Valparaiso University - Beacon / Record Yearbook (Valparaiso, IN)

Page 18 text:

TIJrOpbecy ' Duluth, Minn., April 6, 1952. EAR SATURN: i I have just returned from South America, where I have been for the last fifteen years as a missionary. One day last summer a small party and myself started for a trip through the jungle to find a savage tribe of Indians whom we had been sent to do what we could to convert. On the tenth day of our journey we came upon a magnificent villa surrounded by gardens, the most beautiful I have ever seen. We were all tired out, and this place looked so inviting that we decided to stop and ask for a nightls shelter. As we advanced we came upon a midde-aged woman reading to a little girl. Her hair, which had once been auburn, was now streaked with gray, and when she turned to us we saw a sweet face upon which long years of patient sorrow had left their marks. Through all these signs of age I could still see something that seemed familiar to me, and upon searching my memory, who should I recognize but Rachael Williams. Of course, I had to have an immediate explanation as to how she happened to be living in such a beautiful place but so far removed from civilization. She told me that in 1922 she had married a young musician, and the first few years of their married life had been spent touring the United States giving concerts. When they had toured the United States several times they decided to go to South America, give a few concerts and then spend some time seeing the country. They had been there but a short time when her husband fell in love with the picturesqueness of the country, and a mad desire seized him to spend the remainder of his life there com- posing. She had protested, but to no avail. She said ever since he had brought her there she had had everything a woman could wish fOr but companions, which, of course, one could not expect in such an out-of-the- way place. He would take spells of musing, sometimes for a whole week, during which time he would not speak to a soul. But she said she didnlt mind that, for she knew when he came out of it he would write a wonderful composition. ltBut, I asked, ttwho is this great composer who is your husband? I will show him to you if you Will promise not to speak to him, for he is musing now. You used to know him, she said. Fourteen

Page 17 text:

RACHEL M. WILLIAM S MAITLAND MISSOURI Public School M usic. Hark! Her numbers soft and clear, Gently steal upon the ear; Now louder and yet louder rise, And fill with spreading sounds the skies. Rayh' came to us from the Show Me State with winning ways and Willing to be shown how to accomplish great things. After her graduation from the Maitland High School, hRay spent a year studying music at Wes- leyan College. Then came her two successful years at the V alparaiso University Conservatory. She expects to teach Public School Music and Art. Thirteen

Page 19 text:

She led me through beautiful scenery to a quiet place among the palms. There we saw a bent old man with long, gray beard and hair, standing with his hands behind him and gazing into the distance. I could not recognize him, and I said, liRachael, I certainly never knew this man. Who is he ?,I She told me it was Paul Neal, but he had changed so I could hardly recognize him then. I spent the night and part of the next day with her, and when we left Paul was still musing. When we returned from our trip I spent a few days in Buenos Aires, before starting for the United States. One day while there I went down town, and not having much to do, I went to a picture show. The place was so crowded that the usher could not find me a seat. I wondered what could be the attraction to draw such a crowd in the afternoon, but I had but a few minutes to wait, when there appeared on the screen the picture of three aeroplanes flying close together among the clouds. One person was managing all of them, jumping first from one to the other. After per- forming a number of feats among the clouds they came down, and the heroine, for it was a woman, came forward and bowed. To my surprise it was Hazel Gray. I suspect you have seen her in pictures, for I under- stand she has become quite a star. When I landed in New York I was met by a friend who, knowing me to be fond of music and also that I had been isolated from the musical world for fifteen or twenty years, took me to hear the Beethoven Symphony Orchestra, which, by the way, is the greatest orchestra of the present day. You can imagine my surprise when I learned that the conductor is Adam Lesinsky. You would really be surprised to see him, for he looks scarcely a day older than he did when we knew him at Valparaiso. My stay at New York was not long, for I was in a hurry to get home, and having several places I wished to visit I had to make my stay at each place brief. While in Washington I met Lucille Collett, who told me after leaving Valparaiso she had taken up the study of Law and is now J udge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The rest of my trip was quite uneventful until I reached home, when to my joy and surprise I found my next door neighbor to be Elsie Borck. She is now a widow and has three sons in Harvard University. Your old classmate, FLOSSIE CAIN. Fifteen