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THE MERCER CLUSTER
December 16,1921
The Mercer Cluster
Published weekly by the students of
the fourteen schools and colleges in
the Mercer University System.
George M. Sparks, Managing Editor
. The Cluster Staff:
C. J. Broome, Editor-in-Chief; Robert
if. Gullible, A. B, Cochran, W. K.
Wynne, John P, Rabun, Edwin S.
'Davis, E. C. Hulsey, John C, Vincent,
C. F. Brusington, Associate Editors;
Romeo B. Morris, Circulation Mana
ger, H. II; Ware, Jr.; Assistant.
Subscription Rates, one year, $1.50.
Advertising rates oh request.
HOME AND BACK
Every man who leaves Mercer to
spend the Christmas, holidays at
homo should form a strong resolu
tion to return to college promptly at
the opening of the winter term. It
is of high importance , that no man
of -our . student body should quit
school at this'time.
ft is true that a great number of
men are finding it increasingly hard
to meet their financial obligations,
and many cuilnot meet them at .all.
But now is the time for the hard,-
' pressed man financially to" show tire
stuff he is made of. Any man can’ go
,to college"when ‘'(lad", foots the-bill,
and when money is easy to get, but
■ it takes a man with lots of sand to
stay in' school,'when the “panic" is
»n; and money, is difficult to get.
Fellows, you cannot afford to Stay
out of college after Christmas. When
onee you stop, it ,'vyili bo ten •times
harder to start again, arid if' you
ever , come back, you . will be behind
, your class, - ami -face .a. discouraging
situation. •
Let us all come, back to Mercer for
the winter term ready to take Up our
studies, ready to help out in the
Greater Mercer, program, ready to
show ourselves, as having the" grit to
's' iek until we got'our diplomas. ,
CHRISTMAS
licly celebrated in ancient times. 'St.
Nicholas was supposed to have lived
about 300 A. D. In Germany his
feast is still observed. '
The yule log was another event in
tile Christmas celebrations. A great
fog of wood was brought into the
■house ..with, great-ceremony on Christ-
was Eve, laid in the fireplace and
lighted with the brand of last year’s
fog. While it lasted there was great
drinking; singing and telling of tales.
Generally the only light in the house
■was the light from the blaze of this
log. The log wus. to burn all night;
if it went out, it wus considered a
sign'of ill luck that would govern the.
ensuing year. .
.There hus also developed the cus
tom of giving your best friends pres
ents-of various kinds, at the Christ
mas season. However, outside of the
.l'eutqiiie. countries, Christinas pres
ents are unknown, In many coun
tries, where this custom is unknown,
tile exchange of presents takes place
•on other dates, notably on. the first
.day in 'the year, but in most -.coun-
tries -Christmas has superseded ull
other dates us a day of rejoicing and
n.uking gifts.
THIS CHRISTMAS
By A. B. Cochran
Karl F. Brusington
Hid you know that the 25th of De
cember is not Christ’s birthday ?
Christmas day is the day on which
the birth Of Christ, is celebrated, but
if is almost certain that this day was
not in December for this is ..the rainy
season in*.Judea, and shepherds could
hardly be watching ’ their flocks by
night in- the plains at that time. ■
The earliest identijicafon of. the
25th of December with the birthday
of Christ is in it passage of Theophi-
lus of Antioch, preserved in Latin by
the Magdburg.ccnturjutorji.’ The next
mention of this date is in Hippolytus’
commentary on Danjel.
.There were, however, many ^pecu
lations as to this date. The uuthor.
of a Latin tract, written in Africa,
puts the date oft March-ZS,- The Sy
rians .and Armenians clung to the
Oth qf January. . ...
‘ As a Whole the Christians Hold De
cember 25th as • the anniversary of
the birth," of Jesus. -The Chinese on
the same dato: celebate tile birth of
Buddha while numerous Indian tribes
keep the Yuletide as a religious fes
tival.. Persia' honors the, birth of
Mithras at this season.
The first certain traces of the
Christmas festival are found abopt
the time of. the Emperor Comnfodus
.(180-192 A: D.). The birth was cele
brated Jyj May, April and January by
the early. Christians.
During the • Christmas season at
the present time carols ure sung in
commemoration of the sorigs of the
angels to the shepherds at the na
tivity. These beautiful songs were at
first manger-songs, telling the story
6f Christ’s birth.. : The - Christmas
tree with all its hanging toys was a
. custom borrowed from the Romans;
and'is told about by the poet. Vergil.
