Oberlin College - Hi-O-Hi Yearbook (Oberlin, OH)

Page 30 text:

'.l'he term history has both an objective and a subjective signilication, events in themselves, and man's apprehension of eventsg ou1' deeds which have made his- tory, harmless enough in themselves, have, through apprehension and misinterpre- tation often been condemned, you, most lmpartial Spectator shall judge hearing both t-he motives and results of our purposes. ln dealing with so large and com- plicated a subject l shall for convenience divide my subject into Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern history. ANCIENT. Our earliest remembrances are of the g'ood old Academy days, when we were the hope and pride of' all our teachers, when great careers were mapped out for so many of us with our baseball and football boys we were to feed Varsity for years, with our athletes we were to revolutionize athletics, in basket ball we would soon bring down the mighty sophomores. ln one matter we were a little dissatisfied. Having won the championship in field day we were denied the pennant since we were only eads, but we now seethe justice of the decree and acknowledge the Wis- dom of our seniors for when sophomores had this precept not been established we ourselves had lost no cads. We had frequent class meetings to decide on class col- ors, flag and yell and our indecision led many people to look upon us with open contempt as scrappers, but great decisions should not be made hastily and besides, these meetings gave us splendid opportunities for better acquaintance. which we ,,', I , rain VM. Hman' Lv: 4 - 'I .- . I :fs-9-. 1: ,-17' witfif- ' r ii i I.-'V 1 'i'T7li'. i.i'42'L5'i'7' f'Wlt r 4 . l ' ' 'll' if-22 ts' X' Mill ,J-L. '., V Z .Hr AI 'Y-TIL -g.- fl !lnsl.'lliV5L fl na' 1 1 , 1 , 1 . , I , . 4, . I .- W ,H fqvw A, ijt K uf . f -- . Q 5 22- A 1':,K,f '-1 - W-fl'!v5 - H ?. ui ,f -H.- - i x, r t it t i . ' ' i I 1 ' 25' ' i ' f I i ' 1 ' i 'X'- . ',. .g g'f -1 H9516 Pr-nw Bclwl-Z1 i surelv do not re-fret. Wfe have always been able to see the bright side of life and . N f 1 even on the way home from Farmer l'lell's m the cold, damp, drizzlmg ram, we would not have had it different, the mclemency of the weather brought us closer together. The turning point from ancient to mediaeval history is marked by our change from academy pews to college chairs and desks. MEDIAEVAL. Our early education made us slow, deliberate and positive, and our course since has by no means fallen short of our early promise. VVl1en in the Freshman year in the absence of several of our important members on the football trip, members im- portant to both team and class, we decided to postpone the Thanksgiving party until the following Saturday night: before we won our point, each Professor having a 36

Page 29 text:

1902 History. The last Ethics test of the winter term had been written, the last blue book had been tossed on Prof. MacLennan's desk, and casting wistful glances over their shoulders, the last fair Junior girls had stolen from the dear old Ethics class room. The sun had sunk into the west and slowly darkness was descending on the deserted room. Then it was that a strange figure slipped into Prof. MacLennan's chair :VP 7 and with an intensely self-satisfied expression cast a patronizing glance about the class room. A little red slip for recording absences he quickly tore into bits. All present in spirit, he observed in a still, small voice. Silently the door opened and another strange figure approached the desk. The Conscience of the class of 1902, I believe P ob- served the newcomer. Yes, and you are the Impartial Spectator, replied the Conscience, smiling benignly. I assure you, that on this, your annual round of inspection you are more than welcome to the class of IQO2.H Turning to the spec- tral class he continued: It is the custom in our psychical world, as you all know, to require that once in the course of each college class, the social class conscience, I, your moral representative, undergo an examination, to be conducted by the Im- partial Spectator. We are gathered here this evening for the purpose of taking this highly important step in the progress of the class toward perfection, which it is my pleasure to believe you have already nearly if not quite attained. This day, the one on which you have completed all of the required work in philosophy, is selected as the most ap- propriate for conducting such an examination, and we have ,Q 'fig with us now no less a personage than the Impartial Spectator. -1 X A hundred spectral handkerchiefs cleft the four dimensional - space in an impressive Chautauqua salute. The Impartial Spectator, that proud personality of the 3 spiritual world, accepted the proffered place on the platform. 41' 'fConscience of I9O2,H he cried, searchingly scrutinizing the NIJ hgure-at the desk, - has this class ever attempted to suppress you ? 4 Never, firmly replied the Conscience. Has it always unquestioningly followed your dictates ? In a most laudable manner, replied the Conscience, nodding approvingly toward the class 1HC111lJCI'S, who modestly maintained a spiritual silence. I-Iave you yourself an adequate conception of right and wrong, good and bad, dutiful and disobedient PM thundered the Impartial Spectator. Under the wise guidance of that latest master of philosophical thought, whose chair I now occupy, I may safely say that I have attained a reasonable knowledge and insight into moral principles, replied the Conscience proudly. The hard lines of the Impartial Spectator's face suddenly relaxed. Under the guidance of so great a philosopher how could this class do wrong, he was heard to softly murmur. Proceed with an outline of the history of your class, detailing their desires, motives, purposes, acts and deeds, he directed, The Conscience, his face beaming with assurance, folded his arms and began. 35

