USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > New London > A centennial history, 1837-1937, Colby Academy, Colby Junior College > Part 30
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At Commencement time in 1934 the corner-stone of the fourth new building in five years was duly laid.
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It was fittingly called Burpee Hall since some member of the Burpee family had served on the Board of Trus- tees since Perley Burpee had been one of the original promoters of New London Academy. The interest of the family in academy and college is indicated on a brass tablet in the doorway of the new building, bear- ing the names of Perley Burpee, trustee in 1837, Anthony C. Burpee, 1891, James H. Burpee, 1897, Mary Burpee Macomber, 1905, and Wilfred E. Burpee, 1907. In Col- gate Hall an Alumnae-Senior banquet took the place of the usual luncheon. Class Day exercises included ivy planting at Shepard Hall, addresses and the singing of the new Ivy Song. Instead of the baseball game between the academy team and the alumni, which characterized earlier commencements, a horse show was an annual feature with an exhibition of expert riding. A com- mencement play, "Twelfth Night," was performed under the direction of Miss Marion Brown of the faculty. A reception was held on the front campus on Sunday and a concert in the evening. The Commencement exer- cises took place in the Baptist church on Monday fore- noon. Especially impressive was the "Last Chapel," when Dr. Sawyer spoke to the girls on "Transformation and Transfiguration," and all sang "Auld Lang Syne."
It was necessary for the trustees in 1935 to authorize the construction of a new wing to Burpee Hall, and when President Sawyer announced that two hundred and eighty were enrolled and there was a waiting list of sev- enty, it became evident that the year 1936 must see a second wing added even though it required a loan of twenty thousand dollars to complete the construction. The result was that when the students returned in the fall of that year they found a building rivaling Colgate Hall in size and ready to receive many more girls to its dormitory accommodations.
The year 1934-35 surpassed its predecessors in attend- 398
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ance and enthusiasm. The opening of the town high school two years before took some of the town girls away, but more were coming from out of town. The alumni of Colby Academy began to talk about the coming Cen- tenary of the school, and the trustees appointed a com- mittee of nine as a centennial committee and made an appropriation for expenses. The alumnae of the college wished to start a fund for a new chapel edifice; the trus- tees were sympathetic and contributed five hundred dol- lars to encourage the enterprise.
The alumnae had commenced the publication of the Colby Junior College Alumnae Bulletin in March, 1933, to be issued two times a year. The first number gave promise of a succession of attractive issues. It contained the constitution of the Alumnae Association, Colby news, including a record of the principal events of the year, an account of the annual winter carnival and of the doings of the Young Women's Christian Association and the Music Club, an announcement of Colby's "Sem- inar," a weekly news sheet in the form of a broadside, an account of the new Shepard Hall, faculty and alumnae notes, and the story of the clubs that had been started among alumnae to perpetuate the friendships formed at New London. Already these included the South Shore Colby Club, the Worcester Colby Club, the Con- necticut Colby Club, and an embryo organization in New York City. Two years before the New York group had become fully organized, and other clubs were listed at Providence, Springfield and Hartford, with three new ones near Boston - the Newton, Medford and North of Boston clubs.
In the first four years of the junior college Colby sent eighty-nine girls to thirty-four senior colleges in differ- ent parts of the country. Eleven had gone to Mount Holyoke, nine to New Hampshire University, eight to Boston University, and the same number to Connecticut
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College. Five had gone to Wellesley and five to Jackson, four to the University of Michigan, and three each to Wheaton, Rollins and the New England Conservatory of Music.