Now the visit of Santa Claus bearing
gifts to the children is a corrupt con-
1 traction of . St (Nicholas, the patron
saint of children. The old custom was
to celebrate the'6th of,, December, the
birthday of this saint, by distributing
gifts to the "good children.” The
nearness of this date to .the Christ
mas festival, caused the two to be
come confused and .now fhe visit of
Santa Claus has been transferred to
Christmas. In Catholic countries St.
Nicholas is .especially the patron'of
the young and particularly of schol
ars. In England his feast was pub-
Tliis Christmas, three years ago,
the present administration of Mercer,
c. diversity ended its first term of
work', its faeulty at- that time num-
oeriiig eighteen, but at present nuro-
oiiqng tilty-on'e professors'. With Dr.
ffulus ,VV. Weaver as'president, this
laeulty composes one of the strongest -
,)1 any Southern university, in addi-
aon to the many changes toward a
Greater Mercer.- since 1918 one of the
most outstanding is that passed, by
.lie present Georgia Baptist, C'onven-
uon in session at. Savannah, which
recommends that Mercer University
oe selected for the site of a great
theological' seminary as a memorial
• ailing for live' millions of dollars to
oe expended.
President Weaver has put forth
every effort during the .past ,three
years toward tile realization of his
vu,xt dream of a ' Greater Mercer,"
which is rapidly taking form every
day. This great plan wus tnude pos
sible • largely through' the support of
the Southern’ Baptist in the form of
flic Seventy-five Million Campaign,
which gives to Mercer the largo sum
of ohe-half million dollars towurd the
new seminary to. be erected here in
the neat future.
In- place of a sixty-two acre cam
pus threo years ugo there is now one
hundred acres covered, dotted with
buildings, and one of the s niost : mod
ern athletic fields,' Alumni Field, in
the South. This field was begun
largely under the. instruction of Dr.
W: G. -Lee; another .Mercer man, who
fiu's done muih toward Mercer’s
growth. The three newest .and most
Modern buildings, on the eiimpus ure
the president’s mansion, the faculty
apartment ,and the large dining hull
which will accommodate six hundred
students. A [urge number , of large
private - residences ; have • been pur
chased by the university and turned
into up-to-date 1 dormitories for stu
dents. •
' These,.new dormitories Had to .be
built in order- to accommodate the
large increase of students which lias
Vapidly, increased during the past
tinea years. In U)'l8 there were only
300 students in the university and
only . eighteen 'frame buildings for
student?.'whereas now there ure over
■500 students and thirty-one frame
buildings, chiefly used by the married
students. •,
The curricjilus df Mercef Univer-.
sity hns been raised much .higher
since-the Christmas of 1918 and in
stead’ of the, three Schools of Arts
and' Science, Law, and Pre-Med.,
there .are now .eight which includes
in addition to the above three, those
of Commerce, Christianity, Educa
tion, Journalism, arid Pre-Engineer
ing. AH of theke schools ire making
great progress and it is the belief
that each will, be larger next year,
which will mean, the breaking of the
record of the largest enrollment ob
tained this year. Each school is rais
ing its standard of requirement each-
year'and'the deans of each depart
ment are realizing and overcoming
the needs' of their schools with! the
able co-operation, of' President
Weaver,
The' Mercer Cluster, Weekly publi
cation' of the .University System, is
run chiefly by the students of the
School oil! Journalism and is man
aged by the (publicity director of the
university, Mr. .George Sparks. This
weekly is putting out a better paper
eueh year and is now t considered as
one of tile best of the college papers
of any college.. ’
Since 1918 .M erect has succeeded
in entering the athletic world onee
more and under the.-direction of her
two couches, Cody and
TIPS AND TAPS
By Bob Gamble
We Almost Got Married Standing
Four Feet From the Groom
Well,. We're back again. ' Yep, got
back Tuesday sometime - after- the
Cohen she ■' train left .'where we got on. Course
lias brought to I herself, honor this >'»« know ’where we’ve been, but in
year as well' tus last in this phase of *■’»»«' >’«“ recollect, will say the
college activity. The football season Ci.lyumist was’ a groomsman
was indeed a success and though seV- [ wedding Tuesday, thut same wedding
oral games were lost the foundation we’Vc • been writing about for some-
ha s been formed and.next year 'prom- time.
ises to be the greatest in its history. I We are now reudy to announce our
it .is believed that in the next two or wedding plans. But first, we will tell
three years Mercer will put. qut .teams I >’°u. about the. wedding down
in every phase of athletics that will
he worthy .of entering contests with
those of the- largest. colleges and
universities of the South as well us
some of the North. j
Mofcor’s- .financial situation is in
deed, the brightest in its'history and
instead of. an indebtedness of $240,-
Sehley county Tuesday lust.
