Western Oregon University - Yearbook (Monmouth, OR)

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THE NORM Well maybe I Will stay, said N ormat, and as she made her way to her; boarding plaee, she cast aside any lingering thoughts of home find mother, and selfishly decided to please herself for once. On reach- , 111g her own room she found a letter waiting to be opened. How well she knew the postmark and the timid, cramped handwritingi Her eyes ran quickly over this beginning: ttMy precious child:-VVe are so glad, so thankful that only nine days now separate you from us that we are nearly crazy with joy. You should see the fat, importantfgobbler strutting in the barnyard at this moment. Little dreams he .of his impending doom. I need scarcely tell you of our efforts to get him. Poor little Janet has had a dreadfully sore throat; and I hated to call in the doctor because even a little money'means so much to Us. She was so brave about' it' tho, and Sewedts'on Mrs. Hodgeis carpet rags until eleven oiclock. every night, so that her dear tNormiei should have turkey'for Thanksgiving. I dislike, dear, to. worry you With 0111' troubles, when I know you study so hard and are overworked anyway; but I had such a deplorable acci- dent last week. We were out of wood and I was So cold that I could notiguide m-y-needle sombhhw,- and it ranithru my left thumb. I have suffered terribly with itethe-thu mb has gathered and i is swollen to twiCe'itis normal size and- ' . I ' ' Norma could go no further.- With a sob she dropped her. head 1' on'sthe table and shed some bitter. scalding tears. i ttHow could 'I be - soheartle'ss, ' so worthless, so utterly goodsfor nothing, she repeated? over- and over again. Rising atslast she'igot Aoutf'her well-Worn suit case hndfpacked it hastily. 'Jhen she picked 'up hrer? motheriss letter, and? nervin'gtherselvfif'ors-the effort, enolosedit; With a. little note of her- own in anenvelope which she hastily addressed'ito'PiofeSSOr Howard; the High School principal. Then she hurriedtan'd boarded the 'night train for-home. ' v ' i 1 ' i i i ' i' i ' Airaminta, GreenVCalls On Her Ffiend. Oh, Mrs. Slater, Pm so glad yer to home. 7 Pm jest so upsot I donit know what to do. I always said 'thereis nothing like havini 'a friend to relieve yer feelin,s on, and I alway s appreciate you so at such' times as this. No, itisnYt that: No, itisnit that. Cousinis Wifeis sick? No, tisnit that; its worse than that. , What did you say? Yes, thatis it, School. Yes, my niece. WelI, my niece Lettyis goini to school; goin, to that Normal School over at Monmouth. Oh, and you never heard such doin,s in all your life, Mrs. Slater. I jest knew there was somethin, the matter With Letty the minute Ilset eyes on her. You shouldhave seen her, Mrs. Slater. M ' ' ' Oh, no, donit go and make any cup of tea, Pd ruther relieve my

