Milligan College - Buffalo Yearbook (Elizabethton, TN)

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When we leave these college halls, let us not foigel the happiness in the ulti- mate object of all human activity, and that hope and love are the angels that lead us on toward the mighty summit of the future. There was never a victory won in the world that did not come through human suffering. There was never a pearl of truth that was not the price of agony. Societes taught the immortality of the soul and a cup of hemlock was the reward of his dreams. Paul preached it and was paid with the dungeon and death. Christ demonstrated it and perished on the cioss that our fallen race might taste the sweets of eternal life and eternal happiness. All of the blessings that we may enjoy have come to us through toil and through tears. The wisdom and experience, the philosophy and learning of every land and every clime are ours. Every library is a treasure house of wisdom and experience and every book is a volume of dreams. W ' e open them and turn the leaves and the shadows of vanished years pass before our eyes. Now, fellow Seniors, in forming your ideal of your individual duty, honor, and happiness, should you concur with these views and principles, you will carry with you, in all the private or public walks of life, an influence most benignant and beautiful. You will guide the less favored of mankind because they cannot but look up to you. You will thus form theii views, guide their aims and elicit their support, on every question you advocate, for the public interest, honor and happiness, and that you may do so — be blessed in blessing, be elevated in elevat- ing, be honored in honoring, — is not only the wish of your humble historian, but doubtless of every one who takes an ' real interest in your true and real happiness, in that of your nation and race. If ignoiance be a repi ' oach to any people and if intelligence and righteousness exalt a nation to the highest rank and dignity among the nations of the earth, then under such auspices, we as a nation and people shall stand among the nations great and happy and powerful — fail ' as an evening without clouds, bright as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners. To the Senior Class of 1916, may the gates of honor, plenty and happiness be ever open unto you. May no sorrow distmb vour days nor grief distract your nights; may the pillow of peace kiss your cheeks, and the pleasures of ini.iginati(in attend your dreams; and when length of years shall make you tired of earth ' s joys, and the curtain of death gently closes around the last sleep of your mortal exist- ence, may the angels of heaven attend your couch, and take care that the inspir- ing lamp of life receives no rude blast to hasten its extinction, J, RUCKRR Todd, jk. 29 lllSTOKI. N.

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a Hi tni If IF Z Eo (D) ill a tenement of clay. An energetic and enterprising fellow must discover also that it pays to remain out of Hardin Hall district unless especially invited to entei there by Mrs. Hopwood. Suspecting none of this discipline, peril, struggle and pleasure which beset our path, the class of 1916 entered Milligan College on or about September 10, 1912. It was one of those days when the sluggish breezes were sighing plaintive requiems over the dying summer; and as the shades of evening fell the waning moon cast weird shadows over the sleeping world, while the glimmering stars awakened a longing for the invisible as it did in the souls of ancient shepherds while wandering over the Judean Hills. Some of us were strangers at Milligan, while others were familiar with the college premises, having been known as preps. In the Sophomoie, or year of observation, the class through persistant and con- sistant effort of every individual member, co ' ered itself with glory. It ■as dur- ing this term, the faculty became so alarmed at the lapid growth of the class, that in order to retain us as students they raised the college curricullum. In our junior year we settled down to work in real earnest. Our class devel- oped several athletes, orators, musicians and vocalists. It developed philosophers who will search the bottom and expound the mysterious theories of the age; ora- tors who will avert the statement that oratory is dying out, and by their power of eloquence will raise it to its heights; poets who will raise to heights of eminence and fall in rank with the grand old masters; physicians who with their skill and loving sympathy will administer the soothing balm, not only to the physical needs but to the spiritual; musicians whose strains of music will touch the immortal soul of man and have a powerful influence for good, and with these it is sending forth those who have chosen the highest and noblest calling of all, who by their serene earnestness and tender pleading shall direct the world toward its Maker and thus fulfill His purpose. With the coming of the Autumn of 191.5 the same body of students, with some additions, and, sad to say, with some subtractions from our original class which entered college four years since, having endured, and in a way triumphed through the three years of grueling conflict, now entered school. Heartily, eagerly, and we ma3 say, almost joyfully we entered into our last series of battles, and before such cheerful, and at the same time, earnest strife, failure is impossible- In con- clusion I may say that the future success of the Senior Class is sure, for History repeats itself.

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HI, © JF.S So © 511 0 tvtvxt of a ntor Oh, Reverie, thou queen of dreams, Enchain me with thy magic spell. Fly not while yet my firelight gleams, Bide with me till my hearth is chill. ' HEN the class of 1916 was contemplating bringing forth this volume which you, dear reader are now perusing, it devolved upon me to foretell the future of the fair young ladies and the less fair, but none the less, young gentlemen who comprise its members. From that day and through many succeeding ones, I have endeavored by a thousand means to force the coming years to give up their secrets, but in vain. Despair was filling my soul; and then through one of the strangest experiences that has ever befallen me my efforts were crowned wilh success. It happened in this way. I was sitting before my hearlh stone in one of those moments of solitude which at times comes to us all. A slow fire gave forth the only light. I was alone. The dripping eaves, the sighing of the wind, imparted to my room that in- describable air conductive to dreams and visions, there sounded a knocking at my door. For a moment I listened intently and when almost on the point of losing myself once more in reverie, it sounded again. Upon opening the door I beheld a strange old man. He could not have been more than four feet in height. His shoulders were bent as beneath a mighty load. A long beard almost completely masked his face. He was dressed in an outlandish fashion, a strange garb composed of skins of wild animals and a kind of woven fabric which showed skill of work- manship. In his hand he carried a heavy staff which might have served, not only as a means of support, but as a weapon of defense as well. But these were not the things that impressed me most, but that which did leave an undying image up- on my brain was his glittering eyes. A wonderful power was theirs, a power which seemed to eminate from the manner with which they slowly closed as one looked into them and then opened in a flash with a suddenness that was startling. ' Sir, he said, I have journeyed far to find you. You are he who has been chosen to reveal the future of his classmates. But, you alone have not the power. For this reason I have come to help you. May I enter? But, without waiting for my reply, he brushed past me and seated himself before my hearth stone. I 30