Ontario Agricultural College - OAC Bulletin Yearbook (Guelph, Ontario Canada)

Page 19 text:

And then came the deluge! With the fall of '19 forty-t'our new members, most ol' them overseas men, returned to tinish their Fourth year with '2ll! It is saI'e to say that no class that was ever graduated from the College has been so rich in experiences as those who have come to join Year '20, Look over the crowd! Here gathered into one class-room are members of the original Princess Pats, members of the Canadian Horse Artillery, the Canadian Field Artillery, the Canadian Mounted Rifles, the Tank Battalion, the Flying Corps, and the Canadian Army Medical Corps. Sprinkled through the class are t'our or tive officers, and seated side by side on the same benches are war heroes who have won the Military Cross, the Distinguished Conduct Medal, the Military Medal, and the 1914-1915 Medal l'or service in France during those years. Here are men who have been gassed, and others who have suffered serious wounds, and one man who has exchanged a German prison camp for the O.A.C. class-room! Heroes all! Year 1920 is proud that you have thrown in your lot with them, and your Alma Mater will long remember your services with grateful appreciation. Aside from the changes in its personnel, there have been few events in the history of Year '20. The war has overshadowed all else. In the tirst and second years, interest was conlined to such mild speculations as to how tall I-louis really was, whether Wai tthe tirst Chinaman who ever attended the Collegel would make his year. and whether David King and Jonathan I-Iansuld were really married. In the third year there was the Valentine Dance-the first dance on a large scale since before the war-a big undertaking for a Year with scarcely twenty active members. But the dance was a success. and an occasion long to be remembered. Then with the beginning of the fourth year came the news of McGuigan's marriage-an event in the history of the Year: and a few months later Dill Fleming returned to College wearing a happy smile and he in turn became the envy of all the class. In December the tirst reunion ot' the originals was held at the Kandy Kitchen, and needless to say, the occasion was a happy one. But although Year '20 have not had an eventful history as far as College events are concerned, its members have always been good mixers. In the Philharmonic Society, in the Dramatic Club, in the Literary Society, in athletics, in the Cosmopolitan tilub, and in the Y.M.C.A. the members of year '20 have always been the leaders and stand-bys, and have helped to tide the Coll:-ge organizations over troubled and critical times. Our ranks, it is true, have been depleted, and some of our good soldiers have fallen, but new drafts have brought our company once more up to full strength. But for our little army, as our comrades in arms well know, the four years ol' lighting that have passed have been but a skirmish. Yonder, beyond the last line of entanglements that face us, the real enemy awaits us and the real battle is to be waged: and, like the tried veterans of the Iron Duke, we too await with eagerness the final word of command: Up, Guards, and at them. 'I hiilet-u

Page 18 text:

Year '20 Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot, Hut he'll remember with advantages What Yeats he did that day. Then shall our names, Familiar in his mouth as household words, lle in their tlowing cups freshly remembered. Shakespeare, King Henry V. Y ICAII '20 has had probably a more chequered history than any other year in the College. It began with seventy-one students. The following year only thirty-four returned. When the Third year was reached, the number ol original meinbers ol the class had dwindled to eight, and in the Fourth year only tive ofthe old guard are lel't. The one great cause for this thinning ol' the ranks from year to year has been, of course, the war. In '16 and '17 we were begin- ning to feel the real seriousness of the war, and within two years most of the young boys who had come in '16 fresh from High School and the farm. had heard the call and in the face of danger had suddenly grown to be men. By the end of the second year only those few who, owing to personal disability or for some other equally definite reason, had found it impossible to go. Then to Year '20, as to other Years, there came the anxious days when the casualty lists contained familiar names oi' students who were either in training or had already gone overseas-Scott, Williamson, Maynard, Weber. lnthe toll which the war took, all the Years suffered, but Year '20 will always hold in memory with deepest aliection the names of those of their number who gave up their lives forthe great cause. Ilut although there are only tire ot' the the originals left in this class, still Year '20 has recruited its strength and has come in strong at the tinish. At the opening of the term in the fall of '18 there was a flurry of excitement in the ranks of the 'told guard. Thirteen new members appeared as reintorcenu-nts for the Year. Three or tour of these were returned men. Three or four were stalwarts from the Maritime Provinces,-and one was a girl! Who says that the number 13 is unlucky? Was she conscious of the air of suppressed excitement that D0l'V2lfl9fl th? Ul21SS'l'00m 011 UW flllt' of NPI' first ill1P0H1'HnC07 And did she know that Mr. -, but no, l cannot, I will not, betray con- tidences. lt is suflicient to say that Miss Chase was welcomed as a member ol' the class, anfl th:-re was not a member who was not genuinely sorry when it was learned that she was not to graduate with '20, lu- lu'

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COMING IN-GOING OUT GtJtJDil10RNlNti! So you are starting in on your College career. Well, don't get too serious about it and don't let the work get ahead of you. You know how it is on the Farm, if you get behind with the spring work, you never seem to eateh up all season, for the weeds seem to grow faster than you can destroy them. So I addressed a young freshman of yesterday. To-day he walks in a Senior and asks for a short write up for the Nensis. Such a short stay at College and so much to learn that it seems like coming in - going out all in a breath. Anil yet there is a vast dil'l'er- ence between First and Fourth Years at College. Our freshman, as 3 rule, has had no preparatory school training: words such as 1.aboratory and Conservatory and t'arl,ohvflrate and Album' inoids have little meaning, if any. Field Day is something new, for any iunmnyr he has done up to this time is to keep up with the dog in the lane, or to head elf pigs or sheep when changing their quarters. But he goes on, keeps his eyes open and returns again the next fall for his Second Year. This is perhaps the most trying year of all, so many freshmen to discipline-so many classmates who do not expect to return and are sometimes careless in their work-so many studies to get hold of, and so fast does time fiy. Then the smaller Third Year. Some new faces come in here and create new friendships. Nova Seoatia sends her quota and real work em nnnences. ln this year the world's affairs must be settled in debates: new religions must be tackled and thrown aside, new political platforms must be built and destroyed, and new and better theories must be tested. Yes, a testing year. And now here you are going out.' God bless you and may you do as well in life as you have done in College is the wish of your friend and President, KL LRIIININN lik--X.MS,l,l.U