"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."