Milligan College - Buffalo Yearbook (Elizabethton, TN)

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WMMiMMMMM realit) ' , and not composed of air castles, and he started in to climb the ladder of fame One kind of work succeeded another, and in turn he became a news butch on a train, a solicitor for the Satiirihiy Evcnincj Post, an advance agent for a theatrical company, and is now engaged in the work of stage manager at one of the downtown theaters, and if I cared to see him I could find him at No. 425 Broadway. A thought suddenly occurrred to him and he rummaged hurriedly through the files close by until he found what he wanted, and then he told me that Katherine Burrus was also engaged as orchestra leader at the same theater. He related how the romance with poor Joe Crouch was broken up over a misunderstanding, and that while in search of fame in her chosen profession, she had strayed into little old New York. Hill could recall none of the addresses of any others of the class, and so I left hiiu happily humming away, It ' s a long way to Mary Lou ' s, but my heart ' s right there. Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you. They were happily mar- ried about three months after Ellis graduated, and no ' li ' e in a little apartment in Harlem. I sauntered leisurely along a fe ' w blocks, when I decided that I needed a shave, and so went on a hunt for a barber shop. I had hardl}- gotten inside the door when I heard the piping voice of Nat Burchfield as he called out, Next Gentleman! Fate had been unkind to Insect, so he told me. You will recall that he was one of the most enthusiastic members of the Bachelors ' Club in 1915, b ut, would ' ou l)elie ' e it, that old rascal is now ()ne of the worst henpecked husbands you ever saw. The different branches of science had each Ijeen exhausted by Nat in a ' ain endeavor to find liis life work, when 1)} ' dire necessit) ' he was compelled to learn the art of manipulating the shears and razors that adorn barber shops for his daily sustenance. Aly business affairs called me to Chicago, and so I dropped into the uptown office of the New York Central and purchased a ticket for the west. As I was resting snugly in my seat that night preparatory to retiring, who should stick his face through the door but old Myhr White? There he came, a ponderous mass of flesh, his head bounded on th.e north Ijy a Pullman conductor ' s cap, on the south by a large double chin which merged gradually into a vast expanse of coat and ve.st, and on the east and west by a pair of ears which looked for all the world like the extra signals on the rear end of a freight train. His joy was unlimited when he saw me, and I soon realized that though he had gained in size physically he was the same old Myhr 22

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m ' mWWM ' M Senior Clasfi ropijrrj) Chicago, III., May 20, 1935. Miss Nelle Brumit, Nashville, Tenn., Dear Nelle : Doubtless this will be a surprise to you, Init I am going to tell you some of the happenings that ha -e occurred to our old classmates of the Class of ' 15 at Milligan. Wliile I was standing in an office in New York the other day, my attention was attracted by the click of a typewriter as some one pecked industriously away on the keys. I glanced up, and in so doing I recognized a face that carried my wandering thoughts back to college days at dear old Milligan, Just then the fellow raised his eyes from his work and began softly to croon a sweet melody that carried to my mind recollections of having listened to the harmonizing of that voice with others, time after time, at Milligan. It was none other than Ellis Hill, who, you will rememljer, acted so faithfully in the capacity of Secretary to the President in 1915. He recognized me immediately when I spoke to him, and insisted that I should stop for a friendly chat. You can well remember, no doubt, the ability which he always displayed in the gab line, and he soon showed that he had lost none of his power as a talker. It had l)een twenty years since I liad met any of the old bunch of ' 15, and of course I was anxious to hear anything that he might have to say. in regard to them and their positions in life. Hill was working for an employment agencv as stenographer, and he told me that quite often a familiar name came in, and among the numlier he had noticed the names of several members of our class. Ephraim Buck had been one of the first to send in his ajiplication for a •position in the big city. The high and mighty aspirations which he had cherished since childhood, of earing a senatorial toga and gracing the Senate Chambers at Washington, had anished like a snowball before a July sun after he had participated in two elections in Virginia ( in l)oth of which, it is needless to say, Eph came out at the little end of the horn), . fter gathering his scattered thoughts together, Eph came to the realization that life is a sad 21

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wWMmM White, and that his lieart was still in the right place. As soon as his work would permit he came Ijack and joined me and we had a good long talk which lasted until the wee small hours of the morning. He had kept in pretty close touch with the difl ' erent members of our class and was able to give me some very much desired information regarding our old friend Bradley Shepherd. Bradley was tlie owner of a garage in Boston, and one of his favorite sayings is, Boys, I could make a lot of money here if I had not been educated in a school where character building stood first of all. Bradley has also supped from the spring of matrimony in the hopes of finding the water of happiness, but it seems that he made a poor choice, and his life is being made miserable Iw his spouse, who is at present one of the sufi ragette leaders in Boston. To Mvhr I must also attribute the good fortune of securing your address. He had noticed in the society columns of the Johnson City Staff, to which he still subscribes, that you were soon to leave the mountains of East Tennessee, wliere you had so long stri ' en to impart knowledge into the minds of the )-oung American hopefuls, and become the bride of a noted e ' angelist. 1 know that by this time you are very anxious to know what I am doing. Nelle, yi u kn(iw at school 1 was always more fond of sleep than work, so I learned tlie art of tripping the Light Fantastic Toe and am not boasting when I sa}- that I am one of the best in the city. My brain is beginning to fag in this effort to inform you of some of the h.appenings of our old classmates: the lights of the city are beginning to go out one Ijy one; I hear in the distance the stroke of the clock as it solemnly tolls the hour of one, and my hand can hardl) ' creep across the paper. Trusting that this ma ' reach you before tlie marital ' ows are performed, and that I may recei ' e a speedy reply, I l)eg to remain, Yoiu old friend, loiiN Prather. 23