'•.Firstj. they almost had to. call off
the wedding, because the other. day
when wjb had on our green suit which
we were plunnihg to huve dyed blue
for the wedding, we were gonna get
on the street car coming down a hill.
That was our plu'n. The inotorman
000 in 1918 she now .owes nothing 1 suw ds and sorter slowed down his
and in--addition has increased her en- trolley but just as we -went to step
downient from $529,4-16 to that Of up on the step, the car lungftfyfor-
$799,252; her- equipment from $40,- 1 ward and dragged us about thirty
000 to $80,000 and her total assets yards on the pavement, that is,
from $773,422 to that of $1.‘507,7?9,! dragged us on the pavement whut
With the -backing of the Southern time we were not on our knees! Well,
Baptists as she now has, Mercer ! to make a long story short, as we
University has one of, the brightest; would like to- have made the'distance
if not the brightest futures of. any ( Wt ’ slid on our knees thinly clad in
university in. the .South.
WORK AHEAD
green trousers, we finally , pulled our
self into the cur which never did stop
but went faster. When we got on an
qua!' footing with the conductor,
r ! who hadn't seen us, the human cash
Mrrcyr is now,completing the first ],register turned around and said - just
l-ip of the 'race to get the new U.ieo- aB nonchalantly to us: " ’ • . .
logical seminary; Some Mercer sup-1 "Why, hello there, Sergeant, where
porters seem to think that the mat-1 | laN c , y„ u b,een?" - ■
ter lias already bex'-n decided, but '. , )f „U the nerve! He couldn’t
there is .yet a long rqail to travel- be-j f ua ze iis, though, cause we came right,
fore, we cun call the seminary our ' bat k at him. with lots -of zip and told
j him that we had been trying to'get
Mercer's'chances are bright, if all ,, ur , lf an ,| ()U r green' suit off the
Mercer men but work at the job with hard pavement’ and into his trolley
enthusiasm und determination, But
ear -for about' forty yards and ten
course we hod to stand in the receiv
ing line to receive the folk* who
came to receive whatever we. had to
offer in the way of ice cream, etc.
Well, no, that isn’t exactly what they
came for, but that’s, what they got
the "etc.” consisting of pretty iced
cakes, nut cocktail—that is, it wasn’t 1
nut on the halfshell—and lots of
other things.
Many Hands to Hold
We sho' do like to be*in receiving
lines, cause wc ain’t never held so
many girls’ hands at one standing in
all our life, that is, in public. Of
course you understand. And they all
said they were glad to meet us, or,
•‘How are you?” or. something like
that. After much tete a tote and ice
cream and punch, which everybody
{rank, cherries and all, the reception
was pronounced a grand success and
everybody dispersed for the night.
That is, everybody except the grooms
men, and they had to hang around
and keep the glia’ hands from getting
cold. We . always did have warm
hands and so that was just^our style,
We would have held hands with a girl
if wc hadn’t been so shy; that is, if
we, hadn’t had both hands occupied
already, generous all over, that's us,
Cupid.'_ • ,'
The wedding was qujte a success,
due, of course, to the groomsmen, one
of whom we were which and tallest.
The wedding march was played, ami
,>f' course we started down the aisle
during the prelude, which We .should
not have. But we just acted like we
were catching step or something and
finally got -in time, that is, our left
root, went down when our right foot
lUghtcr, which was pretty good for
jft, being so tall and so far from our
b.rajn to our feet. We weren’t a hit
nervous. Wc were too scared to. he
nervous.
