Northwestern State University - Potpourri Yearbook (Natchitoches, LA)

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yUv .first Kmpression of the 5tormal evi:i; vnoHY has his trials and tribulation! and m i. m i Fresbie at th Nor mal. had mine the train puffed into Nat ' 01) friend and I nibbed our suit-cases and hurried out lust as i stepped orr tbe train, s whom I afterwards discovered was Mr. WInstead) grabbed mj luit-caai l. thinking he was a thief, relied stop him. stop him! Bui l was soon assured bj Mr South thai ! ■ and Mr Wlnstead wen Normal teachers who hail meel us. Mr South then brought us up to the Normal s W( passed through the hall to Mrs Hawkins room, we saw loads popping out from back Of doors. Btepo, windows, etc., and heard remarks such as then Isn ' t that a iunn ha Her skirts too short ' w onder II tbi j ■ Thej look pn M w. stood tins. «t i remarks as Freshiee should, and meekl] walked into Mrs Hawkins room, followed by a curious crowd of -iris. it . r we registered, Mrs Hawkins asked us if we would like son • it was then 9:30 I ' M. and we had had nothing to sal sinct 12 o ' clock; hut i was so fright- ened I faltered out: ' hank y-o-u. Hut i was Immediate]] brought to mj senses bj several rigorous pokes in the hack with Take it. you greeny! if you don ' t want it. give it to ma Mrs Hawkins said, as we had no bedclothes, she would gel Bomt of the cjris to t ;i kt us in for the olght So saying, she showed us Boyd Hull, and said Go to No 51 and teii them I saj to take jrou in for the night. We went and knocked at th door of No Entering, to the Invitation f a loud Come! we heard an uproar of, Freshiee, Freshiee! and two of the uiris rusiod at us. Pinning us each to the door by the throat, ti Because II i can ' t stay in here, because there are three ' Mar s ' in hen now When we had assured them that we wen not Marys, ' the) released their e.rasp, Dg ii- a i hair, tiny all screamed Have yOU anytl Si in your suite;. titer eatli srythlng they could find, a otblng, tbej ask- d as a d questions and told us as many more things ahout the Normal dm among them Bald when the Ughl bell rang, we all had to kneel around Ho table for pray rs So when the hell ran::, we both rushed and knell down Inside the table Soon w. lot ahout to see when tin others were. The) were in bed, screaming with laughter We then that it was only a joke, ami sbeeplsbl) go1 in bed After i had crawled in. i remembered that my purse, with nil m] money, was on tin and I said ( ' .iris, is tin Well, What on earth dO yOU want to know that for at 11 ocl Weil, if it is. I win have to i r. s- ami go ami deposil my money; for the catali Deposit your money Immediately upon arrival. ' tnid screams ol laughter, the) assured m thej would oo1 iteal m money thai night, If I would just hush am: deep. Zn l LaWSABOS Tap ' leii in.- n. .t tn mournful numl Lin fi remind - ' ■ Mill . W I Hint Minn Vnd - r. — • 1 1 •«» • ti.i methlng mi Hon Hnw I..-I i up iin.i a -Mlllll it lon ' i i ' II ■ , he ' ll hSVi -in .ill Mill i limn in

