Oklahoma Presbyterian College - Ithanna Yearbook (Durant, OK)

Page 105 text:

LOCAL COLOR Calendar. SEPTEMBER. HO. P. C. students arrive. Every one back. Say, but I've had the best time this summer. Old girls give reception to the new students. Winnie Lewis returns to school. Seniors elect oliicers. OCTOBER. Juniors meet in Study Hall. First football game. Rah! Rah! Rah! Southeastern! ? ? ?f? ! Miss Elizabeth Jordan gave reading recital for the benefit of the Annual. Miss Eugenia Marguerite Hack gave first recital of her American tour. Miss Irma Beck, accompanist. Half holiday! Circus in town! Lenora Kemp elopes with the clown. Junior chafing dish party. Much joy!! Went to church. W. Y. C. A. Hallowe'en party. 103

Page 104 text:

THE SEVEN BOIS D'ARCS. I HE Old Man sat on the low stone steps of his rude log cabin. Holding his pipe in his hand, he leaned forward to look more closely at the clump of trees outlined against the sky. For a long time I watched him, wondering why he sat here every night looking at the twisted trunks and the gnarled, tangled branches of the Seven Bois d'Arcs. And why did he often wander down to the trees and stand near the great rock in the center of the clump? Child, said the old man, half turning to me, Child they've told you I'm a queer old man. They don't under- stand. Listen I knew a youth once, strong and brave. He lived here when the country was new, and the white man had not come. On such a night as this the youth met, loved and wooed an Indian maiden. Then it was October, just as now. The Missionaries persuaded the youth to go to the East to school. He promised to return to the maiden when the leaves turned red and gold and came iluttering to the ground. The next October the maiden watched and waited for the youth's return. Theleaves began to fall. Soon they covered the ground. The wind stirred them as it swept over them, or piled them high near the brooks. Winter came and the snow fell, covering the dead leaves. Still the youth had not returned. Soon the leaves began to grow. The world was green again. The heart of the Indian maiden sang as she thought of the time when the leaves would turn to red and gold and fall to the ground. The falling of the leaves did not bring 100

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HER INSPIRATION H li long cool halls of the art gallery were almost deserted, only a few l enthusiasts lingered in the fading light. The front door swung slowly open and a slight young girl entered. She could not have been more than twenty, yet her steps lacked the elasticity and her fine grey eyes the sparkle that should always accompany youth. That year she had begun her first teaching-with the brightest hopes and highest aspirations. Life had seemed worth while, and she felt that perhaps in a small way, she was accomplishing her mission in life. But as the weeks lengthened into months, many things had come to try her faith in herself. Une by one it seemed her hopes were blighted and killed. Some of her students, on whom she had lavished time and pains, proved utterly unworthy and sad disappointments. The thought that she was a failure -for young people are easily discouraged-became more insistent, until this day, that had seen her fondest plans frustrated, she had almost come to accept it as a fact. Ileretofore, when the discouraging days had come she had found the art gallery an unfailing source of inspiration, from some picture she had always been able to draw either a feeling of peace or some uplifting moral, but this evening none of them brought comfort or quiet to her. She had turned to leave when in an out-of-the-way corner she saw a picture of Sir Galahad, the maiden knight. Not having seen it before she stopped to observe and study the technical perfection of the painting. The noble face of the knight impressed her, and she called to mind how he said: My strength is the strength of ten Because my heart is pure. And how perfect must have been his self-control and concentration to enable him to say: So I keep fair thru' faith and prayer a virgin heart in work and will. i I As she recalled this story with all its significance, her face brightened visibly: her whole figure took a new poise, her lips met in a determined line and in her eyes shone a glad light of renewed hope and courage for the future. Rosa WALLACE, '15. 102