MILL RACE EULOGIZED
AND CO ED WRITES
OF AQUATIC SPORT!
KEEN ANALYSIS OF STUDEN'
FUN MADE BY FAIR
CRITIC
CANOEING BENEFITS MANY AND VARIOU
Songs, Books, and Lunches, Insepar
able Adjuncts to Aquatic
Rides.
Three miles is the length of th«
mill race, at the Oregon University
for about two miles it affords per
haps a greater variety of pleasur<
to a greater number of people thar
any other stretch of equal length ir
Oregon. This aquatic pleasure grounc
—or water navigable by “mosquito’
fleets—consists of three sections, sc
to speak, each having character of
its own. One extends for about a
mile from the mills through town tc
the headgates, another for nearly a
mile and three-quarters above the
gates to the famous spot called
“Portage,” the third between “Port
age” and the head of the small island
whence the mill race separates from
the waters of the Willamette. On
fine soring and summer afternoons
these sections of the race present
spectacles of joyful life.
On the race the life is of two kinds
—the life of idle dalliance, and the life
of strenuous endeavor. You find peo
ple dallying all the way along from
the Eugene boat house to the island;
you find the strenuously employed
afloat on the wider stretch above the
headgates.
Ihe canoing season begins about
the first of April and lasts into No
vember; but May and June are the
months when the activity is great
est. With a very few privileged ex
ceptions, this part of the race has
been kept free from puff-boats, steam
and electric launches. The principal
exception is the ’’quarry barge,” or
an occasional motored flat-bottomed
rowboat.
On the race you see the canoe
“sport” stripped to a sleeveless jer
sey, rejoicing in his sunburned arms,
racing with reckless disregard among
the leisurely. It is a familiar specta
cle to see a fleet organize of seven or
eight canoes, massed together, and
proceed joyously up the race. At
such a time the youth who has invit
ed a girl to share his first experiment
in a canoe affords rare sport.
The comments seem perhaps un
kind; there is certainly nothing un
kindly in the behavior of the crowds
on this little stream, even if one must
withhold the full measure of appro
bation. They are rollickingly good
natured. To assure yourself of this,
you have but to keep eyes and ears
open, see the faces and note the rep
artee. "Say, old man, this is no ob
stacle race,” will be the protest of
one whose canoe is rudely bumped by
an embarrassed greenhorn. “Don’t
mind us, come right, in,” will be ex
tended to you by the pair upon whose
shady nook under overhanging ma
ples you have unwittingly intruded.
“We have no secrets from the world.”
And when you withdraw, you are
likely to hear some unfavorable com
ment on your tact.
Canoeing seems to breed a pleasur
able vacancy of mind which expresses
itself upon the countenance. The
principal occupation of canoeists is
to stare at other canoeists as they
pass. It is an odd thing; in trolley
cars and on the street, convention re
strains the most mannerless from in
dulging in the fixed, persistent stare;
the moment one steps into a canoe
one adopts a different code of eti
quette. The girls lying back on her
cushions, the man sitting on the
thwart and dabbing with the paddle,
alike drop into silence and turn their
faces toward the passing craft. Al
ways they meet the steady gaxe in
answer; on neither side is there any
flinching: no one is abashed. The
boats slowly pass, the heads slowly
turn, the eyes slowly move—until the
human anatomy can be seen no more;
then it is eyes in the boat again and
ready for a dispassionate examination
of the next that comes.
The canoe is, in fact, but a means to
' an end; the mere paddling of it, in
} quiet waters, to most people, is not
very engrossing. And so the occu
pants of the canoe are really adven
p turers, ready to follow the first dis
traction that ogers and seems prom
ising. Hence, perhaps, this absorbed
attentiveness to those who pass, hence
the success of small allurements, upon
, the race’s banks, small lads fishing
) and wading.