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Couisiana State formal School .Alumni Association OFFICERS Mr. J. M. Barham, Marksville, La President Mr. Ben Johnson, Mansfield, La Vice President Miss Dean E. Varnado, Natchitoches, La. . Secretary and Treasurer BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mr. W. J. Avery Winnfield, La. Mrs. Alice Martin Wallace Shreveport, La. Mrs. Georgia McMurdo Jones Baton Rouge, La. Mr. Y. L. Fontenot Ville Platte, La. President V. L. Roy Natchitoches, La. « Tb )z TAbbf X. Smitt) TLoan Ifcxinb of ) Louisiana State formal School Alumni Association iHE Alumni Association of the Normal School maintains a fund known a? the Abby L. Smith Loan Fund, from which temporary loans are made to the students in the three last terms of the Nor- mal Course. Only those persons who have already been students of the school and have proved their intellectual and moral fitness for the teaching work can secure loans from this fund. They pledge themselves to repay such loans out of their first year ' s earning, after graduation, at six per cent interest. At the meeting of the Alumni Association in New Orleans in April, 1913, the Abby L, Smith scholarship maintained by the Alumni Association since 1897 was discontinued. This scholarship paid the entire expenses of one student at the Normal School, and by means of it nine young women were educated and sent into schools of the State. All funds of the Alumni As- sociation, including the Five Thousand Dollar Alumni Loan Fund, havi been merged into a general fund, known as the Abby L. Smith Loan Fund. This fund is now approximately four thousand four hundred dollars. Out of this the Alumni has helped between eighteen and twenty students dur- ing the session of 1914-15. More than a hundred and fifty students have received financial aid through loans.

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.Alumnae 5tte6itatio ' HERE was a subdued rustle in the audience when the music started — the moving of fans and programs and stiff organdy dresses: and there was the tang of cedar in the air — that un- mistakable, familiar smell of commencement time. Who are they — all those ladies and that man? I remem- ber asking, swinging my feet. And Edith, who always knew : everything in a mysterious sort of way. redied. enigmatically: They ' re the Alumni. The what? I ventured. But Edith deigned not to answer. 1 sat there and regretted that grown people and folks who always knew everything were not more communicative. Well, what is the Alumni? I asked, desperately. Edith said, Sh-sh! and frowned; for the line was passing us now, and Edith, who occupied the end seat, was engaged in feeling the ladies ' dresses. What is the Alumni? I whispered again in Edith ' s ear. And Edith whispered back: Goosie! She alluded to me, of course, and she used the expressive and classic term that the knowing ones applied to one of the ignorant mass. I sank into discouraged silence. School was the most mysterious institution, anyway. You started in the first grade — I was a first-grader — and it seemed that you went up, up, up forever and ever and ever. And then, some day, when you were grown, you wore a shimmering white gown and tarried flowers, and you graduated. It was not unlike getting married. I reflected on all this, swinging my feet. I had flattered myself that I knew all about school. I even knew that Miss Bessie and Miss Lawless and Mrs. McVoy and several others were called The Faculty. But here w r as something new — the Alumni, a long line of beautiful ladies and one gentleman that marched in behind the Faculty and occupied the front seats, and received as great an ovation as the graduates themselves. The Alumni — the Alumni — Alumni. I repeated it over and over to myself until the three mysterious syllables fell trippingly from my tongue. Alumni, Alumni — what were they? Where were they? And xliy were they? When the program was nearly over. I remember that a great tall man, whom people spoke of in awed tones as The President, announced that there would be a meeting of the Alumni after the exercises, followed by a reception. On our way home 1 sought information from Edith again: but her replies were eva- sive, and she suggested hastily that we race down the hill to the wishing-tree. I raced sullenly. No wonder Edith knew so much. She had a brother and loads of cousins who lived and moved and had their being in that vague, distant sphere known as The Normal Department. And I had nobody. My sisters were aged two and four, respectively, and knew absolutely nothing about the world outside our garden gates: and my mother and father were not given to imparting knowledge, being greatly concerned with housekeep- ing and Single Tax. However, I questioned papa that night as to the mystical term— only I pronounced it wrong somehow, for 1 know now that he imagined I meant aluminum. ' It ' s a metal, papa answered from behind The Literary Digest. A what? I asked, plaintively. A metal, honey, mamma explained, like the pots in the kitchen— something you cook with, you know. ' Here my cousin, Isabel, who was spending the night with us. added, vaguely, that it was something that shines. Al— al— alu— alum —something that shines. Well, they shone all right that long line of ladies and one gentleman— shone with smiles and flowers and glowing eyes. But