Prophecy in Hearts: The Class of 1930 Sees Into the Future

by Rebecca J. Becker

In 1930, the graduating class peered ahead fifteen years into the future - - all the way to Valentine's Day, 1945.

We thought it might be fun for you to look over their shoulders, and see what they predicted!  

Here, directly from the pages of the 1930 Crescent College yearbook - - with portraits of the key players added, for your delight - -  we bring you:

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Hearts

THE CRESCENDO

FEBRUARY 14, 1945

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VOLUME 16, ISSUE 20

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FACULTY ELECTED FOR

FEMALE ACADEMY

Two former Crescent students are to be on the faculty of the new Flipville Female Academy.  This school will specialize in Physical Culture and all of its faculty are selected from specialists in this field.

 

Winifred Ingalls

Winifred Ingalls is to be Dean of Women,

Babe Doan

while Babe Doan will be head of the Physical Culture department.

ACTRESS SUED FOR ALIENATION

OF AFFECTION

Marian [or Marion] Farmer

Marian Farmer, well known screen star, is being sued...

Dixie Gleaves

...by Dixie Gleaves for $50 for the alienations of affections of a certain young man whose name is withheld.

Zanona [or Zip] Gallaher

The case is being tried before Judge Zip Gallaher.

FLAG POLE SITTER

STILL SITS*

 

Dorothe [or Sammy] Sammons

 Sammy Sammons, the flagpole sitter, is now on her thirty-seventh day aloft.  She still steadfastly refuses to speak or to eat.  So great has been the attention...

Marji Little

 ...that Governor Marji Little has been compelled to call out the state militia...

Johnny Christelle [or Chris] Simmons

 ...under the leadership of Colonel Chris Simmons to keep order.

FORMER CRESCENT STUDENTS

SAIL FOR EUROPE

When the Berengaria sailed today, several former Crescent students were among the passengers.  

Stella Mae Hanna

 

Stella Mae Hanna, missionary to Turkey, and her assistant...

Aimee Semple McPherson**

 ...Aimee McPherson, have sailed for France where they expect to pick up some new points about sin that will help them in their work.

Lillian O. Brown

Lillian O. Brown also is Paris bound.  She is going over for her fifth divorce.  her former maid...

Frances Marion Shannon

 ...Marion Shannon, created a sensation yesterday when she attempted to stab Miss Brown, whom she accused of having "taken her man."

PATENTS AND COPYRIGHTS

GRANTED

Eleanor Maxine English

 

 A patent has been granted to Maxine English for a noiseless alarm clock, which will ring without disturbing anyone's slumber.  

Sylvia Bobkoff

 Copyrights have been issued to Sylvia Bobkoff for her "New English Dictionary"...

Agnes Soule

 ...and to Agnes Soule whose latest volume of poetry is being published by...

Rebekah Eva Burk

...the Becky Burk Publishing Co.

TWO DEMONSTRATIONS TO BE GIVEN

IN EUREKA SPRINGS

Friday and Saturday of this week Walker Bros. will have demonstrations of merchandise at their store.  

Elizabeth Davidson

Sleep-ezy mattresses will be demonstrated by Elizabeth Davidson.

Virginia Reid

The Virginia Reid line of toilet goods will be demonstrated...

Mary Jo Smith

 ...by Mary Jo Smith-Floginsky.

VAUDEVILLE AT

COMMODORE THEATRE

A varied program of vaudeville acts will be presented at the Commodore Theatre all this week at no increase of regular prices.  One act will be a boxing match...

Felice Bryan

 ...between "Flea" Bryan...

Mabel Matney

...and "Gnat" Matney, two of the best fighters in the flyweight division.

Martha Ruth Crockett

 Martha Ruth Crockett will do a trapeze act...

 

Cora Lightfoot

 ...while Cora Lightfoot-Jilson,*** famous comedian, will do a song-and-dance.

Billie Hanna

At the close of the program, Mrs. Billie Hanna Coleman Dix Forbes Mix Hamilton, National president of the W.C.T.U.,**** will make a short talk on the "Melachrino Menace."*****

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*Flagpole sitting was one of the most bizarre fads to sweep the nation in the 1920s.  By 1930, the craze was nearly over - - except for Dorothe [Sammy] Sammons, of course!

