Queens University of Charlotte - Coronet / Edelweiss Yearbook (Charlotte, NC)

Page 11 text:

flrpfar? T V HIS little volume, our first edition of the “ Edel¬ weiss,” we now place before the public, with the earnest hope that it will meet with all the success we could wish for it. Concerning the contents of the “Edelweiss,” we have tried to be as accurate, concise, clear and sim¬ ple as possible. “It would have been much easier to write learnedly and obscurely and so be judged pro¬ found, but we are willing to take the risk of slight esteem, hoping to be clearly understood.” In revising the material the staff has had, and hereby thankfully acknowledges, the highly valued assistance of the Faculty, whose suggestions have been carefully weighed and generally followed. Therefore, no responsibility for mistakes or imperfec¬ tions should be laid to their charge.

Page 10 text:

IRrb. 31. ? . IrtifrjFS, 0. 0. James Robertson Bridges was born in St. Louis, Missouri, reared in Richmond, Virginia, and educated at Hampden-Sidney College and Union Theological Seminary, graduating at the latter in 1880, having taught school between his college and seminary courses. After having supplied churches in Kentucky for a year he was ordained evangelist of Western Texas Presbytery, serving at Uvalde, Del Rio and Bandera, for two years. He next supplied a mission chapel in Baltimore for two years, became pastor of the church at Leesville, Virginia, where he served four years, and at Salem, Virginia, where he was the beloved pastor from 1889 to 1895. He was called to Columbia, Missouri, in 1895, and while there became editor of the St. Louis Presbyterian, making it one of the brightest and most readable papers the Southern Church had ever known. He went from Columbia to Orlando, Florida, where he hoped that the climate would benefit his throat. Finding that he was incapacitated for a time for pulpit work he accepted the call to the Presidency of the recently reorganized Presbyterian College for Women. Dr. Bridges has brought to his work as President both the training of a successful man of affairs, and the cultured mind of a ripe scholar, the experience of a teacher of truth and the sympathy of a shepherd of souls. His literary taste and ability as a writer were well known through his work as editor and as the wel¬ come contributor to the Church periodicals, North and South. But his success as President of the College has proved the breadth of his scholarship and the ability to impart the knowledge of his well- stored mind. Dr. Bridges took charge of the College in the critical period of its history when it was passing from an institution of local pat¬ ronage to its present position as the peer of any of our Southern Colleges for women. His success has been noteworthy, largely in increasing the patronage of the institution at the same time that he has raised its standard for entrance and for graduation. But this brief sketch would be incomplete without some men¬ tion of the affection and esteem in which he is held by his pupils, who can never repay their debt of gratitude to him, but here in¬ scribe this slight tribute to his worth, as a proof of their love and loyalty. 10

Page 12 text:

l£b?[mnB8 ■jV AST seen the flower which tourists prize, dlfj The Alpine Rose—the Edelweiss? It blooms amid perpetual snows In nooks no mountain hunter knows; Shy in its sweet, mysterious grace, It loves to hide its chaste, white face, And brave the tourist who can dare This strange white Mountain Rose to wear. For ere he plucks it, he must brave The avalanche’s snowy wave; Must scale the heights which wild goats mock, Stayed by his sturdy alpen-stock; Above the glare of ice and snow, The treacherous abyss below; One misstep, and all hope is gone, He knows it, but he clambers on All undismayed; he’ll gladly dare All dangers for a prize so rare. Far on the rugged path of life, Beyond the snows of deadly strife, Beyond the vales of careless ease, Where pleasure’s perfumes scent the Beyond the crowding and the care Of countless throngs who linger there, Close nestled up against the skies, The goal of our ambition lies. Its charm to this; few have the power The nerve, the skill to pluck the flower; The steady hand, and foot, and eye, The will to garner or to die, The purpose firm, which cannot fail, Courage which will not, cannot quail, These, the high qualities which those Must have who pluck the Alpine Rose. breeze, And he who reaches it, be sure, Has had the courage to endure; Has passed by many alluring flowers, Which smile away life’s summer hours; Has looked beyond the narrow bound, Which hedges common mortals ’round; Has dared to win what others sought; Has earned what never could be bought. Ah! who would life’s best prizes win Must look aloft, must bear the din, The strife, the scars, the dangers; all The snaring sweets set to enthrall, With soul serene and bearing high, With purpose now to do or die; So prove his power to pluck life’s prize, His own heart’s cherished Edelweiss. —Dart Fairthorne. 12