| Mary Lou's Father
High
Jinks at Park College
Si:
I left Venedocia when I was about 16 years of age to go to
a third grade high school. By third grade, I mean junior.
L: Yes. And from there you went to college?
Si: That's right.
L: How did you pick Park College?
Si: My father's cousin was a professor at Park College, and
he wrote my dad and said it would be a good place to send
the boy.
L: Who was that?
Si: Silas Evans. Dr. Silas Evans. Later became president of
Ripon College in Wisconsin.
L: So that's how you got the nickname, Si?
Si:
Yes. I got off the train, asked my name. "Evans."
"Are
you related to Silas Evans?"
"Yep."
So, from then on, I was introduced as Si, Si Evans.
Si: Well, by the calendar, it was April the 1st, and time
for a little action, and there were about eight of us discussed
what would happen, what we should do, and we decided that
the chaplain every time sat in a particular chair after singing
a song and a prayer. And I don't know who in the world suggested
it, but the screws were taken out of the chair, and match
stems held it together.
And it so happened that the acting president was the one who
was conducting chapel that day. He sat in that chair, and
his feet went skyward. And the audience just yelled. And he
got up and he started to speak, and an alarm clock went off.
And a second later an alarm clock went off in the belfry,
and another one behind the organ. And altogether there were
eight alarm clocks went off.
And the following Monday, he called for all the men of the
college to meet with him in the auditorium. He went over,
and he wanted to know who those boys were that had committed
that dastardly offence. And eight of us stood up. And as a
result, we had to give up all offices that we had, we weren't
allowed to leave our rooms after 7 o'clock the rest of the
school year. That was our punishment.
Included in that was all the officers of the college, the
student officers. They were, I'm not speaking for myself,
but the rest of them were pretty good guys.
L: How
did Merle Piper get the nickname "Rumdum?"
Si: Yes.
That was the way he would swear. If something didn't please
him, why, "I don't give a rumdum."
Oh, they
pulled a good one on old Rumdum, though. You know, everybody
in Park got credits for working three hours a day, six days
a week. That made 18 hours a week. And he earned his credits
by ringing the chapel bell. He'd ring the rising bell, he'd
ring it for the time you were to go to breakfast, and the
class bell. He'd ring it all through the day, and also at
night. But he'd get sleepy along about seven o'clock, and
one night a couple of the fellows -- he'd set his alarm clock
to go off at nine o'clock so he'd be awake to ring that bell
at 9:30. Well, they changed it about an hour early, and Rumdum
went out, and he rang that chapel bell. People rushed from
the town over. They thought there was a fire or something.
And it was old Rumdum that pulled that one. He was
a senior that year.
L: You
told me that they had a farm where they grew all their own
food.
Si: They
grew a lot of stuff. Yes. They had a farm, and a large orchard.
We enjoyed prime apples because of that large orchard. We
had apples served three times a day.
More
on Si's years at Park
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