Wittenberg University - Witt Yearbook (Springfield, OH)

Page 25 text:

One man had trouble removing his. so he whispered to another who was standing near, to hold him while he removed them. The other complied in silence and the next morning it was discovered that Doctor Ort had held the student while he removed his boots. A little accident occurred late in the career of Doctor Ort which was quite characteristic of his style of humor. He was called out of his seminary class for a long-distance call. One member of the class whom we shall call Mr. Johnson, by way of relieving a probable long wait of tedium, went to the front of the room and imitating Doctor Ort’s peculiarly heavy speech, notified the class that they would now have some gymnastic exercises. He opened all the win- dows and going back to the Professor’s place, started the exercises by standing on his head on the desk. Doctor Ort came back sooner than was anticipated and found Mr. Johnson in this inverted position. Doctor Ort. folding his arms and regarding Mr. Johnson for a moment in silence, remarked. Well. Mr. Johnson, are you getting top heavy? All persons in the early days were assessed a poll tax of two dollars road repair, or were required to assist in the work on the highways. Wittenberg Avenue was then a private drive leading to the creek and the supervisor gra- ciously granted to the students permission to cancel their obligation by repair- ing the roadway. In the early history of the college, the campus extended south to the present Cliff Park. The physical side of college activities in the early days occupied a different position and performed a widely different function from the present day ath- letics. One could scarcely call their student recreation as athletics. In the morning before classes a walk was taken until the hour for the first recitation at nine. After classes at four in the afternoon, the entire school was privileged to participate in football. There were no co-eds in school at that time. During the C ivil War the students, who numbered one hundred and sixty at that time, responded so valiantly and served so satisfactorily as to win the commendation of the Government. Some answered Lincoln’s first call for men for three months of service, while others served from one to three years. Five men made up the Faculty during the period of the War. Doctor Sprecher was President; Doctor Geiger was in charge of mathematics and sciences; Professor Diehl taught the ancient languages: Professor

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I here was Professor Geiger, father of the first Wittenberg co-ed, who taught mathematics and the natural sciences. It was said that he was one of the best mathematicians in the state. His official survey of the Blue Ridge mountains for the government was the first authentic one to determine the period of their formation. Later, in company with John W. Bookwalter he did some surveying of volcanic craters in Hawaii. I hen there was Doctor Sprecher. that mental giant whom we in our im- aginations endow with a powerful physique, but who was in reality very slight of stature, but of venerable appearance. It can be said that he was one of the greatest men Wittenberg has had. The students once thought that the anniversary of the receipt of the Stroud bequest should be observed as a holiday. The faculty thought otherwise and school was announced to go on as usual. In the morning the Recitation Hall was crowded with students eager for something to happen. Who was to lead the rebellion? Out he stepped. The students fell behind him one by one. The procession moved out of the building around Recitation Hall and back again. The cry was ‘Holiday! We want a holiday!” Students' sense of propriety was outraged. When a man gives money to the college should there not be a cele- bration? But there was no holiday. Defeated, the students went to their classes as on other days. I he valiant leader of the rebellious host was R. E. T., destined to be within thirteen years the President of the College. As George Ade might say: MORAL—Whatever you may be, your esteemed Professors were more so at the same Period of Evolution from the Wiggle-Tail to the Frog. Doctor Ort was a large man—big physically—over six feet tall and well moulded in proportion to his height. His mental calibre matched his giant frame and bigger than these was the Christian spirit of the man. Twice )v,T President of the College and in his student days proctor in the dormitory, he had an almost inexhaustible supply of anecdotes which he told in a dry, droll fashion. One of Doctor Ort’s favorite stories was the one about the wagon. He was then proctor. This was in the days when the Dorm was lighted by means of lanterns hung in the halls each evening at dusk. There was a student who drove a big farm wagon laden with supplies from his home in Darke County. The boys took a fancy to this wagon, so they took it apart and carried it up the front steps to the second floor. When they entered the building, quiet was necessary in order not to disturb Doctor Ort. So there in the darkened hall they pulled otf their boots.

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Isaac Sprecher, principal of the Academy, and Mr. George Sprecher who gave Doctor Prince his first lessons in Latin, made up the number. The college grounds extended south to the cliffs of what is now Cliff Park. There were only a few houses north of the creek and the campus was fenced in because the townspeople pastured their cattle along the creek and they were always alert to the possibility of one of the gates being open. Gone are the days when I teas young and gay. Gone arc the friends who arc now so far away. Gone arc the landmarks of my college day. hear the newer voices calling. Pay your bills. The Girls’ Gab Room of the Nineties is a thing of the past. The giggling and gabbling that issued from behind the first door to one’s left upon entering Recitation Hall is silenced forever. The click of the typewriter has taken its place. In the days before the regime of Proxy Tulloss this room was the femi- nine stronghold and whatever feminist movements arose at Wittenberg were hatched most likely here within what is now The College Office. An old grad would be lost and I doubt not would hesitate to enter for the first time what in his college days was forbidden ground. The inscriptions adorning the walls have likewise vanished under some coats of nice clean paint. And where is the carpet that was always in tatters? To be sure, there might be seen a whole carpet in all its splendor each year when college opened, but a week two weeks and every girl in college learned to step lightly and warily on those spots which were the pathway to the cloakroom, for to the knowledge of those who trod over that carpet, there never was a carpet which could stand the wear and tear of that room’s use. Dancing? Well, it was forbidden and it is not for those who now have sons and daughters under the rules of this Wittenberg College to tell how we outwitted Prcxy Ort, or if we ce. The carpet wore out. so that's that. The old if underneath the click-clack of the typewriter, t a murmur of the fun of the days that arc gone; with the murmur, there arises above it once in a the lilt of See-Saw” and Come to Me. Sweet e.” Well, perhaps that is just because those were best sellers in the popular music line in those days, nd the old Girls’ Gab Room served for many years as the place where Euterpia held forth in debate, essay and recitation and here it was that the grandmother of “The Witt” held spellbound those who attended Euterpia. The Budget’ was a great little paper and scintillated with all the spice and wit then abroad at Witten- berg. The writer can well remember the