Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1915-05-04
TWAS GRAND GALA DAY
FESTIVITIES AT NORMAL SCHOOL
PRESENT PLEASING SIGHT.
All Previous Attempts in Observance
of May Day Eclipsed by the Ex-
ercises of Saturday Last.

| queen of May By nine o'clock the
street in front of the oregon Normal
school was lined with automobiles and
! the seats in the grove on the campus
were filled to overfiowing. To the mu-
sic of the school orchestra the whole
number of students walked in stately
procession to form in a huge senior
Gle in front of the queens throne,
where they waited to receive her. With
her retinue of herald flower girls ana
maids of honor, Miss Beatrice Chaneay
assembled the throne, accepting the
homage of her subjects. Her maids OF
honor the Misses Merle Stearns, Flor
ence Fieldhouse, Orrie Steinberge,
Elaine Longabaugh, Ruby Rasmussen,
GLADYS Pearson, Jean Anderson and
Helen Hall performed a most intricate
and graceful dance followed by the
huge chorus in spirited song. The
chief herald, Mr.. Ranie Burkhead,
then cleared the court for competitions
before the queen. The senior girls,
some in white, some in yellow frocks
wound their maypole first and liberat-
/
The juniors dressed in blue and white
wound pole decorated to correspond.
Gowned in the green and yellow colors
of the oregon grape the complneu
soph ON ore freshman classes danced
about their pole. The different grades
in the training school each presented
some attractively costumed drill: the
first and second grades, representing
sweet peas, sang and danced prettiiy,
the third and fourth, in daisy cos
tunes, put on dainty dance; the
j girls of the fifth and sixth grades
performed an intricate pink and white
parasol drill; the seventh and eighth
grades in green costumes We're grace
full in a garland dance; the boys
marched splendidly in suuf1oWer
drill
The next events to claim the irter-
est of the huge crowd were the pa
geants staged by each class as part
of the competitive work of the day.
Each pageant consisted of three scenes
Representing life in colonial times.
The senior pageant showed first Co
lumbus at the court of Ferdinand
; land Isabella. Spanish dancers per-
formed before the court in gay
dance. The spirit of discovery lead
: Columbus on regardless of distraction.
until in the second scene he was
shown landing on American shores
and claiming the soil for Spain. Here
were the first Indians, too. The last
scene here was the showing of the
Spanish missionaries rescue from
martyrdom at the hands of the In
dians. The juniors portrayed French
colonial history, showing first Cartier
claiming America for France. Their
second scene showed the fur traders
in an Indian camp. An especially
I effective incident in their scene was
the hurried entrance of an Indian on
a pony, announcing the coming of the
traders. The last scene of the juniors
pageant represented peasant life In
Acadia. From the church merged a
wedding procession which, while seat
ed feasting later was entertained by
a dance of French shepherdesses with
their crooks. The final pageant, put
,
on by the sophomore-freshm class,
portrayed the English in America. The
Pilgrims were shown marching
through the forest. The second scene
showed the home life of the Pilgrims
as the maidens were spinning and
teaching an Indian maiden to spin.
The last scene depicted the we'll
known story of Pocohontas and John
Smith, The Indian medicine man, In
, huge buffalo robe attracted much at
tention. All the pageants were re-
, markable for the use of dramatic sit
uations, the perfection of detail and
, the unusual cleverness in presentation.
After luncheon the spectators again
assembled to watch the contests in
tennis. the competitors in folk dane
ing, club swinging, volley ball and the
relay races. Threatening clouds and
gusts of rain almost drove the events
into the gymnasium, but 1t was finally
. possible to finish them out of doors.
When the chairmen of the various
committees had assembled before the
green to receive their respective hon.
:, orS, IL was FOUND tnat the seniors dnt
juniors had tied with 33 points and
that the sophomore-freshma class
had taken third place. The juniors
had won first in the pageant and the
other scores were rather evenly di.
, vided between the upper classes. The
Z decision was received in good part by
/, all. The judges were Miss Lewis from
, the Oregon Agricultural college. Mis-
a Porter from Portland and City Super
. intendent Elliott of Salem. The fac
ulty members of the May day commit
tee, Mr.. Ostein, Miss Hoham, Miss Tay
a lor. Miss Green and Miss Cohoon Ger
tainly deserve much credit for thu
: general planning and arrangement o
=, the day. which was one Of the mos
a successful ever held in Monmouth
= Besides visitors from the neighborinl
: towns. a large number OF GRADUATES
and former students made May ]
= home coming day.