Much interest in music was manifest in the college. As many as twenty-five girls went to Hanover to hear Roland Hayes sing, and the whole school buzzed with excitement when the famous negro tenor came to New London, and the Vienna choir boys spent an evening at Colby. The college did not need to be located in a metropolis when it could enjoy such musical treats near by. Musical students in college gave musical numbers on the programmes of women's clubs at Franklin, Tilton and Northfield. A "pops" concert was arranged at the college. Best of all was the new Colby Junior College Song Book, which was edited by Laura G. Shields and Florence L. Leach in 1935. It was a collection of songs that had been written and composed by Colby students since the opening of the college. It contained "Blue and White" Songs, School Tradition Songs, Organization Songs, Dormitory Songs, Marching, Humorous and "Pep" Songs, Secular Songs and Trios, and Sacred Songs. The publication of the book, bound in blue cloth and containing the words and music of sixty-four selections, was received with enthusiasm. "White and Blue," writ- ten by Winifred White, class of '32, with music by Marguerite Sherwin of the same class, was a particular favorite. It reads
WHITE AND BLUE
As we stand on the hill-top at Colby And we dream what the future may give, We can only hope to be worthy Of the life she has taught us to live. White of the clouds that fill Blue above the Colby Hill, True blue of friends we love
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THE FACULTY - 1936-1937
Top Row: MARKWICK, ROBERTS, D. SQUIRES, NELSON, PETERSON, BOYNTON, LEACH, SMALLWOOD, WILLIAMS, BARROW, COMEE Middle Row: SHIELDS, MORELAND, BARNETT, FALK, RHOADES, DODD, FISHER, BROWN, CAREY, LONDON, KIMBALL Bottom Row: BARBIERS, TAFT, TOWLE, WEBBER, CLARK, SAWYER, NICHOLAS, E. SQUIRES, DONOVAN, TRAFTON, MULLER
APPROACHING THE CENTENARY. 1934-1937
Mixed in with the blue above, Make our Colby white and blue, Loyalty we'll pledge to you. We'll keep you proudly waving up on high, Our white and blue.
Scarcely less popular was the "Ivy Day Song," both words and music by Enid Kiernan, class of '34.
IVY DAY SONG
We come in autumn, Soon gone is our September, Leaving its handful Of bright days to remember; We long to feel the blow Of cool snow in our hair, And, gathering 'round late firesides, Know that friends are there.
At night the winds are calling us to waken, For by spring's footsteps we'll soon be overtaken. These days soon pass - we reach the last - And Colby is memory.
The road we follow may lead us far away, But behind us deep rooted there will stay, Climbing forever, bring what life may, Ivy we're planting today.
"Stand Up and Sing a Cheer for Colby," whose author and composer was Marion Atwood, was brief but ex- pressed in a stanza the college spirit.
STAND UP AND SING A CHEER FOR COLBY
Stand up and sing a cheer for Colby, Oh, honor her name and fame! There's a place in your heart Colby claimed from the start, Throughout all the years the same. Gaily the blue and white is waving, A symbol of loyalty. So here's to the school where we love to be, To the spirit of C. J. C.
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THE FIRST CENTURY OF COLBY
The artistic tendencies of Colby students were encour- aged by an Art Room in Colgate Hall and they found ex- pression in a variety of ways. They formed the Colby Art Guild to promote a love for the highest standards, and girls were admitted as members only after creditable work in art, but they tried their skill at all sorts of ex- hibitions. They got out a "Colby Kiddie Book," which was mostly amateur verse and pictures. This was pub- lished by the art and English classes. They dressed dolls to be sent away for miners' children in West Virginia. Once a year they gave an entertainment for the benefit of the New London hospital. The costume design class staged a spring fashion show. Metal working was en- couraged by setting apart a Metal Handicraft Room in Mckean Hall.
In ways new and old the weeks and months of the year 1934-35 passed away. Lecturers and other talkers came and went. The students held a Model League of Nations, which made the international events that they were study- ing more realistic. J. Duane Squires of the faculty gave a series of forum addresses to the New London Forum, which met weekly during the winter. A gymnastic exhibition excited admiration with its marching, rhyth- mic dancing and work with various kinds of apparatus, its specialties of tap dancing and skipping rope, and its climax when the girls marched in formation producing the letters S-A-W-Y-E-R and sang a song written and com- posed by Bertha Horwitz in honor of the President. A reception to President and Mrs. Sawyer was a happy occa- sion at Colby Cottage, and students and faculty left be- hind them a silver coffee service. At Thanksgiving time the shut-ins of the village were remembered and at an- other time a Russian cabaret and golden rule dinner were arranged to contribute to a welfare fund for the needy. Mrs. Plummer and Mrs. Macomber of the trus-
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tees gave a tea to the faculty at Mrs. Plummer's summer home.
The students ran the whole gamut of emotions from Freshman Week, when in outlandish costume freshmen were hazed in the village square, to a church service on Sunday conducted by the college students, when seven of them participated in an interpretation of the Lord's Prayer.
