William Jewell College - Tatler Yearbook (Liberty, MO)

Page 18 text:

gym --V-1 -v-,.,.....-gp' 1 ...fg- qvu ' V Y vw: T, .-win-..f.....r,.,,--f-.,a fs f--H 1 1 r 11 l li W li i I1 E i 1 l1l1 F i i E USH HOUR . . . 4 p.m. means checking-out time for reserve books and the library desk is surrounded by Ievvell-ites clamoring for Blankenship, Goodenough', . . . a St. Louis s-tudent makes a daily pilgrimmage to the rack for the 4'Post', or Globe-Democratn . . . UThe Ladies' Home Iournalw and Plutarch,s 4'LivesH rest companionably on a study table side by side . . . a Weary upperclassman yavvns, stretches, after an afternoon of dillegent research for Dr. Walkerls Tuesday ufolderl' . . . a member of the library staff patiently explains she must have the complete call number. 14 J Tl varioi lost i Augu sit thc candii with the e, bench in tht turbet is wc paths a n d usuall the la ation tion i ar the the ci to th. amaz: of a d ol and I tanica every shrub herb, the H It of '95 tall ta three lated freshr If some of th. Find I ations spirit very ln 'urer's Nou low e

Page 17 text:

,, Av 1 fi 1 Nw W, 4. fa: af 6, . Q 3 ves, I ptu l ARNEGIE LIBRARY . . . Here is the house of books, perhaps the busiest center of Scholastic activities on the Hill. It is the headquarters for the studious or sleepy, its quiet being a boon to both. Here students pore over volumes of fact and fiction, and get their 4'Friday cards' 13

Page 19 text:

..-..,...,..-.,,...,-4.-- -f - ' - ibrary a St. atv 'le side :search ns she gba J-jane The I-bench is a symbol of some sort with various connotations. A boy and girl may sit there lost in concentration over algebra, Hsocf' or St. Augustine,s theories . . or, again, they may just sit there. . . It is a meeting-place and a favorite with candid camera fiends or snap-shot enthusiasts, along with coke-drinkers and ice cream cone eaters in the early fall and spring. In these seasons the I- bench is warm, conversational and well-populated, in the winter it is cold, snow-covered, and undis- turbed. The grass is worn in little paths around it a n d passers-by usually look to see the latest combin- ation of co-educa- tion occupying it at the time. It, like the creaking door to the Co-op, the amazing number o f c a m p u s - adopted dogs, and the neat bo- tanical labels on every leaf-bearing shrub, tree and herb, is a part of the Hill. It was given to the college in I929 by the class of '95. Since that time it has held many memories, tall tales, bits of gossip, the conjugation of verbs in three languages, very long lines expertly manipu- lated by suave seniors, for the benefit of Hedgling freshmen. If the I-bench, so placidly silent, could repeat some of the tall tales, the gossip, the gay badinage of the past sixteen or seventeen years, we might find the similarity between different college gener- ations very evident. Tall tales, badinage, and the spirit of which the I-bench is a symbol, change very little after all. In this unusual shot, taken through the treas- urer's window, the I-bench is seen at a new angle. Now it may be only a stone bench surrounded by low evergreens and empty coke bottles, but later, when you come back to Homecoming Days, or Achievement Day to get an award, or in all proba- bility, an honorary degree, you will remember the idle minutes you wrested from a busy schedule to sit here in the warm spring sunlight, and you won't consider them lost. You may remember that view of fields and hills inspired you to poetry, still stuck away in an old Tatler somewhere, or you may remember vaguely a blonde from St. Louis, or center on the team, or showing the Hill to some- g g one just home f r o m overseas. You'll remember something lik e these things, for the I-bench is as much a part of your campus life as the library or the lab, in fact for the less stu- dious ones, it is more. Be that as it may, the I-bench is a necessary fix- ture to the old Hill, and it is a s difficult to imagine the cam- pus without it as it is diHicult to imagine stately old Iewell Hall without its famous columns. You may not be given to nostalgic thinking and sentimental journeyingsl' may hold no charm for you, but for some of us it is associated with many pleasant things we want to rmember. Perhaps the time will come when stone benches by a birch tree will just be places to stop for a moment to recover our breath and rest our aging feet, but not yet. The poetry you may have written here may never be read, the romance which budded here may never have got past that stage, the Latin you stud- ied may have been sold back to the Co-op with your book, but the essence of all these things, of which the I-bench is a symbol, will long be remembered. 15