University of Montana Western - Chinook Yearbook (Dillon, MT)

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Running Glance at M. S. N. C. No, of course you can not leave Dillon without seeing the Normal College. Take you through? I shall be delighted. You will have to walk up though, for the street car line has not yet been put up the hill, and all the hacks but one have been loaned to a neighboring town. You won’t mind a little inconvenience like that, however. If Dillon has one thing better for a town of its size than any place in the state, it is its cement side walks. We have a good one all the way from town to the college. Yes, that hill crowned with tall buildings of all styles of architecture harmoniously blended together is the Normal hill. When you weary of the points and curves of the Gothic on the Old Main, look up at the Norman towers and battlements on the new building. After that you may rest your eye by glancing at the long lines and lofty pillars of the dormitories, imposing in their Graeco-Roman simplicity. Those buildings are no small aid to the Departments of Art and History in giving the students a knowledge of the architecture of different countries. We shall go to the main buildings first, and work our way back. These first rooms on the left are the offices. That man there poring over the handful of papers is President Swain. Whether you see him working or at leisure you always find him ready to help others along with a kind word and a cheering smile. The next room is Professor Clark’s class-room. We shall not stop today, for he announced in “General Ex’’ yesterday that today he was going to arrange his books and apparatus in order. Here is Miss Bettes’ class-room, and it is the girls’ own room, or rather, they make it theirs, because it is so sunny and cozy with the tables, books, and pictures. Who uses the hammock? W'hy, no one yet. W’e have no one of the right size for it, so we keep it hanging there in the hope that some day an element may come along so small that we can test the utility of the hand-work done in the practice school. W hen we go down this corridor, we are in the main building. Miss Dunning has this first class-room on the left. It is handy for the girls to s; rint in their gymnasium suits down the stairs to

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TRIBUNE PUBLISHING CO. DILLON, MONTANA 4

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the Gym. The next room is the Hall of Silence. There any severely studious persons can find a quiet spot where lessons may be prepared without fear of interruption. No, that isn't an argumcnc across the hall. That is Mr. Fuller talking on the “Importance of Local History,” and he is telling them where to “go to” for the data. Mr. Mosher and Miss Carson own the last two class-rooms on this corridor. That little path? Oh, Miss Carson made that, going over to tell Mr. Mosher that the reason spelling grades are so low, is that he counteracts her teaching by saying, “Abbreviate everything.” Now let us go down stairs to see the Gymnasium. It is not very large, but there was enough room here for the Seniors to give the Juniors a pretty close chase for the basket ball championship. Wait a moment for me, please. I see the door of a shower-room open and my conscience will not let it remain in that condition. These three rooms across the hall belong to Mr. Monroe. This first is the chemical laboratory, where the Freshmen discover all sorts of exceptions to generally accepted laws. The middle room is the class-room in which every student must at some time make his appearance, and discover what a mere speck his boasted knowledge would make on the landscape of science there unfolded to his view. The third room is the physical laboratory. We shall not be able to look at all of it today, for workmen are putting in a new piece of floor. The Seniors wore that out trying to determine the height of the barometric column. I have been saving the best part of the building to repav you for climbing these stairs. This is our assembly hall, the finest owned by any college in the state. And here next to it is our new library. The banner on the wall is the basket ball championship banner. The Juniors won this year and every class is proud of the fine way in which they played. By going through this little hall, one arrives in the old assemblv hall. We have so manv students now that we have quite outgrown it. This room adjoining is the studio. Everything, as you see, is strewn about in artistic confusion. Yes, we do basketry here, but not at this time of year. The raffia here is left over from that used by the Seniors last winter. There is the room where we grappled with the dead and modern languages. On the floor above are the music rooms and the rooms for manual training. The noise is all relegated to the top story, so that the neople who do wood-carving beat the time for those who practice on the pianos in the adjoining rooms. I don’t wonder you take hold of the hand rail when you start to descend this stairway. We are going to have an elevator here as soon as the Legistlaure makes the appropriation for it.