Page 31 text:

vote in the faculty had been visited and put through a course of argumentation. Per sistence won the day. lfntcrprise, too, has not been wanting in our class as shown from the fact that we entered a realm wholly unexplored by our predecessors, namelv literature, which resulted in the Tooter. lirom our point of view our stag parties have been successful, but it took pt-r- severance almost verging on stubbornness ' f to hold our stand as superior to the sopho- i 1 inores and a year later to teach the liresh- bfi men their place and station. Both of these N classes have been rather unruly for subor- : ::4..'L N ' l dinates and have manifested several ways t' 4 their dissatisfaction at their position. For 'A 'tiff ly t Ki instance, in the dead of night defacing our t ' tt sacred plot in Ladies' Grove by their class f' ' 112: X - -N number, writing their mnnber all over town instead of '02, etc. We entered heartilr into the custom of observing Arbor Day' with a day's vacation and have done our ' best to show our approval of the new ob- servance. The pretty water tower decoration which we contributed free gratis to the town was not accepted as the happy surprise intended, and the accurate care 'Il 5 Wy. x 'tl it all l I : ii2t,'wHl' 'Wgtfr V ,!l,y.L I l ' A illhi I iiilliti in 4 V, N ,1 'wt l , xg - 1 ff. , ' A ' ,, -V Fi-. taken that it might be kept a secret was thor- oughly ll1lZI.1J131'CClZltCtl. .-Xgain our boys dis- played their force of reserve by refusing' to be led to the confessional. We alone seem to recognize instances of this kind as epoclis in our character building. Nearing the close of our sophomore year when about to enter upon the duties of upper classmen, we as- sumed borrowed mustaches in order to be- come accustomed to the appearance and dig- nity soon to be incumbent upon us. NVQ, how- ever, put them aside at the request of the President, he preferring to keep us children as long as possible. , MODERN. sr- W 92-at K ., W' 449 faiifa ajax Bi di? ' tt u 85 Fgfv TVN li ti iii! . 'fit 4, x -ti lift Ht ll? if ' Zia is- Q, .t n- 0 ' ' ..' I W - J Tk r., gt s K a. c Soon upon our entrance to -Iuniorship We were thrown into a political whirlpool and the troubles of state immediately surrounded us. liver anxious to learn and broad- minded enough to take in all sides of a question, when election time drew near, hav- ing had only Republican and l'rohibition speakers we decided to hear the argu- ments of the Democratic party, whereupon we organized a club and sent to Cleve- land for a speaker. A lively meeting, well attended, ensued, and though we were not sufficiently convinced by the Democratic representative to vote that ticket, our minds felt easier at voting the Republican. Again the faculty misunderstood our coinniendable zeal and attributed our appetite for learning to love of trouble. Polit- 37