THE HILLTOP, MARS HILL COLLEGE, MARS HILL, NORTH CAROLINA^
October 7, 1944.
Hilltop
Plain Living and High Thinking
Published by the Students of Mars Hill College, Mars Hill, North
Carolina.
Entered as second-class matter February 20, 1926, at the Post
Office at Mars Hill, North Carolina, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Issued semi-monthly during the college year.
Subscription Rate Year $1.00
MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED COLLEGIATE PRESS
STAFF
Editor-in-Chief Bob Chapman
Managing Editor Ted Hethcock
Associate Editor Lillian Miller
Faculty Advisor J. A. McLeod
A ffinity
You speak of wind and rain and
stars . . .
You have not said a word.
But in your face I see the skies
And sun and moon and earth.
I hear the bird whose song you’ve
known
And smell the flowers hid.
I taste the waters you have drunk.
And climb the hills you did.
CONTRIBUTORS
Mary Rose Bannister . Mary Sue Middleton . Wilhelmina Rish
Ruth Teague . Gertrude Allard . Sam Johnson . Dixie Hawkins
Mary Evelyn Crook . Sigsbee Miller . Marion Ballard
Eunice Smith . Clyde McLeod . Howie Bingham
BUSINESS STAFF
Business Manager Nathan LeGrand
Circulation Manager Jack Hughes
Advertising Manager Jerry Dayton
Typist Jane Wright
Volume XIX.
October 7, 1944.
Number 1.
Back Again-
The hills around the campus are still ringing with
echoes from exclamations of joy which were issued when
old friends were again united by the opening of school.
Although classes have begun and students are fretting
with their weekly themes, memories of the first days of
school still linger. Students crowded the entrance of the
science building. Faculty members suffered with genuine
cases of writer’s cramp. Seniors were mobbed with ques
tions by the Juniors; such questions as “Who is the easier
English teacher, Dr. Pierce or Mr. McLeod?”
Students who ask such questions as this usually fear a
little work. It would be well, however, for both new and
old students to remember that it is not the teacher but
the pupil who makes a course easy or hard; and it will
take ambition, determination, will-power, and self-sacrifice
to have a successful year’s work at Mars Hill. —B. C.
Your Paper-
The Hilltop staff was very much pleased to have so
many new students come to the first meeting and express
their desire to help with the publication of the paper. We
know that those who did not come will also co-operate to
the fullest extent in helping to publish a larger and better
Hilltop this year.
The Hilltop does not belong to the staff or the faculty,
but to the student body as a whole. Do not feel that your
articles are not welcomed because you are not a staff
member. We will use any article of the right nature pro
vided it is good enough. With the co-operation of each
student we can publish a paper that will be a credit to
the entire college. —B .C.
I put my hand in yours and find
That long before today . . .
We’ve swept God’s Earth, and on
we go
In life’s illumined way.
—Nita Barnes.
Youth's Dedication
Yes, I am Youth. I look ahead
Into the days of coming years
I’m not alone, I’m unafraid
Of all the warnings and the fears.
The hopeless tales that I am told
By pessimistic prophets here
Of what the future days will hold,
Of what there is for me to fear.
I hear them not, for they are
wrong.
My world will be a happy one.
I make my own life weak or
strong.
And fearing not, my work is done.
As unafraid and not alone,
I face the world they painted
grim,
I pledge my time and all I own,
And all my life I live for Him.
Lonesomef-
Into the distant Time to be
I see that hope is burning strong.
I see my Lord awaiting me.
And, seeing, follow with a song.
Professor J. B. Huff, for 26 years a beloved member of the Mars Hill
college faculty. The editors of the 1940 Laurel dedicated the book
to him in the following words: In grateful recognition of one whose
beautiful conception of life—whose courtesy, endurance, and tem
perate will—has endeared him to all who know him; one who is a
native son of Mars Hill, with a genuine love for and interest in the
college; one who has unswerving faith in young people ...”
Oh, Lord, to Thee I dedicate
My life and all that I would be.
Into thy hands I place my fate.
And, having faith. I’ll live for
Thee.
-Phyllis Ann Gentry.
Blue October
Why be lonesome? Perhaps you have never stopped to
think about it, those who have enough interests stored in
their minds and those who desire to learn and develop
never get lonesome because they never allow themselves
to remain idle.
A desire for home-folks need not be loneliness. It is only
natural for one leaving home for the first time to realize
soon that something is missing. There is, however, a wide
chasm between idle lonesomeness and that felt for friends
back home.
