Livingstone College - Livingstonian Yearbook (Salisbury, NC)

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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

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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 Kitchen. All arc so marvelous and so dissimilar as to point to the folly of an attempt at any description. We rode on a few rods farther and came to a news stand where I bought a news- paper, The Globe. It ' s headline read Scientific Achievements of Negroes. Gladly surprised I was to see the name of my old homie and classie, William Douglas, now one of America ' s greatest scientists. In his laboratory he has just succeeded in converting the deadly poison T. N. T., used in the World War to destroy human lives, into fragrant violet perfume. This perfume is made from the combination of T. N. T., phosgene, a poison, and castor oil, a purgative. The compound once used to still the heart of an enemy is now used to quicken the heart of a lover. It sells at forty-two dollars an ounce and is known by the chemical cognomen, Methylheiptin Violette Carbonatte. He has also made aluminum from clay, and chewing gum from china- berry. All told, he has received over five millions for his various contributions. He has also been admitted to the British Royal Society and awarded three Spingarn Medals. He now peacefully resides in his brown stone mansion in the Black Hills of South Da- kota — (Just Ruth and he, and the baby makes three). In another column I saw the name of Dr. Isaiah McClain my old roommate and classmate in the old glorious days of Livingstone. Despite his belief that every inven- tion is an insult to some god and that physical and chemical inventions are blasphemy, and that every biological investigation is a perversion, he accidently discovered that a new drug could be made from combining Hydrorgyri Corrosive Chloridium, Acidium Cnticium, and Hamamelis, which would elimmate all the color pigments of a human epidermis without affecting the individual, and a beauty cream for women that has changed our idea of beauty from the steatopygous Hottentot to the modern Anglo- Saxon, from the Venus of Brassempory to the Venus of Milo. Dr. McClain owns the second largest drug store in America, covering an entire city block in Whistler, Ala- bama. He and Mrs. Worth McClain are touring Asia. Jack and the madam insisted that I stay a few days longer with them. But , said I to my friends, dutv calls and I must obey. He drove me over to the flying field where my plane, the Super-Albatross was waiting. It was a huge tri-motored monoplane, capable of doing 250 miles per hour. With a twist of the propeller, I put the valves into action. I congratulated my friend on his wonderful success at raising and selling sugar cane and was off. I circled low over the place once or twice, then straightened out. Very soon the abyss of heaven had swallowed up our form. Within two hours I dropped out of the clouds like a shooting star, landing safelv at Raleigh, N. C, to replenish my fuel supply. My attention was attracted by a mammoth parade, and I asked a nearby gentleman what was the excitement. Dr. Daniels, said he, a noted dentist, has just been elected to the position of governor of North Carolina. Great stuff! I said giving him two dollars. ' Please send him a telegram of congratulation for me. I took off again and was soon crossing the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. On up the Potomac I went, landing at Washington about 12:30 p. m. Leaving the field I went to the Ponce De Leon Hotel and an hour later found me on Pennsylvania Avenue. It was here that I met another old friend, Dr. Ellis, a thriving dentist with an elaborate office on R Street, N. W. He told me that he had fourteen dentists at work and a mechanical department that supplied the city of Washington. He asked me to walk to the courthouse with him and on the way he explained his errand. They are trving some of our friends today, T. D. Mc- Donald, the big butter and egg man of lower Broadway and W. Mance Gilliam, the Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Naval forces, for selling the Atlantic Ocean to the English government. We went in and listened awhile. Our old classmates were found guilty and given twenty years each in Atlanta. After leaving the Court- house, I went with Dr. Ellis to his home. Mrs. Ellis and the children were in the Adirondikes on a vacation. We arose early the next morning, — after a very pleasant nights sleep. After breakfast, I bought a paper the headline of which read: Mc- Donald and Gilliam given twenty years in Atlanta, but appealed to Supreme Court for Pa e 27