**Aimee Semple McPherson was a Canadian American Pentecostal evangelist, tremendously popular in the 1920s and 1930s.

***A reference to Al Jolson, known at this time as the "World's Greatest Entertainer."

****W.C.T.U. was the Women's Christian Temperance Union, one of the most powerful forces in the national battle over Prohibition.

*****Melanchrino Menace has us stumped.  We'll keep you posted if that changes!

 

"Caged Up at Crescent" - - 1918 - 1920 - - Part Three

from an advertisement for
Mrs. Brown's Corsets

 Caged Up at Crescent 1918 – 1920
Rebecca J. Becker

PART THREE

"I'll never tell what happened - - ask the Seniors."

 For the third time, Crescent College students were quarantined in their four-story limestone castle while the influenza pandemic raged throughout the nation and the world.

Classes could continue - - the faculty and students all lived on campus - - but none of their usual physical activities (horseback riding, hiking, playing basketball against neighboring schools) were allowed.

As you can imagine, students invented some curious ways to release all their pent-up energies!

1919 Valentine

One particularly spectacular prank - - held on Valentine's Day, 1920 - - led to a bitter enmity between the Senior and Junior classes that lasted for months.

The circumstances caused such an uproar that months later, in the "Jots of Daily Life at Crescent" section of the 1920 yearbook, the entry for Valentine's day read simply, "I'll never tell what happened - - ask the Seniors."


But we can learn the details of this particularly nefarious event in an anonymous poem from the 1920 yearbook!


WHAT NEXT?

‘Twas Saturday evening, but what could we do?
We were caged up at Crescent, though no one had ‘Flu.’

The city below us in quarantine lay;
No movies or churches for many a day.

On our own resources then forced to depend,
We called on the teachers suggestions to lend.

Blindfolded we tried hard to pin bunny’s tail;
And then in an airplane we each took a sail.

With one game and another, the evening was passed;
But the Juniors, as usual, saved the best till last.

The door to Crescent College Room 228
as it looks today

Inviting the Seniors to Room 228,
And escorting them hither in elegant state.

‘Twas all decorated with mattresses high,
And the light softly shaded with a bright middy tie.

Having gaily assembled, they were yet more gay
By unique entertainment, so the Juniors all say.

 


Strange tales of the talents the Seniors possess,
Of fighting temptation, you never could guess;

Some scrambled like eggs, some hatched like a chick;
And to sizzle like bacon was accounted no trick.
 

The evening was passing; ‘Twas no longer young;
The stunts were completed, and songs were all sung.

The escorts explaining they wanted to smoke,
Retired in a body - - Oh! Ho! What a joke!

The key softly turning gave the Seniors a shock;
All the Juniors outside and the key in the lock.

“You’ll find quilts in the closet, Dear Seniors, good night!”
Whispered softly the Juniors to make it alright.

Of course no one knows what the poor Seniors did;
None but the Seniors can tell how they “lifted the lid.”

Now ‘tis all ancient history; but we’re wondering now,
“Will the Juniors get theirs?  And if so, when and how?”

 

Apparently the Juniors lived in fear ever afterwards - - in a yearbook page titled “Vignettes,” we find:

“If the Seniors returned the Juniors’ party every Saturday night that the return was expected, there would be some dead Juniors in school.”

And in their Last Will and Testimony, the Seniors write, "Owing to our extreme generosity we have, after due consideration, decided to give to the Juniors all that we left in the closet of Room 228 on the night of February 14th."
 

(Another feast - - this time next door, in Room 226 – ended up with the culprits caught in the act, and all of their privileges suspended.)

Influenza Vaccine
1918 - 1920

Quarantine couldn’t protect the girls completely.  Other methods of protection were introduced:  students were inoculated in October and November, 1919.   A note on the school calendar for November 19^th:  “Thank goodness!  Last shot in the arm.  More sick girls."

Then, as now, a great deal of rumor and distrust surrounded vaccinations, and at first the very notion of inoculations led to panic:

 

Daily Arkansas Gazette, 18 October 1918

As the death toll mounted and scientists made new medical breakthroughs and discoveries, a note of sanity reappeared, and newspaper articles changed their tune:
 

The Star Progress [Berryville, Arkansas] 24 January 1919, Page 4

The Star Progress [Berryville, Arkansas] 24 January 1919, Page 4:

Science is Conquering Disease With Preventatives


The article continues:
"…The new Rockefeller vaccine, suggested by the discoveries of Dr. I. Cole of that institution, was composed at first of a billion or so of four types of pneumococci. Since the recent plague, however, four other streptococci and influenza plague bacilla have been identified…. 

Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, New York, 14 January 1918

"Of the 12,000 soldiers who placed themselves willingly at the disposal of the army doctors, not one fell ill….

"When the plain, everyday man and woman begins to understand that many diseases can be prevented, and hardly any can be cured, it will be gratifying evidence that human nature has changed."

Fayetteville Daily Democrat [Fayetteville, Arkansas], 25 August 1919, Page 1

Three months later, yet another quarantine was imposed, beginning on February 24^th, 1920.  

This time Crescent College president Richard Ryan Thompson forestalled some of the less desirable antics by joining with the faculty to create an elaborate entertainment to keep the students amused.  

It took days of planning (all to the good, when dozens of teenagers needed outlets for their excess energy) and hours of preparation.

Here's the report of their frivolities, from the 1920 yearbook:

“One of those delightfully informal affairs for which Crescent College is noted took place on Saturday night, when the ‘Flu’ ban kept us from going to the movies.

Illustration by Kate Greenaway
from the Illustrated London News, 27 December 1879
(young people performing Sir Roger de Coverley - - which,
in the United States, is known as the Virginia Reel!)

"Old-fashioned dances in costumes of the different periods were given by the dancing class, followed by a good old Virginia Reel, in which all joined, Mr. Thompson dancing more gaily than any of the girls.

Photograph from the Odds-n-Ends Colonial Costume Ball
Crescent College 1918 Yearbook

"When everybody was tired of this strenuous exercise a respite was taken and a Spelling Bee organized, which gave us an opportunity to find out how few of us could really spell.

Spelling Bees originated in England in the 1870s, but the concept quickly
jumped the Atlantic and became quite the fad and fashion in America.
The first national Spelling Bee in the United States was organized in 1925.

"Then followed a marshmallow roast before the fireplace in the lobby - - a treat furnished by Mr. Thompson and greatly enjoyed by one and all.”

The fireplace at Crescent College
as it appears today!

 
The bitter Junior - Senior rivalry dragged on for months.  For the yearbook entry, May 17th - - ten days before the end of the school year - - "Seniors and Juniors still clash."

Some miracle occurred overnight, it seems, because the very next day's note reads, May 18:  "Seniors and Juniors shake hands and part friends."

The quarantine faded from memory as all the students gathered for the annual Crescent College picnic.

The entry for May 24th, 1920:  "Preparations for leaving begin, but are loathe to leave their 'Crushes.'"

As the girls left, two years of influenza at Crescent College finally came to a close.

Amazingly, not a single student or member of the faculty succumbed to the terrible illness.  In fact, Eureka Springs as a whole escaped much more lightly than the rest of the state, the nation - - in fact, more lightly than the world.

Soon, visitors were once again flocking to the town, hoping to improve their health, and the town founded on its reputation for healing waters welcomed them warmly, as they do to this day.

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If you, or anyone you know, is related to any of the Crescent College students or faculty, do get in touch!  We'd love to hear from you!

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BONUS MATERIAL!

1919 Valentine

* For those of you who are curious, the text of the Pine Bluff girls’ article reads:

Three Pine Bluff Girls Who Attended Crescent College

"Miss Dorothy Loving, left, daughter of Mrs. Mary A. Loving, Miss Henrietta Adams, center, daughter of Mrs. J. W. Adams, and Miss Zelda Davis, right, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Davis, all Pine Bluff girls, recently returned from Eureka Springs, where they attended Crescent college. 

"Miss Loving specialized in the school of business, completing the course in stenography and typewriting. 

"Miss Davis graduated from the high school or preparatory department and specialized in piano. 

"Miss Adams, classified junior in college preparatory and specialized in the school of expression. 

"Crescent college was exceedingly fortunate in having three such attractive Pine Bluff girls. The enrollment is limited to 80 girls, three-fourths of whom come from fifteen to twenty other states. The Arkansas club numbered twenty members.