Two weeks in 1935 deserve a special chronicle. One was the Winter Carnival, the other Commencement. The Carnival brought together a jolly company of young people intent on enjoying themselves to the full. On the twenty-second of February, when the snow is at its best in the highland country, tobogganing opened the celebration. Ski and snowshoe contests of various kinds enlivened the afternoon. In the evening a basket ball game took place in the town hall between the Newport Columbians and New London. On Saturday afternoon the girls staged a baseball game on snowshoes, a buck saw contest, a juvenile dog sled show, and a rolling pin contest. The men visitors joined in a tug- of-war, both men and women engaged in ski joring and a hundred yard dash on skates. An ice hockey game ended the afternoon sports, and a carnival ball in the town hall concluded the celebration. On both days the students of the college vied with one another in snow sculpturing, and many were the snapshots put away in books of remembrance.
Saturday, the first day of June, marked the beginning of Commencement festivities. The sophomores cele- brated their class day at the Lodge by Little Sunapee. On Wednesday came the senior alumnae banquet in the dining-room of Colgate Hall. These were merely in- troductory to the full days that were to come. Friday was distinguished by a Boot and Saddle Club horse show and an art exhibit, and in the evening the formal
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Commencement dance took place in the gymnasium. Saturday morning the seniors were up early for a break- fast at the Lodge. Tennis finals came in the forenoon. Class Day exercises and an ivy planting at Burpee Hall, with the laying of the corner-stone for the second unit of Burpee, were the serious undertakings of the day. Of course the Board held a meeting of the trustees. An- other Shakespearian play, this time the "Merchant of Venice," staged on the campus, pleased those who gathered on the hill.
Sunday brought the baccalaureate sermon at the church by Reverend Harold V. Jensen of Melrose, and an alumni reunion at the noon hour. From three to five in the afternoon the girls flitted about from group to group of their friends, centering their attention upon a reception given for their benefit. In the evening came the annual concert in Colgate Hall. On Monday the ninety-eighth Commencement exercises were held in the historic meeting-house, where for so many years successive classes had said goodbye to alma mater. The Commencement address was given by Reverend Frank W. Padelford, D.D., Secretary of the Baptist Board of Education, and the year's awards were made to those who deserved special honors. Tuesday was not on the Commencement schedule, but it might have been marked as Goodbye Day. A few tears, a few hugs, promises to write or visit, and two hundred and fifty girls scattered, a few of them looking forward to senior college, most of them anticipating a return to Colby in the fall, but a large minority conscious that their school days were over. Some of them remembered the 1934 Class Day Song:
Never knew how a hilltop, That leans against the blue, Could have stayed me and made me Like these things I learned to do:
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Follow long winding roads, love grey days, Listen to the rain, Keeping visions of gay days, Though I don't come back again.
During the summer several of the girls undertook a social service experiment at Danbury under the direc- tion of Miss Brown of the faculty. Making their head- quarters on a farm on the slope of Ragged Mountain, they daily gathered the Danbury children together for class and club work in the approved style of social settlements, and gave them glimpses of a better order of life and conduct than most of them had seen in home and community. At the college the Young Women's Christian Association was active in reminding the girls that life was something more than a merry-go-round; it was an opportunity for personal service and personal development through helping others who were less for- tunate. The organization was directed by a cabinet com- posed of students and faculty, held several small biweekly meetings with faculty and student leaders, and larger college gatherings with speakers from the faculty and student leaders, and larger college gatherings with speakers from the faculty, students from foreign coun- tries, and ministers who were invited to the hill to give a challenging message. Vespers in the Chapel and group gatherings in the Little Chapel in Mckean Hall were especially impressive when music and candle light fur- nished an atmosphere for quiet meditation and a sense of fellowship in ideals. A few of the girls had arranged the Little Chapel in imitation of a wayside shrine in Brittany, with a Madonna picture against a rose-colored drapery, a table with a bowl of flowers, and a seven- branched candlestick on each side.
The report of the Young Women's Christian Asso- ciation as printed in the Colbyan for 1936 made mention of benefit parties for the Danbury people, sponsoring
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church services with special speakers, filling Thanks- giving baskets, selling candy and dressing dolls. It con- cluded: "The little half-remembered things, a burning candle, the hill wind blowing outside as we sat around cosy hearthsides at vespers, or the keen memory of pleasant exchange of opinions, ideas and philosophies at interest group meetings, all bring definite pictures to mind."
