Livingstone College - Livingstonian Yearbook (Salisbury, NC)

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1928 The Maple Leaf 1928 for the newly organized faculty was throwing it at them mercilessly. For the first time since entering College, the Sophs began to get the correct meaning for the term study. On the morning of the examination, each armed himself with an aeroplane, poney, jack-rabbit, or a submarine, and went in to do what they called get away. After the fray, some came out smiling, some grumbling, and others crying. This terrific hook that sent many reeling to the ropes was soon out lived. The coming of Spring brought with it an added kick for the Wise fools . In looking over our base ball material, we saw that it was impossible for us to lose to such a squad as the Freshmen were depending on. As the base ball season got well on the way, the annual Sophomore-Freshman game was played. The Freshmen really put up a good fight. The spectators were held in suspense from the first pitched ball until the last. Cotton Mather the hurler for the Sophs, pitched a masterly game. For the first time in any combat of this type, the Sophs romped off victoriously. They carried away five-eights of the whole cake. After this victory, the Sophs, whose actions already resembled those of a fit can- didate for the insane asylum, became more rambimctious . Often their senseless actions were taken seriously by the authorities. This only added to the fun of the prankers. To such an extent did this frivolity go that the class room work was almost wholly neglected by some. Then with the nearing of Commencement, there came the usual raking and cramming period. But ah! many began to cram too late. Many of the all-wise ignoramuses were not onlv sent reeling to the ropes as before, but were sent to the canvas for the full count. Nor did the whole Summer vacation prove sufficiently long enough for many to recover. When in the Fall of 1926 the roll was called, it was reported that of the twenty- one that were absent, one had been called to that land where examinations were all over, and hard study was not necessary: William Weeden had died. He took his flight soon. Yes, ere had come noon; The noon of his life I speak of, . But deep in the mind Of those left behind There lingers a spark of his Love. The first part of our Junior year was spent in trying to become dignified. Some were successful in accomplishing this; others never did accomplish it. The class no longer interested in athletics turned its atention to more gainful activities. Of the 10 members of the honor roll of the first Semester, 2 were Juniors. The trial orations were participated in by E. G. Ellis, J. S. Jackson, W. M. Powe, and E. W. McCoy. The activities of the class during this year were confined almost wholly to the scholastic. We left in the Spring of 1927 hoping that our number would not decrease further during the Summer months, but on entering in the Fall of 1927, we found that only seventeen of the fifty-four who began were still in the fray. This class felt now more than ever the necessity of focusing its attention on its work; hence on the first appearance of the Dean ' s list, there were four Seniors out of a number of nine thaC composed the list. The second appearance of the Dean ' s list had grown from nine to nineteen, nine of which were Seniors. The third appearance of the honor list, that of February, found the Senior class represented by one member less than on the January list. One of the first responsibilities assumed by the class was that of training the Sophs for the annual Sophomore Freshmen debate, a feature that has come on the campus since we were Sophs. Whether the outcome of the debate was due to the coaching of the members of the Senior class or not will be told by the Fiistorian of the Class of 30 . Page 25

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1928 The Maple Leaf 1928 Class History By E. W. McCoy Many are they who start in the race Many who start for the goal But some soon find they can ' t keep apace And, too greedy death takes his toll. In the Fall of 1924, there appeared on the campus fifty-four ambitious-looking youths to take their first draught from a college fountain. So great was the mere thought of being in College, that the all-important element of study was hardly thought of until these lowly Freshmen found themselves entrapped between the ma- chine guns of Mathematics and French, being shelled by Greek bombs, and inhaling the deadly gases of science. It was then that they thought the struggle to begin, but they later found that the struggle had not begun at all. The proud members of this class were eager to demonstrate their supremacy on the campus; hence they leaped at their greatest rival, the Sophs, in a foot ball contest. In the struggle that followed, the Frenchmen really fought well. The only reason they did not win was because they allowed the Sophs to cross the goal line, but could not cross themselves. This defeat was no great discouragement, however; it only sharpened the anxiety of these over-ambitious Freshmen to meet this enemy in some other contest. But before the opportunity came to measure arms with the opponent again, there came another combat — a mental one. It was tougher than the other; due partly to the fact that it called for a certain amount of thinking, (which Freshmen are not guilty of doing), and partly to the fact that there was no opportvmity to strike back as in the game of foot ball. This was the Semester examination. Examinations were not altogether new to the group of wearers-of-green, but the thought of going to a College examination knocked many of them out before they reached the fray. The contest however, did not prove so disastrous as had been expected. Then came the cheering days of Spring and: With the passing of the snow Everything got gay, you know - , And the Athletes short and tall Began to toss around the ball. The Freshmen thought that their chance had now come to revenge themselves for the foot ball defeat. Accordingly, a base ball game was scheduled with the enemy. After a very hard fought game, the Freshmen came out carrying the small end of a seven to five score. With the coming of the final examination, the twice-defeated aggregation became more silent — it was about to witness what for a long time had been on its mind, a final examination. Green and Lucky! Each passed with flying colors. The Fall of 192 5 found only part of the old gang back on the job. Ten nf those who wore the Green did not show up to claim their costume of Red . Never was there a class to which the word Fool could be so accurately applied. It was looked on by some as the wild gang, but it was very soon tamed by the proud wearers of the Green . In the Frosh-Soph foot ball game, the Sophs were let down easy to the tune of 12-6. It seemed that school had scarcely opened when the Sophs found themselves faced with a semester examination. And it was something really to be dreaded this time Page 24