I heard someone make a statement several days ago
which might serve as a way to recovery from both types
of loneliness. “If you aren’t satisfied with your lot in life,
build a service station on it.” A little deed of service each
day will help you as well as your fellow-man. —B. C.
Success - Failure - Whichf-
Many people have started out in life and have amounted
to something in their chosen field, but many have failed.
Those who have succeeded, worked for it. They did not
let pleasure be the ruling factor in their lives, but work
and the search for knowledge. A successful person knows
for what he is working, be it a degree in chemistry, the,
ministry, engineering, or any other special field.
A requisite for success is an education. Without it, one
cannot hope to reach the top. An educated person is given
priority on a job over those who have no formal education.
The knowledge of God and our belief in Him is also
necessary to success. Without this knowledge and the
practice of the teachings of Christ we need not expect to
amount to anything worth while.
There is no more pathetic figure than a person who is a
failure in life. We may recognize him because he always
has an excuse and blames his failure on others.
Which shall one be, a failure or a success? It is for the
individual to decide; no one can decide for him. It is his
choice and his alone. —H.T.H.
Above, tbe leaves are falling.
The autumn skies are clear;
October days are perfect—
Except you are not here.
With colors Mother Nature came
And painted every leaf
The scarlet and the crimson
And the gold ones underneath.
I’ve never seen the leaves so
bright.
Or skies a deeper blue.
But both seem rather sad this
year.
Perhaps they miss you, too.
—Pinky McLeod.
EX-LIBRIS MONTAGUE
“Oh, I have slipped the surly
bonds of earth.
And danced the skies on
laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed—”
With all the youthful vigor of
a nineteen-year-old, John Magee,
Jr., R. C. A. F., mounted on
“laughter-silvered wings” and
flew to his death on a bright
English day. He was the son of
John Magee, a Washington, D.
C., rector and his wife. Faith Ma
gee, both of whom were mission
aries. John Magee, Jr., was a
true American boy, educated in
English schools. In his lifetime
he wrote many beautiful poems,
full of the love of life. But, as it
has been said, “his short earthly
career was a finer poem than
anything that could be put into
words.” His biography, S unward
I’ve Chmbed, by Hermann Hage-
dorn, is on the shelves of the
library. It gives excerpts from his
letters to his parents, and epi
sodes from his shining life. John
Magee was a fascinating person,
altogether human, but with a
personality that lives on. His short
life was deeply spiritual, and he
states in his immortal “High
“And while with silent, lifting
mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity
of space.
Put out my hand and touched
the face of God.”
The members of the library
staff are willing to help in any
way possible all who come to the
library. Besides the librarians.
Miss Daisy Anderson and Miss
Vivian Lunsford, they are: Helen
Allen, Bob Chapman, Thelma
Harley, Mildred Kilby, Clyde Mc
Leod, Alta L. Ponder, Jean Ray,
Lois Eller, Doris Stone, Aileen
Ailstock, and Winifred Hollowell.
The library schedule is as fol
lows: Monday through Friday,
8 a.m. to 12 noon; 1 p.m. to 5:30
p.m.; 7 p.ni. to 9:30 p.m. Satur
day, 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 1
p.m. to 4 p.m.
The Sound Of The Gavel-
There came the sound of three firm, decisive taps of the
gavel, and the first meeting of society was called to order.
To those of you who are Juniors on the campus, you were
perhaps a bit puzzled and surprised that everyone should
display such an interest in society. Those of the Senior
Class of Mars Hill college have found something within
these halls that nothing else has been able to give them.
Many of you have already visited one society, perhaps
both of them. To you we would say, “Join the society of
your choice.” It may sound like an evident exaggeration
to state that you get “a certain feeling” when you enter
the society hall that is best for you; but there is hardly a
better explanation for the emotion one has.
You will find that through the ideals of the societies on
the campus you can strive toward higher things of life.
By an honest effort you can become a better person, and
the society to which you belong will have advanced toward
its goal because you did your very best for it. —L. M.
The Band Begins
Promising Year
Prospects are unusually good
for the college band this year.
Thirty members have already en
rolled, and others are expected
to join. Fairly good balance of
instrumentation has been at
tained, Mr. Elwood Roberts, the
irector, says. He also stated that
the first interest of the band this
erm will be to develop success-
V y as a concert organization.
Players of band instruments
T ? ^°t done so already are
invited to confer with Mr. Roberts
promptly. Rehearsals are sched-
n e ^ for Monday and Thursday
evenings from 7:30 to 8:30.
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