Mercer University - Cauldron Yearbook (Macon, GA)

Page 32 text:

THE OLD All Ul.Tl.DlNC » the renter of our university and hn . been since the mustardsecd of Jesse Mercer moved from Pen field, ft e often point to it with amusement, but seldom with pride, forgetting that encased within the fantastic architecture, is the heritage of our university; that tire wont and winding staircases littered with cig- arette butts are the wooden reminders of tin: ascents and descents of gen- erations of students; that tlu? falling plaster was once- X new and stable nnd a equally as hard ns ff their heads; that the now con- demned attic was once the scene of the secret rit- uals of fraternal tics. While t n d a y it is an impres- sive re- ality, althou- gh not a very firm one,, some ■fit! years ago in I be- fall of 1872 the Atl Bui Ming was just art idea in the heads of the leaders of Menrer. G. P. Randall of Chicago was the architect of the new academic building which was to lit a model of ‘'permanence, beauty and convenient .” After a travail which was lengthened by unusually wet weather, a financial depression, a campus epidemic of meningitis and the destruction of the plans for the building in the Great Fire of Chicago, the Ad Building was at last delivered, all members intact, to its present site on the campus. Today the old building is considered by many to be an eyesore rather than an object of “permanence, beauty, and convenience,” and wild conjecture as to the style of its architecture is often overheard. It is Art Professor Marshall Daughter y's reliable opinion that the structure is a French Chateau in the style of the lime of Francis I. Professor Daughter)' further says that the building is an example of the finest style of its time, and that although it is an ar- rhitcclural horror, he Has a great sentimentality for it and would little to H-e it destroyed. Further discussion with him revealed that much deceit is tu Ik found in the building's ornamentation which seen» to he stone, hut is actually tin, and requires re painting at intervals of several years. Through the years there have Lecn many renova- lmus and small changes in the structure, The most recent interior Improve, merit were made in January nf I Unit). 'They consisted of q new paint job for ilui steps, and a coal of walltex. a sub stance similar 10 wall paper, for the walU.Tlje refill ishing also in. eluded tower- ing thr e oiling as it las! re- sort to keep I h e plaster from flaking P e rhaps the must not iccablfi exterior addi- tion is the al um- in urn awning which was added 195fi and adorns the back entrance. Al- though it is very handy for keeping dry while- opening Uifi- brdlns. for its lack of architectum! beauty, it has been colled “Ilie great- est disaster ever to strike the building,” Merceriana received u scare in 1958 when some- one noticed, that the great steeple of the A«| Building had begun lu Iiran. The event rated Cluster coverage, and was also the object of much speculation by physics prufis-or Powell Bush who stated that if the tower leaned any further it might pull over the entire building. The relic of what was once the epitome of acadcmii architecture Inis survived both disaster» and mockery, how- ever. and -till serves as a reminder of the richness of life at Me rear and likewise of the traditions of all university life. It remains an object of beauty at sunset, and. for veil!- I come, yearbooks will he delighted with its photogenic quali- ties. Mercer University’s Administration Building

Page 31 text:

Zeb Vance has met more fine persons than anyone at Mercer. To understand Albert Schweitzer one must realize that he failed to find not only the Jesus of History hut also the Christ of the Faith, P, Harris Anderson is Mercer’s best hope for capturing the Sword Drill championship at the C.B.C. There have been at least three senators in American history who accomplished less than Herman Talmadge. A complete listing of the Thesis can he found in the index 27

Page 33 text:

Yonan Malek Codex Comes to Mercer kjAl cK fOat vai cntaa i iAxa«if£a •Ttl’Wu 1ft cruSftfic f -n V a iLfioikbuiku fi kni er Mlui5 e = ' neriaci, s u ««r.aifC uTntn vtlKn '.fi ia! »o»A j1Sb «3n . .'. m «rtfi-nP J X dr£A%enr fft£«.n «.”» . 3 Ofl t Bag if tic aai, « Owfeef, tfmu i-n fllJBUStrjK ante gowo-fflalrfe £odn