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1928 -:- The Maple Leaf 1928 O ss Prophesy (By Wallace S. Lewis) Oh, how wonderful are the feats of introversion. 1 am seated at the foot of a lonely, giant oak tree in the dismal swamps of Louisiana. Everything seems to be in a state of pensive quietness, or tranquility. I raise my eyes heavenward and noth- ing is visible but a haphazard spatter of stars. The earth seemed a wild jumble of sleeping animals and plants. The sinibrious area about me seemed saturated with ? dense somniferious vapor which exuded, or emanated the jets and valves of the bag carried by Morpheus himself, filled with opium and sponges moistened with ether Being almost enebriated, as it were, by this vapor, slowly and dimly receding from this state of somnambulism, my eyes behold a little black dwarf dancing and singing just in front of me, letting daisies lightly rain from hif tiny head. He utters a delirious series of phrases that can not be adequately understood and disappears. I stand up looking at the leafy arms of the mighty tree, thinking that within the next century another traveler will come and seat himself at the foot of this giant oak to contemplate in silence the majesty of this place. I begin to move through the briers and weeds and finally reach a highway almost hid by high trees. Just on the side is parked a beautiful, olive green Packard sedan nea r a path, 7hat a lovely place this is, where silence seems to take the forest and man meditates. I enter the path as one enters a vast Cathedral at the hour of prayer Just as I enter the path I recognize the form of a beautiful girl behind a rhododen- drum. As I approach her she stands motionless, gazing at me with a spectral glare. Hello , sa) ' s L She recognizes me. Wal-lace , she exclaims, what in the world are you, eh-oh-r-e where are you gomg? I stood dumb for a moment, and walked back several steps and kicked a clod of dirt to regain my equilibrium. Oh, Ruth, how happy I am to see you, I said, grasping her hand. My husband and I drove out here to make some snaps. Abrviptly a bush shook. I turned around and there stood before me my old classmate, Joe Jackson. Hello there, he said, Great mom- ents come to every man , with one hand in mine and the other on my shoulder. He asked about the members of the old Class of ' 28 and I told him as much as I knew. Then the wife suggested that we go. We seated ourselves comfortably in his fine cai and in less than no time 1 found myself in front of a magnificient stone arch with Bayou Bleu, J. S. Jackson written across the top. We drove in. I own this park , said my friend, and it cost me a handsome sum to put it up, too . We then mounted one of his motor busses which affords most comfortable and en- joyable tiding as it goes whirling along the hard, macadamized, dustless roads of the park. We spent a few minutes at the children ' s playground and then moved on. A few rods farther on we stopped at the botanical gardens with its myraid thousands of vari- gated flowers, decanting their sweet aroma in roinantic profusion to every passer-by. To the right of this was the zoo with its animals from educated fleas to foims of the ape and chimpanzee. This park is forty miles square with an artificial fountain geyser near the west end, said Joe as we went on. Turning from this, we proceeded to the great basin which made me think of Norris Basin — weird and uncanny. But as we stood near the verge of this chasm, watching the furious waves being thrown violently upward or tossed and swished about until the surface is covered with a seething foam, listening, as it were, to the omnious groans and growls and threatening roars under- foot, it really seems as though all the demons in Hades are congregated beneath and holding high carnival. I have never seen a more beautiful sight , said I to my friend. We rode a few rods farther and stopped at a news stand where I bought a paper. Other objects of interest were Cupid ' s Cave, Bath Lake, and the Devil ' s I ' age 26