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And for those who want to know if Colonel James did, indeed, run for governor:

(1) Arkansas Democrat [Little Rock, Arkansas] 22 March 1920, Page 14:

TWO ASPIRANTS OUT OF GOVERNOR’S RACE

James Announces Withdrawal - - Milwee Said to Have Decided Not to Run.

"Two gubernatorial candidates have withdrawn from the field, and others are expected, according to reports in political circles.… 

"Colonel James, who announced as a candidate while still in the service, said in his withdrawal announcement that the cost of making the race would be prohibitive. 

 "Colonel James has been identified with the Arkansas National Guard for many years and went to France with the organization."

"Caged Up at Crescent" - - 1918 - 1920 - - Part Two

 

Fundraising poster from World War I

 "Caged Up at Crescent"

1918 - 1920
Part Two

 by Rebecca J. Becker

"Again?!" 

While the girls at Crescent College may have chafed at being penned up in quarantine, the reason for their confinement was clear.
 
The second wave of influenza was much, much worse than the first.

In fact, most of the deaths from the pandemic occurred during this second wave.

Information which had been carefully controlled during the first wave was impossible to hide this time.  The horrors of the outbreak were all too evident.

 Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia –
showing the severity of the influenza pandemic across the nation. 
In Philadelphia, the city could not keep up with the number of deaths
and was forced to have workers dig mass graves. 
Soon they were using steam shovels to dig the trenches required for the task.

But with less to occupy themselves, Crescent College students had more time to worry about loved ones serving in the military both at home and abroad. 

They'd heard nightmarish stories about more soldiers dying of influenza than as a result of battle wounds, and they wanted to know the truth.

What was going on?  What was life like for soldiers who caught influenza abroad?  Was anyone looking after them? 

Mary James
1909 Crescent College yearbook

Colonel Charles Dexter James, whose daughter Mary (pictured above) had been among the very first students at Crescent College, wrote poignant letters home - - letters published in local newspapers, and avidly read by those hungry for news from the troops.

The Star Progress [Berryville, Arkansas] 03 January 1919, Page 1:

LETTER FROM FRANCE
Eureka Springs Man Writes Interestingly of Army Life

“The following very interesting letter was received by Postmaster John Bridgford at Eureka Springs, from Col. C. D. James who has been in France since last August:

“DEAR JOHN:  

“Your welcome letter of the 18th of October reached me yesterday and I was certainly glad to hear from you. Well, John, thank God the war is over and the boys can soon go back home. For my part I am certainly glad it is over. I was very much disappointed I did not get on to the fighting line, but I guess I did my share for I trained over 6,500 men and sent them to the front...

20 September, 1918.  Temporary shelter in a bombed-out church in Neuvilly, established by the 110th Sanitary Train, 4th Ambulance Corps in France.
Photograph by Sargent J. A. Marshall (Army).

“We colonels were sent to school. 

"After I had been here a week I was taken sick with influenza, as the doctors call it, not the Spanish, and came to this hospital where I have been ever since and will be here some time yet, or will be sent to Nice to a big hospital there for recuperation.

“I was pretty badly worked down.

“Nice is in the southern part of France on the Mediterranean sea. I will be there at least thirty days the doctors say. I am held here on orders and may have to go to Germany with the army of occupation.

American Hospital at Nice 1915 - 1918
Illustration by Reginald Cleaver 1918

“This is quite a compliment as it is understood only the officers considered the most efficient are sent forward for that work.

“I am disappointed for I want to come home. I am sure homesick.

“Don’t know where Richard and Charles are. [These were the Colonel’s sons, and Mary’s brothers, ages 24 and 20, respectively.]

Journée nationale des tuberculeux anciens militaires
Cover Illustration

“...Both of my boys have made good and God bless them. I am so proud of them. Charles is a first lieutenant and is a fine young officer. Richard is a corporal….

“I heard from Mrs. James [the Colonel’s wife, Mary’s mother] today.… God bless her; she is the bravest woman I know of. She gave up her two sons and me and without a murmur.

“…I am writing this letter by a candle; this is the only electric light we have in this hospital....

“Well, I must close for I am very tired tonight. Give my love to Mrs. B. and any others and with the best of regards to you I am,

“Your friend,

“COL. CHAS. D. JAMES”

Colonel James had minimized his condition, which he revealed in his next letter, published with the one above. 

