University of Wisconsin Stevens Point - Horizon / Iris Yearbook (Stevens Point, WI)

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ANNALS Kastman, the noted full-blooded Indian lecturer, they decided to call the society by his Indian name of Ohiyesa. Miss Lottie Deyoc was .chosen as the first President. The society took for its purpose the investigation of Indian tribes and relics. In carrying out the idea the girls of 1913 gave an Indian play called “The Love of Whispering Wind.” The play was written by Miss Pearl Richards, then president of the society. The first performance was given at the normal assembly, with such marked success that it was repeated, this time at the Grand Opera house. 'I’his year another play, “Red Bird,” will be given by the society. It also is written by Miss Richards. It is the fervent hope of each member of the band of Ohiyesas that these plays may become annual affairs. The 'I rehle Clef Club for Girls and the Glee Club for Boys were among our first organizations. Within the last two years, an operetta has been given annually by these two clubs. In 1913 “The Japanese Girl” was presented, and in 1914 “The Drum-Major” was given. The boys belonging to the Glee Club also give a Minstrel Show annually. The Y. W. C. A. was organized December 9, 1902, and has been doing good work and progressing by leaps and bounds from year to year. A Y. M. C. A. existed here for a few years. Among other societies which enjoyed a short life were, the St. Cecilia Music Club, the Vivo Club for Mode! School Girls, the Sketch Club, the Geography Lyceum, the Browning Club, and the Hikers’ Club. A new society organized during the current year which has had unusual prosperity and strength is the Home Economics Club, an organization instituted by the Domestic Science girls, but to which all girls taking a study in that department are eligible. The lecture course was started in 1897. Mr. Livingston furnished the original inspiration. “It was a success from the first and in its third season we were obliged to move from the Normal Assembly room to the Opera House in order to accommodate the patrons.” The course continues to be most educative and delightful, giving us apportunities to hear many distinguished people, such as Jane Addams, W. J. Bryan, Elbert Hubbard, Jacob Riis, and others. One of the early signs of school life in the Normal was the organization of the Press Association. This occurred in 1S95, the first issue of the regular publication, the Pointer, coming out in December of that year. Frank Salter was the first subscriber. The Pointer has always been strictly a paper of the student body. Its regular publication and steadily improving quality have all along proclaimed its sure progress, while its increasing circulation has shown the esteem in which it is held. The original price of the Pointer was fifty cents per year in advance. Now it is seventy-five cents a year. During the last semester a change has been made which will make the Pointer a very potent factor in the atmosphere of the school as a moldcr of student opinion. 'Phis is its very important change from a monthly to a weekly issue. This has come about through its Editor, Wm. O’Connell, one of the most loyal of Seniors, having gained his entire education under the “Purple and the Gold.” Mr. O’Connell could hardly have done anything to leave as distinct a mark upon the history of the school as to have brought about this noteworthy advance in the school’s literary publicity and prestige. The other publication issued by the student body is the annual book of the Senior Class. The first one was called “The Nautilus,” and was published in 1901. Because of financial difficulties a Souvenir Pointer was all that was published in June of 1902. For the same reason no annual was put out in 1903. However, in 1904 and 1905 “the Summum” was published. In 1906, the “Iris,” its name chosen from the purple flower with the golden heart, was first published. It has been a complete success from the beginning under the able editorship of J. Howard Brown (1906), D. Bennett (1907), Guy Carleton (1908), Albert S. Wells (1909), John F. Weinberger (1910), Nugent Clennon (1911), Henry Schellhousc (1912), J. C. Wilber-schied (1913). This issue is the first suffragette edition. Miss Pearl Richards being the first woman to hold the responsible position of editor. The first graduating class of the school made its appearance upon the rostrum in the spring of 1896. There were only three members of this memorable and historic group, but all three bore the stamp of workers for the general good. At the In-ginning students were entered from twenty-five different counties—now there are people enrolled from almost every county in the state as well as a number from other states. Among the graduates are individuals who have already begun to carve a niche for themselves in the Hall of Fame and Incessant Honorable Endeavor, in the lines of law, medicine, teaching, journalism, and other professions. Now that the number of graduates in 1914 has almost become fifty times the number who graduated that June of twenty years ago, may we not expect that such an increase in the number of the world’s efficient workers may increase in due proportion, and effect the uplift of untold numbers of the less fortunate, and make more and more necessary the untiring efforts of those who aim to be our leaders. ‘'Sometimes the sounds of the revelry Floated up to the tower-room high Where pale scribes wrote of the joys THEY missed lit the gay days passing by.” “But when the time of the roses came, They called for their palfreys gay. They waived farewell to the palace guards And each lad and lass rode away.” 23

