Ferris State University - Ferriscope Yearbook (Big Rapids, MI)

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u-A M il vital questions it is not astonishing that its history is peace- ful and uneventful. The seniors feeling the responsibility of the department resting upon them, selected from their number a connnittee to frame a constitution that would meet the requirements of the class. Not many days elapsed before the constitutional convention ended its work, and brought forth a document of fundamental law defining the rights, powers, and duties of such as considered themselves worthy of a seat in the Senior Class, that might well be ascribed to the magistrates of our nation. A fter attending to the necessary songs, yells, class para- phernalia, etc., the seniors deemed it their duty to look after the welfare of the school, and to this end proposed and formulated a plan for the publication of the Annual of which this brief history forms a part. Later, when they were called upon to present a class picture for this Annual, there was great excitement and much debating. On all other questions the seniors were a unit, but here was a ques- tion involving an action that would compel them to see themselves as others had seen them. The majority of the class, fearing individual inspection, decided to have a- con- glomerateu picture with the Methodist Church as a back- ground, which they considered would atone for all evils. The College l5'reparatory Seniors have at all times taken a great interest in the Christian organizations of the school. It has been their highest ambition to make their Alma Mater an institution where the rich and poor, the intellectual and uneducated, shall labor side by side and be drawn from their several conditions into an atmosphere of love and friendship, which shall operate back into their individual lives, and be carried with them as they leave our beloved institution to gladden the sorrowful hearts with whom they meet. It is with deep regret that we finish our history as a class, and as we leave our Alma Mater it is with deepest gratitude for the many benents of the Ferris Institute made possible only through the untiring efforts of its founder and President, YV. N. Ferris. ii Ani It Q11 I pz C Sur, L A n d F2 Toi A Dow P2 N igl W7 A n d XV The T. For HT

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.n! we to do to-day. be late. :ouches of sweet ies. I 908 E are a class peculiar to the Institution of which we are members. A large percentage of us have ac- quired our learning as opportunity afforded, allowing years to lapse between the beginning and completion of our courses. A few have been students of the Ferris Institute for two consecutive years, more have been in attendance but one year, and a large number for a shorter time. Many who were members of the class during the first half of the year have completed their course and gone out to apply their knowledge, leaving their places to be filled by those entering later. This constant change and short acquaintanceship would naturally make the students disinterested in school and class affairs, but such is not the case. In spite of the disadvantages of brief acquaintance and interrupted associa- tions the College Preparatory Seniors show a loyalty and a mutual friendship unexcelled by that of any other class in the school. Strange to say, the Senior Girls are greatly in the minority. If they were gold, they would represent a ratio similar to Colonel Bryan's monetary-16 to 1. But what they lack in numbers they account for in loyalty to their class and 'fFellow', classmates. Not one of them would allow a gentleman of the class to feel lonely or neglected. At one of the class festivals these heroines turned out en masse and so artfully did the fifteen entertain the thirty- eight young men that each gentleman thought himself the sole object of adoration. VVh'en the Y. W. C. A. gave their famous Leap-Year party, it was a delegation of these Senior Girls that wended its way, stealthily, under cover of the shades of evening-and the barns along the alley- and transported numbers of young men through an artfully designed Underground Railroadi' to the place of enter- tainment, so that a scarcity of ladies might not deprive the gentlemen of an enjoyable evening. The Senior Boys, though numerous, are neither in- active nor negligent of the cares and duties thrust upon them. Many of the more loquacious are accustomed to leave the confines of their abodes during the Sunday re- cesses, and, traveling to nearby towns, ascend the pulpits of the little village sanctuaries, and, with the airs of con- nosseurs, impart to breathless audiences theological truths far in advance of their age. VVhen a call for volunteers to defend the Ferris Institute gridiron was heralded through our institution, the Senior Boys came to the front. Those who lacked the necessary avoirdupois were found on the side lines shouting for victory or guarding the defenseless ladies from the dangers of the surging crowd or the misdirected football. It was a delegation of these SeniorlBoys that repre- sented the Y. M. C. A. at our state convention, and so faithfully did they execute the duties delegated to them that their association did not demur in paying the floral and confection bills incurred while there. Witli the class composed of students so nearly a unit on all

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ajority of the 1 have a- con- ch as a back- for all evils. ll times taken of the school. r Alma Mater ntellectual and 1 drawn from of love and ieir individual e our beloved Qth whom they ' history as a 4 with deepest institute made if its founder S I afar o'er Fancy's fields Roamed free to Pleasure's call, T thought before my footsteps stretched A gray and massive wall. And in that wall an iron-barred gate Idly swung and slow, Un pillars carved with words which ran, They gain who onward gof, T passed within. A sea of flowers Un a wide and level plain, Surged with the breeze-blown waves of color, Like fields of ripened grain. And one advanced, a gray-haired man, From those who labored there, To welcome me, and kindly guide About that garden fair. Down winding aisles we slowly paced, Past flowers of every hue, Night blooming Pharmics side by side VVith KinderO'art'ners Grew. D 6 And many more familiar names We passed, till we stood beside The Senior College Preparatories, The gard'ner's hope and pride. For many years I've watched, he said, The Yale blue and the white, Class Poem But neler before such beauty came, As these to glad my sight. More from that stranger, had I learned, But that fair Fancy failed, And all the scene, like morning mist, Far from my vision sailed, But from the distance faintly fell A voice which seemed to say: Lifes faith and duty are flower-like beauty VVhich shall not pass awayf' O Senior Class of 1908, Wfe vainly seek the book of fate To ope and read as there appears The story of thy coming years. But yet the future's stem we know Is rooted in the past, and so From thy bright past with hopeful eye A brighter future we descry. VVhere'er the world shall call for men, ,lf rom mountain crag to moorland fen, There those who are of thee shall stand Wfith seeing eye and ready hand The age's torch to bear along To the great pulsing centuries' song. Nor do we deem one life can fail To strive, to struggle, and prevail, VVhile 'neath one purpose high unfurled, Wfe band, to better all the world. R. L. MYERS. 7