1930s

39 The Sun is Setting

There has been another quarter with no news from Class friends or family. It has been a great honor to convey your stories for the last nine years, however in the absence of info to report, this will likely be the second to last class column. It is fitting to close with the Class poem, A Design for Leaving, written by Robert B. Heywood of New Richmond, WI, read during Class Day in June 1939 and reprinted in the Oct. 1939 Alumnus publication (available in the ND archives). This piece captures a slice of campus life, the loss of innocence given world events, and the place of an ND student turned graduate. Due to formatting and length, the early portion is presented here and conclusion will follow in the next issue. From this good place we turn: From present joys and pleasant scape, From mauved-copper sunsets and lazy lake-walks, From magnolia blossoms. And unending talks On the purpose of life and what it’s all for; Or whether the South really won the war; On whether it is wiser to spend our time Learning to live or practicing for living. From all these unconsidered considerations. And from baseball games in Badin bog. Dismantled street-cars, student trips and feverish football week-ends. From the surety, the security Of our undergraduate ways, we tum. And as we turn: Unpleasant things come up: guarded dislikes, Remembered grievances, and academic oddities— Our attempted evasion of disciplinary persuasion. Brazen bells and blinked lights, Twelve o’clock pers. Infirmary cures, Washington tours, The impresario’s booming organ. And Linnets swerved with song. History outlines and hand-colored maps. And Innumerable tomes from the Roman agents. Candles after lights On pre-examination nights. The long, long listening to the usual lectures, Statistical fervor and textbook orthodoxy, And the careful counting of cuts. Experiments in outboard motors. Bug-collecting in early spring. And trembling English majors Reciting class-day poems. And these things turn with us: Turn pleasant through time with time. And become nothing more than proper stories For proper gatherings of prosperous alumni. To be concluded in the next issue. — Seth O’Donnell ’04; 17 Marion St., East Greenwich RI 02818, 603-828-7335; seth.odonnell@gmail.com