The Colbyan reflected other interests faithfully. The Athletic Association said in its report to the school: "We've exercised our vocal chords volubly at song con- tests, our jaws edibly and audibly at Lodge suppers; our hands in applause at. Cabarets and May Party; a variety of assorted muscles in 'interdorm' sports; our wit and charm at formal dances; and our good will, good spirits, and good sportsmanship at every available oppor- tunity." The girls maintained an Outing Club, admit- ting to it only those who had climbed three mountains. Trips for testing purposes were held to Kearsarge, Ragged and Cardigan. Snowshoeing and skiing, tobogganing and hiking, swimming in the season, and moonlight climbing expeditions were the customary activities, frequently ending with a jolly evening at the Lodge. Hockey and baseball each had blue and white teams. The Boot and Saddle Club put on a "Dude Ranch" for entertainment.
Generous provision for music is always a part of the programme at Colby Junior College. Besides the occa- sional concerts with celebrated artists are various events when home talent supplies the entertainment. Not least are "interdorm" sings. Each dormitory elects a song leader every year to lead in the competition. Each such leader leads in a school song, and a song leader for the whole school is selected from girls who have been "dorm" song leaders.
Among the conspicuous events of the year 1935 was
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the International Friendship Festival held at the time of Armistice Day. Its purpose, as planned by Miss Web- ber of the faculty, was to arouse the interest of the stu- dents in the subject. A new World Affairs Club was formed as a society preparatory to the International Relations Club. Colby had two resident nationals of other countries in her student body, one from France and the other from Czecho-Slovakia, and nineteen other nationals, some studying in American colleges, were entertained at the festival from as far away as India, Nigeria and Australia. Professor Thorsten V. Kalijarvi of the University of New Hampshire spoke on "The International Outlook," and conducted a forum for questions. An international exhibit helped to acquaint the college girls with the life and customs of other lands. In the town hall a group of twenty-one Ukrainians from Manchester with their own orchestra gave a programme of folk dances in native costume. A subscription dance followed with music furnished by the Dartmouth Bar- bary Coast Orchestra.
In church on Sunday morning four speakers showed how Christianity had carried education, medicine, agri- cultural science, and faith to the International frontier. In the evening there was a symposium and forum in the auditorium of Colgate Hall, when one member of each national group spoke for five minutes on some phase of the life of his country. On Monday morning the Inter- national Relations Club of the college staged a session of the League of Nations. In all these ways a more realis- tic picture of foreign affairs was presented to the stu- dents, and helped to correct such misapprehension as one girl admitted when she said: "I didn't know that foreigners are just like us." The festival was so successful that a second one was held in November, 1936.
Among the year's special events were picnics, Moun- tain Day, Parents' Week-end and Winter Carnival; con-
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THE FIRST CENTURY OF COLBY
certs and plays and dances, including the Athletic Association dance, a Bavarian Cabaret, and the Junior "Prom"; a science exhibit and a business show, the Young Women's Christian Association banquet, Baby Day with its "bows, bonnets and bibs"; and May Day celebration in the form of a Japanese legend. The Vienna Choir Boys were a special attraction with their choral singing and miniature operetta; the faculty pleased the students with their Follies and Musicale; and Professor Overstreet of Columbia reminded the girls of the meaning of "A Philosophy for Modern Life."
With all the stirring panorama of the days and nights came moods of introspection when the mind at rest be- came conscious of its loneliness. Enid Kiernan expressed such a mood in
FOOTSTEPS
No footsteps halt at my door,
They always go on.
I put down my work
And listen to their coming down the road;
I tremble all over for a minute,
As they near,
Shoes crunching the pebbles and the dust.
Some one coming from nowhere,
Going somewhere,
Slowing up as he grows near my door.
I listen for a knock, grow grave and hope. On - and on - and on,
The footsteps go - on by -
And slowly die away again.
No footsteps ever halt here at my door.
Betty Litch spoke for other verse makers in
PROTEST
Star-dust and roses, and mystical moon;
Lovers and romance, and magical June - These are the Poet's boon.
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Commonplace doings, with little of plot; Everyday boredoms and sordid what not - These are the Poet's lot!