Knees Do the Shimmy
Finally, we reached the 'Stopping
place up neur the front of the church,
about three miles from where,
started keeping incorrect time with
the march. When we got there, w
(topped, at least we-didn’t take any
more steps, but our knees jazzed back
and forth, in circles, in squ nrt *s and
intermittently, doing everything but
keep time with the music. Wc-knew
that jazz was out of place in church,
hut we.couldn’t any more control the
wigwagging of our knees than we
could that of. our head, which quiv
cred in harmony, ut least, ..with our
knees. We weren’t scared, oh, no. It
was just the indecision of our knees
which ■ worried us and made it see
that we were nervous or something,
Two or Three months later it
all over'ani! the prettiest maidwulkvd
ut with the .relieved groomsman
us, and that walk was the best of all
We got to. the train, kissed the bride
and WANTED to kiss the maids, but
ouldn’t, ’cause they' didn’t have any
belter half, to toll ’em that it, would
be iiH right, even for just one' little
one. And' ou,r heart went- pit-a-pat
Wedding- I’luns Announced „
It’s all over now and we gladly
we-should remember that the hardest minutes. He couldn’t kid us! That’s
part',.of the way is yet to be goone tbl . kind of feller we are; Well, we
over. It is the Southern Baptist looked at our. green coat anti vest
Convention that will decide as t-° i w hD-Ji were all present and accounted
whore the, new institution, is to. be f,, r j bu j when we looked ut our green
located, und also as to whether or trousers—Horrors!, there, wasn't any
not the seminary will- be joined 'with green where the knee should have
a university. ThCse weighty prob- bt . t . n and our'knee looked like a por-
lems are both, very much undecided' teYhpUije Steak, all raw and cut up
yet, and Mercer- must not be over- j an j everything. Still; we weren’t
confident, . 1 1 fe'uzed but just sorter embarrassed,
Therefore it is fitting that every RO W e showed the conductor how in
Mercer man, student, alumnus, and dependent we were when we got off
friend, should continue td do all pos- {he ear and went back home to
sible in the way of convincing the change our clothes.. - - Unconcerned,
Baptists of the South that Mercer is tjiat’s *us all over, Cupid
the logical place for both the theo
logical seminary and the proposed
Greater Southern . University; Mer
cer’s. uppeal for the institution is
based on reason, on principles of
economy, ami on ft desire for - the
highest good for the whole Southern -
Baptist constituency'.
.All together ‘ now for. the consum
mation of the' plans' so glorioiisly de
veloped thus far.
While we’re deciding whether to
sue the street car company for $7,500
or- a pair of green trousers and
bottle pf new skin, weT% tell you
about the wedding which wc got to
after wc had our green suit mended
.with a few blades of Bermuda grass.
Did Well in Rehearsal
Wo- went to the rehearsal - Monday
night at the Methodist'church. What
do you think of that? ; We, - Presby
terian by birth and Baptist by asso-
wedding in
• .There are worse things than en-
thusiasin, and the visionary j^Uon." taking'in'. „„ * ...
deserves respect for his disinterested the Methodi8t church i CosmopoliUn,
zeal. Even, if hts judgment be Pp® r , that , 8 us al) over> Cupid,
he is worthier of respect than the, Th< , rehearsa| went ofT .Height; at
hard-head, whose, ideas are sound >ut I ^ th ^ toW M it ^ We ^ 80
who is too selfish to take the trouble b thinking about the pretty maid
to propagate them.-ljoss, Sociologst whp ^ arn> we> ag . groomsman,
— ’ 7 were -going to hold going out of the*
Church, that we didn’t ■ think about
anything else, even the rehearsal.
And you know, we didn’t even get
nervous; that is, before the wedding,
Course they had a reception and of
' In Engliah Clasa.—Prof.: “Whnt. do
you know about Fielding?”
Stude.: “Nothing much. I wns
always a pitcher on the team when
ever I played.”—The Orphan.
announce .our own wedding plans as
follows: '
"Tips and Taps announce that due
to stage fright in Ellaville, Ga., No
vember 29, the" wedding of their
chaperon, Bob, is everlastingly, post-
poneil unless, a set of blind, deaf artd
dumb witnesses, attendants, preach
and so forth can be located to look
on, listen and comment during thf
ceremony.” . ’
TO A FAIR WOMAN
John Milton Samples
O loveliest creature of . beauty and
grace,
The work of the Master Hand,
As Comely of form as' fgir of fae'
The fairest of all the land.
Modest and sweet and gentle and
kind,
With smiles and tears united
By affection’s golden chain confined.
With eyes' Imvc’s torch has lighted-
I. marvel at all the charms I - see
■ To which God made you heir,
Then gave them.ail to' me with yds
Thehr wondrous wealth to share
1 gaze in admiration long,
’.Where love: and beauty dwell,
I listen to your voice in song, .
And see your bosom’s swell.
My heart acknowledges^ your power
To soothe and charm and cheer,
When gloom’s dark clouds above
• lower,
I speak with * heart sincere.