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THE NORM would probably go with her While I was away. No! I shall not go home Mother will get over it all right and. besides she wonit have to get much for dinner if Iim not there. Just she and Janet can get along well enough without any extras. On concluding this soliloquy, she ascended the steps of one of the pretentious dwellings, beside which, in her mindis eye, her own home was so humble, and rang the bell. The door was thrown open and a pleasant faced girl emerged swinging her skates. The con- genial pair departed at once for the lake at the edge of town, where a bunch of happy, high-spirited boys and girls were already glidmg over the smooth, glittering surface. A couple of boys came racing up with proffers of assistance, and they soon joined the other couples in a mad rush to the opposite shore. ttListenW said June, as they sat down on a boat landing to rest, HWhat do you think of thls? Norma Gaylord is going to cut all the Thanksgiving fun by going home, for the entire vacation? Loud de- nunciations greeted this remark and one after another began raising objections to her intended departure, for Norma was admired by all her schoolmates and well liked by the majority. ttWhy, 't the party will be a flat failure if you don,t stay, protested June, ttfor thereis no one else u ho can concoct the kind of place cards I want, and besides, if youire not here, you know that Harry Turner will go to Oakland and take Ted Richards with him, andeoh, well! No'end of calamities will oc'Cur. AYOu simply MUST tstay. 'i ' ' ' ttWell, Pd love to stay but we have such a short Ivacation that Pm afraid I should miss our reuniOn at hoine, and disappoint mother, if I remainE for the party,,' answered Norma. ' y ' ttFair maiden; beganJTed Richardsjitmy love for you is as im- measurable as the bOundless area of spacefplease reconsider your last statement, and cOnsent to remain With us? He attempted to drop; gracefully before Norma, on one knee, as he made this remark, but his skate caught in an ice fissure andihe was precipitated headlong toward the middle of the lake. 'A general shout of' amusement arose at Tedis discomfiture, 'and some one proposed that Norma be given time to think over Tedis avowal, 'whileithyeyialil racedoacross the lake? : dNow donit'say yoWre'not going to stay,' girlie, said June, as after an hours enjoyment, they hastened homeward. dYOu really Ought to Spend all of your Thanksgiving vacation here and'. not go home till Christmasa Thereis so everlasting much going on new-no end of jollifications thati'ii't would be a crimeto miss. The night after my party, thereis the dance'in the gym, and Saturday the hockey icon: test between our boys and Ashland,'fol'lowed in: the eVening 'by': the reception at Professor Howards 5Why child, fiohody but ah imbecile would dream of missing it. - '-' a ' ' . ' 4 a

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THE NORM feelinls than go to a whole Boston tea party. And that makes me think of the history classes over there, but I was goml to tell you how Lettv looked first. She was a sight: snail back of the left ear, snail back.of the right ear, and a snail right in the middle. And the hat, . you never saw the like. One of them things you cantt hardly see out. A cross between a pancake and a teaecosey, Mrs. Slater: tAnd the, skirt, just like a meal sack. Oh, its just somethindshockmi the way Letty looked. And theyire studyin7 the queerest things over at that Normal School I ever heered of in my life. I surely dont know what this countrys comini to. Letty told me about one thing. they were studyinl, and its Li-Li-Lij-Library-Misery, thatis it, Library Mis- ery; well, that do'nlt sound just like it, but from What Letty said .I should jedge it was misery. And they all have to have fountain pens. Nor I either, Mrs. Slater. But theyire doin, everything backwards over at that Normal School, and where they should read they write, ani where they should write they read, and so I spose theylre writin, in the library, i , Oh, I was gointtotell you about the history classes, Mrsa Slater. Therels a man there that teaches History, sposed to, but from what ' Letty said he talks about the price of land, and the war with Turkey and religion; ath it the beatenest you ever, Mrs Slater. Letty told me so many things about what theyire dolinl over there, but there was one thing that I couldnlt get straight, and its somethin, about a-aea-Nature, something about Natural'Study of Printing. Print- in,, that had soniethinl to do with it. Printiif, but Agriculture, thatts it, and I canit seelor the life of me what printin,s got to do with Ag- riculture; I should think it would be more likely to be plowing. Audit was so strange to me, Mrs. Slater, because we women have been fightin, for our rights, and we donlt want to do any work any more, especially outdoor work, and they,re :vteaohirf plowin, over at that Normal-Sohool. Yes, iVs'dreadful, ainit it? And instead of Study- ini Grammar they have English classes, and course yould naturally think theyld learn how to read correctly and talk proper, but what do you lspose they,re learnini, story tellin. Now think of that, and I had sech a time before Lettyls pa married again, When I was bringint up Letty, and I just had to whip her for tellint stories, and there she is. a grown up lady, or thinks sheis, and learninr to tell stories in school. And they have to learn to write'letters, too. Now you and I knew how to write letters When wewas knee high to a grass hopper, but it seems they have to learn that th ire too. V i - Then thereis some other kind of thing they have Io'ver there that was full of interest, ,peerd like to Letty, and I .canlt makeout what it means, and that wasSi-Si--Psychology,i and every time Letty talked