Not only is the canoeist so casual
in his purposes, so amenable to the
■ mild charms of temporary distrac
tion, but he furnishes a spectacle that
diverts the loiterer on land. When
ever the race is crowded, the small
foot-bridges will be peopled also—
i the bridges and paths along the shore
will all be quietly animated with phil
osophic idlers. They do not expect
anything very exciting to repay them
for their waiting; an upset is of com
paratively rare occurrence, for the ca
noes let out to the populace are of
substantial nature. It is the proces
sion of recumbent figures and up
lifted faces, the snatches of dialogue,
the color and movement of the picture
that prolong the lingering of the man
on the bridge. Trivial blemishes are
submerged in the richness of color,
the variety of change, the grace of
motion.
The canoe encourages domesticity
as well as romance. After all, do
mesticity, in well regulated lives, is
sues out of romance; and the canoe
may help to preserve in domesticity
the romance which perhaps it aided
in promoting. At any rate, it is
possible to look upon the canoe, not
with cynic eyes, but in spite of its
fragility, as a real bulwark of the
home. On fine evenings in late spring
or early autumn, when the sun is
about setting, there may be seen pic
nic parties on the upper portions of
the race bank and across the river,
with their canoes drawn part way up
on the shore. When the twilight falls
and the moon rises big over Judkins’,
they take to the river or race again.
The moonbeams glow among the low
drooping trees and are reflected in
the water. A “Caruso” sings dear
college songs, and , “Well,” says the
romantic student, “well, this may not
be Venice, but it’s pretty nice."
For some distance along the race
there are homes whose lawns run
down to the water; but farther up the
race flows through woodland or shal
low pools with outlying reedy marsh
es. over which the blackbird flies, ,
with banks of wild roses and black
berry vines. Along the way one pass
es people who have found comfort
able, secluded spots under the trees,
and are satisfied to remain there, to
talk and to read. The number of
persons who go out canoing to read
or to be read to, is surprising. They
carry magazines, novels, and even
portentous books of philosophy and
history. It seems to be a theory that
one good way to grind for an “ex” is
to go off in a canoe and prosecute
your studies while drifting with the
stream.
The concerte “O” on Skinner’s
Butte was given its fifth annual coat
of yellow paint by a special com
mittee of Juniors Friday morning.
An annonymous rabble of “frosh”
was herded to the scene of activity
by the upperclassmen, at which place
the first year men were prevailed
upon to furnish the principle labor
other than overseeing.
Since the construction of the big
letter by the 1908 class, it has been
a University Day custom for the
Juniors to repaint the monogram.
The “O’’ invariably falls a prey to the
artistic besmearing of outside col
legians during the summ reand school
year. Two years ago the visiting
California baseball team transformed
the Varsity letter into a “C” by paint
ing out one side of the oval. In the
fall of 1902, before the O. A. C. foot
ball game, the Aggies besmirched the
monogram with a rich coat of
range.
The Juniors who posed for the cam
era on the work Friday were Cash,
Grayson. Waite, Bailey, Martin,
Bauer, Rolfe, Siglin, Carrol.
i. PENNELL TELLS
OF DIGNITY AT HOME
Rounded Education Makes Woman
More Efficient—Practical as Well
as Cultural Courses Needed.
(By Mrs. Ellen M. Pennell.)
“To give instruction in art, science
and industry best calculated to ena
ble the scholars to acquire an inde
pendent livelihood.” The was the di
rection in the will of a sagacious man,
who, a few years ago, was giving a
goodly sum for the founding of a
college for women. Today this insti
tution is one of the foremost of its
kind in the country, from which, as it
happens, two of our own girls are
this summer to be graduated.
This last fact is significant. We
have with us both men and women.
Many of the women remain the four
years, others drop out for one reason
or another before the course is com
pleted. Once outside the college, what
next? For those who must earn their
livelihood, or desire to do so, the usual
resource is teaching—teaching those
branches in which they have received
special training and for which they
are presumed to have special apti
tude. Other girls remain in the home,
German. Why? For the purpose of
gaining a proficiency, or having some
thing in particular to do, or of passing
away the time? Still others are
looking forward to being themselves
the mistress of a home.