Sometimes the exuberant spirits of those who had no poetic dreams broke out in non-poetic license. Then Student Government took a hand and the student court dealt with violations of good behavior in a dimly lighted room in the basement of Shepard Hall in a way that was seldom lenient.
So the ninety-ninth year of Colby came to an end. The spring season of 1936 was ushered in by Lois Sar- gent and Genevieve Millar with a fishing expedition to Pleasant Lake on the fifteenth of April. They were fortu- nate enough to land a four and a six pound salmon. The summer of 1936 saw the addition of a second wing to Burpee Hall and the construction of a President's House on the west side of the highway. Miss Mary Colgate made the latter possible, thus supplying a much needed improvement. But it was the last of the numer- ous gifts of this princely donor, for she was taken sud- denly ill in New London and died at her home in Yonkers, New York, on the twenty-fourth of October. Her many benefactions and the continual interest which she felt in the school will be remembered gratefully through the years. Only a short time before William C. Colby of the trustees died at his summer home across the way from the Colby mansion.
More than three hundred girls arrived in September, including students from Argentina, Norway and China. The new dean, Miss Amelia E. Clark, was there to greet them all. New faces were seen among the faculty but several of the regular teachers were on leave of absence. The teachers oriented themselves with several days of intensive conference before college opened. S. A. Spiller, former editor of The Highlander, a New London weekly, and now of the monthly, The Speaker, kept the towns-
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people informed of the changes that were taking place. Five hundred parents and friends brought their greet- ings at Parents' week-end. The opening reception of the year was held in the gymnasium, Mountain Day was celebrated in October, the freshmen were duly hazed, and college was launched into another year.
Already more than one of the alumnae of the junior college had made her mark in the world of business or education, and deserved a place on Colby's roll of honor. Helen Starbuck '30, Harriet Gott '31, Prudence Potter '31, and Genevieve Millar '32, were all enrolled on the executive staff of the college. Several members of the class of 1931 have won promotion as teachers. Barbara Clough was for a time instructor in French at New Hampshire University, then joined the teaching staff of the George School in Pennsylvania; Katherine Bonney taught French at St. Christine's School in Cooperstown, New York; Jane Tilden, daughter of Freeman Tilden, the novelist, was elected French teacher at Thomas School in Rowayton, Connecticut; and Doris Phillips became head of the art department in the high school at Orange, New Jersey.
Music claimed a number of the graduates. Ruth Shields '33, became instructor in the music department of Goddard Junior College, Barre, Vermont. Mrs. George Gilbert of the same class has been soloist with the Fall River Symphony Orchestra, and received honor- able mention in the Mason and Hamlin piano competi- tion. Margaret Creighton '35, had the title role with Dartmouth College players in the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, "Iolanthe"; she was one of the principals in "Ruddigore," and took a part in a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta at the University of Michigan. Mildred Messer of the same class won a scholarship at the New England Conservatory of Music, sang at Jordan Hall, Boston, as soloist with the W.P.A. Chorus and Orchestra and took
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APPROACHING THE CENTENARY. 1934-1937
a part in a nation-wide broadcast from Station WEEI.
One girl, Melva Swartz '32, entered journalism by becoming a reporter on the staff of the Hartford Courant in Connecticut; three have become librarians, Barbara Barrow '29, assistant librarian at Colby, Barbara Mason '30, in the Melrose Public Library, and Josephine Ward- robe '31, in the Medford Public Library.
Medical service has attracted several of Colby's re- cent graduates. Gertrude Ball, '32, is connected with the Maine General Hospital at Portland, and Beryl Moulton '30, now Mrs. R. G. Kramer, practised physio- therapy. Medical secretarial work captured Dorothy Knowles '32, as secretary for two physicians in Boston; Betty Pond '36, who became technician in a doctor's office in Skowhegan, Maine; and Barbara Melendy '36, technician for Dr. Norris in New London. Three went into training as nurses: Helen Amazeen '34, in Boston, Natalie Bradstreet '34, at Bridgeport, and Jane Barker 35, at the Hartford Hospital.
Thus fared they bravely forth, Daughters of ancient Colby, Not on mere pleasure bent, Or lusting for fame or shekels, But sharing the spirit of service,
Keeping traditions old That guided older alumni. So as the century new Breaks over new horizons, The glory of suns that have set Is reflected for those who come after, Such are the waymarks of progress, And such is the hope of the future.
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