The Corvallis times. (Corvallis, Or.) 1888-1909, 1903-02-18
FOCAL TRYOUT FOR SELECTION
OF ORATOR FOR OAC IN
STATE CONTEST
Happened in College Armory Fri
day Night-Withycombe Took
Second Place and Miss
Garfield Third-Many
... Were There.

ing. It resulted in the selection
of Guy E. Moore as orator to rep
resent OAC in the state contest to
take place in Eugene March 13th.
Mr. Moore also won fifteen dollar
gold medal and fifteen dollars in
cash, hung up by the local oratori-
cal association. John Withycombe
of Portland, took second place.
securing a nine dollar: medal and
nine dollars in cash. Miss Elsie
Garfield of Lafayette took third
place W ith a prize of six dollars in
cash and six dollar medal. -
The scenes incident to the con-
test were repetition of those in
the state contest in Corvallis two
years ago and the local tryeut last
year. A tn ,usand people or more
were in the big auditorium. Per-
haps every student 10 the institu-
tion was present, and so were hun
dreds of townspeople. The vari-
Gus literary societies occupied sec
tions. to themselves, and made their
presence apparent by many a So
eiety yell. fhe evening was one
of those great college occ lsions
when Interest is universal. The
crowd in point of numbers and en-
thusiasm was such as few if any
towns in Oregon can turn
out, Or accommodate. 1t was a
crowd Incidental only to big edu-
cational institutions. a.7-.as-
On the platform were seated
those in whom all interest was cen
tered. They were the orators.
each champion of a college organ
ization. They were eight in num-
ber, aud each was pale with sup.
pressed excitement and determi-
nation to strain every nerve to win.
Five were boys, and three, girls.
During a portion of the evening,
two Of the chairs were vacant, due
to the unusual fact that two of the
champions were in i'll health.
These were Guy Moore. suffering
with tousiIitis aud Claud Cate. scar
cely able to stand on account of
erysipelas in his lower limbs. Each
was however, in evidence at the
critical moment, Moore taking fnal
henors and Cate acquitting him
self most creditably.
The first speaker was H. c. Dar-
by, of the Philadelphia society.
As he arose to open the contest, a
thousand pairs of eyes were leveled
at him, but he waded into his theme
with ardor and enthusiasm. His
subject was sour Country's Mis-
sion" and his speech plea for the
maintenance of the principles Of
the Declaration of Independence
and the constitution. He closed
with a beautiful peroration, and
resumed his seat amid a storm of
applause.
Guy Moore, the ultimate winner
was the second speaker. "Oliver
Cromwe and his career and
achievements were hist heme. Sew
eral times his ailing throat PEELED
the y oung orator to stop and drink
glass of water, but he invariably
came up for another round, al.
though when his closing sentences
were safely passed, his strength
was gone and he had to leave the
platform. He received ahaudsome
testimonial in the way of applause,
as did also Miss Efie M Michael, who
was third speaker. She discussed
the economic phase of capital and
labor in a paper of much merit,
exhibiting great familiarity with
the relations of capital and labor
and the question incident thereto.
Her friends were proud of her. She
represented the Feronian society.
The fourth speaker was Miss
Jaunita Rosendorf, of the Sorosis
society. Her subject was William
Gladstone and her paper was SUI
perb ia thought, diction, style and
treatment, and its delivery was
most excellent. She told of the
achievements of the great Com-
moner, declaring that he climbed
the ladder of fame round by round,
until he reached the top, and then
stepped off into the skies Her effort
has since been the subject of much
comment. She took first place in
delivery.
John Witty of the Amicitians
was next on the programme. He
described with good thought the
peculiarly favorable conditions
that serve to 'uplift and strengthen
the American citizen. The vast
opportunities for men to rise from
lowly to Influential positions were
emphasized as factors in the MAX
ing of American Citizens" which