Now, m the case of many of these
women—mav we not say the large
majority?—cue noition of what is
iustlv a pait of their college train
ing has, in the main, been omitted.
This is the theoretical and practical
instruction in home making. And
this through no fault of their own.
However, the need is fast being rec
ognized and is now fairly well met
in the Universities of Ohio, Nebras
ka, California, Wisconsin and Illinois,
while at Columbia and Chicago the
equipment is exceptionally complete.
Courses are also given in many agri
cultural colleges, academies and nor
mal schools, besides in the large tech
nical schools, such as Pratt, Drexel
and Armour, and in the strictly vo
cational school, Simmons College, Bos
ton.
And this term, Home Economics,
the name of the department that we
would have in every university open
ing its doors to women, and upon
equal footing with any other depart
ment—what does it include? “Its
domain is hardly less circumscribed
than that of sociology,” observes a
college woman now holding the chair
of history in a distant institution.
Here are some of the courses, not
all, taken from a recent catalogue:
1. Chemistry of the household.
2. Household bacteriology.
3. Principles of cookery and their
application.
4. Household hygiene.
5. Household management.
6. Home care of the sick.
7. The house—plan, cahe, decora
tion.
8. Textiles and clothing.
9. Care of children.
This gives an idea of the scope of
the work. The inference must not
be drawn that we would have the
woman elect so much in this line that
her other courses will suffer thereby.
Not at all; but we do believe that no
work will stand her in better stead
than this, and by careful judgment
she may so balance her courses that
they will include both the cultural
and the practical.
“But,” protests some winsome Or- j
egon girl more or less seriously, “I
know how to keep house. I can wash
dishes and sweep and make divinity;
yes. and I can paint place-cards, too.”
Ah. home making, the art of making
a home, means far more than this.
We older folks know that all it means
can never be taught; it must be lived.
And yet, because we are older folk
and realize the unhappiness resulting
from ignorance of household manage
ment or distaste for it—the ignorance
not infrequently being the cause of
the distaste—we are moved to voice
our convictions at this time. We do
not forget that something is being
done in our own college bearing di
rectly upon this subject, and we are
grateful therefor.
After all, although the time is ap
proaching when the Oregon woman
may vote, home making must still re
main her principal business in life.
Not by intuition or by happy accident
may a knowledge of this business be
acquired; it may come only by spe
I cial training. Moreover, we must re
member that the modern home makes
demands far more varied and exacting
than were those of a half century
ago. We must also remember that the
woman just out of college is expected
to measure up to these demands. In
1 view of all this, we would foster all
that is mo tshelpful and womanly in
| her, we would give to her the most
complete training possible. Surely
the most rounded education can be
none too good for her.
I
Monday and Tuesday
SPECIAL
Ladies’ Muslin
Underwear
All $1.25 Garments at
97c
Ax Billy Dept. Store
Schaefers Bros.
Dillon’s
For
DRUGS
527 Willamette
Phone 623 Free Delivery
Cor. 9th and Willamette.
DUNN’S BAKERY
U. of 0. students welcome to Eu
gene. You are invited to inspect our
plant and our goods. All kinds of
pastry, sanitary wrapped bread.
Heinz’ goods, Aldon confectionery,
chewing gum, etc.
Dunn & Price
Phone 72. 30 East 9th St.
Fisher Laundry
CLEANING and PRESSING
Phone 65.
LADIES and GENTS TAILOR
All work guaranteed. None but
first class workmen employed. Our
work is made right in Eugene.
19 E. Ninth St. Phone 138
Our
Purpose
is 100 cents in value in ex
change for every dollar.
Made to Measure
clothes that make the well
dressed man.
I
Beautiful
Novelty
Ef"ds
in the season’s latest fabrics
$17. fo $40.
Ralston
Health
Shoes
for health, ease and new toe
effects, $4.00.
Men Buy at
THE
Haber
dasher
505 Willamette St.