Kalamazoo College - Boiling Pot Yearbook (Kalamazoo, MI)

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we can see is a single solitary freshman, plodding his weary way homeward. I-low the others reached home we do not know, but from this circumstance and future ones it is probable that each of them went home alone as sober freshmen should. Interspersed with these scenes, often in a strange and jumbled way, are pictures of the old man Cato, Greek roots, sines and tangents, midnight lamps and excited freshmen vainly trying to convince the doctor that their sight translations of Livy do ample justice to the one-eyed enemy of Rome. Now the scenes take on the verdure of spring. There must have been some strange influence floating onthe breezes ofthe spring of '93, for now we never see a freshman alone. Even in broad day on the well beatenipath to the class room the girls seem to need escorts. Awkwardness and diffidence have been van- quished by the mischievous little boy with his arrows, and for a time he reigns supreme. Never were inno- cent youths so smitteng never was Cupid so malicious in his treachery. But Apollo claims a share in their devotions, for the culminating scene of the year is his annual festival, the great Freshman Contest. One by one the twelve speakers appear and make the 'old church ring with the music of speech. Breathlessly they await the decision, and heartily do they cheer when Mr. Jenks and Miss Vifilkinson proudly mount the platform and receive the well earned prizes. Here for some distance the pictures are very ob- scure. Whether this is due to some fault in the apparatus or to the dirnness of the images in our subject's brain cannot be precisely determined. At any rate we shall have to pass over the next two years with a few brief outlines. L Only thirteen of the original twenty-two are class- iied as sophomores, and when we reach the junior year but nine are left. During these two years we get faint glimpses of various individuals as they put the finish- ing touches on their Greek and Latin, or wander through the mazes of calculus and analytics. Logic and literature have their day, and the sciences exert their influence to hold the attention of these dreamers to the realities of life. Faint outlines of tennis rackets and footballs appear at different places, min- gled with pictures of boats and cottages at Crooked Lake. Venus' son is busy all this time shooting his arrows, and although many, many of them go wide of the mark, some of the shafts find a permanent lodg- ment in tender hearts. But Minerva has been the leading deity as the expanding brains and the large size ofthe junior caps infallibly prove. Another con- test in which Mr. Fox and Miss Bennett are victors closes this part of their college life. By some strange coincidence, the subject of the first picture of senior life is the sameas that of the nrst freshman scene,-watermelons in a back yard, but this time on Main street with a greatly altered corn- pany. Many ofthe old faces are missing, but several new ones have come in and some who had dropped out have reappeared, so that the year begins with fourteen learned and dignified seniors. The old green- ness and timidity have given place to that self-control and self-conhdence which only seniors can maintain. Election of OICI,:lCC1'S is the order of the day, and the orators for which the class is famous wax eloquent as they extol the merits of their various candidates for office. just watch Mac hustling about as if he were managing a presidential campaign. Listen to Hutch and Jenks and Sinclair and Jackson as they plead for their favorites, and the girls, if not eloquent, have their way just the same. So with jokes and puns and eloquence, and a splendid array of senior caps they are launched on the nnal voyage of college life. But soon another picture presents itself to view. Visions of frightened seniors on Hallowe'en care- fully securing their best suits from the expected raid of the dormitory boys. Hurried consultations, the wild

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l.. 'Ji L . G X- it ,. i.. .. a , 2 ,f i 1 2 W f i . V 1, , 1 VZ, ,- , li '.!lli,,'i?l,lS l Y, il l I l fl ffl ,, y I l K ii' f lillylfl'll,illl Q 'ill .Ulf l f i ' ligliilri lyl f' L' it ,ff ' illl' l ll' 1 1 'dv X l...a .f Z.f u of l 'J ffea d lff fz fi l N . ll' HISTORY OF TI-IE SENIOR CLASS. HE Seniors had been having one of those jolly class meetings for which they are famous, and the boys were straggling back tothe dormitory from the various homes ofthe youngladies, One of them appeared to be in a revery. Forgetting to lock his door he sat down in the darkness to dream of the past. The scenes of four years were rapidly shadowed on the sensitive plate of his brain, but little did he imagine that another sensitive plate was making a permanent record of the same pictures in a form that everyone -could see. Long he sat there with his recollections while our Cathode artist, who had stolen in unawares, stood behind him reeling off the yards of sensitive paper on which his visions were faithfully recorded. A At last the paper gave out and the artist stole away just in time to escape detection from the dreamer who awoke to find that it was long after midnight. It would be impossible to give more than a brief sketch of the wonderful panorama secured in this surreptitious manner, but in a few words we will try to describe some of the visions that floated before this senior's mind. The first picture is a group of verdent freshmen in a back yard on Carmel street. The boys of the class appear in full baseball armor, and their stern and per- spiring faces show that a fierce battle has just been fought. Gallantly have they borne themselves in the fray, but the sophomore regulars were too much for such raw recruits. Ah mel Little do these rash and inexperienced youths dream that before the year ends many of them will be defeated and mortally wounded by the arrows of the youngest of the gods. The girls of the class are present to reward their champions, and the boys soon drown their chagrin in sweet smiles and juicy watermelons. The next scene is at a house on Main street. Behold twenty-two freshies seated on the floor around a big basket of peanuts. The lights burn low and the pale, scared faces of the innocent young students tell of the wierd and frightful stories that are being related. Already the verdancy has begun to disappear. There is one who tries to be dignified and gallant but only succeeds in making doubly conspicuous his real bash- fulness. l-le is destined ere long to develop into the great politician of the college. The deliberate move- ments of his neighbor unmistakably point out the future dignified orator and preacher. The girls are all fresh and beautiful and it is easy to see what a tumult they are already stirring up in the hearts of these inexperienced and defenseless youths. But bashful- ness wins the day, for at the close of the scene all that

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terror and arming of the politician and the concentra- tion of forces to escape a bath in Mirror Lake. But it is a false alarm. The lack-o'-lanterns, apples, and ghosts in Miss Barrett's attic receive due appreciation from the whole class, and the revolver is fired into the empty air of midnight, wounding nothing more tangi- ble than the spooks to which the night is devoted. But we come to the last scene. Many of the others have represented the class in their times of relaxation from regular work. Here we see them in a different aspect. Not the boys and girls that we saw at flrst, but men and Women now, every face giving evidence of their practical knowledge and earnest purpose. Those five men with the grave, judicial mien will evidently become lawyers, perhaps congress- men or presidents. Who knows? The long coats and clerical ties of these other five betray the fact that NX V1 W' - R5 Trigg? they have given their lives to proclaiming the gospel. The last one, with the learned, abstracted look, is to teach mathematics when he has learned all there is to be known on the subject. This young woman, who has been charming her class and the whole city throughout her college course with her sweet songs, will continue to bless the world with touches of sweet harmony, for she has music in her soul. That one has a lancet and medicine chest-unmistakable signs of her profession. And the last one, like the last of the men, shows signs of knowledge that must be im- parted, the infallible mark of a teacher. All of them look like cultured men and women with an earnest purpose to advance the cause of truth in the world. As we put aside the pictures, many a college friend will shed a tear to their memory, and all will join in bidding them a hearty God-speed. lt Qs SF tl , K XJ fi? K 7.13 . 3 N 'V Q? 'll J at 'ilQYQE?ra9gWo7Ez Q JK.