organized our class into the Liberty Club. Our in¬ structor’s eagerness to be of service inspired us to do something worth while, as a club. The result of this ambition was the adopting of a French orphan, little Gabrielle Denot. Thus we became uncles and aunts of the same niece. Of course with a tie like this, we began to feel as if we were a large family instead of boys and girls from different parts of the state, and who never met until a few weeks before. We were very anxious to let it dawn upon our big sister, the senior class, that we were really present. Naturally our first step was to have a call meeting of the junior class and organize. We elected as our officers, Mr. Baldwin, President; Klizabeth Carroll, Vice-President; and Grace Ches- nutt, Secretary and Treasurer. Then we felt that we were a class ready for work. We entered the different societies and associations in which many ot our members were officers. Evelyn Love and Elizabeth Carroll were pres¬ ident a term each of the Pi Sigma Literary Society. Tenme Ross was pres¬ ident of the Sapphonian Literary Society ; Miss Parvm and Jewell Love were presidents of the Y. W. C. A. Our work did not end with this The repre¬ sentatives to the Blue Ridge Conference, Miss Parvm and Ethel Nicely, were selected from the junior class. The last event of our junior year was preparing to return to our homes. We packed our trunks, thinking all the while of having to part from those with whom we had been so closely and pleasantly associated All too soon our trains arrived and we were whirled swiftly away from E. 1. S. N. and Johnson City, each with a hope that we would be together the coming year. When we returned to school in September, 1919, we had a different feeling from the one we had the year before. We were full of joy and hap¬ piness. We were then dignified seniors. Our old friends and teachers greeted us very cordially and we felt as if we were coming home. It was plain to be seen that we pitied the poor juniors, who were standing forlornly around gazing at the formidable surroundings. Dean Mathes soon made them feel at home and began initiating them into the mysteries of credits, years, and blue cards, in which it takes a poor junior a whole term to be¬ come fully acclimated. We, with our one year of experience and knowledge of teachers and their wiles and ways, looked with a slight bit of scorn min¬ gled with pity upon the star-gazing juniors. We occasionally assisted one of the strayed lambs to the fold of some teacher’s sheltering wing where he might find ' comfort and instruction. Our importance was felt so strongly that one of our members, Miss Parvin (the right hand of Miss Anderson), believed it to be her duty to leave home two or three days early, in order that she might get back to the Normal in time to greet all the new students. Page Twenty-seven

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OLD HICKORY A IRemmtscvnte of 1919-1920 Twenty years ago this June—can it be that long? Yes, twelve months have passed twenty times since our Normal Class bade good-by and separ¬ ated. Will we ever forget those happy care-free days spent together? “It is true that the heart hath its own memory, like the mind, and in it are en¬ shrined the precious keepsakes into which is wrought the giver’s loving thought, so in our hearts are kept the friendships and experiences of yore. At that time how difficult and trying we thought many of those experiences were, but distance lends enchantment to past events, and we cease to think of them as hardships, but rather as pleasant memories. I remember as if it were only yesterday, the two years from beginning to end, we spent at the Normal. It was a September day in 1918 when we arrived there. To forget that day would be impossible. Most of us were just out of high school and were very enthusiastic to begin college work, but our ardent zeal began to weaken as we, the juniors, found ourselves in new surroundings and among strangers. The dignfied seniors stood by and looked on with pity, as if to say, “Poor juniors, you need sympathy.” It seemed as if we had never been in such an entanglement of rooms before. We knew that we were supposed to go to the Dean’s office to matriculate, but where was this office? Some of us found it by seeing the multitude standing around the door, and others found it by stumbling into it. We entered very quietly and meekly. He greeted us with a broad kind smile, and patiently as our turn came, made out our blue cards; then he calmly informed us that we would find the bookkeeper’s office down the hall, two doors to the right. We thought finding this would be no trouble, and to some it was not, but to others it seemed as if their trouble was just beginning, especially was this the case of Anne Guinn, who became very much perplexed when she entered the auditorium instead of the bookkeeper’s office, thinking