Erskine College - Arrow Yearbook (Due West, SC)

Page 33 text:

....-..-,, .e ..a.A .. 4 Svmtinr Lhlauif- Qiaturg l 5 5 Conte. dear old comrade. you and l XYill steal an hour from days gone by, 'lihe shining days when life was new. :Xml all was bright with morning dew: The lusty days of long ago, XVhen you were liill and l was joe. VVe clamb the hill tegither --- And mony a canty day VVL-'ve had wi' ane anithcrf' Q CJ man knoweth what a day may bring forthg much less four years. and especially four years of such momentous importance as those which intervene in the experience of the average college student, between the day of matriculation and that of graduation. Marvelous. at least. are the transformations which these years effect upon the thoughts, ideals and aspirations of the college boy. To relate in a brief way some of the experiences that have conspired to effect these transformations in the lives of the graduating class is our present task. Note that we have used the term college boy: for our record is. in the main. the record of boys. Wie make this statement in the face of the fact that, when we were first organized as a class, we were blessed - if the word blessed can be rightly applied to the Freshman class-with the smiling faces of five co-eds. For, since girls don't have the misfortune of getting freshedf' our co-eds had no share in the memorable events of our first eventful year: and by the time we had become sufficiently climatized to begin making history for our- selves. the girls had already begun forsaking us. XYell, who were we that such should have been our fate? Thereby hangs the explanation. From town, hamlet and rural scene we had come. a motley group, representing various localities from the hills of North Carolina and the everglades of Florida on the east to the wilds of Arkansas on the west. XYe were a typical group of college boys, lacking, perhaps, every excellence. except a capacity for improvement. llut to our history. XYhen the college bell rang for chapel on the morning of September i.tth, 1906, some half hundred Fresh -in these later days called new students U- might have been seen marching in amid the din of what seemed to be a thousand voices yelling Fresh! From that time we were full-tledged students of lfrskine College. Hur first great dread -not to mention the paddles of the Sophs-was entrance examination. Xfter a few days of hard work and doubt, however. forty-eight of us were assured that we were to be enrolled in the Freshman class. 39

Page 32 text:

11 ' - W -.--. .L .,. . - W , f T takin? 0112155 nf IEIIII Dear .Xlma Mater, great in praise, no sung Of nnrs can mar nr paint thy lufty priclel lint take nf ns, who leave shall take ere long, These IJHOI' tmmeaning linew which we inserihe. Kind :Xlma Mater, 'mitlst thy learned wallb Oni' cup of hlessecl lure at length we drain, .Xncl imw when Fatek impressive heekun calli Thexe suns tn till her ranks on lancl anfl main, Like wltlierw true we yielclg hut ere we pass. LYllCOYL'l'L'tl, that like cu'er-tunes of thy hell Thy heniwn may fall tipmt nur class, Wwe give a tear in token uf farewell, These hells that ring Su merrily twtlay As we are ushereal on lifek hroatl liiglixyzty. ln keen eeliri hitl jnyg lint, re-eeliuing. knell ln eaeh glacl heart the surrmv uf farewell lint harlcl ln mnnie Swft yun urhs uf llre l'4UI'L'YL'l' Ning' uf cleeili in l'le:tyen's ehwirg ,, . . . . lhen let tis jum um' ytneea m the sung .Xml sine' fm'ex'er with the heavenly tlirune. lint. lriemls, ere we tipini life's junrney start, l,etB meet finee inure in lanehter, light uf heart, . Xnrl flrinlq um' lnletlges with that emhlem rife, XYhieh like frm' heilil eighteen in ewllege life. In tmiun stantlx as it in clusters grew. .Xml scarlet shrine heneatlt the nmrnine' flew. Anil mm' that 4lew's stipplaittetl hy tears ll1'lll't-Nl5l'll M . . . , lliat ll'lt'lltlNlllllS elmril may never he llIlNll'llllQ. 38

Page 34 text:

,. V 'f --- - -- -J-W -fa,-,1..f-Lu... ,....., :- The year passecl with little in our experience foreign to the usual experience of the first-year stuclent. XYe hail nur humps, Of course: but in the light of later years these appear as unly pleasant anal necessary features of the training which college life affnrcls. During the year several of our nuniher fell out of ranks. ln fact, nur fnrce ilecreasecl se rapiilly that, when the roll was callecl at the npening uf the seewnil year, nineteen uf thnse whose faces we had seen at the mpc-ning uf the first year were ahsent. .Xs a partial compensation for this lnss, however, we ailileil tn nur rnll eight new names: rklexancler, Curry, Harkey, lXliss Lanrler. Lynn, Hates, Mntfat ancl XVillianis. During' this year we further lust frnin nur ranks Miss lila Dunlap anil Alec XYren, having. after all hal- ances. an enrnllnient nf thirty-tive. 'llhis year we were Swphsf' the terror nf all the new students, the hnre nf the whnle tnwn, anfil. in nur mpiiiinii, the enihmliment of goml limks, tasty- tlress, tine physique anil keen wits. llut we were nut such terrors after all. We killeil iiivlxittly. nur even hurt anylmiuely Very hailly, stole nn pigs nr turkeys - not report- ing, liuweyer, nn chickens ancl pntatues-in fact, we were only hciys. just well enwuglt acrpiainteiil with cnllege life tn feel perfectly at hcinie nn the canipus. anil just friynlnus ennugli never tw entertain thnuglits sufficiently seriuus tn keep ns awake after 3 a. ni. Hur innst signal acervniplishnients in stuilies this year were the civniplete niastery 1 H uf Trief' anfl the accpiisitiim uf special skill t ?l in the nianipula- tiwn tif the Slll'X'Cf'Ul'is instruments. .Xncl the fall anil the spring were the secwnil year. ,Xnnther vaeatiun eanie anfl went. Septeniher again: ancl we were hack at lfrskine. Rwll-call again reyealeil the truth that we were still lnsing. This tinie we nunihereil nnly twenty-nine. lt was nur happy experience. liwweyer, to reyiye frnni the ilusty annals ul. the past the nanie ul' tl. N. l,esslie antl ailtl the sanie tn nur list. XYith this ailflitinn we set nut on annther stage of the jnurney twwarils nur glial. thirty in nuniher. llut uf this scnre anil a half still nthers were mlestineil tw fall nut wt the race. illllis year we lust llrnwnlee. Hates, Yniing. anil wwrse still, une fit' the cw-eils N whit hail kept with lls sw faithfully. Su, fur the reniains rler nl' the year. we nnsseil the pleasant face uf Xliss l,ily linlmiiisivii. 'llhis year was a transitinnal periiul in nur eullege cwnrse. llence. nntliieg nl' signal inipwrtanee is tn he lunkeil hir in nur reewril. 'llhe ,lnniur is, in a sense. 'ilways an iiiicinispicniius character. llis pnsitiun is peculiarly unlnrtunate. lle has lust the liigli-suiiiiiling qualities that were lns a year agp, anil has ni-t yet aeignirefl any ilistingnisliing ilegree uf the ilignity that awaits his ennnnanil a year hence. Such was nur ptisitifin this year. lint. as is generally the ease with the iineiviispiciiitns character. we spent the year ipiile prnlitahly. .Xniinie the Irints nl nur ellnrts was the ciiltiratiuii wt what we hivpe will priwe a Iilel--ne fi-ienilsliip with Xlessrs, lienisen. Ilwpkins, .Xrnwlil, Xlaeanlay anil ntlier wnrthies friiin the Iielils nl science, pliilivswphy anil literature. Xiww the rest wt' the acts nt' the -lniniirs, the parts they playeil un the athletic tielil anil in the classsriwni, are they nut recnrtleil in Izizskixrxxx ul tltlf I