From The Centennial History of Arkansas, Volume 3 by Dallas Tabor Herndon
(Arkansas: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company), 1922

"DEAR JOHN:

"Was delayed in getting letter off to you…

"I am expecting to leave here on Monday, the 9th of December, for Nice, in southern part of France for an indefinite stay there in the hospital. 

American Hospital--Neuilly-Paris
The morning rounds

"The climate here is fierce and the surgeon says none of us can get well who have had the flu, if we stay here, so about twenty-five or thirty of us are to be transferred to the hospital at Nice.

"I dislike to go and yet I want to go. 

"Help!"
Fund-raising poster from World War I

"I got my orders today and know what I am to do for the present at least…

"Col. Lampore, of Arkansas, is in the hospital too, and will go to Nice also.

"I am sure anxious to get home. War is not what it is cracked up to be.

"I want to get something good to eat and a drink of old Basin Spring water. Regards to all friends,

"Yours,

"COL. C. D. JAMES."

To everyone’s astonishment, Colonel James not only recovered, he was seriously considered as a contender for the Arkansas governorship - - in opposition to Claude Fuller, whose “large circle of friends in North Arkansas and his record as prosecuting attorney” made him a serious contender for the job. (1)

 And back home?
 

At first, no one at Crescent College was infected.

Mary Breckinridge Thompson and her husband (Crescent College's president) lost their son Breckie in 1918, although the little boy did not die from influenza.

Two of the youngest Crescent College students - - sisters Juliette and Mary Gertrude Franche, pictured below - - had been Breckie's constant companions.

Juliette Franche
from the 1916 Crescent College yearbook

Mary Gertrude Franche
from the 1916 Crescent College yearbook

While they were still reeling from their young companion's death, the papers announced the dreadful news:
 The Star Progress [Berryville, Arkansas]:

"D.C. Franche [the girls' father], a well known and much appreciated citizen of Eureka Springs, died at his home over there a few days ago from the effects of the flu."

Mr. Franche's death was one of the few to occur in Eureka Springs.
 

Bernice Root
Senior Portrait, from the 1913 Crescent College yearbook

Bernice Root, who had spent several happy years as a student here and was now a teacher herself, was desperately ill in 1919:

Iola Daily Register and Evening News [Iola, Kansas], 12 April 1919, Page 4: 

HIGH SCHOOL NOTES

"Miss Bernice Root, who has been ill with influenza for over four weeks, is able to be at her school for two classes each day. Next week she hopes to be able to teach all of her classes."

At Crescent College, the faculty found itself with dozens of restless girls on their hands.

The usual physical activities - - horseback rides, hiking and basketball games with neighboring schools - - were all forbidden.

Quarantine notice, 1918, from Quincy, Illinois, closing schools, churches, movie theatres...

Local churches were closed.

Movie houses were shut. 

[Modern-day visitors may be stunned to learn that Eureka Springs – which has no movie theatre today - - had more than one in 1919!  Both the Queen Photo Play House and the Empire Theatre (“Presenting Popular Players and Pleasing Pictures to Particular Patrons”), were Crescent College favorites.]

An even closer connection between Crescent College, the cinema, and influenza is found in the following article:

The Star Progress [Berryville, Arkansas] 01 November 1918, Page 3:

“Mrs. Bernice Gibson, who has been, and is still teacher of stringed instruments in Crescent College at Eureka Springs, has purchased the Ozark Theatre business here and will reopen same as soon as the influenza epidemic will permit.

Bernice Wood Gibson
from the 1919 Crescent College yearbook

 "In connection with the show she expects to organize a regular stringed orchestra, and add any other feature to the show that will make it attractive to the people of Berryville.

Bernice Wood Gibson, director of the Crescent Orchestra,
is also the cellist on the left, seen here with other members
of the orchestra, in the 1918 Crescent College yearbook

"She will handle none but the very latest and best films and insure a good clean show at each entertainment.

"Friends here who know her personally speak of her in the highest of terms both as a lady and a musician and we are sure she will meet with hearty support from the first.”

Students found various outlets for their pent-up energies - - some licit, some not quite so much!

You’ll learn about one particularly spectacular prank - - held on Valentine’s Day, 1920 - - when we conclude Caged Up At Crescent – 1918 – 1920 next time!