University of the South - Cap and Gown Yearbook (Sewanee, TN)

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books, parties, day dreams, Before I could answer he con- tinued: I probably wouldn ' t even recognize the place now. I understand they finally finished the chapel and that the tower is taller than Breslin. Shameful! And what ' s with all those turrets? I really can ' t imagine Walsh with a center hall and adequate light- ing. Sure lost a lot of character when they rebuilt it. First thing you know they ' ll be completing the quadrangle. I know it was planned that way, but it just won ' t seem like Sewanee. And to top it all off I got a letter the other day from my old chapter saying the house had burned down and asking for money for a new one. I ' m really not sure I ever want to go back; the place just wouldn ' t be the same. I interrupted. Aren ' t you dealing with superficialities? There must have been more than just the buildings when you were an undergraduate. What about the old Sewanee spirit you alumni are always raving about when you chastise us lor seeming apathetic? There ' s more than hoopla to that, too. There ' s something else, some kind ol genius, some form ot magic, which makes our contact with her meaningful and precious, no mat- ter what the year. Let ' s see if we can discover what it is.

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We sat in silence for some time. Then he said in a reflective tone, I was there during the worst part of the Depression. There were about 150 students in the College during my fresh- man year. The enrollment didn ' t change much while I was there. Everybody knew everybody else and we had the feeling that we were all in this together. Don ' t get me wrong: we raised just as much of it as you fellows today, maybe more. But the University was in awfully bad shape finan- cially and those hard times brought out the best in all of us. That genius you were talking about reached out and grabbed us and commanded our devotion. When the University Prayer was read in daily chapel, we really prayed for that ' never-failing succession of benefactors ' you fellows sometimes scoff at. When we heard ' Gentlemen, the Vice- Chancellor, ' we snapped to out of respect, not because it was cus- tomary. This man was doing a superhuman job with only human abilities and we appreciated it. You really would have to have witnessed one of those Thanks- giving Day games against Van- derbilt to know what real school spirit is. athletics,