University of Pittsburgh - Owl Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

Page 18 text:

The University’s students numbered in the thousands. They had come from all over the earth, and were of all types, ages, temperaments, and sizes. They jammed the Commons Room at Registration, forced classes to overflow into halls, and created gigantic traffic jams on Bigelow Boulevard as they crossed to the Union at the noon hour. They seemed to be everywhere, and there seemed to be no escaping them. But the moment always came when they seemed to disappear from the earth like lemmings. On these infrequent occasions, there was time to catch a few moments alone in the Flagstaff Hill sunshine. There was time for an elderly woman to read an article in the campus newspaper that related the mass activities scheduled for Homecoming, and there was time for a girl to take a lonely walk down a rain-soaked drive.

Page 20 text:

16 Convocations were held once every trimester. Each begins with a stately procession of faculty and trustees, followed by the Chancellor. The ceremonies were always conducted with much pomp and much circumstance, and a fair proportion of the students took advantage of the two-hour break from classes to attend these convocations. On the stage, in front of the gigantic copy of Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, the honors were conferred and the University scholars named. Small gold ribbons were handed to the chosen few, and those who had not been chosen watched from their chairs with expressions of envy, derision, and a touch of admiration.