that she had gone exactly by the Dean’s directions, and wondering if he could not have been mistaken. She retraced her steps and found herself in the literature room. Here she saw Professor Burleson and asked if he were the bookkeeper. He came to her rescue by taking her to the long sought for office and then di¬ rected her to the President. This was only one of the many blunders of the juniors’ initiation into the Normal. At last we all found the bookkeeper and the President. Some of us en¬ tered the office one by one, others by twos and threes, but all entered with awed expressions and lack of control of the nerves. This was our first glance of the man we had heard the old students call “Uncle Sid.” He greeted us pleasantly with “good morning, young ladies.” We meekly handed him our cards—some he signed, others he sent back to the Dean. Oh, the ordeal of going over all that rambling again to have our work changed. Just as Lucille and Enna were leaving the President’s office to have an¬ other interview with the Dean, whom should they meet but Carrie Lee, who had been standing outside trying to sum up enough courage to enter. They Page Twenty-six

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OLD HICKORY A jRemtmsrettre of 1919-1920—Cmitimtpft She; believed that no one but a senior was capable of doing such a wonderful act of kindness, and that no one else, not even the matron, could do this as a senior thought it should be done. T? Ik lo ° kin £ dignified and feeling important—well, I should say we did. The faculty realized this, too, and gave us the first three rows of seats in chapel, befitting our high station. The main reasons for this were that we might give courage to the speakers; that we might act as magic upon the ambitions of the remainder of the students, especially the juniors • that we might beam encouragement to the faculty; and that we harmonized with the music rendered by the school. When the flock had all entered we immediately organized the senior ckss, electing Iva Williams as President, Blanche Wood, as Vice-President Helen McLeod as Secretary, and Naomi Weeks, as Treasurer. Being verv anxious to take the responsibilities of seniors, our President called a meet¬ ing to discuss class rings, pins, and invitations. We were on the eve of sending off for samples, when it dawned upon us that we should consult Uncle Sid. Just at that time the door softly opened and “Uncle Sid” was framed in the doorway as an ancient statue. A senior must have told him our intentions, for he firmly told us in the deep voice that he keeps for such occasions, that it was customary to wait until after Christmas to order pins, rings, and invitations, also that we desist from such momentous undertak¬ ings until our wings had grown stronger and our class had increased its roll call. Of course that was a dreadful blow, but we survived. When the win¬ ter term opened it found us a robust bunch and with ambitions at the top notch, ready to order our rings, pins, and invitations. Thinking of the ambitions of the class brings back the memory of the senior boys, dhere were only four, three of whom were in service during the war. After the war they returned to school and we were very glad to welcome them into our class. All of these boys were very ambitious but it seems as though their abmitions ran in different channels. There was Ho¬ bart Graybeal, who promised to be one of Tennessee’s noted politicians. His future success was shown when he won all votes in the janitorial campaign of the Pestalozzian society. Clyde Lowery, or Romeo as we called him, was very interested in hunt¬ ing a Juliet, and seemed to spend most of his time in this pursuit. The member that the class most admired for his ability was Le Roy Hyder. He was the first to finish the three years Normal course. As I think back so many funny incidents come to my mind. A very striking one happened the first day of April or All Fools Day. The Senior class and the faculty exchanged places. This not only showed our good looks and charming personality but proved to the student body what splendid in¬ structors we would be. However the first day of April was not the only morning that we were recognized in chapel. Our president daily announced that the Senior class would meet in the Literature room at one o’clock, thus arousing, not only the curiosiy of the faculy, but of the entire student body. As the year drew to a close we satisfied their curiosity by presenting Old Hickory, the result of those numerous meetings. The interest of the senior class reached the climax during commencement, but to us this week brings back the memory of our parting. That event is one which few of us like to recall and I had rather not connect that feature with the pleasant reminiscen¬ ces of our association. I will leave it in the dim past not to be recalled. Elizabeth Davis Ethel Nicely Page Twenty-eight