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 The golden words of the orator Once rang in the lordly hall, And well-won shields from gay tournament Hide the tapestry on the wall. Then oft dainty dames and gay cavaliers In the banquet-chambers met, And the silver strain of their mirth and song, Down the corridors echoes yet. ANNALS Early in the fall of 1896 an Oratorical Association was formed. It had charge of all the interests of the school relating to the Inter-Normal Oratorical League, joint debates and other literary contests. Our Mr. Andrew Larkin was the first winner in oratory, taking the laurels on March 19, 1897. Our work in oratory has been a continued success; not that we have always received first place, for we have not,—but our orators have done more, they have won for themselves and the school the name of hard, faithful workers, game participants, and the producers of a finished style of oratory. At first we held debates with Whitewater. Later, beginning in 1898, we also debated with Oshkosh. The debates with the Whitewater Normal gradually grew less frequent until they ceased entirely. The only inter-normal debate we now have is the Junior Debate between the Oshkosh Normal Juniors and the S. P. N. Juniors. This is all that remains of the old triangular system which existed for a short time between the normal schools of Milwaukee, Oshkosh, and Stevens Point. Faithful, energetic labor and unlimited zeal have always characterized these contests. Though we have sometimes been—shall I say blessed ?—with adverse decisions, yet we have found infinite consolation in knowing that our fight had been a worthy one, our cause a most honorable one, and the result only a hair in the balance. Last year’s victory was a memorable one, and will long be a precious recollection to us, because it was won by members of the present Senior Class—Lillia Johnson, Worth Dafoe, Earl Kdes, and Clarence Strand. As to rhetorical , in the early days of S. P. N. we found them given more frequently than now. Then each student was required to give a rhetorical each year. Now, with only one rhetorical, that during the senior year, a little 1914 lass was heard to declaim: “R is for rhetorical, The thing that I hate. Oh, for the time to come, When they’ll be out of date.” Will the little girl get her wish? Not for many years perhaps, for within the last few years there has been a marked improvement in the selection of topics—only those being chosen which are universally interesting and helpful. With these, often, practical demonstrations arc given. From the first we had an Athletic Association open to all interested members of the school. In the earliest days we had home ‘'Field Day” sport, and in May of each year we met the students of Lawrence in friendly contest. Baseball and football teams were early organized and soon won laurels for S. P. N. Later we entertained Whitewater and Oshkosh normal schools in athletic events. At first we had no regular coach, but borrowed one for special occasions. It was not until 1912 that a regular athletic coach was installed. He is Mr. L. G. Schneller, who came to us from Wausau. Under his excellent training basket-ball has developed to a high degree of perfection. Last year we won the Northern championship. This year we lost it because of a “tonsilitis stricken” team. There are also organizations of the girls and less efficient boys into secondary basket-ball teams. All play the game with enthusiasm and are attaining a high degree of skill in the art. Our present popular yell ‘‘Ve! Ve! Ve! Vi! Vi! Vi!” etc., was first heard ringing across the diamond in the spring of 1903. Tennis was organized in 189S. The money for material and backstops and fences for the court was advanced by Professors Culver and Sanford. The courts were soon in excellent condition, and the game became a very popular one. This year a Tennis Association was reorganized under the able direction of Professors Fairchild and Ames. A tournament was held in which the students were greatly interested and enthusiastic. Among the graduates who were tennis stars while at S. P. N. were, E. E. Brown, W. W. Culver, Lucius Allen, Harvey Schofield, Kenneth Pray, Eilida Moen, and Genevieve Miller. Social life in S. P. N. has grown up with the institution. The Arena Society, founded the earliest, and still in existence, had in the beginning the names of both men and women upon its roll. However, within two years, in 1897-1898, the men seemed not to have had a chance to express their opinions quite so freely as they wished, and formed a society of their own called the Forum. This left the Arena girls without any strong men for protectors. Nevertheless they complained not, and before anyone was aware, had elected Miss Maude Brewster, at present one of our faculty, as their first lady President. In 1904, another group of boys formed the Athenaeum. Because of the scarcity of boys in the institution, it was found adivsable to merge the two boys’ societies into one, which has since existed, in spite of its cumbersome title of Forum-Athenaeum. The Clionian society for girls existed for a time, but in the fall of 1906 it developed into the Ohiycsa. After the girls, who contemplated starting the new society, had heard Chas. 22

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ANNALS The merry companions of those bright Jays .Ire scattered like rose-leaves of Junes long fled. For some have wandered to other lands. And some are sleeping and some are wed. This is an extract from the December Pointer of 1905: R«lJi?nn'V5irday l'Tng- D? ,ber • Miss EtM Kirwan was united in marriae, Robert D. Rood, at the home of her grandfather. M. NVadleigh. in this citv. h” Normal Mudcm - i-°«- -»• “She studied well, her friends maintain, Worked hard these many days. The midnight oil was often burned, Is said of her in praise. Now, pale and wan, I hear her say, Don’t ask me any questions; For all I know I’ve handed in, I've ceased my recollections.” (F. E. W., Pointer, Oct. 24, 1905.) “Amen, amen, I say unto you; ‘History doth repeat itself.’” Helen Klikke. Helen Kmnke Historical Editor t to Dr. Kirwan 24