isa-normaladvance-1903-00132

Description:	132THE NORMAL ADVANCE.later in the evening. The neat table by it, and theapple-cheeked faces near it, however, were enoughto make one forget the bare stretch of white.The Master of Ceremonies announced that theNormal Choir would begin the program by singing With Colors Gaily Flying, but they didnt.The altos had a solo and lost their colors so thatthe streamers were hanging limp as the membersof the unhappy chorus took their seats.Then the Reading Circle Man was introduced.There were ejaculations of friendly recognitionfrom the children when the Little Colonel andFriends in Feathers and Fur were mentioned,but the most interesting thing he said was that theeyes of Indiana are on that little school, watchingto see if a country school can not be made as beautiful and agreeable as one in town.Next the children sang, and how they enjoyed it!They did not sing 0, Rest in the Lord, norGloria, from Mozarts Twelfth Mass, but asong with life and movement like their own quickblood. Their eyes danced as they sang the Tinkers Chorus from Robin Hood, with their clear,sweet voices and with eighteen carat happiness intheir hearts. The Music Teacher from Brazil feltmore than recompensed for the hours she had takento teach that chorus to them.Those children! Why, when the audience encored them, they would not have exchanged theirtriumph for that of a king. They sang the chorusagain and little Jessie, roly-poly, red-cheeked, sevenyear old Jessie worked her busy little tongue withunmistakable delight in the Tap, tap, tap anddid the unstable equilibrium act on the Tink,tank, looking at nothing in her futile attempt tomake her eyes big enough to look at everything.A heart as hers was then is worth the ransoms often thousand kings.The audience did not hear about Casibianca whopreferred scorching to exercising common sense,nor the gurgling Last Hymn that was lost inthe billowy waves. Nor did they have their nervesstretched to a high tension over the woes of amaiden who was athletic enough to hang from abell-clapper while the deaf old sexton rang, as hethought, the curfew. There was a touch of nature,a bit of sentiment, and a dash of fun in the recitation of the children and nothing that would necessitate a Seizor immediately afterwards.When the I. S. N. Choir went out to sing theirsecond number there was resolution in their faces.One chubby young woman pressed her pretty teethinto her hand (not very deep of course) just before going to the front to awaken her courage, shesaid. They sang a song that is always new andbeautiful athough it be old and simple and theysang it well. Triumphant, they sat down, fearingto entrust their redeemed fortunes to a heartyclamor for another song. They were redeemedbut not proclaimed until the male chorus set themupon the house-top. There is no effect in musicso marked as that of well trained male voices inchorus. The patrons of Glen school thought thisevidently, for when the I. S. N. boys sang theirlast number they touched the heart of everyonepresent. Enthusiasm burst bounds after an encore was given and one bluff old fellow shouted,Thats the stuff! Give us some more. Verylikely he had tented on the old camp ground.There was a single disappointment that eveningdue to the electric light mans filling orders for theevening as he oftentimes does that is by forgetting all about them until the day. So there wereno lantern slides, but there was a language slide asthe Professor of Biology talked of his trip toEgypt. He led us through the difficulties of starting from Berlin, then of going through St, Goth-ards tunnel on to the ship that bore himself andfriend to Cairo. The Professor interspersed histalk with wit enough to keep the people merry,with sense enough to keep them thinking and withbeauty enough to make them glad. He left hishearers in Egypt under the shadow of the pyramids, without any guide, in order that the TerreHaute part of that audience might catch the carfor home.The love feast was over for Glen school house,but not for us. On the car the Master of Ceremonies continued communion with the choir,the Professor, the Reading Circle Man and thevisitors. A very fat man sitting in the middle ofthe car exclaimed, as he soundly slapped his kneeby way of emphasis, Thats the happiest lookingcrowd I ever saw.
Source:	http://indstate.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/isuarchive/id/33905
Collection:	Indiana State University Archives

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