Randolph Macon College - Helianthus Yearbook (Lynchburg, VA)

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of this judicial department is the honor sys- tem, the heart of our college, upon which rests the deepest hope of its future. “I lie terrarum mi hi prater omnis angulus ridet. ' The smile of Horace’s Italy is no sun- nier than that corner of Virginia where Ran- dolph-Macon rears her Topography. tall buildings. T o stand at the entrance gate and look at the long buildings stretched out in a line to face a broad campus, their towers outlined against the sky like cathe- dral spires ever pointing upward, brings a surge of emotion enriched by memories that people the scene. Yet her beauty does not exert its spell only on those who hold a key to her inner wealth ; every passing visitor remarks on the dignity of the dull red, ivy-covered walls and on the tree- lined walk that leads to the entrance. Smith Hall is placed directly in the center of the campus, the Mother Hall, to whose kindly roof all roads lead. East and West Halls stand on either side like right and left hands joined to the arms made by the corridors. They are alike in their dignified Gothic columns and broad white steps, yet widely different in character: West — noisy, sometimes called rowdy; East — quiet, sometimes termed slow. New Hall stands aloof and disjointed to the right of West, boasting her walls are whiter and her porcelain uncracked, but there, too, feet are wetter on rainy days from cross-campus tramping. A graveled pathway leads from the side of West down a slope past the gymnasium and on through “the Pines,” which in spring looks like one of Spencer’s sylvan glades and in winter is a white close where an erl king might live. The eight fraternity houses stand in a row along this pathway. They are attractive little houses built for the most part in bungalow style, each consisting of a long living-room, a dining-room, a kitchen and a few secret corners. An open fire, a shaded lamp and a victrola, too, seem to be consid- ered necessary touches to their coziness. The gymnasium is a substantial l:

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brick building well equipped for the development of weak legs and arms; indeed, its smooth floor sees, though the observation must be close, the development of grace in the esthetic dancing classes held every week. In the basement are the showers and a swimming pool on the subject of whose charms the countless swimming fiends can bore their friends for hours. On the opposite side of the graveled path the tennis courts extend down to the athletic field, where the Thanksgiving basket-ball match is played and where public interest turns eagerly on field day. Both under the fence around this field and from the graveled walk the paths are well worn that lead to a building which, although it may not be recognized in a classic survey of the college grounds, looms too large in the student’s topography to be passed without a word. This is Whileaway Inn, better known as Miss Ellis’s, where dishes are served that rival mother’s and bills sent home that shrivel father. Following the boardwalk from Miss Ellis’s around the side of New Hall brings the front campus in view again, a broad green expanse broken by winding walks, a picturesque summer-house and the astronomical observ- atory. In the spring it glows with flowers, making on the first day of May a perfect bower for the Queen and her maids. In this setting moves the life of the institution. The term college life is a most misused one, calling up, as it does, in the mind of some only pictures of girls in gay-colored kimonos cooking fudge, or groups Life of the in lettered sweaters getting harmony on “Mandalay. Institution. What a small part such scenes play in the real life! The thought often occurs that college life is a whole exist- ence in miniature ; in the four years there is a youth, a prime, an end. The freshman year is full of excitement and opportunities, the sophomore and junior years the realization of opportunities grasped, the senior year a time of looking back in retrospect, conning the mistakes and counting the gain while grasping a vision of the new fields presently to be entered. As has often been said, college is no preparation for life; it is life itself. There is a steady, normal current of daily existence that underlies all the pleasures and excitement of college, so well ordered as to make possible the accom- plishment of twice as much as in a home day. The words “atmosphere and 15